Maor Investments, founded by Phillippe Guez and Eric Elalouf, is a Luxembourg-based VC fund and has become a leading growth investor in the Israeli tech ecosystem. With a local team based in Tel-Aviv, Maor enjoys extensive sourcing capabilities and is an investor in some of the most rapidly growing Israeli tech companies, including Minute Media, Aidoc, BlueVine, Coralogix and WSC Sports. They recently conducted the fundraising of their second fund using DocSend’s virtual data room.

The Challenge

Ido Hart, Partner at Maor Investments, expressed the need for Maor Investments to securely share sensitive financial documents with potential limited partners (LPs) as part of the fundraising process of their new fund. Additionally, they needed data and insights to help them prioritize follow-up with interested parties.

The Solution

Ido and the Maor team rely on DocSend’s virtual data room (VDR) to securely share decks, legal documents and other materials with potential LPs and investors. Thanks to DocSend’s analytics, firm partners are able to gauge potential investors’ interest in their fund and strategically follow-up with the right stakeholders.

Securely sharing investment materials with ease

As a venture capital firm that invests in rapidly growing startups, the team at Maor Investments is constantly trying to keep up to speed with the level of innovation of their own portfolio companies. As part of the fundraising process of Maor’s second fund, Ido needed a solution that would protect his firm’s sensitive documents that are shared with potential investors and LPs.

Ido had first heard of DocSend from portfolio companies of his firm, who were using DocSend to raise their capital. “In the last two years we saw a lot of our portfolio companies were using DocSend. We were impressed to hear how you could restrict access to certain viewers and set expiration dates,” Ido shared. After initially trying out the software, Ido upgraded to the Advanced plan, so his entire firm could have more control over the materials they send out to potential investors.

Ido appreciates how he can easily integrate DocSend with Microsoft OneDrive, where his team members create and collaborate on all of their internal files. Once documents are ready to be shared with potential investors, the team can easily upload investment decks, spreadsheets and other types of documents from OneDrive into their DocSend account – fast and secure.

When searching for a virtual data room, security was our top priority. We felt that DocSend provided strong security features, including access restrictions, authentication, and NDAs, that would allow us to better control the documents we are sharing with potential investors.

Ido Hart

Partner, Maor Investments

Protecting virtual data rooms with built-in NDAs

Some investment firms rely on a separate software to manage non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). This can easily become a disjointed experience for signers, often with those requests getting lost in potential investors’ inboxes, thus delaying the entire due diligence process.

The team at Maor Investments wanted a seamless way for potential investors to sign an NDA before accessing investment materials, all within their virtual data room. Security and compliance are critical for Maor Investments, so they needed a way to ensure all potential investors were easily agreeing to their privacy terms before reviewing due diligence documents.

With DocSend’s NDA, Ido can easily protect his virtual data rooms. “I really like the flexibility of DocSend’s NDA feature and its ability to upload different NDAs for different investors, despite showcasing the same data room of documents. For less sensitive materials, with one click, I can remove the NDA functionality,” Ido shared.

NDAs embedded within DocSend have been very convenient when raising our second fund from LPs. The investor can easily sign the NDA and access our data room of investment documents, all in one click and within the same viewer experience.

Ido Hart

Partner, Maor Investments

Setting up a virtual data room in less than a day

In a remote fundraising environment, the challenge many investment firms face is maintaining a high level of security over sensitive information and doing so in a timely manner. Working with potential investors across Europe, Maor Investments needed a secure way to have more control over the documents they were sending out internationally to potential investors and LPs.

During their initial search, Ido was looking for a cost-effective data room solution that prioritized security and customization. “We have seen many different data room platforms and been consumers of probably twenty different data room solutions before encountering DocSend. We found DocSend to be by far the best in terms of the user interface, and at the same time very cost-effective as a virtual data room,” Ido shared. When he first came across DocSend’s VDR, Ido was impressed to see that he could restrict access to specific email addresses, set expiration dates, and require an NDA for access to certain materials. Additionally, members of his execution team could customize their VDR with a unique banner and personalized logo.

With DocSend, Ido was able to create different data rooms to showcase the impressive work of his firm and their portfolio companies. “We create data rooms by the funnel stage of the fundraising process. One of our VDRs contains a teaser deck that we send out as an initial overview to potential LPs. Another VDR we create holds investor committee memos, fund performance spreadsheets, legal documents, purchase agreements, certificates of incorporation, and more, to investors that are committing to partner with us,” Ido shared. With a vast list of sensitive files to keep track of, the team at Maor Investments can find peace of mind, from relying on DocSend’s virtual data room for potential investors.

