AI Titans Tools Council: 39 Battle-Tested Tools | October 2025
- Jenny Kay Pollock
- 19 hours ago
- 12 min read
In early October, the WOMEN x AI Titans Tools Council an expert-led roundtable of AI builders, founders, and operators came together once again to share what’s working in their real-world workflows.
This quarter, our Council tested 39 battle-tested tools, spanning everything from research copilots and meeting notetakers to AI-driven recruiters and design generators. Each tool was explored through hands-on use, uncovering what accelerates progress and what still needs human judgment.
This report captures those lived insights. No sponsors. No hype. Just the voices of women using AI every day to lead, build, and create.
General Assistants
Notebook LM
Use Cases: Deep dives on communication strategy (company or personal branding), automating paperwork (e.g., creating spreadsheets from multiple documents).
What Works (Pros):
✅ Upload up to 50 sources per notebook.
✅ New mobile app for easy access and audio playback.
✅ Great for straightforward data extraction and compilation (e.g., creating an Excel sheet from employee forms).
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Limited podcast-voice variety (only two options).
❌ Always double-check outputs accurate but occasionally shallow.
Awesome new modes released including mind mapping as shown below during our recent hands on AI Tools for Everyday Work Workshop with FEI - San Francisco Chapter.
Council Members: Jenny Kay Pollock, Meg McWilliams
Link: Notebook LM
ChatGPT-4o / o3 Models
Use Cases: Strategy development, content ideation, and creative writing support.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Upload background docs and websites for context-aware insights.
✅ Strong reasoning and analysis capabilities.
✅ Voice input for fast brainstorming.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Broad prompts return generic answers, specificity wins.
❌ Outputs can vary slightly across versions.
Council Members: Jenny Wilde, Miri Rodriguez
Link: ChatGPT
Claude 3.5
Use Cases: Copywriting, message clarity, and pitch refinement.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Excels at empathetic copy and tone adaptation.
✅ Keeps style consistent once trained on examples.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Requires style training up front; underperforms without context.
❌ Doesn’t handle structured data as gracefully as ChatGPT.
Council Member: Meg McWilliams
Link: Claude.ai
Lindy
Use Cases: Automating repetitive administrative tasks and managing workflows across departments.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Executes multi-step routines across departments (e.g., marketing + ops).
✅ Great trial credits to explore advanced features.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Not a “set-and-forget” tool you must configure workflows carefully.
❌ Overlap with other assistants may require integration cleanup.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Link: Lindy.ai
Pulse by ChatGPT
Use Cases: Like an assistant for daily life reminders, tips and suggestions.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Starts your day with curated context, reduces time spent gathering updates or checking multiple apps.
✅ Personalized to your patterns and connections integrates with Gmail, Calendar, chat memory if enabled.
✅ Visual-card format keeps information digestible and avoids endless scroll.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Currently available only to Pro-subscribers (preview) and may require substantial data/app integration.
❌ Because it’s proactive and based on predictions, sometimes suggestions might be irrelevant or miss the mark.
❌ Privacy and data-connection trade-offs: full benefit requires sharing more app/data access with ChatGPT.
Council Member: Meg McWilliams
Link: Pulse by ChatGPT
Research & Deep Work
Perplexity AI
Use Cases: Fast research, validation of sources, and surfacing reputable data.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Always cites sources.
✅ Excellent for quick fact-checking and deep dives.
✅ The “Pro” version handles document uploads for targeted queries.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Can oversimplify nuanced topics; double-check linked sources.
❌ Limited depth in multi-stage reasoning.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Link: Perplexity.ai
Vellum / Fireworks (Maverick)
Use Cases: Automating research reports and orchestrating multi-agent data analysis.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Reduces hours of manual analysis through chained agents.
✅ Highly secure hosting environments (great for enterprise).
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Verbose by default; prompt for concise summaries.
❌ Setup requires technical familiarity with agents.
Council Member: Rachel Skeates-Millar
Links: Vellum · Fireworks
Dovetail
Use Cases: Synthesizing customer interviews and qualitative research.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Handles large transcripts effortlessly.
✅ Summarizes insights visually with themes and tags.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Designed for research, not strategy pair with GPT for next steps.
❌ Pricing can scale up quickly for large teams.
Our recent WOMEN x AI Podcast on AI x Product had all of the PMs on the call raving about Dovetail. Tune in to find out why.
