Hodde Bros launched in the early 1900s as America’s first Budweiser distributor, but their focus shifted to soda when Prohibition hit just a few years later. In 2014, Darci Kendall (the founder’s great-granddaughter) relaunched the family business as a beverage catering company. Nearly 100 years later, Hodde Bros is now a full scale cocktail catering company based in Santa Monica, California, known for its delicious craft cocktails, Airstream bar, and virtual happy hours. Today, Hodde Bros relies on Dropbox and DocSend to securely store files and gather detailed prospect insights throughout the sales process. 

The challenge: 

Prior to using DocSend, Darci Kendall, Founder & Creative Director at Hodde Bros, was overwhelmed with countless leads that were difficult to turn into deals. Without a reliable way to prioritize prospect inquiries and needing strategic insights on how to better prioritize her time, Darci felt like she was drowning in creating proposals. 

The solution: 

Darci had already been an avid Dropbox user for years, using it to sync all of her creative and client files in one centralized place. She then turned to another Dropbox product, DocSend, to securely share finalized proposals with new business opportunities. DocSend’s advanced analytics inform Darci’s follow-up strategy to prioritize the right prospects and close deals faster. 

Keeping a small and rapidly growing business running with Dropbox Backup

Running the day-to-day operations of a small business is no easy feat. With endless paperwork to manage, proposals to send, and contracts to track, founders juggle multiple responsibilities. Making sure all critical business documents are securely stored and instantly accessible is fundamental to a stress-free workflow and is critical to closing business quicker. 

This is precisely why, for years, Darci has relied on Dropbox to securely store all her business files. 

Dropbox holds my business life. I think I joined Dropbox when it first came out. It was the best and I just never left. We grew together and all the capabilities that we needed were there. I can access all of my files from any device and instantly sync to the cloud.

Darci Kendall

Founder, Hodde Bros

Securely sharing sales proposals with potential clients using DocSend

Renting out an Airstream mobile bar is one of Hodde Bros’ main service offerings. Their website offers detailed documentation regarding specs and layouts, which is all housed in an easy-to-access DocSend link. 

When interested visitors reach out requesting more information, Darci sends over an email with a DocSend link. Darci has more controls over her files with DocSend’s advanced security controls. With DocSend, Darci has the option to apply a passcode, set an expiration date, and allow downloading on any proposal. When Darci makes an update to content, she can easily change the file in DocSend and the updates will automatically appear to prospects on all links, without any cumbersome notifications. This allows Darci to put her best professional foot forward and makes the sales process seamless for both her and potential new clients.

Uncovering leads with DocSend’s document analytics

A key part of being a small team is learning which leads to follow and which ones to abandon. It was a strategic decision (one that is common in the events industry) to not list prices on the website. This usually leads to more leads coming in – and Hodde Bros was overwhelmed with requests. 

Although Darci was excited by the outpouring of interest, she was having a hard time prioritizing prospects and following up with leads who were actually interested. Drowning in requests without any way to prioritize left Darci feeling overwhelmed and in need of a solution. That’s when she turned to DocSend. 

I felt like I was spending way too much time creating endless proposals without landing any jobs. I had no way of knowing if a prospect was even looking at my proposal, let alone at which sections and for how long. DocSend was part of a suite of tools I put in place to help filter through all the incoming leads, and the visibility I get with document analytics is huge.

Darci Kendall

Founder, Hodde Bros

Armed with x-ray vision into prospect engagement with her shared sales collateral, Darci can identify exactly which leads are a good use of her time. She can see who’s viewing and spending time with her proposals page-by-page, insights she simply didn’t have before DocSend. 

With DocSend document analytics, Darci has full visibility into when recipients have viewed or shared the files. Darci can effectively identify which leads are truly interested, and which would be dead-end deals.   

Informed follow-up strategy closes new business faster, powered by DocSend’s analytics

From sending proposals, to tracking prospect engagement, and identifying top-performing collateral, DocSend plays a critical role in Hodde Bros’ follow-up strategy. 

Since Hodde Bros creates custom proposals, it’s critical for Darci and her team to understand what content is performing best. With DocSend, she’s able to track prospect behavior far beyond the initial open. She can see exactly how effective her marketing is by drilling down into where viewers spend the most time. For example, if they spend time on a pricing page, she can assume that the customer is price-conscious and tailor her pitch accordingly. 

In the future, Darci is excited about using these analytics to inform how she speaks to specific verticals. “We want to focus on verticals like the film industry, wedding venues, golf courses, and more. I want each of those to have their own campaigns, and with DocSend I can learn so much more about the leads that I’m reaching out to within those verticals.”