One of the things we like the most in DocSend is its super intuitive user experience and that it’s completely self-serve. This allowed us to set up a full virtual data room in less than a day, and easily share it with a broad audience of different potential investors, even while being on the road.

Ido Hart

Partner, Maor Investments

DocSend’s document analytics optimize investor prioritization

While most virtual data rooms provide only a broad glimpse of user activity, DocSend’s virtual data room showcases page-by-page engagement metrics that arm partners with critical insights on where to prioritize their time. “The feature we were most excited about trying was tracking what pages viewers spend the most time on and which potential investors were the most interested in our firm,” Ido shared. “With DocSend, we are able to smartly deal source and prioritize potential investors through viewing their document analytics,” Ido shared. For example, if a potential investor spends a long period of time carefully reading their overview deck, Ido would know that this might be someone who is seriously considering investing.

Refining messaging to investors with analytics

Additionally, Ido relies on DocSend’s analytics to inform data-driven decisions on how to best update investor materials. “DocSend’s analytics are really helpful for us to see which slides matter most to potential investors. We are constantly updating our materials, so when we make changes, we focus on sharpening the message of the most viewed slides, while getting rid of redundant slides which attracted no investor interest,” Ido shared.

As the team at Maor Investments completed the fundraise of their second fund, they were able to optimize the impact of their investment decks. By prioritizing what matters most to their investors with DocSend’s analytics, Ido and the team at Maor Investments told an effective narrative about their firm that resonated with their audience and helped them secure their funding.

The post Maor Investments uses DocSend’s virtual data room to raise capital from limited partners appeared first on DocSend.

An emerging venture capital firm that was established during a time when remote working was becoming more of the norm was looking for a better way to organize files and successfully fundraise across a distributed team in the United States. This firm turned to Dropbox and DocSend to allow them to work most effectively from anywhere and raise their fund I initial investment.

The Challenge

Prior to Dropbox and DocSend, the Director of Investor Relations at the emerging fund shared that his firm needed a more secure way to share sensitive financial documents with potential limited partners (LPs) in order to raise their fund I initial investments.

The Solution

The Director of Investor of Relations at the company uses Dropbox’s file sync platform and DocSend’s secure document sharing solution to seamlessly store essential firm operating files and securely share and optimize their outreach to potential LPs and investors.

Dropbox stores all collaborative internal firm materials

As the organization began when most emerging firms needed to adapt to a remote working environment, the team brought on Dropbox from the start to be the source of truth for all files and information related to internal operations. “We create most of our files on Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and Excel and we are relieved to know they are always backed up on Dropbox,” the director shared.

No matter where someone on the team is located, all important files including investment strategies, underlying portfolio fund research, risk-return analysis documents, and risk management procedures are up-to-date and protected. The team can easily make revisions and final edits in Dropbox and get notified when someone updates a document. “The shared folder and group folder structures in Dropbox give us more control over sensitive financial information,” the director shared.

The team is largely distributed across the United States, so having a centralized source of information is critical for remote collaboration. In addition to full-time staff members and fund fellows, the Director of Investor Relations works with an external marketing team that creates customized PDFs and marketing collateral. “We’re able to revise different iterations of one-pagers and investment decks that our marketing team creates for us. We can comment back and forth to get the look and design right,” the director shared. Once the document is finalized, the director can upload it to DocSend right from his Dropbox account.

DocSend protects sensitive financial documents shared with potential LPs

The Director of Investor Relations is responsible for identifying a broad group of potential investors and raising capital for the firm’s first fund. When he first uploads materials into DocSend, the director can set advanced security over confidential financial documents. He can create a unique passcode, require email verification, and set expiration dates, so that only a targeted list of potential investors are accessing his files. “I want our financial information to be broadly distributed among potential investors; however, I also want to control access, so it doesn’t end up in the hands of other funds who might be looking to replicate what we are doing,” he shared.

Several overview decks and financial documents require signed NDAs before potential investors can access them. The director can simply upload the firm’s standard NDA into DocSend and drag and drop designated signable fields directly into his document. Whenever a file requires this extra layer of security, he can simply require an NDA in one-click. Potential LPs can breeze through the NDA signature process with DocSend’s intuitive solution, built into the document viewing workflow.

