Arrhis compared with Google Drive
Most first-time sellers start with a shared Google Drive folder. It is free or already paid for, every buyer knows how to use it, and it is a perfectly good place to keep files. The gaps show up when you need to know who has signed what, stage what each buyer can see, and prove that the numbers in your spreadsheets are real.
The short version
Use Drive for storing and collaborating on documents. Use a deal room when you are sharing confidential numbers with several buyers at different stages, and want each number to trace back to a source system.
Side by side
| Arrhis | Google Drive | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Selling a small online business: one room per sale, one link per buyer, three disclosure stages. | Storing, organizing and collaborating on files, for individuals and teams of any kind. |
| Where numbers come from | Read-only connections to Stripe, Mercury and Google Analytics, plus files you upload. Every number is labelled with its source: From Stripe, From Mercury, From Google Analytics, or Uploaded by seller. | Whatever files you upload. A spreadsheet of MRR is only as reliable as the person who prepared it. |
| NDA before access | Each buyer verifies their email and signs the NDA in the page before seeing anything beyond the teaser. The signed copy is stored against that buyer. | No built-in NDA step. Sellers usually get an NDA signed separately, by email or an e-signature tool, and then share the folder by hand. |
| Staged disclosure | Per buyer: 1 teaser, 2 NDA signed, 3 LOI signed. Customer names and bank statements stay locked until you mark the buyer LOI signed. | Controlled with folder and file sharing permissions, which you change by hand for each person. |
| Viewer activity | Per buyer: which sections and files they opened, and for how long. | Built for collaboration rather than tracking outside viewers. What activity you can see depends on your account type. |
| File protection | View-only in the browser, with a tiled watermark showing the buyer's email, the time and the room ID. | You can stop viewers from downloading, printing or copying many file types. No automatic per-viewer watermark. |
| Payout reconciliation | Stripe payouts matched to bank deposits by exact amount within three days. Unmatched items are listed with your explanation. | Not part of the product. You would reconcile in a spreadsheet and upload the result. |
| Pricing model | One-time room pass per sale. No auto-renewal. | Included with a Google account, with paid Google Workspace plans for businesses. See Google's site for current plans. |
What Google Drive does well
- Everyone already has it. Buyers do not need to learn anything or create a new account.
- Collaborative editing is excellent, which matters later in a deal when you and the buyer are working on the same documents.
- Storage for large files, and search across everything you keep there.
- Sharing permissions are familiar and quick to change for one or two people.
When Google Drive is the better choice
- You are selling to one buyer you already know and trust, under an NDA you have already signed.
- You are handing over files after closing, where confidentiality staging no longer matters.
- The information is mostly documents to edit together rather than financial data to verify.
Where Arrhis is different
- Numbers come from the source, and say so
- Sellers connect Stripe with a read-only restricted key, Mercury with a read-only token, and Google Analytics with read-only access. Revenue, payouts, deposits and traffic are pulled from those systems, and every figure is labelled From Stripe, From Mercury, From Google Analytics, or Uploaded by seller. Buyers can tell evidence from claims at a glance.
- Disclosure follows the deal
- Each buyer moves through three stages: the teaser, then everything covered by the NDA once they sign it, then customer names and bank statements once you mark their LOI signed. You never have to rebuild folders or permissions to keep a new buyer away from sensitive data.
- One NDA per buyer, signed in the page
- The buyer verifies their email and signs before seeing anything past the teaser. You get a record of who signed, when, and exactly what they looked at afterwards.
- Payouts reconciled with deposits
- Stripe payouts are matched to bank deposits by exact amount within three days. Unmatched items are listed with your explanation, which answers one of the first questions a careful buyer asks.
A room pass is a one-time purchase per sale, priced by asking price, with no auto-renewal. See pricing.
Further reading
- What to put in a data room when selling a SaaSThe folders, files and numbers buyers expect when you sell a small SaaS, what to hold back until LOI, and how to keep every number verifiable.
- How NDAs work when you sell a small businessA plain-language guide to NDAs in small business and SaaS sales: mutual or one-way, what they cover, non-solicits, term, and what they cannot do.
- How buyers verify MRR, and why screenshots are not enoughHow acquirers check a SaaS's MRR: annual plans, trials, coupons, failed payments, revenue versus MRR, and matching payouts to bank deposits.
See it with a buyer's eyes
Open the demo room to go through the teaser, the NDA and the verified dashboard the way a buyer would, or start a room for your own sale.