Master Your Investor Roadshow Presentation

If you are preparing an investor roadshow presentation, then you’ll want to do everything to make it a success. What makes a successful roadshow presentation? How do you prepare for an IPO roadshow?

Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball

Ben is the founder of Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London.  Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page. 

What Makes a Good Investor Roadshow Presentation?

We’ve been offering roadshow presentation training for 15 years and in that time we have seen the difference between a successful and unsuccessful investor roadshow.

What’s the one big lesson we’ve learned? When you prepare a roadshow presentation you cannot put too much effort into creating a compelling investor presentation.  That means polishing how your team handles each investor meeting (not just creating prettier slides) with extensive investor pitch coaching.

Whether you are raising money, floating your business, selling a company or updating investors, your roadshow is something you must get right.

CASE STUDY – An Investor IPO Roadshow Story

The investment bank needed some help

It was a Thursday evening. The phone rang in the office. One of the big international banks was on the line. They needed some help. The CEO and CFO of MoneySupermarket.com has just presented their roadshow pitch to the bank’s sales team, and it was not good.

When a company floats in the stock exchange in an Initial Public Offering, or IPO, the management team of the company go on a roadshow, meeting potential investors and presenting their story and the reasons to invest in the business. The bank prepares a detailed pitch deck for the roadshow. To kick off the process the bank sales team is one of the first to hear the pitch so they can call their customers and book appointments. In this case the sales team was not impressed.

The MoneySupermarket IPO was a big one. Google had IPOed a few weeks previously and the bank wanted to use the Google excitement to raise money so that MoneySupermarket could continue its fast growth.

The banker wondered if we could help. But there was a small problem: today was Thursday and the roadshow started on Monday.

Coaching to prepare the team for the investor roadshow

At 8am the next morning we sat down with the MoneySupermarket team. We asked them to run through their pitch. After a couple of minutes, we stopped. It was terrible. So we asked them about it.

If any of you know the IPO process, you will know that it is gruelling. In this case the CFO had not had more than 4 hours sleep per night in the last six months. Both were drained and their enthusiasm had faded away. On top of that the story, as told in the roadshow pitch deck, was not their story. It was the bank’s story.

Telling the investment story in a new way

We asked them to tell us their story in their own words. What we heard was how they started the business. How they struggled. How they grew it from an idea into the largest price comparison site in the UK. They told us the vision was to save consumers money. They told us their plans to expand the business.

As they told their story, you could see their eyes shine and their enthusiasm rise. This was a business they were truly passionate about.

Putting the IPO pitch deck to one side

So we took a risk. We suggested they put aside their pitch deck and just tell their story as they were telling it to us. Occasionally they would refer to a slide or a particular graph – visual aids to enhance the story – everyone would be given the deck to read anyway – but there would be no ‘turning the pages of a presentation’.

All Friday we worked on this story: fine tuning the messages, agreeing the structure and helping them both tell the exciting story they had to tell.

A transformed IPO roadshow presentation

By the end of Friday they were transformed. While the underlying story was the same, it now sounded personal, exciting and interesting. A listener could hear the drive in the voices of the speakers and they could see the hunger in their determination to grow and expand the business. By abandoning the traditional roadshow presentation, they enhanced rather than distracted from the story.

They then had the weekend to refine and practice so they were ready to go first thing on Monday.

A few weeks later the bank announced that the MoneySupermarket IPO was the biggest IPO since Google.

Why did the management struggle with the original roadshow presentation?

First, while the bank had produced a very strong document to tell the MoneySupermarket investment case, what they produced was a handout and not visual aids. It was perfect to be read at a desk, but was hard to use as a visual aid. For example, there were too many words on each page, there were too many ideas on each page and the story was too complicated to be a success as a visual aid.

Second, the story in the roadshow pitch deck was the investment story. What the management was better at was telling was their story. While the two stories – the investment story and the personal story – were clearly interlinked, management found it much easier to tell a story from their point of view rather than from an investor’s point of view. So, just by tweaking the perspective, the story came ‘more from the heart rather than the head’ and it was easier to tell.

Third, this was a big stakes event. It was the largest financial transaction that anyone the team had been involved with. They were being advised by bankers, lawyers, accountants, due diligence providers, the banker’s accountants, the accountants’ lawyers…. In the end they were being so careful about what they were saying that all the heart had gone from the process. When they presented the roadshow pitch initially they were telling the story others wanted them to tell. And it was hard. What we helped them do was tell their own story, in a way that felt natural and personal. Their story still had the same information, but they now told it in a way that felt right. And when it feels right it become easier.

These three traps: Visual Aids as Handouts; The wrong story and the wrong perspective are three common problems that plague roadshow presentations.