DocSend has given us a new way to manage files that we are sharing with potential LPs and investors for our emerging fund. From a control perspective and managing files that are too big to send over email as an attachment, I love DocSend.

Director of Investor Relations

Emerging Venture Capital Firm

Closing an emerging venture capital fund using DocSend’s virtual data room

Once the Director of Investor Relations has uploaded his files into DocSend, he creates a virtual data room to share all critical investment information in a single link. “I simply embed the DocSend data room link into my email to our investors. Potential LPs and investors can then access reference documents and financial documents, without needing to download software,” the director shared. Potential investors can easily view due diligence questionnaires, fact sheets, and legal documents, all within their browsers on any device. Additionally, he can personalize his virtual data room with a custom banner image and logo, which provides a clean viewing experience for viewers.

For other documents that require more protection, the director can add an NDA in one-click, as well as password protection or email verification. Instead of manually attaching files to an email, which could be easily downloaded and shared with third-parties, the director can easily safeguard sensitive financial information in DocSend’s virtual data room.

DocSend’s analytics provide insights into LP interest

Once potential LPs and investors access his virtual data room, the Director of Investor Relations is notified via email, so he knows exactly who has reviewed which of his files. The director can see page-by-page analytics, which “gives a deeper understanding of where potential LPs and investors are focusing their attention within a particular document, which has allowed us to improve relationships with specific investors,” he shared. DocSend’s document analytics can help shape conversations with potential LPs and investors, helping him have more meaningful interactions.

DocSend’s analytics helps us to determine what is working and what is not and what needs to be removed from the deck in the future and where we can potentially enhance information.

Director of Investor Relations

Emerging Venture Capital Firm

The director’s efforts creating an impactful investor experience have ultimately paid off, as the emerging firm recently closed their fund I initial investments. “We had a handful of LPs signing off after they accessed our data room in DocSend. Our data room was easy for me to create and seamless for LPs to view,” he shared.

The post An emerging firm relies on Dropbox and DocSend to securely manage their operations and raise capital from limited partners appeared first on DocSend.

Aperture Venture Capital is an investment fintech fund and corporate partner network that invests in diverse founders and companies of The Multicultural Mainstream. They are on a mission to redefine the venture landscape for generations of diverse entrepreneurs by building an ecosystem engineered for successful exits. They rely on DocSend’s platform to fundraise from major investors and limited partners (LPs), including FIS, Truist Financial, and PayPal to catalyze a new generation of founders and their companies.

The Challenge

William Crowder, Founder and Managing Partner of Aperture Venture Capital, was searching for a more secure way to externally share and track confidential fundraising pitch decks with potential LPs and investors.

The Solution:

William turned to Dropbox’s file storage and DocSend’s secure document sharing to unify the way he creates and distributes investment files both within and outside of his organization. 

Dropbox safely stores internal investment documentation 

When starting a venture capital fund, VCs must build trusted relationships with potential limited partners (LPs) in the hopes of raising funds. At the core of building trust is knowing that no matter where someone might be working, their organization’s files are secure. 

When searching for a way to house all of his venture firm’s files, William turned to a solution that he was already familiar with using. As a user of the Dropbox Personal plan, William knew the first-hand benefits of organizing his files on Dropbox’s intuitive cloud storage platform. Adding an additional business license for his firm only seemed second nature. “Our entire firm runs on Dropbox. It’s easy for me to grant access to different documents using file permissions, depending on who is working with us.” William is able to customize permission access to a range of individuals working with his firm, whether they are legal contractors, full-time employees, or fund administrators. Everyone can easily access necessary materials for daily operations, including employment agreements, compensation packages, and financial models.

Raising initial funds with DocSend’s virtual data room  

Once William was ready to send out final documents to potential investors that he created using Microsoft Suite products in Dropbox, he uploaded them into his DocSend virtual data room. Though there were many options to consider when first evaluating data room software, William chose DocSend because of its overall frictionless user experience for potential investors. “What we were looking to raise and who we were going to be raising the money from, I wanted to make sure that everything we put together looked as professional as possible, but was easy to access for potential investors & LPs. That’s where DocSend’s virtual data rooms came into play,” William shared. Aperture Venture Capital’s data room reflects the polished nature of the firm, containing customized branding and logos. 

