How To Create A Great Equity Story
April 24, 2022
Your equity story is a clear, simple way of describing your business and the reasons for investing in it.
Why is an equity story important? Because it makes it easier for investors to invest in you.
- It makes it easier for investors, journalists and analysts to understand your business
- It makes it easier for them to talk about your business
- It can help increase the valuation of your business long term. Yes – if you have a good equity story, you can get a better price for your shares.
And in today’s environment, when so much communication is virtual, a good equity story is more important than ever.
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So how do you create a great equity story?
Here are five tips that we use at Benjamin Ball Associates to help our clients create and improve their equity stories:
1. Keep your story simple
A common mistake companies make is to try and get the investor too close to the business. If you share the nuances of why your business is better than your competitors, your story will be complex. Your story will be better if you can strip it back to the bare essentials from the perspective of the investor. The shorter and clearer your story, the better.
For example, can you describe in one line what makes your business or investment opportunity special? When we create equity stories for our clients, we sometimes spend weeks working on a compelling one liner to underpin their equity story.
2. A great equity story has just one big idea
Like a presentation or speech, the more ideas you have in your story, the more you dilute your story. One big idea is more powerful and easier to remember.
Keep simplifying and tightening your story. Very often, an outsider can be helpful to challenge your thinking and to help you identify and resolve differences between members of your team.
3. Make your investor story memorable
How will others repeat your story? If it is easy to repeat and remember, then your story is strong.
Remember, after meeting you an investor will need to go away and talk about you. If you have made your equity story memorable and easy to repeat then you will make their job easier.
4. Think: a great equity story is about the investor, not about you
If you tell me you have invented the world’s greatest mousetrap, that is not an equity story. If you tell me why everyone in the world will buy your mousetrap at a premium price; then it is.
The art of a great equity story it making it all about the investment story and weaving in information about your products and services.
5. Be consistent
Good investor stories have legs. They remain constant over time and adapt (relatively) slowly. If yours needs to change every three months, then your story is tactical not strategic.
Many companies find it tough to articulate a powerful long term equity story in their M&A management presentations, investor meetings and IPO presentations.
Frequently management is too close to the business, or they get distracted by the latest success. That’s where an outside advisor is so valuable, giving you a dispassionate analysis of what will appeal to investors.
Help me improve my equity story
How to create a great equity story
Expert advice for creating a powerful equity story
How can you improve your equity story?
The good news is that a great story can be one of your most valuable sales tools when you are speaking to investors and analysts. For example, in an IPO, the red thread of your investor story will run through all of your communications. When raising money for a private company, it’s even more important to get it right.
How can we help you?
We help firms and fund managers improve their equity stories. From small private companies to some of the biggest firms in Europe, we create value wherever we work.
We work on short-sharp projects that add huge value. It does not cost much, and will repay itself many times over. Find out more today.
To improve your equity story, speak to our Client Services Director Louise Angus today or call her on +44 20 7018 0922.
Tell her what you want and we will help you improve your story to investors.
Help me improve my equity story
About Benjamin Ball Associates
At Benjamin Ball Associates, we help clients to pitch, present & persuade.
Over the last 15+ years the award-winning BBA team has supported hundreds of firms globally to present powerfully to investors. You get access to a transformational toolbox of techniques to help you become a clear, confident communicator.
We’ll help you create a powerful first impression that hooks and engages your audience immediately, and we’ll transform you to deliver clearly, confidently and with impact.
Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email louise@benjaminball.com to find out more and discuss your equity story.
Contact us for a chat about how we can help you with your presenting.
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Contact us for a chat about how we can help you with your presenting.