How deal rooms work

A deal room is the unit of a deal on Hockystick: a private workspace between one founder and one investor, moving through six explicit stages from first look to closing. Both parties see the same room, the same stage, and the same record — the deal has one state, not two versions of it.

Design principles

• One counterparty per room. Confidential material shared with one firm is structurally invisible to every other.
• Legal protection before disclosure. The Information Vault stays locked until both parties sign the room's NDA.
• Stages, not vibes. The workflow advances through explicit transitions both parties can see — and stage transitions are requested by one side and approved by the other.
• A recorded ending. Rooms conclude in a decision — Invest, Hold, or Pass with a reason — not a trailing silence.

Anatomy of a room

The room header carries the stage bar — the six stages in order, with locked stages shown but disabled until the workflow reaches them. Below it, each stage renders its own panel. Alongside the stages, every room has an activity timeline, notes, and participant management.

Shared features

• Activity timeline — every material event (uploads, views, signatures, stage changes, notes) in one chronological feed.
• Notes — with three visibility levels: private to you, shared with your team, or visible to the whole room.
• Participants — invite by email or link; team members join with the role and assignment their account carries.
• Ask AI — a room-scoped AI assistant that answers against this room's context.