Council Member: Rachel Skeates-Millar
Link: Dovetail.com
Deep Research (Multi-Model Technique)
Use Cases: Market research, competitor mapping, and multi-source synthesis.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Provides comprehensive context by comparing models.
✅ Reliable for quantitative summaries (e.g., TAM, competitor lists).
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Slower processing best used for longform research sessions.
❌ Requires manual synthesis of overlapping insights.
Council Member: Meg McWilliams
Links: ChatGPT · Perplexity.ai
Note-Taking & Memory
Granola
Use Cases: Recording meetings, brainstorming sessions, and reflections; automatically generating summaries and follow-up emails.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Records both in-person and online conversations.
✅ Syncs with Limitless and Google Calendar for full context.
✅ Allows manual additions, summaries, and follow-up suggestions.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Currently supports only business accounts (no @gmail access).
❌ Occasional transcription lag for long recordings.
Granola in Action During How Women Lead's Get On Board Week session on using AI to help you land a board seat.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde & Jenny Kay Pollock
Link: Granola.ai
Notes: Ideal for founders and operators juggling multiple meeting types.
Use Cases: Recording Zoom calls, capturing team discussions, and producing instant meeting notes.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Automatically joins calendar-linked meetings.
✅ Generates transcripts, summaries, and speaker insights.
✅ Translates across languages with impressive accuracy.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Sometimes joins private meetings uninvited adjust settings.
❌ Overly detailed transcripts can be overwhelming without filters.
Council Member: Malinda Johnson
Link: Otter.ai
Limitless
Use Cases: Capturing spontaneous ideas, hallway conversations, or event notes; acting as a personal memory device.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Great for recalling names, quotes, and commitments.
✅ Ideal for end-of-day reflection and voice journaling.
✅ Integrates with Granola and Notion for data continuity.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Occasionally mishears or misspells names.
❌ Battery requires daily charging; limited onboard reasoning.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Link: Limitless.ai
Notes: Expected to integrate with future ChatGPT hardware.
Vibe Coding / No-Code Builders
Bolt
Use Cases: Instantly generating websites, dashboards, or prototypes from text prompts.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Creates functional web apps and dashboards in minutes.
✅ Perfect for quick internal tools or client mockups.
✅ SVGs import cleanly for logos and icons.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ PNG upload issues.
❌ Limited customization for advanced users.
❌ Mobile app prompting still inconsistent.
Council Member: Meg McWilliams
Link: Bolt.new
Notes: Jenny vibe-coded the WOMEN x AI Membership Quiz with Bolt.
Lovable
Use Cases: Rapidly building visual prototypes and “vibe-coded” experiences.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Excellent UI speed and collaborative design view.
✅ Friendly for creative demos and investor previews.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Limited integrations; not production-grade.
❌ Code export sometimes breaks styling.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Link: Lovable.dev
Notes: Frequently recommended for prototyping during live workshops.
HeyBoss AI
Use Cases: Quick visualization of product concepts and early app flows.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Instantly visualizes rough ideas in meetings.
✅ Downloadable code for developer handoff.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Prone to glitches with dynamic pages.
❌ Lacks backend connectivity; design-only prototypes.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Link: HeyBossAI.com
Communication & Presentations
Gamma
Use Cases: Creating professional decks, iterating ideas, and collaborative storytelling.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Generates full decks in minutes from a prompt.
✅ Slides are editable and easy to restyle.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ No ability to import custom templates.
❌ Formatting occasionally resets between exports.
Council Members: Jenny Wilde, Reut Lazo
Link: Gamma.app
Notes: Frequently used for WOMEN x AI workshop slides.
Napkin AI
Use Cases: Turning text-based ideas or posts into diagrams and frameworks.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Converts long text into visuals instantly.
✅ Excellent for blog illustrations or presentations.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Free plan limits design variation.
❌ Requires cleanup for brand colors.
Example of napkin taking text explaining Private Equity terms and making a visual.
Council Members: Jenny Kay Pollock, Jenny Wilde
Link: Napkin.ai
Whimsical AI
Use Cases: Mapping processes, brainstorming sessions, or project dependencies.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Real-time collaboration and auto-formatting.
✅ Perfect for product discussions or org-design visuals.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Can get messy without post-meeting cleanup.
❌ Limited diagram export options.
Council Member: Rachel Skeates-Millar
Link: Whimsical.com
Yoodli
Use Cases: Practice presentations, pitches, etc. Members of myJob Search Mastery program are acing interviews with companies like Fastly, Google, and Amazon by practicing with this tool
What Works (Pros):
✅ Real-time collaboration and auto-formatting.
