Investor Data Room Checklist

DATA ROOM FUNDAMENTALS

Data Room Philosophy

INVESTOR DATA ROOM PHILOSOPHY

WHY DATA ROOM MATTERS:
☐ Due diligence is deal-critical
☐ Organized room = professional company
☐ Speed of access affects deal timeline
☐ Missing docs create uncertainty
☐ Quality reflects on leadership
☐ Preparation shows seriousness

DATA ROOM PURPOSES:

1. FUNDRAISING
   Primary purpose for most startups
   Investors review before/during/after term sheet
   Quality correlates with valuation confidence

2. M&A PREPARATION
   Acquirers need comprehensive access
   Often more detailed than VC diligence
   Missing items can kill deals

3. OPERATIONAL READINESS
   "Always fundraising-ready" is goal
   Forces organizational discipline
   Maintains corporate hygiene

KEY PRINCIPLES:

1. COMPLETENESS
   ☐ Every document they could want
   ☐ No obvious gaps
   ☐ Current versions only
   ☐ Historical data available

2. ORGANIZATION
   ☐ Intuitive folder structure
   ☐ Consistent naming
   ☐ Easy navigation
   ☐ Index or guide available

3. ACCURACY
   ☐ Documents are current
   ☐ Data matches other sources
   ☐ No internal contradictions
   ☐ Reviewed for errors

4. SECURITY
   ☐ Access controls
   ☐ Activity logging
   ☐ Watermarking
   ☐ Revocation capability

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COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENT CHECKLIST

Complete Data Room Documents

COMPREHENSIVE DATA ROOM CHECKLIST

═══════════════════════════════════════
SECTION 1: CORPORATE DOCUMENTS
═══════════════════════════════════════

Formation Documents:
☐ Certificate of Incorporation (original + all amendments)
☐ Bylaws (current)
☐ Qualifications to do business (other states)
☐ Good Standing Certificates (Delaware + operating states)
☐ Registered Agent information

Governance Documents:
☐ Board meeting minutes (all historical)
☐ Shareholder meeting minutes (all)
☐ Written consents (all)
☐ Committee charters (if any)
☐ Board composition history

Equity Documents:
☐ Cap table (current, detailed)
☐ Cap table (fully diluted with option pool)
☐ Stockholders' agreement
☐ Voting agreement
☐ Right of First Refusal agreement
☐ Investors' Rights Agreement
☐ Stock Purchase Agreements (all rounds)
☐ Stock certificates register
☐ 83(b) elections (founders)

Equity Incentive Plans:
☐ Stock option plan document
☐ Board/stockholder approval of plan
☐ Option grant templates
☐ Grant register (all grants with status)
☐ Exercise notices (samples)
☐ Acceleration provisions summary

Prior Financing:
☐ Term sheets (all rounds)
☐ Closing documents (all rounds)
☐ Side letters (if any)
☐ Warrant agreements (if any)
☐ Convertible notes/SAFEs (all)

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SECTION 2: FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS
═══════════════════════════════════════

Historical Financials:
☐ P&L statements (monthly, 3 years)
☐ Balance sheets (monthly, 3 years)
☐ Cash flow statements (monthly, 3 years)
☐ Audited financials (if available)
☐ Audit letters (if audited)
☐ Management letters from auditors

Current Period:
☐ Year-to-date P&L
☐ Current balance sheet
☐ Bank statements (recent 3 months)
☐ Cash position report
☐ AR aging report
☐ AP aging report

Projections:
☐ Financial model (detailed)
☐ Annual budget (current year)
☐ Monthly forecast
☐ Key assumptions document
☐ Scenario analysis (upside/downside)

Revenue Detail:
☐ Revenue by customer
☐ Revenue by product/segment
☐ MRR/ARR history
☐ Cohort analysis
☐ Contract value summary

Other Financial:
☐ 409A valuation (most recent)
☐ Tax returns (federal/state, 3 years)
☐ Debt schedule (if applicable)
☐ Outstanding liabilities summary
☐ Credit facilities (if any)

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SECTION 3: CUSTOMER/SALES DOCUMENTS
═══════════════════════════════════════

Customer Overview:
☐ Customer list with ARR/ACV
☐ Customer concentration analysis
☐ Top 10 customer profiles
☐ Customer logos (for reference)
☐ Customer case studies

Contracts and Agreements:
☐ Master Services Agreement (template)
☐ Order Form (template)
☐ SaaS subscription agreement (template)
☐ Enterprise agreement (template)
☐ Sample executed contracts (redacted)

