Deal Room: Getting Access to an Incubator's Startups
A deal room is an incubator letting you look at their startups on terms they choose. You ask for a scope and a set of things you want to see; they grant, narrow or refuse it. This page covers asking well.
What you will learn
- The four scopes, and which to ask for
- The five permissions and what each reveals
- What happens after you send a request
- Working through the startups you have been granted
- Why access can shrink or disappear
How access works#
You do not browse incubators' startups by default - nothing is visible until an incubator grants it. A grant is scoped two ways at once: how many startups you can see, and how much you can see about each.
Good to know
Access can arrive without you asking. An incubator that wants you in front of their cohort can invite you, and it appears under Invitations.
Choosing a scope#
Ask for the narrowest scope that actually covers what you want. A tight request is easier to say yes to, and an incubator that has to think about it may just decline.
| Scope | What it covers | When to ask for it |
|---|---|---|
| Incubator | Every startup they have, now and in future. | An ongoing relationship where you look at everything. |
| Program | One program's startups. | You care about a particular thesis or vertical. |
| Batch | One cohort within a program. | You are looking at this intake specifically. |
| Startup | A single company. | You already know who you want to look at. |
Tip
Incubator scope is genuinely broad - it includes startups they have not onboarded yet. Say so in your reasoning if you ask for it, because from their side it looks like a standing claim on everything.
Choosing what you want to see#
Five separate permissions, each ticked or not. The incubator can grant fewer than you asked for, and often will.
Applications
What the startup submitted to get in - the closest thing to a primary source.
Evaluations
How the incubator's panel scored them. Somebody else's diligence, already done.
Mentor feedback
What mentors have said about the team. Often the most candid material available.
Progress
How they are tracking against program milestones.
Funding history
What they have raised already. The one most often withheld.
Good to know
Whatever is not granted is named on the startup page rather than quietly hidden, so you always know what you are not seeing.
Sending a request#
- 1
Request access
From the Deal Room page.
- 2
Pick the incubator
The program and batch options populate from your choice, so this comes first.
- 3
Set the scope
Choosing Incubator removes the program selector, because it no longer applies.
- Program scope requires you to name a program.
- Batch scope requires a batch, and Startup scope a startup.
- 4
Set an access-until date, or leave it open
A date makes the request smaller and easier to approve. Leave it blank for open-ended access.
- 5
Tick only what you need
Asking for everything by reflex invites a refusal or a heavily narrowed grant.
- 6
Send
It appears on the incubator's Investor Relations screen as Requested, showing your name, your investor type and exactly what you asked for.
Careful
An unverified investor can request access, but some incubators grant only to verified ones. If requests keep going quiet, get verified before you assume they are ignoring you.
Once you are granted#
The grant appears under My access with its scope and the permissions you actually received. Open it to see the startups it covers.
- 1
Open the grant
It tells you how many startups are visible and lets you filter by name, sector or stage.
- 2
Open a startup
Tabs across the top match the permissions you were given. Anything withheld is listed underneath so you know it exists.
- 3
Create a deal when it is worth pursuing
This is the moment sourcing becomes pipeline. Sector and stage carry over automatically.
Tip: If a deal already exists for that startup, the button offers to open it instead of creating a duplicate.
Access is not permanent#
- An incubator can modify a grant, removing permissions you previously had.
- An incubator can revoke it entirely.
- An access-until date expires on its own.
- Deals you already created survive - the deal is yours; the access was theirs.
Important
Anything you actually need long term should be captured against the deal - notes, documents, your own analysis. Do not rely on being able to re-read the incubator's material later.
Common questions#
Program scope needs a named program. Choosing 'all programs' is not a valid narrowing - use Incubator scope if you want everything.
You have the permission but the incubator has not filled that section in. It is an empty section, not a blocked one.
Ask them to modify the existing grant instead. Two overlapping grants make it unclear which one applies.
The incubator knows, and controls it. The relationship is with the incubator rather than the founder until you create a deal and start talking to them.
