Channels & DMs
Public or private channels, plus 1:1 direct messages.
Team Chat for startups that keeps the conversation next to the work
A real-time messaging space for your team. Send messages in shared channels or one-on-one DMs, attach files, react with emojis, mention teammates, and reply in threads.
- ChannelsPublic + Private
- ThreadsYes
- EncryptionAt rest
app.nautis.io/chat
What is Team Chat?
Team chat for startups is a messaging space where a small team talks in channels and direct messages instead of email. Nautis Team Chat gives you public and private channels, one-on-one DMs, threads, mentions, reactions, voice notes and file sharing. Any message can be pinned, bookmarked, copied into a data room or turned into a task on your board, so a decision made in chat doesn't stay buried there.
A five-person team doesn't need much from chat. It needs a place to ask a quick question, a channel per topic, and a way to stop important things scrolling away. Team Chat covers that. Create a channel with the + next to Channels, give it a name like product-design, a description and optional posting Guidelines, and choose Public (anyone in the org can join) or Private (invite-only). Teammates sit under Team Members with a coloured dot for online, away, busy or offline.
What it adds over a standalone chat app is the action menu on every message. Create task turns "can someone fix the pricing page typo" into a card on your task board. Copy to Data Room sends an attachment, such as the signed NDA someone just dropped in, straight into a room. Pin keeps it at the top of the channel, and Bookmark saves it to your personal bookmarks.
Threads keep side discussions out of the main view, and anyone who replied or was mentioned gets notified about new replies. Channel messages without a mention stay quiet by default. The full set of steps is in the Team Chat guide.
Built for
- Founders consolidating communication
- Teams without a separate Slack
- Operators routing topics into focused channels
Capabilities
What you can do with Team Chat
Everything ships out of the box. No setup, no plugins, no extra tools.
Threads & reactions
Reply in threads to keep main channels clean; react with emoji.
Mentions
@-mention teammates and channels for attention routing.
File attachments
Drop files into messages — they're stored in your org's storage.
Encrypted at rest
Messages are encrypted at rest.
Use cases
How startups use Team Chat
Turning a bug report into a tracked task
A teammate posts a screenshot of a broken checkout button. Hover the message, open the action menu and choose Create task. The work now lives on the board with an owner, not in a channel nobody will scroll back through.
Running a private channel for the raise
Create fundraise as a Private channel and tick only the founders. It doesn't appear in anyone else's sidebar. Pin the message with the target list so it stays at the top of the channel.
Sending a voice note instead of a long message
Click the microphone in the message box, explain the context in 40 seconds and send. The recipient plays it inline, which beats a wall of text when you're between meetings.
Filing a contract that arrived in chat
The lawyer's redlined agreement lands as an attachment in a DM. Use Copy to Data Room so it ends up in the diligence room, not in the chat history of one person.
Quick start
From zero to using Team Chat
- 1
Create a channel
Name, description, public or private — invite specific teammates if private.
- 2
Send messages
Plain text, emojis, mentions, files.
- 3
Use threads
Reply in thread to keep the main channel readable.
- 4
React and follow up
Reactions confirm receipt; threads handle the deep dive.
Team chat for startups: built-in chat vs a dedicated chat app vs a messaging group
If your team already lives in a dedicated chat app with a hundred integrations, keep it. Built-in chat is worth it when you want messages to turn into tasks and files without copying them between tools.
| Need | Personal messaging group | Nautis Team Chat | Dedicated chat app |
|---|---|---|---|
| Channels by topic, public or private | One group per topic, by hand | Yes, with description and guidelines | Yes |
| Threads, mentions and reactions | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| Message to task in one click | No | Create task | Usually through an integration |
| Attachment to a data room | No | Copy to Data Room | No |
| Work and personal chats kept apart | No | Yes, workspace only | Yes |
| Large catalog of chat add-ons | No | No, it's a built-in space | Usually yes |
Plans and limits
- Team Chat must be enabled on your plan. Who can send messages, create channels or manage them depends on each person's role permissions.
- Plans differ in how many team members a workspace holds: 5 on Launch, 10 on Voyage and 25 on Fleet. See pricing.
What Team Chat doesn't do
- It's for your team inside the workspace. The guide doesn't describe external guests or shared channels with other companies, so client chat belongs elsewhere.
- Team Chat and Slack don't mirror each other. You can connect Slack through Integrations so AI agents can read or post there, but the two message histories stay separate.
- The sidebar search filters channels and people. Finding one old message by its words is harder than in a chat app built around search.
- When you go offline, sending pauses until you reconnect. What you typed stays in the box.
Team Chat questions
Do startups need a separate team chat app?+
Not always. A small team that already works in Nautis can talk in Team Chat and turn messages into tasks or data room files directly. If you rely on a large set of chat integrations or talk daily with outside companies, a dedicated app is the better fit.
Are Team Chat messages encrypted?+
Messages are encrypted at rest. Public channels are visible to anyone in your organization with chat access, and private channels only to their members.
Can I send voice notes and images?+
Yes. Use the microphone icon to record a voice note that plays inline, the image icon for pictures and the paperclip for any file. You can also drag files from your desktop onto the chat window.
Can I save a message to come back to later?+
Yes. Open the message's action menu and choose Bookmark to save it to your personal bookmarks, or Pin to keep it at the top of the channel for everyone in it.
Can I format messages?+
Yes. The formatting toolbar covers bold, italics, lists and code. Press Shift+Enter for a new line and Enter to send.
Who can see my messages in a public channel?+
Anyone in your organization with chat access. Private channels are only visible to members you invited.
Can I delete a message I sent?+
Yes. Open the message's action menu and choose delete. People who already saw it may have read it before you removed it.
Can I edit a message after sending?+
Yes. Open the action menu on your own message and choose edit. Other participants see an 'edited' indicator.
How do I leave a channel?+
Open the channel's options and find the leave option. You can rejoin a public channel anytime; for a private channel, a member has to invite you back.
Will I get notified for every message?+
You get notifications for direct messages, mentions, and replies to your threads. Channel messages without a mention are quieter by default — open the channel's notification settings to change this.
Can I integrate with Slack?+
Team Chat is a built-in alternative — most teams use one or the other. Mirroring isn't supported.
Are messages searchable?+
The search field at the top of the sidebar filters channels and people. To find an important message again, pin it in the channel or bookmark it from its action menu.
Where do shared files live?+
Files attached to messages are stored in your organization's storage and counted against your storage quota.
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