We generally see that there are five different types or structures for investors events. These include:
- Investor Pitch + Q&A: This is the most common investor event we see. You run through the full pitch deck and give investors the opportunity to ask questions at the end.
- Product Demo + Q&A: This can be great presentation particularly if you have a consumer-facing product. You give an in-depth look at the product while pitching the business and give investors the opportunity to ask questions.
- Fireside Chat: For companies with a recognized founder and strong industry connections, this can be great way to build a more personal connection to the company. Two founders get together to talk about the challenges/successes of their businesses while also pitching the business and giving investors time to ask questions.
- Ask the Experts: This really focuses on providing as much detail as possible on a particular industry with various experts while giving the audience a chance to ask questions. This is great for companies building new industries or with harder to understand products.
- Due Diligence Marathon + Q&A: Often hosted towards the end of a campaign, this style of event really focuses on the financial side of the offering and gives investors a platform to ask more financially-focused questions.
Pick the style of event that works best for you and your investment opportunity. Once you know the style of the event, consider the platform and how you plan to promote.
We recommend hosting virtual events through Zoom. You can easily create registration pages, custom reminder emails, and it has good webinar functionality such as practice sessions and a Q&A that the panelists can moderate. We recommend encouraging investors to ask questions through the Q&A function on the platform so you can determine which to respond to live and which to follow up with after the event.
During the event, we advise that companies do not make any promises regarding a potential return on investment. If the question comes up, you can advise the investor of all the available paths for a potential exit and which is the companies preferred strategy and why. If questions about financials come up during the event and you are uncomfortable sharing that information with everyone, you can follow up with that specific investor after the event.
We recommend including a QR code on the slides for the event that will take investors directly to the campaign page. Once the event is over, you can share the recording or the slides via email with a call to action to invest and the link to the campaign page. You can customize this email for those who attended the event and those who registered but weren’t able to attend.
