Data room checklist
What to have ready when an investor says "this looks promising — can you send us your data room?"
When to share
Only after a verbal "we're interested in moving forward." Don't send the data room with the cold email. It's a sign of seriousness on both sides — sharing it should mean the investor is committing time.
How to host it
Pick one:
- Google Drive folder (easiest, free, easy to control access per-investor)
- Notion page (better for narrative docs + comments)
- DocSend (paid, tracks who viewed which doc and for how long — useful for prioritising follow-ups)
For pre-seed: Google Drive is fine. Switch to DocSend at Series A.
What goes in the data room
1. Pitch materials
📁 1. Pitch materials/
├── jobab-pitch-deck.pdf
├── jobab-one-pager.pdf
├── jobab-demo-video.mp4 (or Loom link)
└── jobab-financial-model.xlsx2. The product
📁 2. Product/
├── product-screenshots/ (Inbox, Orders, Catalog, Analytics, Settings)
├── architecture-overview.pdf (export of ARCHITECTURE.md)
├── tech-stack-overview.pdf (export of docs/build/3-tech-stack.md)
└── live-docs-url.txt (siraajul.github.io/jobab)Investor questions this answers:
- "Show me the product" → screenshots + Loom
- "Is the tech real?" → architecture + tech-stack + repo URL
3. Market evidence
📁 3. Market/
├── merchant-interviews/ (anonymised notes from 5+ BD merchant conversations)
├── competitive-landscape.pdf (Lazychat, Manychat, others — feature comparison)
├── market-size-sources.pdf (BB fintech report, F-commerce Alliance data)
└── meta-channel-research.pdf (the Meta-rules-2026 research we did)Investor questions:
- "How do you know merchants want this?" → interviews
- "Why won't Lazychat eat your lunch?" → competitive landscape
- "Where do your TAM numbers come from?" → sources
4. Traction
📁 4. Traction/
├── pilot-merchants-list.pdf (names, page URLs, signup dates, status)
├── usage-metrics.pdf (active merchants, conversations/day, AI-handled %)
├── meta-business-verification.pdf (status, dates)
└── app-review-submission.pdf (status, submitted/approved permissions)Update this folder monthly — investors will check the date on the files. Stale traction data signals you're not paying attention.
5. Financials
📁 5. Financials/
├── financial-model.xlsx (the 36-month projection)
├── current-burn.pdf (last 3 months: cash in, cash out, runway)
├── pricing-research.pdf (how we landed on ৳999/৳2,999/৳7,999)
└── unit-economics.pdf (COGS per conversation, LTV/CAC math)6. Legal + company
📁 6. Legal/
├── incorporation-certificate.pdf
├── trade-license.pdf
├── tax-registration.pdf
├── cap-table.xlsx (founder + any prior investors / ESOP)
├── ip-ownership-statement.pdf (you own the code, no employer IP issues)
└── contracts/
├── meta-developer-tos.pdf
├── groq-api-tos.pdf
└── (any merchant LOIs)7. Team
📁 7. Team/
├── founder-bio.pdf (your 1-page bio)
├── founder-linkedin.pdf (your LinkedIn export)
├── hiring-plan.pdf (first 5 hires + when + why)
└── advisor-list.pdf (if you have advisors — names, what they help with)8. References
📁 8. References/
├── customer-references.pdf (pilot merchants willing to take a call)
├── investor-references.pdf (any prior backers, even friends-and-family)
└── advisor-references.pdfPre-seed, this section may be thin. That's normal. Honesty: "We're early, the pilot merchants will be the first references."
What NOT to put in the data room
- Half-baked drafts ("v2 of pricing — TBD")
- Internal Slack screenshots
- Anything you wouldn't want a competitor to see (this stuff sometimes leaks)
- Negative-toned docs ("things we got wrong" — discuss verbally instead)
- Personal data of merchants — anonymise interview notes
Access tiers
Different investors get different folders.
| Stage | What they see |
|---|---|
| Cold email | One-pager only |
| First meeting confirmed | Deck + Loom |
| Verbal interest after meeting | + Financial model, market research |
| Considering term sheet | + Legal, cap table, references |
| Term sheet signed | Full data room |
Use Google Drive's per-folder sharing, or DocSend's per-investor links, to control this.
Tracking who's seen what
Maintain a simple spreadsheet:
| Investor | Stage | Last contact | Last doc sent | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Name @ Fund] | Cold | 2026-06-01 | One-pager | Follow up Friday |
| [Name @ Fund] | First meeting | 2026-06-03 | Deck + Loom | Demo next Tuesday |
| [Name @ Fund] | Considering | 2026-06-10 | Financial model | Send refs |
Without this, you'll forget who's seen what and double-send things or lose investors in the cracks.
What to send when
| Trigger | What to send |
|---|---|
| Cold outreach | One-pager PDF in the email body |
| Investor replies "interested" | Calendly link + deck PDF |
| After meeting (within 4 hours) | Follow-up email with deck + Loom + specific answers to their questions |
| After "we want to move forward" | Data room link (filtered to their tier) |
| Monthly update (active investors) | One-pager "what changed this month" — even before they ask |
Monthly investor update template
For investors who have engaged but not yet committed. Keep them warm.
Subject: Jobab update — [Month] [Year]
Hi [Name],
Quick update on Jobab since we last spoke:
PRODUCT
• [3 most important shipped things]
TRACTION
• [N] paying merchants ([N] last month) — [delta]
• $[X] MRR ([X] last month)
• [N] merchant interviews / pilot signups
FUNDRAISING
• [Where we are in the round, e.g. "Raised $200K of $400K target"]
NEXT MONTH
• [3 things you'll ship or do]
ASKS
• [Specific intros or help you need — never just "anything!"]
[Your name]Send the first Monday of every month. Keep it short. Investors who get regular updates from founders are 3x more likely to invest later, even if they passed initially.