Cour Design is a design firm that specializes in stage concert design, lighting, video, and set design for Grammy award-winning artists like Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Kacey Musgraves. Their sister company, Syne Research, is also redefining the way people listen to music on streaming services with enhanced visual displays.

Both companies recently tapped into Dropbox and DocSend to smooth out their business operations and raise funds to expand their direct-to-consumer audio streaming companion.  

The Challenge

Gordon Droitcour, Co-Founder of Cour Design and Syne Research, wanted a simple way to track client proposals and investor pitch decks stored in Dropbox. 

Before Dropbox, Gordon had been sending simple email attachments—and he had no idea what prospects or investors were doing with the files once they were received. Attachments were clunky for artists to view on their phones on the road, and files with sensitive creative IP could easily be shared with competitors—a massive risk for the business. Gordon wanted a way to protect these files from getting into the wrong hands.

The Solution

Gordon and his team turned to DocSend for its rich analytics and advanced controls. With DocSend, Gordon knows when artists and investors are interested in his offers, and he can see when files are shared with other contacts. Now that he has tight control over file permission, he can rest easy knowing that his team’s designs won’t be stolen, their pricing information is kept confidential, and they’ll receive fair compensation for his hard work.

Scaling and running a design agency with Dropbox Backup and Sync

Lighting and animation files are hefty, and Cour Design goes through computers every four months to keep up with demand. Between the hassle of switching devices and wrangling external hard drives, data loss during these transitions was slowing down collaboration with high-profile artists who could make or break their business. 

Cour Design turned to Dropbox as a reliable cloud storage provider that could handle their creative output. With Dropbox Sync, Cour Design sends only one link, accessible to artists from anywhere on the road—no more back and forth on versions, no more searching for the latest file. 

“The reason we like Dropbox,” says Gordon, “is because I can just click on the file on my desktop, copy the link, send, and it’s done.”

And if anyone needs to access a previous version for whatever reason, Cour Design uses Dropbox Backup to retrieve it for up to 30 days. 

Protecting creative intellectual property with DocSend

Cour Design customizes every project for each client—which means their pricing strategy is just as bespoke.

Setting an expiration date on a scope of work with DocSend is huge. Then the offer is only valuable for two weeks, and no one artist can pull it up and ask about outdated pricing six months later.

Gordon Droitcour

Co-Founder, Cour Design

As an extra layer of security, Gordon says he’ll soon be using DocSend’s email verification feature to make sure confidential designs are viewed only by authorized collaborators. “We don’t usually design mockups ahead of a signed contract, but we will if we want the work badly enough,” Gordon says. “But it’s common in the industry for  artists to pick someone else and potentially take elements of your design they didn’t pay for. We’ve found it very hard to protect against that.” 

With DocSend, Gordon and his team have peace of mind that others aren’t copying their work. DocSend takes the agency to the next level—granting them ownership over their creative ideas through advanced controls. 

Gauging interest from potential clients and investors with DocSend’s analytics

DocSend helps Cour Design generate new business, too. The agency sends almost a dozen proposals to potential new clients every month, so it’s safe to say they value speed—but they also needed a way to gauge true interest from potential clients as a boutique design agency with aggressive expansion goals. 

The agency had previously been sending proposals over email, which wasn’t the easiest for artists to view on their phones. The team also didn’t know when someone had viewed their decks and when to anticipate hearing from potential clients. DocSend’s analytics allows Cour Design to track activity on every proposal, so they know what’s working and what should be revised for future engagements. 

When working with high-profile clients, it’s critical to anticipate questions and follow up on them quickly. With clear anticipation of potential client needs, Gordon can easily close business faster and use the additional time to focus on his other ventures.  

Making fundraising easier for long-term growth

We were really excited when we found out Dropbox had a product that would give us intelligence over our fundraising materials. DocSend makes it easy for us to upload the latest versions of our pitch decks and gives us full control over who is accessing them.

Gordon Droitcour

Co-Founder, Cour Design

Cour Design isn’t only focused on design for live entertainment—they also fundraise for their sister company, Syne Research, a venture that’s redefining the way people listen to music with enhanced visual displays.

Similar to their proposals for artists, the agency needed a way to gauge investor interest in pitch decks stored within Dropbox accounts. To analyze investor activity, Syne Research uses DocSend analytics to gain a better understanding of potential investor activity on their pitch decks. Gordon and team can see real-time, page-by-page insights, allowing them to know what parts of his deck to focus on in follow-up conversations. 