Once he got started with DocSend’s virtual data room, William uploaded all of his firm’s introductory materials and shared it with potential LPs and investors. His data room holds his fund’s pitch deck, one pagers, and all due diligence materials. Potential investors can easily access fund documents and investment memos right in their browsers. Additionally, William can control who can download files and set expiration dates, granting him full control over sensitive funding information. With DocSend, so far, Aperture Venture Capital has closed its first round of a $75 million corporate diversity fund and its second close is well underway, aiming to power a more inclusive economy. 

DocSend has been seamless in terms of people accessing the materials and being able to see everything they need to see. It's a perfect mix of an easy user experience and great peace of mind.

William Crowder

Founder and Managing Partner, Aperture Venture Capital

Seamless updates after sharing virtual data rooms

For many VCs, positioning their core message can be an evolving process. Initial drafts might go through many iterations until managing partners see traction with potential investors. 

As William was initially fundraising for Aperture Venture Capital, he was able to seamlessly test out different versions of his pitch decks using DocSend. Meticulous to detail, William shared that in the early stages, there were many changes, whether it was the branding, messaging, or the overall look and feel of the virtual data room. William wanted to ensure that potential investors had the right information, without bombarding them with notifications of a new version or email attachments. “With DocSend, we were able to update our pitch deck and virtual data room without notifying the end consumer of that information. Automatically, everyone has the latest versions, without any tedious notifications. It positions us in the best light, especially in a critical time when we are trying to form relationships,” William shared. 

Our decision to use DocSend’s data room for fundraising is largely driven by the idea of version control. Having the ability to control distribution and access to our information has been invaluable to us.

William Crowder

Founder and Managing Partner, Aperture Venture Capital

Protecting sensitive information with advanced security controls in DocSend

When initially raising funds for a new venture capital firm, managing partners want to keep confidential information tightly secured to protect the narrative and reputation of the firm. With DocSend, William has more control over the information he sends out to dozens of potential LPs. For example, when sending out a virtual data room, William sets an expiration date. Sometimes, investors will reach back out after the link expires, which might indicate that they are considering an investment. 

On the other hand, if there are individuals requesting access to the link, but they were not granted information, William can see exactly who was trying to view his virtual data room. “Especially when you are sharing proprietary information online, once you press send, typically what you put out there is pretty much gone. We wanted more control over our fundraising documents. In this new landscape of virtual meetings, DocSend provides us with peace of mind knowing our documents aren’t ending up in the wrong hands,” William shared. 

DocSend’s analytics optimizes venture capital fundraising

Early on in the fundraising process, William relied on DocSend’s document analytics to help refine his pitch deck. “In the beginning, we were trying to figure out what was resonating and what was not. DocSend lets us see what pages people were spending the most time on, which helped us understand the most critical areas of our pitch,” William shared.  

Additionally, DocSend’s analytics helped William approach conversations with potential investors and LPs with an idea of what they cared about most. He was able to see the parts of the deck that people spent the most time on, letting him make his conversations most relevant to potential investors. “By looking at how much time people are spending on specific slides, I’m more prepared when approaching meetings with potential investors and am able to anticipate any questions that people might have beforehand,” William shared. DocSend provides critical information that helps personalize meetings with potential investors early on in the fundraising process. 

Forming warm introductions with potential investors 

It can be daunting to ask for investors to provide warm introductions to a colleague or a peer. DocSend can help identify new parties that may be interested if someone forwards a link on to a potential LP. “If a potential LP we met thinks a peer of theirs might be interested, I can see who they have forwarded our pitch deck to,” William shared. Uncovering these warm leads in DocSend could take hours out of the painstaking process of trying to determine whether an LP has already viewed your virtual data room. 

Additionally, DocSend’s forwarding analytics show managing partners when pitch decks are getting into the hands of the right decision makers. “I love watching who is accessing the pitch deck and seeing how it gets forwarded within an organization. I’ll use this as a trigger for when to reach out proactively. It takes a ton of guesswork out of the equation and points us to real leads,” William shared.  

Looking ahead to the future: utilizing block list to protect sensitive fundraising materials 

As Aperture Venture Capital continues to raise the rest of its $75 million fund, William is looking forward to continuing to explore all that DocSend has to offer for his team. “I am excited to try out the block list feature. It’s a great way to add additional layers of security that could prevent potential third-parties from viewing our documents,” William shared. 