Sales Metrics:
☐ Pipeline report
☐ Win/loss analysis
☐ Sales cycle metrics
☐ CAC calculations
☐ LTV calculations
☐ Sales rep productivity

Retention Metrics:
☐ Churn analysis (logo and revenue)
☐ Net Revenue Retention (NRR)
☐ Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)
☐ Cohort retention analysis
☐ Expansion revenue analysis

═══════════════════════════════════════
SECTION 4: TEAM DOCUMENTS
═══════════════════════════════════════

Organization:
☐ Org chart (current)
☐ Headcount history
☐ Hiring plan
☐ Key roles open
☐ Geographic distribution

Leadership Team:
☐ Executive bios
☐ Executive compensation summary
☐ Employment agreements (executives)
☐ Executive equity holdings
☐ Management presentation materials

General HR:
☐ Employee handbook (current)
☐ Benefits summary
☐ Standard employment agreement (template)
☐ Contractor agreement (template)
☐ Non-compete/non-solicit summary
☐ Invention assignment agreement (template)

Compensation:
☐ Salary bands/ranges
☐ Bonus structure
☐ Commission plans
☐ Equity grant philosophy
☐ Total compensation summary

═══════════════════════════════════════
SECTION 5: LEGAL DOCUMENTS
═══════════════════════════════════════

Material Contracts:
☐ All contracts > $[threshold]
☐ Partnership agreements
☐ Joint venture agreements
☐ Reseller/channel agreements
☐ Exclusivity agreements

Intellectual Property:
☐ Patent applications/grants
☐ Trademark registrations
☐ Copyright registrations
☐ IP assignment agreements (all employees/contractors)
☐ Domain name registrations
☐ Trade secret protocols
☐ Open source usage summary

Licensing:
☐ Inbound licenses (IP you use)
☐ Outbound licenses (IP you license)
☐ Software licenses
☐ Data licenses

Litigation/Disputes:
☐ Pending litigation summary
☐ Threatened claims
☐ Settled matters (material)
☐ Regulatory inquiries
☐ Litigation insurance claims

Compliance:
☐ Privacy policy
☐ Terms of service
☐ Data processing agreements
☐ GDPR compliance documentation
☐ SOC 2 report (if applicable)
☐ Security certifications
☐ Industry-specific compliance

Insurance:
☐ D&O policy
☐ E&O/Professional Liability
☐ General Liability
☐ Cyber/Data Breach
☐ Workers Compensation
☐ Key Person (if applicable)

═══════════════════════════════════════
SECTION 6: PRODUCT/TECHNOLOGY DOCUMENTS
═══════════════════════════════════════

Product Overview:
☐ Product roadmap
☐ Feature overview
☐ Competitive comparison
☐ Product screenshots/demo
☐ Release history

Technology:
☐ Architecture overview
☐ Technology stack
☐ Infrastructure diagram
☐ Build vs. buy decisions
☐ Technical debt assessment

Security:
☐ Security program overview
☐ Penetration test results
☐ Vulnerability management
☐ Incident response plan
☐ Security questionnaire (completed)

Data:
☐ Data architecture
☐ Data privacy compliance
☐ Data retention policies
☐ Data classification

Engineering:
☐ Engineering team structure
☐ Development methodology
☐ Code quality practices
☐ Testing coverage
☐ Deployment practices

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DATA ROOM ORGANIZATION

Folder Structure Template

DATA ROOM FOLDER STRUCTURE

📁 00-Index
   ├── Document Index.xlsx
   ├── Data Room Guide.pdf
   └── Q&A Log.xlsx

📁 01-Corporate
   ├── 01.1-Formation
   ├── 01.2-Governance
   ├── 01.3-Cap-Table
   ├── 01.4-Equity-Plans
   └── 01.5-Prior-Financing

📁 02-Financial
   ├── 02.1-Historical
   ├── 02.2-Current-Period
   ├── 02.3-Projections
   ├── 02.4-Revenue-Detail
   └── 02.5-Tax-Valuation

📁 03-Customers
   ├── 03.1-Customer-List
   ├── 03.2-Contracts
   ├── 03.3-Sales-Metrics
   └── 03.4-Retention

📁 04-Team
   ├── 04.1-Organization
   ├── 04.2-Leadership
   ├── 04.3-HR-Policies
   └── 04.4-Compensation

📁 05-Legal
   ├── 05.1-Material-Contracts
   ├── 05.2-IP
   ├── 05.3-Licensing
   ├── 05.4-Litigation
   ├── 05.5-Compliance
   └── 05.6-Insurance