“I like that I can see whether an investor opened or shared the pitch deck,” Gordon says. “Without DocSend, there was no other way to see if somebody opened the deck or not.” 

As a founder with multiple businesses to oversee, Gordon runs on limited time. Finding the right decision maker can sometimes feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Luckily for Gordon, he doesn’t have to spend hours painstakingly figuring out the right person at a venture capital firm. After sending out a DocSend link, Gordon receives email notifications when a deck is passed around at a firm, potentially saving him hours of searching for the right managing partner. With DocSend’s advanced analytics, Gordon is able to not only secure meetings with the right managing partner, but also prioritize the most compelling parts of his business with potential investors. 

The post Expanding a rapidly growing design agency with Dropbox and DocSend appeared first on DocSend.

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.

Retail insights and ecommerce mystery shopper platform Humii combines cutting-edge technology with real human analysis to help brands deliver a superior online shopping experience. When Humii needed a secure way to send sensitive files with investors, they started using DocSend to store, control, and track documents.

They found it so effective that they expanded their use, leveraging DocSend for day-to-day business operations, like sharing confidential reports with customers.

The challenge

When Humii started raising capital, they faced the same challenge as many startups – the company needed a way to share sensitive investor documents. Email wasn’t secure enough, and Google Drive didn’t look professional. The Humii team needed a solution that could control access to investor material, so that no one could download sensitive files and potentially send them to unsecure, external third-parties.

It's been a real game changer for us, moving away from sharing files via email and Google Drive. The ability to track clearly who accessed which files and how engaged they are with each of them has improved our end-to-end fundraising process .

Andy Evans

Co-Founder, Humii

The solution

Humii started using DocSend’s virtual data room to control access to all investor documents, including sensitive financial information that shouldn’t be shared freely. After seeing success with investors, the team at Humii expanded DocSend’s capabilities to include secure file sharing with prospects and customers, from pre-sales documents to crucial data reports.

Controlling investor materials in DocSend’s virtual data room

When creating a personalized virtual data room to create a unique experience for each venture capital firm, Andy can easily pull in all his investor documents from his desktop or external storage provider, and protect them with a one-click non-disclosure agreement (NDA). DocSend makes securely sharing documents easy for business owners like Andy, who can easily have investors sign an NDA before accessing material through Humii’s custom data room. DocSend’s document analytics gave Andy valuable insight into which content investors were engaging with most.

This data enabled him to have more compelling client conversations and tailor his follow-up calls accordingly. With DocSend, Andy was able to protect investor memorandums and glean valuable insights, like the fact that investors were engaging most with the company’s financials.

The virtual data room is a great way to control access, so that people can't just download a document and send it out to thousands of people. We can clearly see who has access, which is incredibly useful.

Andy Evans

Co-Founder, Humii

Narrowing down the sales funnel with DocSend’s engagement metrics

With DocSend, Humii has improved their sales process with dedicated client portals for each prospect. When that prospect becomes a customer, they continue to access all files going forward within the same client portal — a seamless onboarding process. “It was really a frictionless evolution for our customers,” Andy shared. He went on, “When we first pitch to a customer, we share details in their client portal on how our reports can improve their businesses, as well as information on pricing. Once they become a client, they can access all of their information in the same portal.”

When sales teams send out pricing information and explainer decks to prospects, they can see which parts of a document the prospect has engaged with the most.

Seeing when people are browsing through the document means you know they skimmed the data before you’re sitting in front of them. You know they have some context, which tells you what leads care about before your meeting even starts.

Andy Evans

Co-Founder, Humii

Protecting sensitive information in DocSend’s client portals

As part of their service to customers, Humii sends performance reports that contain sensitive information about each brand’s online shopping experience. Every report contains a score for each stage of the customer lifecycle and recommendations for improvement.

Humii has set up client portals for each customer, so that all reports are secure and centralized. When a customer wants to compare previous performance reports with a current one, all documents are easy to find in one centralized access point. With DocSend data rooms, there’s no risk that customer reports will get into the wrong hands.

If your business isn’t performing well, that’s not something you want your competitors to know. At a previous company, I've seen that type of thing go horribly wrong with getting the wrong data sent to the wrong customer, and DocSend prevents that from happening.

Andy Evans

Co-Founder, Humii

The post Humii locks down sensitive investor and customer documents with DocSend appeared first on DocSend.

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.

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.

Founded over a decade ago, a leading technology company’s mission is to empower Fortune 500 brands to engage with their customers through a variety of channels at the right moment. To share confidential files with customers and carry out policy agreements with employees, this company relies on DocSend to securely safeguard and organize documents.

