SAN FRANCISCO — Sometime after the second espresso and before the partner meeting, the first pass appears on screen. A founder drags spreadsheets and PDFs into an AI copilot; an outline drops, three taglines arrive, a draft takes shape. By sunrise the edges are sanded, by 9 a.m. the story holds. In 2025, that loop—software drafts, humans decide—has become routine.
Deck Drafts on demand with AI
Enterprise teams now treat the first version like a manufacturing step. Prezent scaled an assistant, Astrid, trained on roughly 2 million slide files and paired with an AI-plus-editor service that returns a production-grade deck overnight (TechCrunch). Tome pushed “text-to-slides” into the mainstream—10M+ users, a $43M Series B, and a shift toward enterprise storytelling where compliance and process matter (Fast Company, Forbes). Gamma keeps the rough-cut lightweight with AI decks and web docs backed by Accel (Accel). For send-ahead pitches, Storydoc moves the file into a browser with analytics, forms, calendar, and e-signature so a skim can turn into a scheduled call (Storydoc).
Get feedback without burning favors
Delivery travels the same path. Yoodli role-plays friendly or skeptical partners, flags filler words, and tightens pacing before a single mentor meeting gets spent; the company raised $13.7M to grow AI role-play for sales and fundraising (Yoodli, GeekWire).
The investor side of the table
Reading habits accelerated. DocSend’s tracker shows deck interactions up ~19% year over year through 2024—a thaw in activity and shorter review cycles (DocSend). Some funds now run model-based triage. In a public experiment, Catalyst Fund found generative screening useful for speed and consistency, with partners reserving judgment for the calls that carry risk (Catalyst Fund).
Why the AI change stuck
Adoption widened and the results show up in measured work. Microsoft’s Work Trend Index reports 75% of knowledge workers using AI at work, often via tools they brought themselves (WorkLab). McKinsey’s 2025 State of AI puts organizational use around 78% across at least one function, with marketing and sales near the top—precisely where fundraising collateral lives (McKinsey). Independent studies supply the speed/quality math: MIT’s Noy and Zhang found writing tasks completed ~40% faster with higher-rated output when using ChatGPT; a Harvard/BCG field study of 758 consultants logged ~25% faster completion and >40% quality gains when tasks matched the model’s strengths (Science, Harvard/BCG).
Beyond slide decks: the Trunk Tools loop in heavy work
The compression from question to action now appears in vertical software. In July, Trunk Tools closed a $40M Series B (Insight Partners) to turn drawings, specs, schedules, and RFIs into answers field crews can use—agents for construction operations, not showroom demos (ENR, Company).
Use Gen-AI well
- Draft to discover. Spin an outline in Prezent, Tome, or Gamma to expose thin proof and bent sequencing while there’s still time to fix both.
- Rehearse against friction. One Yoodli session will surface the two questions you’re avoiding; place the better answers early.
- Make the send actionable. If you email decks, ship a Storydoc version so interest becomes a calendar slot, not a good intention.
- Measure your own funnel. Track opens → replies → meetings → diligence → time to decision. Iterate to numbers rather than vendor case studies.
Gen-AI Guardrails
Generative prose reads confident; accuracy still rests on sources. The strongest gains cluster where tasks fit the model’s frontier; outside that zone, quality slips. Keep humans close to pricing, differentiation, and risk language. Assume some investors will run their own AI triage; clarity and verifiability travel farther than flourish.
Closing thought
Software now clears the brush between notes and a coherent pitch. The advantage is time—time to test structure, refine answers, and earn one more serious read before the meeting that matters. The best decks remain specific, defensible, and brief. The tools just shorten the path.
