AI startup Tome restructures to focus on paying customers, lays off staff

Startup Tome, known for its generative AI presentation tool, is undergoing a significant restructuring to target its paying customers – sales teams who utilize the product to quickly create personalized decks. The company plans to lay off 20% of its workforce and shift its focus towards enterprise sales and business-to-business software development. This strategic pivot reflects a departure from the earlier emphasis on attracting a broad audience and monetizing through advertising. Tome’s shift in direction is influenced by the realization that sales organizations are willing to invest in enhanced features, prompting the development of specialized capabilities tailored to the sales industry, such as tools for extracting valuable information from SEC filings and analyzing Salesforce data.

Co-founder and CEO Keith Peiris, drawing on advice from backer Reid Hoffman, a former executive at PayPal and co-founder of LinkedIn, believes that narrowing their focus on revenue-generating clients in the short term will position Tome for long-term success. Peiris aims to create a more sophisticated product catering to the specific needs of sales and marketing leaders, signaling a departure from the consumer-centric approach the company initially pursued. The shift necessitates a change in skill sets among the development team, transitioning towards a more data-driven approach rather than the design-centric methodology typical of consumer-oriented products.