神译局是36氪旗下编译团队，关注科技、商业、职场、生活等领域，重点介绍国外的新技 术、新观点、新风向。 编者按：工具过载的2026，只会提问已远不够。从"氛围编程"到全能代理，这份S级清单划出了生产力 真正的分水岭。文章来自编译。 以下是它们的各自优势所在： 在接下来的章节中，我将详细介绍它们在这些任务中脱颖而出的原因。 A 级：大多数人都应该使用的工具 学习利器：NotebookLM NotebookLM 是一款用 Gemini 技术驱动的 AI 研究工具，其核心优势在于能够基于你提供的文档进行工 作。你可以上传 PDF、Google 文档或会议记录，它会自动生成摘要、提供带有引用来源的解答，甚至 能将其转化成播客内容。 如果你打算学习一款新的 AI 工具，请务必从以下清单中选择。 在过去的三年里，我针对不同的任务测试了数十款 AI 工具。 它们当中有些表现惊艳，有些差强人意，还有一些已经退出了历史舞台。 以下是我发现的最出色的 AI 工具。我已按类别对其进行了整理，并划分为不同的等级。此外，我还为 大多数工具提供了学习指南。 S 级：全民必备的 AI 工具（至少选择其一） 毫无疑问，ChatGPT、Gem ...

(一) 为什么独立的 Vibe Coding 必死，但 Personal Software 会火？ Personalized software (个性化软件) 这个方向最近很火。 蚂蚁的灵光上线后，听说一天内的数据就达到了团队定的年度目标。 Replika 的创始人 Kuyda 最近也再次创业，做了一个叫 Wabi 的产品，定位是 Youtube for Apps，一个 mini app 的集合平台。(类似方向的产品国内还有马卡龙、 Youware 等等) 姚顺雨（前 OpenAI 研究员）曾反反复复表达过一个观点，我印象很深： 「创业公司最大的机会，在于设计不同的交互方式。」 于是这期就索性围绕「交互」这个主题展开，分享一下我们最近观察到的一些机会。 目录 我最近听了她的两期播客，很有意思，摘录一些 insights： 1. 软件的未来将是「应用的 YouTube 化」。 在 Kuyda 看来，软件行业正在经历内容行业当年的变迁。 就像视频从专业制作走向人人可拍，软件开发也将从全球「2000 万开发者」的特权，泛化为「80 亿创作者」的日常媒介。 在这个语境下，未来的软件，更多会像快消品，它不再需要追求 S ...

Core Insights - The recent significant news in the AI sector is Cursor's successful fundraising of $2.3 billion, raising its valuation to $29.3 billion, a nearly 12-fold increase in just over a year [3] - The competitive landscape is intensifying as major players like Microsoft launch advanced tools such as Copilot, which threaten the market positions of emerging AI companies like Cursor and Gamma [2][8] Company Highlights - Cursor, founded in 2023, has quickly become a "programming savior" for millions of developers, addressing common pain points like writing boilerplate code and debugging [5][7] - Gamma, with a small team of 52, has developed a tool that simplifies the creation of presentations, achieving an annual revenue exceeding $100 million and nearly 30 million monthly visits [5][7] Competitive Threats - Microsoft’s Copilot can generate documents and presentations with voice commands, posing a significant threat to Gamma, which relies on users installing additional software [8][10] - The entry of domestic giants into the programming tool market, such as Volcano Engine's low-cost programming model, intensifies the competition for Cursor, which may struggle to maintain its market share amid price wars [12][14] Market Dynamics - The success of Cursor and Gamma is attributed to their ability to address existing inefficiencies in traditional tools, but they lack substantial barriers to entry against larger competitors [7][14] - The current landscape suggests that companies relying solely on AI for efficiency improvements without building a robust user ecosystem or unique technology may face significant challenges [14][15]

Core Insights - Gamma aims to reconstruct PowerPoint rather than create another version of it, focusing on a content-first approach rather than a design-first one [8][10][25] - The company has achieved significant growth, raising $68 million led by a16z, with a valuation of $2.1 billion, despite initial skepticism from investors [3][5] - Gamma has successfully integrated AI into its product, enhancing user experience and engagement, leading to a rapid increase in user base [14][15][16] Group 1: Company Overview - Gamma started with a small team of fewer than 10 people and has become a new unicorn in the PPT space, achieving profitability within two years [5][6] - The founders identified a gap in the market where existing tools were not meeting user needs effectively, leading to the development of a more intuitive and user-friendly platform [8][10] - The company has a user base of 70 million and annual revenue exceeding $100 million, indicating strong market demand and product-market fit [16] Group 2: Product Development and AI Integration - The initial version of Gamma's AI product focused on helping users generate draft content and find suitable images, which significantly improved user engagement [14][15] - The company emphasizes a "human in the loop" approach, balancing AI capabilities with user control to enhance the creative process [16][25] - AI is used to solve common design problems, allowing users to generate multiple design options quickly, which would take much longer manually [19][20] Group 3: Growth Strategy - From the outset, Gamma prioritized growth, embedding it into the company's DNA to ensure long-term success [28][29] - The company has leveraged influencer marketing effectively, with over 50% of new users coming from word-of-mouth referrals [36][37] - Gamma's brand has evolved to become synonymous with AI presentations, aiming to establish itself as a standard in the industry [29][33] Group 4: Team and Culture - The company maintains a small, efficient team, emphasizing careful hiring to ensure alignment with its core values and principles [38][39] - The founders believe in a slow hiring process to build a strong foundational team that can adapt quickly to changes in strategy [39][40] - A high proportion of designers within the team contributes to creating a superior user experience, which is crucial for product success [41][42]

