AI Startups Are Pivoting From Flashy Demos To Tech That Pays The Bills

Forbes Daily Briefing

Forbes

Business, Tech News, News

4.4 • 18 Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In early 2023, Keith Peiris’s AI-powered presentation startup Tome was growing quickly. It had become the fastest productivity tool to reach 1 million users, Forbes reported at the time, a number that eventually climbed to 25 million. He raised $80 million from top Silicon Valley investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, Greylock and billionaire Reid Hoffman. But by late 2024, Peiris realized he was building the wrong company. It turned out that most people didn’t want to pay for its tools, which generated beautiful slides within minutes. Tome’s users, mainly students and small business owners, were largely on free plans or paying $10 monthly subscriptions—not nearly enough to sustain the business. And the startup couldn’t quite crack the market for professionals like marketers and salespeople because it wasn’t connected to their data and did not have the context needed to make good presentations. Users were still growing, but the company’s annual revenue plateaued at around just $3 million. “Being frank about Tome, our technology thesis and our cultural thesis was very immature,” Peiris admits now. By Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes Staff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync,
0:05.8	everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales,
0:11.4	using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business.
0:18.7	The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting
0:22.1	brands with the moments and fandums that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify
0:28.2	dash UK. The meal deal plus at McDonald's. Bag yourself a mayo chicken or cheeseburger with
0:33.7	medium fries, a selected drink on one of five bonus sides, like four McNuggets or a mini McFlutty.
0:39.0	All for 559.
0:40.5	Now that's savor satisfaction.
0:43.8	From 11 a.m. Not on delivery.
0:45.5	Includes a selected saver menu beggar, medium fries, selected drink and a selected bonus side.
0:49.0	Price and participation may vary.
0:51.1	Today on Forbes, AI startups are pivoting from flashy demos to tech that pays the bills.
0:58.8	In early 2023, Keith Paris's AI-powered presentation startup, Tome, was growing quickly.
1:07.1	Forbes reported at the time that it had become the fastest productivity tool to reach 1 million users,
1:12.7	a number that eventually climbed to 25 million.
1:16.2	Paris raised $80 million from top Silicon Valley investors,
1:20.5	like light-speed venture partners, co-2, Greylock, and billionaire Reed Hoffman.
1:26.3	But by late 2024, Paris realized he was building the
1:30.8	wrong company. It turned out that most people didn't want to pay for its tools, which generated
1:36.6	beautiful slides within minutes. Tom's users, mainly students and small business owners, were
1:43.0	largely on free plans or paying $10 monthly
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 27 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Forbes, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Forbes and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.