of 5— Open Perplexity

What you'll accomplish

You'll learn to use Perplexity, an AI-powered research tool with live web access, to quickly gather current industry conditions, market data, and competitor intelligence for credit memos. Unlike Claude or ChatGPT, Perplexity cites its sources and pulls real-time information, making it ideal for the market research sections of credit memos.

What you'll need

Perplexity account (free tier available; Pro tier for more searches): Sign up at perplexity.ai
Time needed: 15–20 minutes per research session
Cost: Free tier available / Pro ~$20/month
The borrower's industry and location

How-To Guide: Use Perplexity for Real-Time Market Research

Step 1: Open Perplexity

Go to perplexity.ai and sign in (or use free without signing in). You'll see a search/question bar in the center of the screen. Perplexity looks like Google but responds like a research assistant.

Tools:Perplexity