Core Insights - Gamma has completed a $68 million Series B funding round led by a16z, with a valuation reaching $2.1 billion [1] - The company claims to have surpassed an ARR of $100 million, with over 70 million total users and more than 600,000 paying users, while maintaining a full-time team of only 52 [2] - Gamma aims to challenge major players in the presentation software market, specifically PowerPoint and Google Slides, by focusing on strategic investments and enterprise-level products [2] Funding and Valuation - Gamma's recent funding round was led by a16z, with participation from Accel and Uncork Capital, resulting in a valuation of $2.1 billion [1] - The company has been profitable and has not utilized previous funding, indicating a strong financial position [2] User Metrics and Market Position - Gamma's ARR has exceeded $100 million, with a user base of over 70 million and more than 600,000 paying users [2] - The average price for enterprise accounts is $480 per seat, highlighting a focus on B2B offerings [2] Product Development and Strategy - Gamma has successfully addressed the "blank page" problem through AI, enhancing user experience by focusing on individual use rather than real-time collaboration [3] - The company leverages the "IKEA effect" to balance automation with user autonomy, increasing user engagement and retention [3] Industry Trends - The next decade is expected to focus on AI-native creation tools, transforming how work is done and enhancing creativity [7] - Gamma's approach aligns with a broader trend of democratizing storytelling and idea exchange, similar to how AI programming has empowered non-developers [8] Competitive Landscape - Previous attempts in the AI PPT space, such as Tome, struggled due to a broad user focus and lack of product-market fit, contrasting with Gamma's targeted strategy [2] - The emergence of venture studio platforms that acquire and enhance traditional software with AI presents a competitive challenge, as seen with companies like Replit [8][9]

Core Insights - The AI PPT sector has seen significant growth, with Gamma achieving nearly 30 million visits and securing $68 million in Series B funding, leading to a valuation of $2.1 billion [1][5] - The top three AI PPT products experienced an average traffic increase of over 30% in September, with Mentimeter showing a remarkable 42% month-over-month growth [1][2] - The competitive landscape indicates a divergence in performance, with Gamma and AIPPT gaining traction while established players like Prezi and Slidesgo have seen declines [5][7] Company Performance - Gamma's web traffic increased from 14.53 million in September 2024 to 28.58 million in September 2025, marking a nearly 100% growth [4][5] - AIPPT's overseas site traffic rose from 1.06 million to 6.07 million, allowing it to rank among the top two in the sector when combining domestic and international traffic [5][12] - Prezi's traffic decreased from 15.68 million to 10.87 million, indicating a significant drop in user engagement [4][5] Product Features and Innovations - Gamma has introduced features such as "aspect ratio selection" and improved export capabilities, allowing users to choose between traditional 16:9 and other formats, enhancing user experience [8][10] - AIPPT's growth strategy focuses on adapting successful domestic features for international markets, with a pricing strategy that is four times lower in China compared to the U.S. [12][13] - Mentimeter, while established since 2016, has recently integrated AI features to enhance interactivity, allowing real-time audience engagement during presentations [19][22] Market Trends - The AI PPT market is characterized by a split performance, with Gamma and AIPPT thriving due to their innovative approaches, while traditional players struggle to maintain their positions [7][14] - The integration of AI in PPT creation is lowering barriers to entry, leading to increased participation in content creation and expanding the market [24] - User feedback highlights the importance of AI's ability to understand user intent and respect original content, which is crucial for gaining user trust in AI-generated outputs [14][16]

Core Insights - AI is transforming business operations and executives who resist this change may hinder their productivity [1][3] - Masterclass CEO David Rogier emphasizes the importance of utilizing AI tools to enhance efficiency [1][4] AI Tools Utilized by Executives - Rogier employs eight specific AI tools to boost productivity, including a customized version of ChatGPT named "Davidify" for drafting emails and speeches [2][5] - Other tools mentioned include Gamma for slide decks, Make.com and Todoist for task prioritization, NotebookLM for summarizing content, Lovable for product mockups, Claude Projects for real-time feedback, and Suno for creating custom playlists [5][6] Perspective on AI in Business - Rogier argues that CEOs not using AI are limiting their productivity and suggests that customized AI can simplify various tasks [3][4] - He views AI as an "accelerant" that can redefine work processes rather than a threat to jobs [4][6]

