Thorntale

What do they actually do

Thorntale built a browser-based presentation editor for data-driven decks. It offered curated templates, an opinionated design system, interactive/parameterized charts connected to sources like Google Sheets, and an AI assistant that could edit slides or generate full decks from a brief Pricing/features Docs: Getting started Introducing Thorntale AI.

Typical workflow: create an organization, start from a template or import existing slides, connect live data, use AI quick actions or deck generation, then share by link, email, or export to PDF Docs Import from Google Slides Create with Thorntale AI Save as PDF. Plans included a free tier (with AI message quotas) and an enterprise tier with SSO/SAML, team workspace, real-time collaboration, and higher AI limits Pricing.

On Dec 11, 2025, Thorntale announced that Thorntale Presentations is shutting down. Public focus shifted from new features to export and support for existing users Shutdown notice.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Product managers presenting roadmap and metrics updates: They need clean, on-brand slides but spend hours polishing layout and reformatting charts. Thorntale aimed to speed this with templates and an AI assistant for editing and generation YC launch Docs.
• Data analysts and BI teams turning dashboards into decks: They want decks that reflect current numbers but often export and restyle charts manually. Thorntale provided live data connectors and parameterized charts to keep visuals in theme and up to date Pricing/features Charts blog.
• Engineering or analytics leads explaining technical metrics to nontechnical stakeholders: They need to simplify complex metrics and rework wording and slide order. Thorntale’s AI quick actions and reorganization reduced manual rewriting and restructuring Introducing AI Docs.
• Founders and executives preparing investor or board decks: They need polished narratives under tight deadlines. Thorntale promoted AI-generated decks from short briefs and built-in proofreading to accelerate creation Create with AI YC launch.
• Sales and customer-facing teams sending recurring client reports: They need consistent templates and easy export or email for repeatable, on-brand reports. Thorntale offered templates, built-in email send, PDF export, and enterprise theming Pricing Save as PDF.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: High-touch onboarding with YC founders and product/data leads: offer to build their next deck, run live setup to showcase AI generation and templates, and assist with migration (e.g., Google Slides import) YC launch Create with AI Import.
• First 50: Productize onboarding with template packs, short case studies, and role-focused demos/webinars showing AI edits and parameterized charts; drive self-serve via free tier and step-by-step guides Charts blog Introducing AI Pricing Docs.
• First 100: Add a lightweight sales motion for SMB and mid-market trials; emphasize enterprise features (SSO, theming, higher AI quotas) for multi-seat deals, and lean on integrations/import/export promises to reduce switching risk Pricing — Enterprise Import PDF export.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Independent reports estimate the mid-2020s global presentation software market at roughly $6.7–9.0B annually, with forecasts into the low-to-mid tens of billions by late decade ResearchNester ResearchAndMarkets. Broader productivity and AI-productivity spend is much larger (tens of billions) Grand View Research.

Bottom-up calculation:

Illustratively, assume 100k mid-market/enterprise teams globally produce data-driven presentations, with an average of 50 creator seats per team and $8–12 per user per month; that implies roughly $4.8–7.2B in annual spend, consistent with top-down estimates.

Assumptions:

• ~100k companies worldwide with meaningful recurring presentation needs
• Average 50 presentation creators per company (team licenses, not viewers)
• Blended ARPU of $8–12 per user per month for a dedicated editor/AI add-on

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Pitch: Team-first slide editor with shared templates, real-time co-editing, and presentation analytics; overlaps on templates and team workflows but is centered on collaboration and viewer metrics rather than live, parameterized data charts Pitch.
• Beautiful.ai: AI-driven slide tool that auto-adjusts layouts and offers smart templates to reduce manual formatting; targets the same time-saving/design problem as Thorntale’s AI assistant but emphasizes automatic design/layout over live data connections Beautiful.ai.
• Google Slides: Ubiquitous editor bundled with Google Workspace; supports embedding and refreshing charts from Google Sheets, making it a common default for teams already on Google’s suite Slides Sheets-linked charts.
• Microsoft PowerPoint (with Copilot): Enterprise standard for decks with Copilot AI to generate/edit presentations and pull visuals from Excel; strong for organizations standardized on Microsoft 365 and on-brand templates Copilot in PowerPoint.
• Tome: AI-first storytelling tool that generates multi-page decks from short prompts; competes on fast deck generation but emphasizes narrative pages more than live, parameterized charts and enterprise theming overview.