Set up your deal room
The deal room is where a serious buyer stops being a stranger. Set it up before your first inquiry and you answer document requests from files already in order, instead of scrambling for a week.
Why set it up early
Buyers judge sellers on response speed. A seller who sends the P&L within an hour of an NDA reads as prepared; one who takes five days reads as either disorganized or reluctant, and both cost you leverage. Uploading the pack before you list costs an afternoon and saves that impression.
The three access tiers
You can keep a sensitive document in the Financials folder. The tier controls who sees it, the folder only controls where you find it.
What goes in each folder
- Financials — P&L by year, balance sheet, revenue by channel or customer, add-back schedule.
- Legal and leases — property lease, franchise agreement if relevant, any licenses.
- Operations — process documentation, supplier terms, equipment schedule.
- Customers — anonymized concentration, contract terms, renewal dates.
- People — anonymized census with roles, tenure, and compensation bands.
- Signed NDAs — kept automatically as buyers sign.
Releasing to one buyer
Both appear on the thread and on the buyer row in the deal room.
Grant financial access once and every current and future financial document flows, including new versions.
A release to buyers you pick opens for 14 days unless you make it open-ended. The release to verified buyers and the basic tier carry no window: they stay open until you close that buyer.
Reading the activity log
The log tells you who opened what and how often, which is the most honest signal you will get. A buyer who opened the P&L three times and downloaded the customer mix is working. One who has not opened anything in 10 days has moved on, whatever their last message said.
Revoking access
Revoke when a conversation goes quiet for a month, when a buyer withdraws, or when you accept another offer. Revoking does not delete the record of what was shared: the log of every open stays with the listing.