With Dropbox and DocSend, William is able to continue to hyperfocus on his venture firm’s mission and pave the way for a new generation of diverse founders. 

The post Aperture Venture Capital successfully raises the first round of their investment fund using Dropbox and DocSend appeared first on DocSend.

Aquamarine is an investment partnership inspired by the original 1950’s Buffett partnerships, run by Guy Spier, who follows a close replication of the original Buffett partnership rules. Managing millions of dollars in assets, the investment fund is steadily growing and relies on DocSend to securely manage their communications with prospects and other external parties.

The Challenge

Prior to Dropbox and DocSend, David Jud, Finance Manager at Aquamarine, shared that his organization relied on outdated systems to store and internally share files among their global team. Additionally, the team was looking for a more secure way to externally share and track whitepapers with investors, prospects, and other external parties.

The Solution:

David turned to Dropbox’s file sync solution and DocSend’s secure document sharing platform to unify his organization’s content storage, as well as safely distribute communications with prospects and other external parties.

A more seamless way to sync and share files with Dropbox

As part of a fast-paced and globally distributed team that manages an investment fund, David is constantly collaborating with his teammates and communicating with investors, prospects, and other external parties. Initially, Aquamarine was using legacy software to save and backup files. “We were having many issues with our legacy file storage system. We were unable to share files with individuals outside of our company, or view documents that opened in a browser,” David shared. Without a secure document sharing platform, David added, it was “challenging for us to communicate with people outside of our organization.” The team at Aquamarine needed a cloud-based system to sync and store their files from anywhere.

When the organization switched over to Dropbox several years ago, they immediately felt the benefits of a purpose-built system that automatically backed up all of their important documents and investment research. “Someone on our team in the United States could be working on investor research and have a team member in Switzerland make comments on it simultaneously,” David shared. Dropbox has become the team’s go-to file storage platform that makes it easier to work together from anywhere. “We are really happy with Dropbox,” David adds.

Dropbox makes it easier for us to sync important documents to the cloud right from our desktop. No matter where I might be working, I always have access to the most up-to-date file.

David Jud

Finance Manager, Aquamarine

Securely sharing whitepapers in DocSend

David is able to upload documents into DocSend and create protected links for people outside of the organization to access industry whitepapers, reports, and fact sheets. The files in DocSend are secured with an email whitelist, expiration dates, and added password protection, limiting access to accredited individuals. These documents, originally housed in Dropbox for internal collaboration, are then shared externally using DocSend. Before a recipient opens a document, they sign an NDA in DocSend in a single click. Instead of managing multiple documents and links, Aquamarine’s NDA is custom-built into the document viewing experience within DocSend. All of this protection not only provides Aquamarine with peace of mind, but also allows for a frictionless user experience.

DocSend’s NDA lets us share industry research with peers with a single click of a button. Fund managers and investors alike can then access their signed NDAs after completion, making for an easy audit trail.

David Jud

Finance Manager, Aquamarine

Tracking user engagement with thought leadership

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Guy Spier, Managing Partner of Aquamarine, launched a podcast called the Education of a Value Investor. Inspired by his book title of the same name, Spier holds conversations with influential thought leaders, covering everything from investment strategies, mindfulness, machine learning, and more. The podcast has become a cornerstone of how the firm builds awareness and grows its network.

While Spier and his team were producing valuable pieces of content, it was difficult to keep track of individual user engagement among listeners accessing the material on a third-party host.

An innovative way David is solving this challenge is by including podcast transcripts in DocSend within each episode’s description. “DocSend is quite convenient. We upload our podcast transcripts into unique DocSend links and each viewer enters in their email before reading,” David shared. Brand new listeners who engage with the transcripts often become active members of Aquamarine’s network. With DocSend, David can keep track of these potential users and their journeys over time, while also enriching the overall listener experience by allowing access to the podcast in an alternative format. “I can receive notifications if certain episodes are gaining traction and I can see who is interacting with our content,” David shared. DocSend makes the process of gating content intuitive, allowing anyone at the firm to create gated content and track listener engagement over time, regardless of technical marketing background.

DocSend’s intuitive integration with Salesforce

DocSend’s integration with Salesforce simplifies how David tracks user engagement with content. As someone who spends a lot of time in Salesforce, David is pleased that all viewer interactions with investor research housed in DocSend are also reflected on the account level information in Salesforce. “It saves me a ton of time not having to switch back and forth between two softwares. We can see in Salesforce how people are interacting with documents we are sending out.” For David, Salesforce is his single source of truth. DocSend enriches the basic insight he gets from Salesforce, providing “more granular data on how contacts are engaging with our content,” David adds.