Looking forward to the future: centralizing customer documents in DocSend’s client portal 

As Darci looks ahead to running more verticalized marketing campaigns, she’s excited to house all industry-specific content in a DocSend data room. 

“After checking out data rooms, all I can say is ‘WOW!’ I have so many ideas running through my head about how we can use it for future campaigns. It will be so useful and insightful.”

The post Hodde Bros relies on Dropbox and DocSend to build client relationships appeared first on DocSend.

Bringing investors on board with SAFE agreements

DocSend launched multi-party eSignature just as the Flow team was garnering serious interest from individual investors. As Chris Boncimino, Co-Founder of Flow Networks, puts it, “DocSend came through for us in the nick of time. We were managing investment documents with DocSend data rooms when we realized we were going to need eSignature capabilities to bring investors on board. Right when we needed it most, DocSend released its two-way eSignature feature, which allowed us to do even more with the software we already loved.” By adopting eSignature, Chris and the Flow team knew they’d be deepening their use of DocSend to match the company’s expansion: “DocSend has a natural unfolding of capabilities that has kept pace with our own growth. As we’ve become more sophisticated, so has our use of DocSend.”

We realized we were going to need eSignature capabilities to bring investors on board. When DocSend released its eSignature feature, it allowed us to do even more with software we already loved.

Chris Boncimino

Co-Founder, Flow Networks

During their friends and family raise, Chris and his team positioned eSignature at the endpoint of their investor outreach strategy. As Chris explains, “The friends and family round involves a lot of conversations with a lot of people. We’d schedule 3-4 chats with potential investors, and during the last of these we’d ask if they’d like us to send over additional information, including our SAFE template.” Whenever an investor showed high intent, Chris leaned on DocSend to send and sign an executable, personalized SAFE note with investment terms.

How the Flow team gets SAFEs signed with DocSend

Chris has a well-developed, repeatable process in place to get his SAFEs executed. After an investor says they’re ready to come on board, Chris customizes a SAFE template with the investor’s name, investment amount, and discount rate. Then, Chris uploads that SAFE PDF to DocSend and embeds the necessary fields for each signer using DocSend’s multi-party eSignature capability. “DocSend covers us through the entire fundraising process. Investors view our pitch deck and all financial documents in DocSend, so when it comes time to close our deal, e-signing SAFEs with DocSend allows for a seamless experience.”

From simple presentations, to eSignature, to data rooms, DocSend has transformed the way we interact with investors and VCs who are looking at us.

Chris Boncimino

Co-Founder, Flow Networks

Once the SAFE notes are uploaded and all the fields set, Chris creates a DocSend link and embeds the link in an email template that he personalizes for each investor. Once the SAFE template is executed by all parties, Chris opens Flow’s data room for that investor.

From e-Signing SAFEs to accessing the investor Data Room

As Chris explains, DocSend’s eSignature feature is closely tied to the team’s data room. This is because the Flow team sees eSignature as both a tool for fundraising and for strengthening relationships. “Once we get that signed SAFE note back from an investor, we know they’re now part of the Flow family and we can immediately open our Investor Data Room to them.” The Flow data room contains every document an investor has already seen through the fundraising process, plus materials from quarterly meetings and press about the company. “Our data room brings all investors together in one well-organized place. DocSend’s eSignature tool is the key that unlocks the door to this room.”

Our data room brings all investors together in one well-organized place. DocSend’s eSignature tool is the key that unlocks the door to this room.

Chris Boncimino

Co-Founder, Flow Networks

E-signing beyond fundraising

DocSend’s eSignature feature is more than just a fundraising tool for Flow Networks. When onboarding new hires, for example, Chris and the Flow team use eSignature to sign employment agreements. They also use it for documents that safeguard mission-critical information, such as NDAs. “DocSend’s eSignature feature worked so well for us with SAFEs that we integrated it into other aspects of our business,” explains Chris. From pre- to post-fundraise, the Flow Networks team relies on DocSend as they help a growing number of businesses upgrade their payment experiences.

The post From pitch decks to signing SAFE notes, Flow Networks uses DocSend as its full-circle fundraising platform 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.

Zazuu is a money transfer platform that helps people avoid unknown hidden fees when sending money to Africa. Zazuu is a growing startup that relies on DocSend to raise funds, as they focus on their mission to make sending money across borders more intuitive and accessible to Africans, wherever they are in the world.