Core Insights - Gamma achieved a remarkable growth from 0 to 50 million USD ARR in just two years, with the founder Grant Lee sharing that the cost of this experience exceeded 5 million USD [1][2] Growth Strategies - The company employed four strategies for growth, with the initial 10 million USD ARR primarily driven by word-of-mouth and organic content, while the subsequent growth to 50 million USD ARR saw over 50% still coming from word-of-mouth, complemented by influencer marketing, partnerships, and referrals [2][3] Influencer Marketing - Influencer marketing was identified as a key growth lever, with 90% of Gamma's reach coming from less than 10% of viral content. The strategy involves extensive collaboration with influencers and testing various content formats to identify effective ones [4][5] - A budget of 10,000 to 20,000 USD per month for at least six months is recommended to work with multiple smaller influencers and test various concepts [5][6] Brand and Creative Development - Establishing a strong brand and creative foundation is crucial before scaling ad spend. Gamma underwent an expensive brand overhaul to ensure a compelling brand identity, emphasizing the importance of testing numerous creative ideas [10][11] User Testing - User testing of prototypes before launch is essential to avoid misdirection in product development. Gamma's team, with a background in experimentation, conducted extensive user tests to validate assumptions and identify potential blind spots early [11][12] Dogfooding - The practice of "dogfooding," or using one's own product, is emphasized as a rigorous test to ensure the product is significantly better than existing solutions. This approach helps identify weaknesses and validate the product's value proposition [13][15][16]

AI Tools for Productivity - A16Z's AI investment team uses a core stack of 10 AI products weekly or daily to enhance productivity [1] - Perplexity's Comet browser is used for email triage, calendar management, and workflow automation via shortcuts [1][2] - Julius is used for reliable data analysis, including processing files, generating graphics, and creating repeatable notebooks [4][5] - Happenstance helps search across LinkedIn, Gmail, and Twitter connections using natural language prompts to find relevant contacts [7][8] - Granola is an AI note-taker that records meetings, combines manual and AI notes, and provides real-time transcripts and summaries [9][10] - Gamma is used to generate slide decks, documents, and websites with AI-powered editing and flexible output options [13][14][15] - Willow offers accurate voice dictation with voice editing capabilities and a desktop app for dictating into any application [16][17] - Superhuman is an email client enhanced with AI features like auto-labeling, split inbox, instant replies, and auto-reminders [18][19] - Overlap automatically detects and scores engaging moments in long-form videos, turning them into social media clips [20] - Crea hosts various AI models for image, video, lip sync, and animation, with workflow tools for content iteration [21][22] - OpenAI's ChatGPT is used for deep research, image generation (GPT40), and well-reasoned takes, despite some disappointment with new agent and connector features [23][24]

Core Viewpoint - The article emphasizes the importance of organizational innovation in AI startups, highlighting that a small, efficient team can achieve significant impact without the need for large-scale hiring and excessive funding [4][9][38]. Group 1: Company Performance and Strategy - Gamma, an AI startup, has a team of 30 people serving nearly 50 million users, with an ARR exceeding $50 million and has been profitable for over a year [2][3]. - The founder, Grant Lee, believes that the traditional model of raising large amounts of capital and hiring hundreds of employees is outdated [5][9]. - The company focuses on maximizing the impact of each employee by hiring versatile individuals who can solve problems across different domains [7][19]. Group 2: Organizational Design and Culture - The company aims to avoid creating "expert silos" by hiring multi-talented individuals and adopting a "player-coach" model, where leaders also contribute to execution [7][14]. - Grant Lee emphasizes the need for a feedback culture within the team to ensure continuous improvement and accountability [24]. - The company values proactive employees with a strong willingness to learn and adapt quickly to new skills, prioritizing generalists over specialists [19][49]. Group 3: Funding Philosophy - The company adopts a cautious approach to funding, preferring to focus on sustainable growth rather than rapid expansion through excessive financing [9][43]. - Grant Lee advocates for a long-term relationship with investors, treating financing as a partnership rather than a quick transaction [41]. - The company aims to achieve profitability before seeking further funding, ensuring that each new hire is driven by actual market needs [43][44]. Group 4: Product Development and Market Position - Gamma's initial focus was on simplifying communication for knowledge workers, with a shift towards integrating AI to enhance content creation processes [56]. - The company experienced significant user growth after launching AI features that assist in drafting and searching for relevant images [58]. - The founder acknowledges the rapid evolution of the AI landscape, emphasizing the need for companies to remain adaptable and vigilant against emerging competition [51][54].