Virtual data rooms enrich investor conferences

Guy Spier holds an annual conference with peers to share updates on their investment research. Attendees present their findings and these presentations are confidential, so they need to be housed in a secure virtual environment.

David relies on DocSend’s virtual data rooms to hold conference materials and presentations that are shared with attendees. “It’s much easier for us to use a DocSend data room to hold all the conference presentations, rather than sending out twenty unique links to each attendee,” David shared. Only an approved list of individuals can access the presentations prior to the conference in one easy to access data room.

Through the combined power of Dropbox and DocSend, Aquamarine has a streamlined way to update, manage, and share content, whether with an employee internally or an external individual. “Dropbox and DocSend allow us to be extremely organized, buttoned up, and proactive with all of our content management,” David shared.

The post Aquamarine secures their internal and external investment related communications with Dropbox and DocSend appeared first on DocSend.

The Covid challenge: How to run an LP meeting virtually

However, in 2020 with COVID keeping everyone stranded at home, face-to-face LP meetings are no longer an option and VCs are finding new ways to maintain effective communication with their LPs.

“When COVID hit, it put all travel to a halt so we knew that we needed to explore new digital ways to engage our LPs. Since everyone is used to Zoom, we were able to effectively host our 2020 LP meeting there and securely share our materials ahead of time with DocSend,” says Kevin Pineda, Finance Manager at August Capital.

The benefits of virtual LP meetings

While face-to-face networking interactions are fairly absent from virtual LP meetings, there are some benefits to hosting your meeting virtually: increased attendance.

“The digital format made it easier for people to attend since there was no travel required which also made it more cost-effective for certain LPs,” said Kevin. “Due to the increased accessibility, LPs were more inclined to invite additional team members, especially junior colleagues. As a result, our attendance was roughly twice as large as our last in-person meeting.”

The digital format made it easier for people to attend ... As a result, our attendance was roughly twice as large as our last in-person meeting.

Kevin Pineda

Finance Manager, August Capital

DocSend enables easy and secure sharing of sensitive meeting materials

When it comes to DocSend, August Capital leverages DocSend’s secure virtual data rooms to share all materials ahead of time with their LPs while ensuring that all sensitive information is kept secure. This not only makes all meeting materials more accessible but also allows Kevin to make updates to documents up until the time of the meeting without the need to re-share the files.

Using analytics to drive better LP engagement

In addition, by sharing through DocSend, Kevin receives valuable feedback on how LPs engage with the materials for the meeting. This feedback helps him confirm assumptions on what information LPs find interesting so that he can increase LP engagement in future meetings.

“Before DocSend we based our content strategy mostly on feedback surveys from our previous meetings. That said, I’m a big data guy so being able to understand how each LP is engaging with the information we’ve presented in DocSend helps us more effectively identify ways we can continue to bring insightful content to our investors in the future,” Kevin said.

Being able to understand how each LP is engaging with the information we’ve presented in DocSend helps us more effectively identify ways we can continue to bring insightful content to our investors in the future.

Kevin Pineda

Finance Manager, August Capital

Close communication with LPs while everyone is remote will continue to be top of mind for VC firms throughout 2021 and beyond. The good news is that it is still feasible and there are even some benefits to running your next LP meeting remotely. VC firms who are able to adopt new technologies like Zoom or DocSend will surely be the ones to see the most success as we continue to navigate this new work from home lifestyle. If you’re interested in trying DocSend for your next investor update or LP meeting, click here to start a two-week trial.

The post August Capital Transforms Their LP Meetings with DocSend appeared first on DocSend.

When it comes to raising capital for its funds, 500 Startups has a particularly complicated set of compliance requirements due to the firm’s global presence. As such, the firm must vet each potential investor to ensure compliance with global fund marketing rules.

This process can be slow and tedious, and it was the source of much friction. Some LP leads were so buried in the process that they gave up trying to access the decks altogether!