The Challenge

Prior to DocSend, Kay Akinwunmi, Co-Founder and CEO, would send out his pitch deck to hundreds of potential investors as an email attachment. But needing to continuously make changes to his deck and wanting more peace of mind on the distribution of his deck, Kay wanted to find a more secure sharing solution that would provide him more security, visibility, and insights.

The Solution:

Kay turned to DocSend’s secure document sharing solution to more strategically manage outreach and follow-up to potential investors.

Creating pitch deck changes in one click

Time is everything to a founder. When working with limited time and resources, especially in the early days of a startup, founders need to efficiently prioritize activities that will have maximum impact.

For Kay Akinwunmi, his experience was no different. While growing his early-stage venture, a platform that makes transfering money across borders a better experience for customers, Kay wanted to more effectively communicate with potential investors. “Before using DocSend, I had been sending my deck manually as an old school PDF to loads of people and we had no visibility into if they viewed it and who was potentially interested. Our deck, company narrative, and numbers were constantly changing. It was very hard to manage who had which version, and it was not the most respectful to go back to those investors and share an updated version,” Kay shared. In addition to managing version control errors with potential investors, Kay needed valuable time back in his day. Manually emailing hundreds of potential investors with updates was not a sustainable solution.

When Kay first heard about DocSend, he immediately understood the value it could have on his day to day and was excited to gain more control over the fundraising process. “DocSend has been extremely helpful with revisions. We can make an instant change to our deck and now that every single person has the latest version straightaway,” Kay mentioned. He has saved countless hours and consolidated what previously was multiple versions of his pitch deck into one intuitive, up-to-date version.

DocSend has given us peace of mind that we can update our deck and know that anyone who opens a link will have the latest version. As a founder, that is very powerful; to have the confidence that we can control the slides and our company narrative, and know that people are never sitting with an outdated version.

Kay Akinwunmi

Co-Founder and CEO, Zazuu

Increased visibility into investor interest

Kay also wanted to more effectively prioritize his investor wishlist, going after the right investors who were most interested in his product. “Before DocSend, we would send our deck to dozens of investors. It was tough to then prioritize next steps because you did not know who was opening these emails much less looking at our deck,” Kay recalled.

Now, armed with DocSend’s document analytics, Kay is having a completely different experience. Instead of waiting for an email response, Kay can proactively know whether potential investors are interested in his company before they reach out. “I love receiving  notifications that investors are viewing my deck. Tracking investor activity in real-time helps me know when to reach out to them, what part of the deck they’re most interested in, and therefore, where to focus my conversation,” he shared. Kay can take charge and prioritize the right investors to spend time pursuing.

For example, when Kay was engaging with the CEO of a venture capital firm, he sent his DocSend pitch deck link via WhatsApp and he did not receive a reply. While a lack of response would have been a cause for concern without DocSend, Kay slowly learned that the VC firm was indeed very interested in his company. “The CEO was in Portugal at the time and over the weekend I noticed the same link I had sent to him was opened in Dubai, Amsterdam, and all over the globe.” Picking up on the signal that the firm was reviewing his deck even days after sending his initial pitch, Kay remained hopeful, “This was invaluable information then knowing I should follow up. They are actually one of our investors now.”

Additionally, Kay has uncovered new investor opportunities through DocSend. “We’ve been able to identify new investors for Zazuu by seeing when our deck is forwarded onto someone else and they enter their email to view the pitch deck. I’ll follow-up with them and see if they have any questions,” Kay shared. By using DocSend’s analytics, Kay is able to grow his top of funnel and identify new, potentially interested investors.

DocSend has let us have conversations with investors that would not have otherwise happened through tracking our pitch deck link that has been forwarded to others.

Kay Akinwunmi

Co-Founder and CEO, Zazuu

Creating more meaningful conversations with investors

Time becomes even more critical for founders when they have to set-up meetings with potential investors. For Kay, these meetings provided a limited time period to share his company mission and vision in more color than a static deck can do. With DocSend, Kay can use his time with his investors most effectively because he goes into meetings knowing exactly what areas of his pitch deck investors spent the most time on. As Kay shares, “DocSend’s insights allowed us to have better control over the flow of the conversation with potential investors. I now maximize my time with potential investors knowing they have seen the deck and sometimes don’t even need to pitch to them during our meetings.” Instead of repeating information, Kay is able to dig into the finer details and go straight into answering questions. Appreciating more nuanced conversations with investors, Kay remarks, “DocSend has been really useful. There is not any other way to track VC activity on pitch decks and accelerate the conversations we are having with potential investors.”