The Challenge

Prior to DocSend, a Technical Security Manager at the company would send out employee security documents for eSignature using DocuSign, which was too costly and complex for a simple internal workflow. Additionally, the customer support team needed a more secure way of sharing sensitive documents with customers.

The Solution

The team turned to DocSend’s secure document sharing and eSignature solution to safeguard sensitive cybersecurity documents that would go out to both employees and customers.

Securely sharing sensitive documents with customers

When the company’s Technical Security Manager was first introduced to DocSend three years ago, the platform was used as a tool by customer support representatives to securely share sensitive information with customers. Technical support representatives would regularly interact with customers over email, sometimes sending over sensitive information about internal company security procedures. “We needed a safe way to easily turn on and off link access to ensure that the right information was being sent to the right individuals,” the manager shared. With DocSend, customer support representatives are able to safely send out sensitive materials regarding company policies with individual customers and control access to the documents for a defined period of time. This way, employees can securely control their company’s privacy and know exactly who is accessing internal Service Organization Control (SOC 2) reports – information that highlights how the company protects customer data. 

DocSend’s robust document tracking and analytics provides more visibility and flexibility beyond just sharing a link on Google Drive.

Technical Security Manager

Customer Engagement Technology Platform

Sometimes, customer support needs to share files on a support portal with customers that contain sensitive information about customer data. By hosting these documents in DocSend, customers can enter in a protected password and customer support representatives can be at ease that the documents are secure. The added layer of security in DocSend builds trust between the company and its customers. “If a customer needs a custom support solution, our support team will upload it to support folders and only share sensitive info with that customer,” the manager shares. DocSend provides both the company’s employees and customers with reassurance that their documents are protected from unauthorized parties. 

Switching over from DocuSign to simplify employee onboarding

As someone who manages the security policies and practices at the organization, the Technical Security Manager at the company wanted to explore other ways he could use DocSend within his own role. Cybersecurity touches every level of the business, including legal, human resources, IT, and customer support. Particularly, all new employees need to sign an internal cybersecurity policy package upon onboarding, as well as update their signature yearly. The Technical Security Manager thought DocSend could provide a simpler way to collect signed employee policy documents.

When you’re onboarded as a new hire or contractor, you sign an internal policy document in DocSend. I can track who has signed our security policies that are needed for yearly audits. It’s one less thing that human resources has to worry about.

Technical Security Manager

Customer Engagement Technology Platform

Previously, the company’s technical security team was relying on DocuSign, which was too cumbersome of a solution for their needs. “There were too many overwhelming options and too many permissions, when I needed to collect basic employee signatures. The user interface and user experience was too much in DocuSign and it made it hard for me to keep track of who signed our policy documents,” the manager recalled. With DocuSign, the team needed to pay an additional license fee to access the software, which was too costly for the basic eSignature functionality they needed. However, the team realized they could instead try out DocSend’s eSignature feature, which was already included in their existing DocSend plan. They were already DocSend users, securely sharing documents with customers, so it made sense to give the software a try for its eSignature capability. 

I can’t speak highly enough about DocSend. With multi-party eSignature, I can track in real time who has viewed and signed our documents. This insight cuts down on me having to ask HR about who's signed what or having to chase down signatures.

Technical Security Manager

Customer Engagement Technology Platform

A seamless and cost-effective multi-party eSignature solution to track cybersecurity policy documents

After trying out DocSend’s eSignature , the technical security team was impressed by how easy it was to securely send documents across the business. “As soon as you guys said you had multi-party eSignature, I knew it was time to stop using DocuSign,” the Technical Security Manager shared. Unlike DocuSign, DocSend is intuitive to use and has everything the team needs to collect over three-hundred employee signatures on internal policy documents. “Every year, we are audited and are required to provide yearly company-wide signatures on our data retention policy. DocSend’s multi-party eSignature lets us show auditors that we take our privacy seriously. We can even show the exact timestamp an employee signed an agreement,” the Technical Security Manager shared. The technical security team at the company is able to track who has signed documents and ensure that the company is compliant with strict cybersecurity policies. 

Looking forward to the future: improving onboarding and customer experiences

The technical security team at the company will use DocSend to improve onboarding as his company continues to grow. Next year, they hope to unify policy cover sheets using a third-party system to maintain version control. Additionally, the customer support team will continue to send sensitive information to customers with confidence knowing their documents are protected with passwords and expiring links in DocSend. As the Technical Security Manager shared, “My own team and our support teams have been really excited about DocSend and I can only see this continuing to grow as we scale in the future.”

