A data room ready on day one says you run a tight ship. A scramble during diligence says the opposite, and slow answers kill momentum. At pre-seed it's a short list. At seed, investors expect more.
1Create the folders
Use numbered folders so the order never changes, whatever tool you host it in.
| Folder | What goes in | Pre-seed? |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Company | Incorporation documents, bylaws, board consents | Incorporation and bylaws |
| 02 Pitch | Deck (PDF), one-pager, demo video link | Yes |
| 03 Financials | Model, historical P&L, burn and runway | Model and burn only |
| 04 Cap table | Cap table, SAFEs and notes, option plan and grants | Yes |
| 05 Legal | Material contracts, IP assignments, NDAs | IP assignments only |
| 06 Product | Roadmap, architecture overview, security notes | Later |
| 07 Team | Org chart, founder bios, key hires | Later |
| 08 Customers and traction | Metrics export, pipeline, case studies, references | Yes |
| 09 Market | Market sizing with its method, competitive landscape | Later |
Add a 00 Index document at the top that lists every file, so investors open one thing first.
2Fill it, and mark what's missing
Go through the list and mark each item ready, draft or missing. Then fix the missing items in order of how early investors ask for them: deck and model first, cap table and IP next, contracts last.
3Check for the red flags
5Pick where to host it
| Tool | Cost | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Google Drive or Dropbox | Free | Simple, everyone knows it. No view tracking |
| Papermark | Free tier, or self-host | Open-source DocSend alternative with tracked links |
| DocSend | From $45 per user a month; data rooms on the $150 Advanced plan | The standard, with full tracking and NDA gates |
Prices checked October 2026 on the vendors' pricing pages.
Create the folders in Google Drive using the table above, and host the deck on Papermark's free tier for tracked links.
The data-room skill creates the folders, the index, the checklist with status and the sharing plan, and can audit a folder you already have.
StartWise includes a data room with per-investor links and view tracking, next to your pipeline.
Do it in StartWise →What's next
Materials ready. Now find the right people to send them to: build your investor list.
NDA-gated rooms, expiring links, and a log of which investor opened what. The free steps above still work. This is the fast way.