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A while ago , I builta toolthat use AI to give feedback on hundreds of pitch decks . Every morning , I skim through the slant deck critique my little bot realise without really count at the decks . Every now and again , it ’s stratospherically effusive in its praise , and I steady myself : What if the deck is n’t that good ?
To my relief , it usually start it right .
Similarly , sometimes it completelyslaughtersa deck of cards . That ’s when I get disquieted about the bot missing something that ’s actually good , but the vast absolute majority of the fourth dimension , it aim it correct . The feedback can be harsh , but fair .
Last week , I had to send an apology to a founder because their deck was utterly massacred by the bot but it was perfectly off base . I was confused at first , but after a while , I realized that the founders select to rick the text into range of a function to be more design - forward with the titles , and the bot failed to aright identify the slides . therefore , the bot gave feedback on the squad slue as if it were the competitor slide .
All this is to say that in these days of AI being used for almost everything , father should judge to see to it their deck of cards are accessible to a less - obvious interview : AI bot .
The good newsworthiness is that making your lurch decks simple machine - readable is not actually hard to do . You only need to make a few simple and straight changes .
Traditionally , the main audience for pitch decks has been human — investor , venture capitalists , and other potential stakeholders . So the pitch deck was so far designed to impress and inform , with creative designs , compelling images , and carefully craft depicted object . In a way , then , add AI to the mix is a footling like search - locomotive engine optimization : You ’re creating your website for humans , but you ’re keeping the extra consultation ( hunting engines ) in creative thinker , too .
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This shift key toward machine - readability is being driven by VCs . With an ever increase numeral of startup vying for their attending , many VCs are using AI - powered tools to sift through pitch decks . For object lesson , Deckmatch offers this as a armed service to VCs , and Headline use AI tochew their inauguration ’ financialsto build out if they have merchandise - marketplace fit . Almost everyone who is operating at scale is marvel how AI can make their sprightliness easier and good .
In my recent brush with this , my AI tool failed to correctly name slides in a pitch shot pack of cards because the design was too image - center . The AI was looking for specific keywords in the text and it found several companionship names but missed the gens and occupation titles that were implant in image . The AI erroneously cater feedback on the squad slide as if it were the contender swoop , which culminate in a perfectly understandable mistake that could have resulted in a startup not nonplus a call back from the VC .
So while startup now need to ensure their deck are machine - readable , it does n’t mean that creative design should be sideline . But it does suggest that design and subject matter should work together to ply to both human and machine audiences .
The honorable news here is that AI tools are develop and get better at decipher visual data . My puppet initially failed to aright discover slides , but it has now been updated to apply optical character acknowledgment ( OCR ) to understand text embedded in effigy .
procession will no doubt head to fresh challenges , but they also open up opportunities . A machine - clear sales pitch deck can potentially reach more VCs , increase the startup ’s probability of secure funding . It can also expedite the review physical process , as AI tools can sift through and canvass decks quicker than their human counterparts .
So , a few crown :
Keep the machines in mind ; they are more permeant than you might cerebrate .
