Data rooms for solo founders.
A solo founder has no co-founder to split diligence work with, so the room has to be simple to build and easy to keep current. Start with a short index, fix the few things investors check first about single-founder companies, and update the room monthly so a raise does not take weeks away from running the business.
Solo founders room
- 01 Company basics
- 02 Founder
- 03 Cap table
- 04 Finances
- 05 Customers
- 06 Team and contractors
- 07 Product
How it works for a startup.
Investors ask solo founders some extra questions: who else holds knowledge of the product, how decisions get made, what happens if the founder is unavailable, and how the founder will hire a team. The room can answer some of this with an org plan, documentation and key contractor agreements.
The basic diligence load is the same as for any startup: incorporation, cap table, IP assignments, finances, contracts. The difference is time. A solo founder who spends three weeks building a room in the middle of a raise stops selling and shipping, and investors notice.
The practical answer is a small room built once and kept current: a monthly hour to add the new contracts, the month's financials and any board consents. When a raise starts, most of the room is already there.
Top 10 data rooms for this job.
Our five measures, re-weighted for solo founders. Places 11 to 17 are listed below the cards.
- Setup speed 29%
- Investor experience 16%
- Access control 15%
- Diligence tools 16%
- Startup pricing 24%
- 1 9.6/10First-rate
- $149 monthly
- 14-day free trial
- 8/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- NDA e-signing
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- SOC 2 (hosting)
- 2 8.5/10First-rate
- $250 monthly
- Free trial offered
- 8/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- NDA e-signing
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- SOC 2
- 3 8.2/10Strong pick
- Quote only
- Free trial offered
- 9/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- GDPR
- 4 8.1/10Strong pick
- Quote only
- Free trial offered
- 7/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- 5 8.0/10Strong pick
- $55 monthly
- Free trial offered
- 9/12 feature checks
- NDA e-signing
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- HIPAA
- 6 8.0/10Strong pick
- Quote only
- Free trial offered
- 8/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- 7 7.9/10Strong pick
- $299 monthly
- Free trial offered
- 7/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- 8 7.9/10Strong pick
- Quote only
- Demo, no trial
- 10/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- GDPR
- 9 7.6/10Good option
- $15 monthly
- Free trial offered
- 6/12 feature checks
- Dynamic watermarks
- Viewer activity log
- Bulk folder upload
- Mobile app
- SOC 2
- 10 7.5/10Good option
- Quote only
- Demo, no trial
- 8/12 feature checks
- Investor Q&A
- Dynamic watermarks
- View-only and download control
- Viewer activity log
- SOC 2
- ISO 27001
- GDPR
Show places 11 to 17
- DealRoom 7.5
- Intralinks 7.4
- Digify 7.3
- SmartRoom 7.3
- DocSend 7.2
- ShareVault 7.0
- Venue by DFIN 6.4
Folder index.
A starting structure for this room. Rename folders to fit your company and keep the numbers.
Certificate of incorporation, bylaws, EIN letter, good standing.
Founder stock purchase agreement, vesting, 83(b) election, IP assignment to the company.
Cap table, SAFEs or notes outstanding, option plan if adopted.
Monthly P&L and balance sheet, bank statements, simple model.
Key customer contracts and revenue by customer.
Contractor agreements with IP clauses, hiring plan.
Architecture notes and documentation that someone else could follow.
Deck, one-page memo, metrics sheet.
Need every file by stage? Use the startup data room checklist.
Must-have features.
| Provider | Bulk folder upload | Viewer activity log | Dynamic watermarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ellty | |||
| SecureDocs | |||
| iDeals | |||
| Firmex | |||
| Citrix ShareFile | |||
| Ansarada | |||
| CapLinked | |||
| Datasite | |||
| Onehub | |||
| Drooms |
- Bulk folder upload
- Drag a whole folder tree in at once and keep its numbering.
- Viewer activity log
- Shows which investor opened which file, for how long and when, and exports the record.
- Dynamic watermarks
- Stamps the viewer email and the time across every page, so a forwarded screenshot points back to its source.
Set up the room in 6 steps.
- 1
Use a short index
Eight folders are enough for pre-seed and seed. Add more when a priced round requires them.
- 2
Fix founder paperwork first
Confirm your founder stock, vesting, 83(b) election and IP assignment are signed and filed. Investors check these first.
- 3
Document the product
Write enough architecture and process notes that a new engineer could get started. It answers the key person question.
- 4
Paper every contractor
Make sure each contractor signed an agreement assigning IP to the company.
- 5
Book a monthly hour
Add the month's financials, new contracts and consents on a fixed day each month.
- 6
Track investor interest
View analytics show which investors read the deck and model, so you can spend your limited time on the most engaged ones.
Common mistakes.
- No vesting on founder stock, which many investors will ask to add.
- Contractors who built the product without signing IP assignments.
- All product knowledge in the founder's head with no written documentation.
- Building the room from zero in the middle of a raise.