Investors require a lot of information to make an informed investment decision. The more information they have, the faster they can review it and make an informed decision. You must have all the important documents in your data space before you start talking to investors (or as soon as you can).
In addition to the key investment documents you’ll need for any due diligence, founders should include their most recent investor presentation, basic financials for past performance and projections, cap table, and company organization/formation documentation (including business certificates, articles of incorporation, tax information, etc.). These documents should be readily accessible in the investor data room, allowing investors to quickly and efficiently make a memo or engage in conversations with their partners which can lead to an offer.
A deal attribution analysis is another important document to include in your investor data rooms. This will show how your team invested in other startups and can help to reassure potential LPs you are capable of making good investments. You may also want to include other supplementary information, including intellectual property information, supplier and customer contracts, market research and more.
You can add documents to your data room at any time but it’s crucial to only grant access to investors who is serious about signing to the terms of a termsheet. You could delay the process by allowing investors to access your data room prior to being ready. They could decide to not invest.