✅ Perfect for product discussions or org-design visuals.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Still less good than a human.
Council Member: Malinda Johnson
Link: Yoodli.ai
Founders’ Toolkit
TrustCloud AI
Use Cases: Helping startups streamline SOC 2 compliance and security documentation.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Prebuilt templates cover most compliance needs.
✅ Offers customer-facing security pages to enhance sales trust.
✅ Simplifies policy writing for early-stage teams.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ SOC 2 is still time-consuming AI only reduces, not removes, the work.
❌ Limited support for highly customized frameworks.
Council Member: Malinda Johnson
Link: TrustCloud.ai
Conversa AI
Use Cases: AI-powered hiring assistant that screens candidates and flags top matches.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Increases diversity and fairness by reducing bias in candidate selection.
✅ Saves time on resume reviews.
✅ Automates interview scheduling.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Not optimized for outbound sourcing.
❌ Small learning curve for configuring custom roles.
Council Member: Malinda Johnson
Link: GetConversa.com
Juicebox AI
Use Cases: Outbound recruiting and LinkedIn candidate messaging automation.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Personalized outreach sequences drive higher response rates.
✅ Excellent search filters for technical and executive roles.
✅ Saves hours in manual LinkedIn outreach.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Doesn’t process inbound applicants.
❌ Limited CRM-style reporting.
Council Member: Malinda Johnson
Link: Juicebox.ai
Content Creation & Thought Leadership
Use Cases: Recording and editing professional podcasts or interviews.
What Works (Pros):
✅ AI editing removes filler words and adjusts pacing.
✅ Auto-generates show notes, chapters, and keywords.
✅ Records locally for higher-quality audio.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Over-editing can make dialogue feel robotic keep some pauses.
❌ Early feature rollouts sometimes introduce bugs.
Council Members: Reut Lazo, Jenny Kay Pollock
Link: Riverside.fm
Notes: Used for all WOMEN x AI podcast episodes and panel recordings.
Descript
Use Cases: Editing internal training videos, webinars, or repurposing recordings for content.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Edits video by changing text transcripts.
✅ Great for quick internal content creation.
✅ Supports brand voice adjustments through overdub features.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ AI tone correction sometimes feels flat needs final human polish.
❌ Large files may slow rendering times.
Council Member: Rachel Skeates-Millar
Link: Descript.com
Custom GPTs (Hook Generator Example)
Use Cases: Generating catchy marketing hooks, copy, or idea prompts tailored to brand voice.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Specialized GPTs solve niche problems effectively.
✅ Easy to reuse once a strong one is found.
✅ Great for marketing, copywriting, and brainstorming.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Quality varies, requires experimentation to find good ones.
❌ Broad prompts yield weaker results.
Council Member: Jenny Kay Pollock
Link: ChatGPT Custom GPTs
Notes: WOMEN x AI uses a Custom GPT to guide users through membership tiers.
Veed
Use Cases: Web video editor with lots of ai features like , smart subtitles, and an ai assitant that can find the elements you need and insert them automatically
What Works (Pros):
✅ Text to voice for voice over
✅ Smart subtitles
✅ AI assistant can help you find and insert elements
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ TBD
Council Member: Meg McWilliams
Link: Veed
Connections & Discovery
Distill
Use Cases: Researching investors, founders, or potential collaborators.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Aggregates data across web and social profiles.
✅ Excellent for pre-meeting preparation or event networking.
✅ Identifies shared connections.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Occasionally confuses similar names—verify identities.
❌ Still in beta; some inconsistencies in data freshness.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Link: Distill.fyi
Happenstance
Use Cases: Finding people in your network for targeted outreach or partnerships.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Great for finding warm intros (“Who in my network works at X company?”).
✅ Supports queries across multiple platforms.
✅ Helps resurface dormant contacts.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Results depend on prompt precision.
❌ Works better with smaller curated networks.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Link: Happenstance.ai
Coral
Use Cases: Get feedback on how you performed in a meeting and provides coaching on how you can improve.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Feedback based on the goals you have for how you want to show up in meetings.
✅ Provides actionable suggestions for your next meeting.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Have to upload a transcript.
❌ Transcript must include who you are.
Council Member: Jenny Kay Pollock
Link: Coral
Gobby Goblin
Use Cases: Custom intros at events.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Tell Gobby your goals via text or phone before you attend the event.
✅ Finds other event attendees to intro you to before the event.
