As a founder, one of your main jobs is to bring in the cash to keep the company running.

You’re pressured to fundraise, but there are a ton of tasks—from setting up due diligence processes to networking with investors.

The larger you get, the more challenging it gets.

Whether you are raising Series A funding, on your way to becoming the next unicorn, or ready to IPO or exit, this is where you can take advantage of technology to help accelerate your journey and support you at every stage.

To share more about fundraising and where tools like data rooms come in, we teamed up with Datasite. They’re one of the leading providers that offer secure and powerful tools for every stage of the dealmaking process, from fundraising to M&As and IPOs.

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Get a (data) room

When you start raising from VCs, founders are expected to have a data room. But what is it, and where does it come into play?

The fundraising process—especially once you get to the Series A onwards—involves a ton of documents and selective file sharing.

Using a data room is the best way to organize and share these documents with key stakeholders who each have a different level of access.

While you can use a shared cloud drive, using them becomes complicated as you get deeper into the fundraising discussion.

Why? You’ll typically see that each investor you’re communicating with has a different level of  willingness to invest or seniority level within the firm.

And on top of that? Each investor has a different set of requirements they would like to see in order for them to make a decision.

The last thing you want are your sensitive company documents being shared with tons of people because you shared them over a typical consumer-grade file-sharing platform…

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Find the right match

The value of the business information you’re asked to share in order to raise a round is priceless.

The larger your company becomes, the more important it is to select a data room that does more than just store and share files. Choose one with features and a broader ecosystem of products and services that prepare for the different scenarios of pitching investors.

For startups, Datasite’s most useful apps are Datasite Diligence, their data room platform and Datasite Prepare, their deal preparation platform.

• Used by top Southeast startups and firms, these powerful tools help founders close rounds efficiently.

Stay organized. Some investors may not look at all your documents, but they can make a judgment based on how organized your data room is.

Datasite solves this by automatically organizing your data room. With AI, they can categorize, index and translate content.

Features that work for you. Datasite’s trackers tool ensures you have all the necessary documents uploaded in time.

Trackers can also serve as a due diligence checklist for collaborating with potential investors. They even have a feature that enables you to redact (and unredact) sensitive content in seconds across all files in the data room.

DD with less back-and-forth. There’s usually a Q&A process between you and investors.

Instead of having to answer the questions via email, you can use Datasite’s integrated Q&A feature that lets you set up Q&A teams and FAQs.

Have it all ready. You don’t want to be that founder whose fundraise is stalled by months because of an unfinished data room.

You can prep your data in advance through Datasite Prepare and be ready to go by converting to Datasite Diligence when it’s time to launch.

Whether you are raising a Series A round or pushing to close the final round before your IPO, set up your data room in just one click and share documents instantly with potential investors.

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Choosing the right data room is the easiest way you can make the fundraising process smoother.

After all, do you really want your investors to just glaze over all that hard work? Think of all the hours spent creating your financial models, pitch deck, previous funding round information, KPIs, financial and legal documents, and so much more.

These are all things your investor wants to see in a crisp and clean setup. Let’s leave the hard drives and consumer-grade file-sharing tools in the pandemic era!

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This article was written in partnership with Datasite, one of the leading providers that offer secure and powerful tools for every stage of the deal making process, from fundraising to M&As and IPOs.

Access a free trial for Datasite’s tools here.