I was recently on a panel at Atlanta Tech Village speaking about data rooms. There were some good examples from the panelists as well as great questions from the audience. Here were a few of my key takeaways from the session.

Be prepared

Before you begin to reach out to investors, it is helpful to start preparing your data room. There are some basic outlines you can follow, but make sure to prepare all the documents in an orderly way. Some common areas to include are:

• Company - vision/mission, incorporation docs, pitch deck, key legal agreements, IP, etc.

• Team - bios on founders, org charts, key contracts, etc.

• Financials - historical actual financials, projected financials, key metrics, cap table, etc.

• Technology/Product - technical architecture, product specs, demo, etc.

• Sales & Marketing - pipeline, go-to-market process, sales materials, key metrics, etc.

The stage you are at (pre-seed, Series A, etc.) and type of investor (financial, strategic, etc.) can determine the level of depth you may need with the information in your data room.

Know your business

While there is naturally lots of data in the data room, don’t forget to tell your story. Articulate why you have founder-idea fit and are the right person to lead this company. Share how you have a unique insight into a market you believe has lots of upside. Show you are an expert at understanding your customers and pitching your company. Investors are investing in the founders just as much (if not more) than the data in the data room.

Build (don’t lose) credibility

It takes a lot of positive steps to build credibility, but it is much easier to lose it. Be careful making sure you understand and don’t mis-state key metrics. If you have an issue in your background that may come up in a background check, you should probably disclose that. If you just lost a key customer or are experiencing high churn, better to state that early in the process. Investors do not like surprises as then it can appear you were trying to be deceptive and erode trust. Even the simple back and forth on questions and adding additional items to the data room are ways to show you can be responsive and execute (i.e. don’t say you will have something that night because you think they want to hear that, and then you don’t provide the document until a week later).

The good news is there are many other founders and investors who have done data rooms before and can give you a sanity check. With careful planning up front, deep knowledge of your space, and an honest approach you can use your data room to help you get that investment or acquisition.