Public or Private Links for Fundraising Materials

When you create a sharing link for your fundraising materials, one of the first choices is who can open it. A public link works for anyone who has it. A private link works only for specific people, usually identified by email address.

Neither is always right. The right choice depends on what’s behind the link and who you want to reach.

When a public link makes sense

A public link is the right choice when your goal is reach.

Your outreach deck is the clearest example. You want it seen by as many relevant investors as possible, including people you don’t know about yet. When an investor forwards your deck to a partner or introduces you to another firm, a public link just works. A private link would stop the introduction at the door, because the new recipient’s email isn’t on your list.

Public links also reduce friction. The investor clicks and reads. There’s no sign-in step, no request for access, nothing that makes a busy person close the tab.

The trade-off is control. Anyone with a public link can open it. So a public link should only ever hold materials you’re comfortable having circulate: your outreach deck, a one-pager, perhaps a short product overview.

When a private link makes sense

A private link is the right choice when your goal is control.

As a raise progresses, the materials become more sensitive: detailed financials, traction data, customer information, and eventually your cap table and legal documents. These should be seen only by the people you’re actually in conversation with. Restricting access to specific email addresses means a forward doesn’t expand the audience, and your tracking shows exactly which named person opened what.

Private links also make engagement data more meaningful. On a restricted link, you know exactly who each viewer is.

A practical way to divide it

Public: outreach deck, one-pager, anything designed for introductions.

Private: detailed deck, financial model, traction records, customer evidence, and anything you’d share only after a meeting.

Data room with granular access: cap table, legal documents, contracts, and everything that belongs in diligence.

As a conversation deepens, the investor moves from the public link to a private one, and eventually into the data room.

Two mistakes to avoid

Putting sensitive material behind a public link. If you add your financial model to the same public link as your outreach deck, everyone the deck was forwarded to can now see your model. Keep sensitive materials in separate, restricted links.

Making an outreach deck private. It feels safer, but it quietly blocks the introductions that could lead to your best investors. For materials designed to travel, let them travel.

How DocChief helps

DocChief lets you make each sharing link public or restrict it to specific email addresses, so you can match access to what’s behind the link. When an investor is ready for diligence, you can invite them into your data room, where access can be managed down to individual documents and actions.

Related guides

What to Do When an Investor Wants to Forward Your Pitch Deck
Should Investors Be Able to Download Your Pitch Deck?
When a Sharing Link Isn’t Enough: Moving Investors Into a Data Room