Investors require lots how to run an investor data room of information to make an informed decision on investing in your startup. The more information they have, the faster they will be able to review it and reach a decision. You should have all of the essential documents in your data room before you begin to talk to investors (or as early as you can).
In addition to the key investment documents you’ll need for any due diligence, founders should include their most recent investor presentation, basic financials for past performance and projections, cap table, and company organization/formation documentation (including business certificates, articles of incorporation, tax information, etc.). Being able to access these documents in your investor data room will allow investors to quickly and efficiently create an agreement memo or a conversation between their partners that could lead to an offer for a term sheet.
A deal attribution analysis is a useful document to include in your investor data rooms. This will show how your team invested in other startups and helps to reassure potential LPs that you’re capable of making smart investments. You might also want to include other supplementary information, such as intellectual property information, supplier and customer contracts, market research, and more.
You can add documents to your data room at any time however it’s essential that you only allow access to investors who is serious about committing to the terms of a termsheet. You may slow down the process when you allow an investor to access your data room before they are prepared. They could even decide not to invest.