📁 06-Product
   ├── 06.1-Product-Overview
   ├── 06.2-Technology
   ├── 06.3-Security
   └── 06.4-Engineering

📁 07-Sensitive (Restricted)
   ├── 07.1-Customer-Contracts
   ├── 07.2-Litigation-Detail
   └── 07.3-Compensation-Detail

Document Naming Convention

DOCUMENT NAMING STANDARDS

FORMAT: [Section]-[Type]-[Description]-[Date].ext

Examples:
01-INC-Certificate_of_Incorporation-2020.pdf
02-FIN-PL_Statement_Monthly-2024.xlsx
03-CUS-Top_10_Customer_Profiles-2024Q4.pdf
04-HR-Org_Chart-2024.pdf
05-LEG-Patent_Application_001-2023.pdf

RULES:
☐ No spaces (use underscores)
☐ Include dates for version control
☐ Be descriptive but concise
☐ Use consistent abbreviations:
   INC = Incorporation
   FIN = Financial
   CUS = Customer
   HR = Human Resources
   LEG = Legal
   PROD = Product
   GOV = Governance

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ACCESS MANAGEMENT

Tiered Access Framework

DATA ROOM ACCESS MANAGEMENT

TIER 1: INITIAL ACCESS
Purpose: Initial evaluation, term sheet discussion
Who: All interested investors

Documents Included:
☐ Company overview/deck
☐ Financial summary
☐ Cap table overview
☐ Team overview
☐ Product overview
☐ High-level metrics

Access Duration: Through term sheet

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TIER 2: DUE DILIGENCE ACCESS
Purpose: Serious due diligence post-term sheet
Who: Lead investor + approved investors

Documents Included:
☐ All Tier 1 documents
☐ Detailed financials
☐ Customer metrics (anonymized)
☐ Contracts (templates)
☐ HR information
☐ Legal overview
☐ Product/tech detail

Access Duration: Through closing

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TIER 3: FINAL DILIGENCE ACCESS
Purpose: Final verification, legal sign-off
Who: Lead investor + legal counsel

Documents Included:
☐ All Tier 2 documents
☐ Full customer contracts
☐ Detailed litigation information
☐ IP assignments
☐ Complete employee records
☐ Sensitive financials

Access Duration: Closing + 30 days

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ACCESS CONTROLS:

Per User Settings:
☐ View only vs. download
☐ Watermarking
☐ Print restrictions
☐ Expiration dates
☐ NDA requirement

Monitoring:
☐ Track document access
☐ Download history
☐ Time spent per document
☐ Alert on unusual activity

Revocation:
☐ Immediate revocation capability
☐ Post-close access removal
☐ Decline access removal

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PREPARATION PROCESS

Data Room Preparation Checklist

DATA ROOM PREPARATION PROCESS

PHASE 1: DOCUMENT COLLECTION (2-4 weeks)

Week 1-2:
☐ Create document inventory
☐ Assign owners for each section
☐ Request documents from stakeholders
☐ Set collection deadlines

Week 3-4:
☐ Review received documents
☐ Identify gaps
☐ Chase missing items
☐ Quality check documents

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PHASE 2: DOCUMENT PREPARATION (1-2 weeks)

Formatting:
☐ Convert to PDF (where appropriate)
☐ Ensure readability
☐ Remove tracked changes
☐ Check for confidential info exposure

Organization:
☐ Apply naming convention
☐ Organize into folders
☐ Create index
☐ Write document descriptions

Review:
☐ Legal review of contracts
☐ Financial review of numbers
☐ CEO review of strategy docs
☐ Cross-check for consistency

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PHASE 3: PLATFORM SETUP (1 week)

Platform Selection:
☐ Choose data room provider
☐ Set up account
☐ Configure settings
☐ Test access controls

Upload:
☐ Create folder structure
☐ Upload all documents
☐ Set access levels
☐ Configure watermarking

Testing:
☐ Test user access
☐ Verify document opening
☐ Check search function
☐ Confirm notifications work

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PHASE 4: MAINTENANCE (Ongoing)

Regular Updates:
☐ Monthly financial updates
☐ Quarterly metric updates
☐ New contracts added
☐ Status changes reflected

Q&A Management:
☐ Track incoming questions
☐ Provide timely responses
☐ Update documents as needed
☐ Document resolution

Data Room Platform Comparison

Feature	Provider A	Provider B	Provider C
Security
Access controls
Activity tracking
Watermarking
Q&A management
Mobile access
Search capability
Pricing

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