Additionally, at the end of his pitch deck, he includes an additional DocSend link to a frequently asked questions presentation. Kay shares, “It was helpful for us to know when potential investors wanted to learn even more because it meant they were very interested.” Overall, DocSend provides visibility into potential investor activity and interest, allowing Kay to target and partner with the right people to make his dream of creating a fairer market for international financial transfers become a reality.

DocSend is a must have tool for an effective fundraising process. Uncovering DocSend insights can boost your confidence as a founder and even the playing field. It would have been very difficult for us to complete our pre-seed raise and get to where we are today without DocSend.

Kay Akinwunmi

Co-Founder and CEO, Zazuu

The post Zazuu narrows down a funnel of hundreds of investors with DocSend to raise their pre-seed round appeared first on DocSend.

Bond’s mission is to accelerate the pace of financial innovation and access to capital. Bond makes it easy for businesses to offer compliant financial products by making integration to often-antiquated banks and financial vendors more intuitive. Facing massive growth resulting in the need to rapidly hire, Bond relies on DocSend to securely share information with prospective job candidates during the interview and hiring process.

The Challenge

Prior to DocSend, Brittney Harvey, a Recruiter for Bond, would send out recruiting decks, as well as homework assignments for open roles, to job candidates as email attachments or Google Drive files. In a highly sensitive industry and competitive market, Brittney worried at times about information getting into the wrong hands. This led to a search for a more secure sharing solution for external documents during the hiring process.

The Solution:

The team turned to DocSend’s secure document sharing solution to safeguard sensitive presentations and case studies that were sent to candidates during the hiring process.

Controlling access to confidential documents with candidates

Building out the recruiting function at a growing startup is no small task. For Brittney, she wanted to make sure security and ease were top priorities, when sharing information with candidates. During the initial interview process at Bond, Brittney will send an overview deck that shares a bit about the company and the product. Sometimes, candidates could be interviewing with competitors or could be coming from similar industries, so it’s important for these product decks to stay safe and away from the wrong set of eyes.

It’s great that I can require an email address to view documents. If a DocSend link happens to get in the wrong hands and I see an unknown email address I can quickly delete access to that link.

Brittney Harvey

Recruiter, Bond

With DocSend, Britney is able to regain security and control of who is accessing company information. “I love the email notifications I get. I can cross-check to ensure candidates who are viewing documents are also listed in our applicant tracking system,” Brittney shared. If there is an update on a document Brittney needs to make after sending, she can easily make the fix one time and it automatically changes the version of the file. Therefore, Brittney knows she is always sending the most up-to-date version of her recruiting material.

Following-up with interested candidates at the right time

With the acceleration of remote work and increased flexibility of options for job-seekers, the hiring market is seeing a boost in applications like never before. For recruiters, following up with interested candidates at the right moment can make an incredible difference. Before using DocSend, Brittney had a difficult time determining which candidates were genuinely interested. With DocSend’s analytics, Brittney receives page-by-page analytics and notifications when someone is viewing a document that she has shared. Brittney can use this information to follow-up at the right moment. The sooner that Brittney can follow-up with a candidate when Bond is top-of-mind, the more likely she is to receive a positive response.

Honestly the job market is crazy right now. The quicker we are able to move, the quicker we are able to lock in great talent. Having a tool like DocSend is so vital for us to recruit competitively.

Brittney Harvey

Recruiter, Bond

Boosting candidate engagement rates by 25% and maintaining a fair hiring process

Once a candidate makes it through the initial recruiter screen, then they typically move on to a take-home assignment for some roles. Previously, Brittney shared the assignment with candidates as a Google document. However, she realized, “I was finding that I couldn’t keep track of who has or has not looked at that document.” Without the ability to track candidate engagement with the assignment, Brittney had a difficult time prioritizing which candidates to follow-up with.

Now with DocSend, Brittney can see if someone has recently spent time looking at the assignment. If someone hasn’t looked at the take-home assignment, Brittney can reach out to them and validate interest in the role. “DocSend has helped us raise the number of people responding to our take-home assignment by 25% because I was able to follow-up at the right moment.”

The added level of protection in DocSend prevents candidates from sharing assignments with others interested in the opening role. Brittney can set link expiration dates, as well as turn off the ability to download the assignment. By preventing the documents from being sent to others, Brittney is able to maintain a fair hiring process for all prospective candidates.