Furthermore, 500 Startups lacked visibility into where investors were focusing their attention. Which LPs needed follow-up? Which materials did viewers spend the most time reviewing? Where did they bounce? These are all important data points that, if applied to pitch decks themselves, would make fundraising more efficient and effective for 500 Startups. However, 500 Startups’ ability to control or track investor engagement within particular documents was difficult to track once investors were added to fund data rooms. Moreover, the process of onboarding investors to the fund data room was clunky. Having to create an account to view the data room and having to sign in every time to view fund documents was seen as a hurdle for investors.

Since discovering DocSend, 500 Startups has taken its fundraising process to the next level. DocSend’s seamless yet secure viewing experience immediately removed the login barrier 500 Startups historically associated with sharing assets and materials. Additionally, with DocSend’s premier analytics, the 500 Startups team has a crystal clear picture of which LPs are engaging with the documents they send, and which aren’t. The 500 Startups team even uses DocSend’s secure Spaces to securely house all pertinent fundraising materials in one customizable place.

Let’s take a deeper look.

Increased Fundraising Efficiency with DocSend

500 Startup’s previous compliance requirements led to a number of lost leads—since there was so much initial friction, potential investors would often abandon the process. Using DocSend, 500 Startups can easily share links to fund documents with potential investors via email and can leave tedious sender and viewer experiences in the past without sacrificing security and the ability to track who accesses fund documents.

“DocSend helps 500 Startups remove barriers for investors,” says Sheel Mohnot, Partner at 500 Startups. “Now, it’s a seamless experience for both parties.”

Enhanced Document Engagement Insights

Before DocSend, 500 Startups had limited visibility as to what content within fund materials viewers were focusing on. With DocSend, 500 Startups has access to granular page-by-page analytics for each user who engages with their documents. These analytics define follow-up strategy since they enable the 500 Startups fundraising team to identify who needs follow-up and what is resonating (or not resonating) with each viewer. 500 Startups now has the ability to better structure and quantitatively measure their outreach.

With DocSend, I can see where investors are focusing, and where I am losing investors. Tracking who's seeing the deck and where their attention was focused has been super useful.

Sheel Mohnot

Partner, 500 Startups

DocSend Solves for Version-Control and Dynamic Content

Once a conversation has started with a potential investor, 500 Startups shares a link to a DocSend Space that houses fund documents and provides investors with a single source of truth for all information moving forward. This has enabled 500 Startups to keep investors focused on their business.

Given the number of investors that 500 Startups interacts with, managing document version-control is important. Document updates are made all the time and keeping tabs on who has reviewed what version of what document can be a challenge. By sharing DocSend links, 500 Startups can make changes to documents behind the scenes dynamically. Furthermore, link sharing to updated fund materials on Spaces removes the friction-point of investors having to log into a data room to view the updated documents.

“We have many living documents, like pitch decks, that are changing all the time,” said Mohnot. “With DocSend, it’s not an issue because we can make changes dynamically and viewers always have access to the most updated version.”

In short, link-based access enables 500 Startups to ensure that only those who are supposed to have access to 500 Startups’ assets do. Version control enables 500 Startups to ensure that those who do have access aren’t referencing outdated assets. It’s a winning pair for 500 Startups—one that makes all the difference.

In Conclusion

With DocSend, 500 Startups sends all high-stakes fundraising materials seamlessly, securely, and intelligently. Tracking and analyzing LP engagement enables the team to identify and concentrate on high-engagement leads. DocSend’s Spaces has provided the perfect deal room platform for 500 Startups to keep all the materials pertinent to a given fund organized and (mutually) easily accessible.

In Mohnot’s own words, “DocSend has proven extremely valuable for our internal processes. We now encourage our startups to use DocSend, for fundraising as well as for their sales teams.”

For 500 Startups, the insights, efficiencies, and advantages DocSend provide empower the team to make the most out of their engagements with LPs, investors, portfolio companies, and other start-ups. Curious about how your business can do the same? Click here to get started with DocSend for free.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANY INFORMATION OR CONTENT HEREIN, BE CONSIDERED AS AN OFFER TO SELL OR SOLICITATION OF INTEREST TO PURCHASE ANY SECURITIES ADVISED BY 500 STARTUPS OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES OR REPRESENTATIVES. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANYTHING HEREIN BE CONSTRUED AS FUND MARKETING MATERIALS BY PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS CONSIDERING AN INVESTMENT INTO ANY 500 STARTUPS INVESTMENT FUND NOR  BE CONSTRUED AS LEGAL, TAX OR INVESTMENT ADVICE FROM 500 STARTUPS OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES.

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