Two weeks of speed-dating between a company and the people with the biggest cheque books.
The IPO roadshow is a series of investor presentations — typically spanning 10 to 14 days — conducted by a company's senior management and underwriting banks across major financial centres (New York, Boston, San Francisco, London) ahead of pricing. The purpose is to market the offering to institutional investors, gauge demand, and build the order book that determines the final IPO price. Investor feedback during the roadshow directly informs whether the deal prices at, above, or below the initial filing range.
Management prepares a 'roadshow presentation' — a polished deck covering the business model, growth story, financials, and competitive moat. This is separate from and more curated than the S-1. The deck is cleared by lawyers but designed to sell, not just disclose.
The company and its underwriting banks travel to major financial hubs over roughly two weeks. Each day involves multiple presentations and one-on-one meetings with large institutional investors — mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds.
As investors indicate interest, the banks compile an 'order book' — tracking who wants how many shares at what price. Oversubscription (more demand than available shares) signals strong demand and justifies pricing at or above the filing range.
On the night before trading begins, the lead underwriter and company management hold a final pricing call. Using the order book, they set the offer price. That price is the last time the company controls what its shares cost. After that, the market decides.
When Airbnb went public in December 2020, the roadshow demand was so overwhelming that the company raised its offer price twice — from an initial range of $44–$50, to $56–$60, then finally to $68. The stock opened at $146 on day one — more than double the offer price — meaning even the final raised price massively underestimated demand. The roadshow order book had clearly signalled huge institutional appetite, but management and banks still left billions on the table.
Retail investors are completely excluded from the roadshow process. By the time the stock is available to buy on a public exchange, the institutional investors who attended the roadshow already have their allocations at the offer price. If the roadshow went well and there's a pop on day one, those institutions are selling to retail buyers. The roadshow is not designed to inform you — it's designed to fill the order book with people who got in cheaper than you.
Run a real company through BanterIQ's terminal and watch these metrics come to life.
Open Terminal