A roadshow, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, is “a series of shows or events that take place in different places around the country [or the world] for entertainment or in order to give public information about a company and/or product”. In short – it is a great opportunity to meet with investors and tell them about your business. The two main reasons for holding a roadshow is to (1) raise money or (2) to expand your company’s network and build ‘buzz’ with the anticipation to amplify interest in your company of which will aid you in raising capital at a later date. This is commonly termed as deal and non-deal roadshow (NDR) in corresponding order.

Now contrary to what some professionals may believe or tell you – YOU DO NOT NEED A PLACEMENT AGENT TO ORGANIZE A ROADSHOW. What we recommend you use to get the planning up and running include: your team’s network, your advisory network (if you have one), your outsourced IR team (if you do not already have an IR team then you should definitely get one! Yes, a bit of shameless self-promotion, we know) and of course social media. These are all great places to start.

Why Is Social Media An Important Component Today in the Planning and Execution of a Roadshow?

Now why social media you may ask? Social media is an effective way to quickly announce the ongoing developments of your business – regardless of whether you publish through your personal account or your business account. Social media is a great way to inform people that you will be in their area discussing the developments of your company and/or new fund launch.

Every business should be harnessing the power of social media to expand their reach and strengthen their network. Most financial professionals are social and curious creatures by nature, so you may be surprised at the responses you receive. This could even include an investor that you had spoken to a year or so ago, who notices that you are in town and would love to meet with you in person. Odds are you probably have them within your LinkedIn connections, but quite frankly with all of the ambitious fundraising that you have been doing you may have forgotten. It happens, we are human. But to our point, this is why social media is great to add into your list of to-do’s ahead of your roadshow. Another important point – investors’ requirements can evolve and change. This means that the meeting you had one year ago may not have been as relevant at the time, but it could be now. The investor’s needs today could have recently changed to be in favor of your fund. It never hurts to not leave any stone unturned.

The Four Cornerstones of Roadshow Planning

Now, let’s jump into those four cornerstones of 101 roadshow planning and execution that we were discussing earlier: (1) “Who to”, (2) “Where to” (3) “When To” AND (4) “How To”. We will start off with the “Who to”.

The “Who To” | Who are you targeting? Create a calendar and call far enough in advance (important note: if it is a close contact offer at least 3-6 weeks notice, if it is not provide up to 3 months notice)

Pro-Tip: If there are any conferences going on in the area at the time you are “roadshowing”, see if an organization you are looking to target has a representative attending at the same time you are there hosting your roadshow. If they are, you can reach out to them proactively via LinkedIn or if you already have their email even better. In doing so, in the worst case if they say no then you are not any further away from where you had started. If they say “yes”, then add them to the list and progress full steam ahead!

The “Where To” | Where are you targeting? – Local, national, regional or global?

Depending on how wide of a net, geographically, you are looking to cast, this will determine how long of a roadshow you will have. It can be as short as 3 or 4 days or as long as 2-3 weeks. Many managers target roadshows around their current clients or current networks, which is a great place to start, but not where you should necessarily end it. You should be using the time ahead of a roadshow to build out your network as much as humanly possible to get a better hit rate. Naturally, there will be a budget in place that will also determine how ambitious you can be in your roadshow planning efforts. All budgets range and are based on several different factors.

We recommend if you are on a very tight budget to allocate some of the budget you have for conference participation to go into your roadshow. Networking while fantastic in person is not the only way to go in today’s day in age.

Pro-Tip: Also do not forget to consider non-traditional areas that may have a high number of family offices, but perhaps a smaller number of institutions. These are great areas because they are less saturated with your competition, but there is still a high demand and desire to allocate.

The “When To” | Timing is VERY important  – Do NOT plan your roadshow with poorly picked periods – bank holidays (yours and your target market if outside the country), end of the year, late-July, January, August, September, December and/or be careful around tax seasons.

The best times to hold a roadshow include: April, May, June, early July, October and November. This is the time when people are the most mobile and available.

Also remember in planning your “when to”, determine if it is in the deal (active fundraising) or non-deal (passive networking and ‘buzz’ building) category. If it falls under the non-deal category, you can probably have some more flexibility during those less than favorable times as it can be more informal.

The “How To” | The first thing in putting together any roadshow is goal mapping and identifying what it is you are looking to accomplish – is it a set number of meetings? closed deals? new introductions made? or perhaps you are looking to advance your current allocation discussions.

It is important to identify what your goals are so afterwards you can carve out the next part – assessing your successes and work-in-progress areas.

Getting Your Logistics Right

Planning a roadshow can be a serious undertaking not to mention a sizable financial investment.

Pro-tip: Did you know that many of your service providers may already have pre-established relationships with top-rated hotels, local restaurants and event spaces and/or travel companies in the area that you are targeting. These are sizable savings that you as a client may also have access to use. You could end up saving at least 15%-30% on hotels and/or car services alone for your total trip! Those are savings that can help you get an extra day of your roadshow in or just simply invest back into your business.

Preparation is key – Try to have at least 1-2 calls with the investors you are looking to meet with beforehand so you can ensure a more fruitful meeting. Most funds spend at least 25% to 50% of the meeting talking about the team. If you have already spent time telling investors about who you are through these intro calls then during your roadshow you can spend more time discussing your strategy and its value to their underlying portfolio.

What is a good number of meetings to hold during a roadshow? 8-12 meetings with a bare minimum of six.

What is your budget? You should always keep a budget to better map out your efforts and track where your marketing dollars are being spent so for your next roadshow you will know how to appropriately allocate resources.

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A Roadshow should be on every fund manager’s agenda

Every fund manager looking to raise outside capital of any kind should [read: has to] plan a roadshow. I will repeat this again – every fund manager looking to raise outside capital of any kind should plan a roadshow. Let me repeat this one more time just in case you missed it – every fund manager looking to raise outside capital of any kind should plan a roadshow. 

This can be a roadshow focused on launching a new fund company, raising a second or third or even fourth fund or generating interest in your flagship fund. Nonetheless, it is critical that roadshow planning make it to the top of your list of budgeted items. Investors appreciate when you value their time and structured meetings allow for more valuable (and hopefully fruitful) discussions.

In planning any roadshow, it is important to be organized and steadfast in your efforts. A roadshow takes months (and in some cases up to a year) of planning especially if it is global; you are targeting your first stream of capital; you are raising a sizable fund; and even more so if you are looking to blend media relations into your efforts.

We can discuss the “in’s” and “out’s” of roadshow planning endlessly, but we want you to have the tools in place to know how to do it without the need of hiring a placement agent. If you decide to hire a placement agent that is entirely your choice and should fit within your business objectives accordingly. However, this post is really about knowing that you do not need to hire one and should you want to save on the hidden long-term costs that comes with hiring a placement agent.

If you take away just one piece of knowledge from this post, it is understanding that roadshow planning for a business of any size – small or large, new or established – is a significant undertaking and is a strenuous process, one that really should not be taken on by just one or two people, but a team to support your vision for your company.