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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.

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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. 

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Sleepless Media is a full-service web design and development agency that provides innovative brand experiences anchored around custom, responsive websites. Developing creative assets for a large client base including Levi Strauss, Lenny & Larry’s, and Breeo, Sleepless Media relies on both Dropbox and DocSend to securely share project proposals and creative files with prospective clients.

The Challenge

Prior to DocSend, Jon Cattivera, CEO and Creative Director, would send partnership proposals and creative files to clients as email attachments. As his client list grew, Jon needed a more scalable solution to better control the proposal process. Additionally, he needed a more robust platform that would allow him to customize and organize design elements.

The Solution:

Jon turned to DocSend to securely send and track sales proposals to prospective clients and Dropbox to share creative files.

Advanced insights into client proposals shorten sales cycles

As a creative professional managing a design and web development firm that caters to leading global brands, Jon juggles many different responsibilities in order to provide the best possible customer service. Following up at the right moment with a potential client is critical, especially when closing new business. However, operating on limited time, Jon must be deliberate and thoughtful when sharing project proposals and reviewing statements of work from potential clients. Previously, Jon had no intel into whether prospective clients were reviewing proposals he would send out. “I had no idea who was interested in working with us after those initial conversations. I wanted a better sense of whether prospective clients were serious about partnering with us,” Jon shared.

After trying out DocSend’s free trial, Jon immediately felt the impact of using DocSend’s document analytics. Now, Jon knows exactly which prospective clients were genuinely interested in collaborating through real-time email updates and notifications when they are viewing project proposals. Additionally, Jon can see whether individuals have forwarded over his files to the right people at the company. Instead of spending tedious weeks searching for the right person to connect with, Jon can uncover the right person and follow-up accordingly. “DocSend shows us who other core decision-makers are, which has given us back much-needed time to focus on what we do best – quality creative design and development.”

DocSend shows us exactly which prospective clients are engaging with proposals and are interested in working with us. I love how the email notifications alert me when someone is reviewing a proposal in real-time, which helps me prioritize strategic follow-up and insight on any potential questions.

Jon Cattivera

CEO and Creative Director, Sleepless Media

Intuitive presentations build stronger client relationships

Potential clients could often be looking into multiple agencies, so it is important for design and development firms to stand out among the competition. Jon is able to rely on DocSend to display custom proposals in a professional manner, which gives his agency a unique advantage. “I present my proposals directly in DocSend because I’m usually sharing just my browser and not my whole screen. DocSend lets me go back and forth between a website and my PDF all in one window, instead of having to flip back and forth to try and find the right file outside of a browser, or having to share my entire screen.”

Easily executing master service agreements with eSignature

As a nimble and growing design and creative development firm, Sleepless Media works with a range of clients with specific visions, often reflected in the statement of work. Jon was overjoyed when he found out that he could execute master service agreements and statements of work with DocSend’s e-Signature feature. “I had previously looked into DocuSign, but it was too clunky. I really needed a simple way to execute client agreements,” Jon shared. Once a client agrees to partner with Sleepless Media, Jon sends them their contract to sign directly in DocSend. “Clients can easily review their proposal and execute their agreement in one product experience using DocSend’s eSignature, without switching back and forth between different, bulky softwares,” Jon shared.

Additionally, milestones and deliverables can sometimes change for those in the creative space. Managing different change orders for a long list of clients can be tricky, but Jon is able to organize all executed client agreements in DocSend folders.

DocSend’s eSignature makes the negotiation and close process intuitive for both us and our clients. I’m able to add in necessary fields and send out critical agreements that allow us to build long-term relationships with our clients.

Jon Cattivera

CEO and Creative Director, Sleepless Media

Storing client branding assets and creative in Dropbox

Working with a wide range of businesses requires keeping close tabs on all of their creative files. Jon relies on Dropbox Business to organize all of his client logos and core design elements. Once a brand signs on to work with Sleepless Media, Jon will create a Dropbox folder containing everything he will need for their partnership. “With so many different clients, Dropbox makes it easy for us to quickly find any creative element we might need for a project. Dropbox holds all of our Sketch files, heavier design files, and branding assets,” Jon shared.

No matter where team members are located, members of the Sleepless Media group are able to work flexibly and make changes to creative files in Dropbox. In an industry where creative adjustments often come up, Jon and his team keep all files up to date securely with Dropbox’s cloud storage. Relying on both Dropbox and DocSend, Sleepless Media continues to secure partnership agreements and provide innovative web designs for a growing list of clients.

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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.

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