www.floridavdr.com/organizing-your-documents-in-the-data-room/
Investor data rooms are secure virtual spaces that businesses utilize to share sensitive data with buyers and advisors during the due diligence phase of M&A deals. These rooms are usually secured and monitored continuously to ensure that the information they store doesn’t fall into improper hands. The most reliable virtual data rooms offer due diligence checklists that can be used to simplify the collection of documents and ensure they are collected carefully.
Documents that you need to include in your investor data room may differ depending on the circumstances and transaction, but a few core documents are essential for every data room:
Legal Information It includes articles of incorporation and intellectual property registrations and employee stock agreements. It also includes the cap table which lists ownership stakes and percentages of your company. The founders can also decide to include prior investor updates, which shows investors that they are serious about investor communication and transparency.
Financial Information This includes the financial statements of the past and the future and explains assumptions, sources, and reasoning behind those projections. Founders could include a roadmap for their product and business plan.
Founders can decide to separate the investor data room and restrict access to different users by assigning roles. For example one section could have strategy documents and presentation decks for early stage investors while the second section would contain more detailed legal documentation aimed at more serious investors. This allows them to save time by only sharing documents they require, and also gives them more control over the information shared.