What is an IPO roadshow?

The roadshow is the marketing phase of an IPO. For about two weeks, the CEO, CFO, and one or two business leaders meet with portfolio managers, sector analysts, and large institutional investors. The format mixes one-on-one meetings, small-group lunches, and city-by-city presentations.

What the company is trying to do

• Tell the story. Present the business, the market, the financials, and the multi-year plan in a memorable, defensible form.
• Build conviction. Move investors from awareness to a real order, ideally a sized order at a price that supports the deal.
• Test the range. Listen for pricing pushback and understand which kinds of investors anchor the book.

What the bankers are doing

Bankers run logistics, brief investors before each meeting, debrief management afterward, and feed every signal back into the book — who indicated demand, at what price, with what conviction.

In-person vs virtual

Virtual roadshows became standard during the pandemic and have remained common. They compress the schedule, allow more meetings per day, and make global participation easier. In-person elements often return for the largest deals.

What an investor is doing

For a buy-side firm evaluating a new IPO, the roadshow is one of perhaps two or three opportunities to meet management before the stock starts trading. The questions that matter most often appear in writing afterward, in follow-ups with the bankers.