✅ Great for finding the needle in a haystack and increasing ROI for attending an event.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Can be hard to find your match in the crowd if you haven't coordinated ahead of time
❌ Doesn't work at events that don't have Gobby embedded
Council Member: Meg McWilliams
Link: Gobby Goblin
HireBase
Use Cases: Discovering open job opportunities that match your experience and skills.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Aggregates listings from multiple job boards.
✅ Uses AI to match qualifications to job descriptions.
✅ Provides advanced search filters for seniority and location.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Focuses on discovery, not referrals or introductions.
❌ Occasional duplicates between job sources.
Council Member: Malinda Johnson
Link: HireBase.org
Agents & Workflow Builders
Superinterviews
Use Cases: Interview prep and personalized practice sessions for job seekers or founders.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Mimics real interviews and provides instant coaching.
✅ Highlights weak spots in communication or storytelling.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Early-stage tool—limited customization and data sets.
❌ May recycle generic feedback.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Particle
Use Cases: Daily AI and tech news summaries.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Delivers concise, high-quality summaries.
✅ Good for trend tracking and staying informed.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Limited depth beyond the headline layer.
❌ Focused mainly on technical updates, not industry context.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Link: Particle.News
Claude Artifacts
Use Cases: Creating interactive diagrams, prototypes, or UX flows with natural language.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Turns text ideas into working visual prototypes.
✅ Encourages visual collaboration and quick iteration.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Not intended for production, no export polish.
❌ Still experimental in output fidelity.
Council Member: Meg McWilliams
Link: Claude.ai
Email & Inbox AI
Gemini Pro for Gmail
Use Cases: Drafting and refining email responses directly within Gmail.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Reads context of incoming email to draft replies.
✅ Good for short and medium-length responses.
✅ Improves tone matching over time.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Requires review and minor edits.
❌ Inconsistent for nuanced or emotional messages.
Council Member: Jenny Wilde
Notes: Available to Gemini AI Pro subscribers.
Voice to Text
Wispr Flow
Use Cases: You can speak instead of type across all major apps on your phone and laptop.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Doesn't change your tone not your words.
✅ Tidies up your thoughts, grammar and punctation.
✅ Can hear you when you whisper so you can use it around people.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Won’t elevate your wording or make things sound formal
❌ Need another tool if you want a more polished tone
Council Members: Jenny Wilde
Link: Wispr Flow
Forms
Tally
Use Cases: Create a form.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Generous free tier.
✅ Editor is natural and feels like writing in a doc.
✅ Has templates, custom domains, integrations, conditional logic, answer piping, and more.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Advanced team/workspace controls and deeper analytics sit behind the paid “Pro” plan.
❌ No native mobile app
❌ Styling is less flexible than some alternatives
Council Members: Jenny Wilde
Link: Tally.so
Browser
Dia
Use Cases: AI native browser - think chrome w/ an ai co pilot in every tab
What Works (Pros):
✅ Easily move between browsing and side bar chat
✅ Research more deeply and create TL;DRs
✅ Can compare tabs and give breakdowns
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ TBD
Council Members: Meg McWilliams
Link: Dia Browser
Comet AI Browser
Use Cases: Conversational browsing and research synthesis. Acts as both a search assistant and a browser that can summarize, compare, and act across web pages, helping users move from finding information to applying it directly.
What Works (Pros):
✅ Integrates conversational AI directly into browsing summarize, cross-check, and compare open tabs instantly.
✅ Excellent for deep research, policy monitoring, or content curation; saves hours of manual tab-hopping.
✅ Built on Chromium, so it supports Chrome extensions and familiar workflows.
What Doesn’t Work (Cons):
❌ Still early-stage; interface can feel cluttered or inconsistent across updates.
❌ Requires precise prompting for best results casual browsing yields weaker insights.
❌ Heavy AI processing can drain system resources on large projects.
Council Members: Jenny Kay Pollock
Link: Comet AI Browser
Reflection
Across 39 tools and nine categories, one theme stood out: AI is no longer a novelty, it’s an extension of how we think, plan, and collaborate.
Each Council member brought a lived understanding of what it means to build responsibly with AI. The tools that succeeded weren’t just powerful; they respected time, context, and creativity.
AI fluency is a practice, not a destination. It’s the space between curiosity and confidence where leaders experiment, share, and learn in community.
Learn more about the AI Titans Tools Council and who helps select and review these tools.
Learn AI in Community. Join the WOMEN x AI Membership to explore, experiment, and grow alongside other AI-curious and AI-fluent leaders.