What Is a Data Room for Startups? (And How to Set One Up)

A data room is a secure, organised collection of documents that founders share with investors during due diligence — typically after a first meeting and before a term sheet. It gives investors everything they need to evaluate the company without exchanging individual files over email.

What goes in a startup data room

Essential documents: - Pitch deck (current version) - Financial model (3-year projections) - Cap table - Revenue and MRR history - Customer contracts or LOIs (if applicable) - Team bios and LinkedIn profiles

Legal documents: - Certificate of incorporation - Shareholder agreements - IP assignments - Any existing term sheets or SAFEs

Optional but helpful: - Competitive landscape analysis - Product roadmap - Customer testimonials or case studies - Reference contacts

Free vs paid data room tools

How to set up a data room in Prezdo (5 minutes)

1. Create a workspace at prezdo.com
2. Create a new Data Room (name it: "Series A — [Your Company]")
3. Upload each document as a separate file
4. Set access: email whitelist (add only the investors you're sharing with)
5. Share the single data room link: yourcompany.prezdo.com/series-a
6. Investors enter their email, verify via OTP, and see all documents in one place

What to track once it's live

With Prezdo, you see exactly which investors spent time on your financial model vs your team page. Investors who spend 15+ minutes in your data room are almost always moving towards a term sheet. That's your signal to accelerate the conversation.

Common mistakes

• Including too much: Start with essentials. Add more on request.
• Not controlling access: Anyone with the link shouldn't be able to enter. Use whitelist or OTP.
• Using Google Drive: No analytics, no access control, files can be downloaded and forwarded freely.
• Using the same link for everyone: Create separate data room links per investor if you want to see who's looking at what.

Set up your data room free →