Successful IPO roadshows mean clear, simple & consistent investor meetings

After all, when investors judge the future of your business, they rely on the impression you make  – or what others say about you. Looking across the dozens of deals we have supported, we’ve identified six key themes:

What you’ll learn with investor roadshow presentation coaching

1 – Look comfortable in the meetings

This is tough. During the roadshow process you have advisors. Lots of them. And they are all giving you advice. But the advice is not always consistent. How do you keep your cool and stick to what you really stand for?

CASE STUDY – Private Sale Investor Roadshow

Liz, CEO of betty TV – the UK’s leading producer of high quality, modern, factual TV. e.g. Country House Rescue, Freaky Eaters and The Joy of Teen Sex – came to us for advice. While their advisor’s management presentation told the betty story beautifully,  Liz did not want ‘to turn the pages’ in front of prospective buyers.

Building on the team’s skill of pitching creative ideas, we transformed the equity story into a compelling narrative. And we coaxed these TV people to get in front of the camera for a change, so that they could see themselves pitching. As a result their 2 hour management presentation turned into a lively, engaging meeting punctuated with videos, clever visual aids and mood boards.

Five months after their first buyer meeting, Liz and her team had 4 great offers to choose from. They sold to Discovery Communications, the first independent producer that Discovery had ever bought.

“Ben and his colleagues gave us a sense of confidence to sell ourselves and our business. Their advice completely changed our pitch. This moved our presentation into a different league and undoubtedly improved the outcome and offer we secured.”

2 – Your investment story must be simple

Every business is complex. And the closer you are to the business, the more complex it looks.

But for investors, if your equity story is difficult to understand, it is less attractive.

IPO ROADSHOW CASE STUDY
A few years ago we were supporting a Swedish tech business with their IPO.
They had an amazing business, but it was highly technical. And the bank’s “Eight reasons to invest in this business” did not help. So we helped management describe their technology in terms of the benefits it brought to their customers.

By developing a problem-solution approach in the presentation it was easier for investors to understand the market and the value the company delivered.  After that it was simple for investors to grasp the real value of that business.

3 – Address investor concerns

Every investor will have concerns. Both buy-side and sell-side analysts will have concerns. If they don’t, they are not doing their job. So you need to address those concerns, ideally by getting on the front foot. The failed WeWork IPO is a good example of how not to reassure investors.

When we work with firms we examine in detail what might worry investors and then incorporate these issues into the equity story. You will sound much more credible if you acknowledge the risks up front and explain what you are doing to address them.

Why Pick Benjamin Ball Associates for Your Coaching

At Benjamin Ball Associates, we’ve been coaching business people to improve their business communication skills for over 15 years.  Our coaching is fast and effective.  We work with individuals and with companies, one-to-one and in groups.  Call us today to learn more.

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”

Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

Our most popular training courses include:

• Presentation Coaching
• Public Speaking Coaching
• Investor Pitch Support and Coaching

Trusted by some of the most successful companies globally

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

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4 – Paint a clear picture of the future

Equity investors buy into the future, not the past. But it’s hard – the future is opaque and you are limited in what you can say.

Your past successes will reassure investors. But the most important part of your job is to convince investors that that you know where you are going and that you can maintain that success.

IPO ROADSHOW CASE STUDY
A few years ago we helped a big cinema chain float. The CEO was very impressive, but the way he told his story during the IPO presentation was all about how they had got to where they were.
We helped him transform his story and add in a clear description of the future and why his company was best positioned to capture even more value in this business.

5 – Show the quality of the team beyond CEO & CFO

Many investors may not meet anyone beyond the senior team during the float. While these individuals may be impressive, one of the key skills of a great CEO is to demonstrate they have a great team behind them. There are many ways to do this and it’s a critical part of making a successful pitch.

For example, you can use stories to show the strength and depth of the team, or you can refer to individuals in the team. The whole idea is to give investors the sense that there is a broad and strong team behind the company’s success. And make sure everyone is fully prepared to answer tough investor questions.

6 – Be consistent – everywhere

Your Roadshow story needs to resonate throughout the organisation – and beyond. The story investors hear must tie in with what staff hear, what customers hear and what they read in the press. We help management achieve this with coaching on media interviews and public speaking coaching as well as roadshow pitch coaching.

In the end, these different strands must all tie together so that investors, staff and customers hear a clear, consistent and convincing story. In this way, you build confidence with investors, analysts and the markets.

How to improve your investor roadshow presentations

To discuss the support you can get with your IPO roadshow or major transaction, call us today. We are always happy to share ideas and discuss ways to make sure your roadshow is even more successful.

Call today to speak to Louise Angus on +44 20 7018 0922 or info@benjaminball.com.

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Why Choose Us:
Transform your pitches and presentations with tailored coaching

We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too.

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”

Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice for leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East. We’ll help you improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.

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Unlock your full potential and take your presentations to the next level.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

Speak to an expert. Get a free consultation