Analytics to help inform conversations with candidates

It can be challenging as a recruiter or as a hiring manager to know exactly how familiar a candidate is with your company, or anticipate what questions they might have, when walking into an interview. Just as a candidate wants to make a positive first impression, employers also want to put their best foot forward during the interview process to secure top talent.

Brittney and hiring managers at Bond are able to walk into each interview feeling prepared, knowing what about the company might interest candidates and where to anticipate questions. For example, before an interview, Brittney might see that a candidate has spent a longer period of time on the culture slide of the recruiting pitch deck, so she knows to emphasize these elements in her conversations with them. “Being able to see what the candidate is most interested in is so important. I’m able to inform other interviewers what areas to push on or what candidates might have questions about,” Brittney shared.

In a constantly fluctuating job market, it can be difficult to know where a candidate stands, especially when there might be other offers on the table. Knowing whether a top candidate is leaning towards signing an offer allows recruiters to know where to spend their time. For Brittney, she’s able to gauge candidate interest in the later stages of the hiring process with DocSend. “I love that I’m able to let hiring managers know the good news when a top candidate who has multiple offers checks out our material again. That means they’re still thinking about us and now might be a good time to give them a call and see if they have any questions.” Brittney uses DocSend as an early indicator to hiring managers of whether a candidate is likely to sign an offer letter.

If I see a candidate has spent a lot of time on a particular part of our recruiting pitch deck, like slides about culture or the technical details of our product, I use this to guide my conversation and decisions like who they should speak with next. The analytics really allow me to provide a more personalized candidate experience.

Brittney Harvey

Recruiter, Bond

Securely housing employee documents after onboarding with Dropbox

When new employees start at a company, human resources managers walk them through reviewing and signing many different onboarding documents. It’s crucial that human resources managers can rely on a secure, cloud platform to organize files and onboarding documents.

For Bond, when a new employee joins, human resource managers collect all new onboarding documents using Dropbox. “We use Dropbox to manage our employee documents: offer letters, signed agreements, and pretty much anything you can think of that you’ve signed as an employee.” Bond relies on Dropbox’s secure cloud file sync and storage capabilities to safely house all of their internal documents, so that the organization can effectively focus on their larger goals. “We really like how Dropbox organizes all of your files and how you can easily arrange folders. Our legal team relies on Dropbox to make sure that only the right people are accessing internal documents with password protection.” For a growing business like Bond, security and simplicity are critical for sharing files on-the-go.

At Bond, while recruiters rely on DocSend to safely share sensitive documents with candidates, the human resources team securely stores signed employee contracts in Dropbox. Both products together keep the People team at Bond moving, as they continue to grow and scale.

The post Bond optimizes their hiring and onboarding process with DocSend & Dropbox 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.

For us to win new clients and effectively demonstrate our unique approach, we need the ability to quickly distribute complex and often dense research to a range of different viewers. We believe that access to knowledge makes the strategic transaction planning process more effective and ultimately demonstrates an important part of the strategic value we bring to clients.

Michael Magruder

Managing Director, Madison Park Group

MPG needed to be able to easily share a library of research with clients, as well as distribute marketing collateral to prospects. Given the unique aspects and needs of each group, laser-focused content is imperative. With hundreds of viewers, and significant amounts of information being shared, it is difficult to understand what content is important to whom, and how to prioritize marketing and research efforts.

DocSend analytics allow MPG to engage new prospects & manage existing customer needs

MPG uses DocSend to host and distribute market research for specific software categories and marketing collateral. This material can include a wide range of content forms and includes everything from one-page company profiles for key industry players to extensive presentations outlining macro-economic analysis and commentary.

With this approach, MPG gained access to analytics that allowed a better understanding of which readers were spending time on what content pieces. On an individual level, this allows them to see specifically who is interacting with which parts of the content and how. This has allowed MPG to better cater to customer needs and more effectively engage new client prospects.

By understanding specific stakeholders’ interests, we are able to gain valuable intelligence on key industry trends and ultimately better advise our clients.

Michael Magruder

Managing Director, Madison Park Group

DocSend gave MPG the granularity they needed to understand what specific readers found valuable in their content. Whether they are speaking to a CEO who is interested in raising investment capital or corporate development professionals who want to learn more about early-stage, market-disrupting companies, MPG walks into each meeting knowing how to tailor the conversation. This results in a more effective marketing and client engagement process for MPG, saving significant time by focusing on how to best serve the client.

Curious how you can do the same? Click here to get started with DocSend for free.

The post Madison Park Group hones their sales content strategy using 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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