"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders, Researchers, and Live Player Analysis

E54: The Presentation Revolution with Jon Noronha, Co-Founder of Gamma

8 snips

Aug 17, 2023

In this discussion, Jon Noronha, co-founder of Gamma, shares insights into transforming the presentation landscape with AI. He dives into Gamma's origin as the 'anti-PowerPoint,' highlighting its ability to generate stunning presentations effortlessly. Noronha explains innovative AI A/B testing methods and the challenges of creating a seamless editing interface for users. He emphasizes how AI can refine rough ideas into polished visuals, reshaping creativity and efficiency in professional environments.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Gamma's AI Advantage

Jon Noronha tested early AI slide makers.
He found that Gamma, his own product, performed best.

INSIGHT

Gamma's Evolution

Gamma was initially designed as the "anti-PowerPoint," focusing on content over formatting.
AI's role emerged later, transforming Gamma into an intuitive, AI-driven presentation tool.

ANECDOTE

Gamma's Design

Gamma prioritized a writing-based experience inspired by Notion.
They focused on responsiveness, creating a web page builder for presentations.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

In this episode, Nathan sits down with Jon Noronha, co-founder of Gamma. Gamma is a new medium for presenting ideas, allowing you to focus on your ideas and receive beautiful, engaging content without the formatting work. In this episode, Jon and Nathan discuss the journey of building Gamma, how to coax AI to do things well, and the opportunity for AI A/B testing. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive

We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00:00) - Preview

(00:01:23) - Nathan introduces Jon Noronha

(00:06:36) - Intro - Jon Noronha introduces himself and Gamma

(00:09:36) - Gamma's origin story: building the "anti-PowerPoint" pre-GPT-3

(00:13:15) - From using AI for onboarding to generating near-complete presentations.

(00:15:11) - Sponsors: Netsuite | Omneky

(00:18:01) - If Notion and Canva had a baby

(00:23:35) - Searching for the right structure for AI, landing on HTML

(00:28:16) - Degrees of freedom - developing a constrained vocabulary of semantic blocks

(00:29:30) - Choice of model(s) – weighing cost, speed, and quality tradeoffs

(00:35:18) - Editing UI - getting AI to edit slides per user command

(00:38:04) - UI for gathering training data - following Midjourney's example

(00:40:00) AI A/B Testing: a big opportunity space

(00:43:22) - Image generation models - Baseten and Gamma's deployment of it

(00:45:37) - Pacing feature development - Trying to stay ahead of innovations like 3D, video, voice etc.

(00:47:45) Image generation for slidedecks and AI involvement

(00:50:29) Gamma's main building priorities and AI generated websites

(00:52:34) - Competing with giants like Microsoft and Google

(00:55:04) - Enterprise AI shipping challenges - Startups pioneer new patterns; giants will eventually follow.

(00:57:45) - Simplifying complexity - will models smooth over the complexity of bloated product suites?

(00:59:22) - Conclusion and final thoughts

X/TWITTER:

@thatsjonsense (Jon)

@labenz (Nathan)

@eriktorenberg

@CogRev_Podcast

LINKS:

Gamma: https://gamma.app/

SPONSORS: Shopify |NetSuite | Omneky

Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of ALL eCommerce in the US. And Shopify's the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries.From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/cognitive

NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive and download your own customized KPI checklist.

Omneky is an omnichannel creative generation platform that lets you launch hundreds of thousands of ad iterations that actually work customized across all platforms, with a click of a button. Omneky combines generative AI and real-time advertising data. Mention "Cog Rev" for 10% off.