Episode 92: Crowd Control—How to Nail Investor Meetings (Even With 10+ People in the Room) | Story Snacks Series

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There’s nothing worse than walking into a conference room full of investors. Suddenly, everything you thought you knew about running a great meeting goes out the window.

You’re wondering who to make eye contact with, whether anyone is actually interested, and why no one is saying anything. 

Crowded meetings are awkward. They’re intimidating. But they aren’t impossible to rock. You just need a good strategy, and that’s exactly what Stacy’s giving you today. 

In this Episode, she breaks down: 

• Her go-to strategy for preparing for a crowded meeting 

• How to get the inside scoop on who’s attending ahead of time 

• The trick that’ll help you stay laser focused on the RIGHT decision maker during the meeting 

• Simple ways to shake out the awkwardness when no one’s talking
  

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

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TRANSCRIPT

Below is an AI-generated transcript and therefore it may contain errors. 

[00:00:00] Hey, my name is Stacy Havener. I'm obsessed with startups, stories, and sales. Storytelling has fueled my success as a female founder in the Toughest Boys Club, wall Street. I've raised over 8 billion that has led to 30 billion in follow-on assets for investment boutiques, you could say, against the odds. Yeah, understatement.

[00:00:24] I share stories of the people behind the portfolios while teaching you how to use story to shape outcomes. It's real talk here, money, authenticity, growth, setbacks, sales and marketing are all topics we discuss. Think of this as the capital raising class you wish you had in college mixed with happy hour.

[00:00:46] Pull up a seat, grab your notebook, and get ready to be inspired and challenged while you learn. This is the Billion dollar Backstory podcast,[00:01:00]

[00:01:01] craving more knowledge, but don't always have time to sit down for a five course meal. Take a quick snack break with story snacks, bite-size content to feed your funnel. Each short episode features Stacy, digging into one question. This series has her talking stories, sales, and so much more. Oh yeah, it's time for story snacks.

[00:01:26] Do you have any thoughts on the dialogue in a two-way conversation when you have 10 people in the room or 10 people who are on Zoom staring at you on mute? Oh yeah. These are all very awkward scenarios, aren't they? So yeah, if you are in a meeting and you have multiple people in the meeting. All of the same preparation and rules apply.

[00:01:53] Okay? And I know you're like WTF, how can I do that? Because now there's 10 of them. So I'm supposed to [00:02:00] ask for 10 back stories. Okay? Pump your brakes. We're not gonna do that. But again, the success of the meeting is going to be in your preparation. So. We're gonna restate some things in this snack. It's a, uh, leftover snack.

[00:02:17] Then we're gonna add in some, some little freshies. Okay. The restatement we need to do is to say that in an ideal scenario, you would send the presentation at least a week ahead of the meeting. So that people can review it and develop any questions. But let's be real. Even if there's gonna be 10 people in the meeting, there's one or two that are like your champion.

[00:02:43] So basically what you're doing is you're running this meeting with that person and there's an audience. Okay? So your champion, that stakeholder is you. [00:03:00] Make the hero of this meeting. So when you call them and you, you're doing the meeting prep work and you're gonna say like, Hey, what questions do we wanna make sure that are answered?

[00:03:09] You're also gonna say, who's gonna be there? And hopefully you've got this person that is your friend. Now you can be like, what do I need to know about anyone in the meeting? Like, are certain people super into this asset class or strategy? Are there certain people who like. Hate it or are skeptical, like you want the real talk from your champion and hopefully you get it.

[00:03:37] So now you've got all this additional stuff to put in the meeting prep to prepare with your team. And when you go into the meeting, of course you're gonna acknowledge the other nine. I also want you. Try to have the conversation and give yourself the grace of talking to one person [00:04:00] and letting the conversation flow naturally so you can ask.

[00:04:06] You're a champion. Like it would be great to have you. Tell us a little bit about the firm or is there someone else in the group that you know would like to tell that story? So you're sort of opening it up, but you're always kind of going back to your champion unless it very clearly dynamic changes and there's another person who's running the meeting.

[00:04:27] Um, but by and large, the analyst or stakeholder who's been covering you. Up to this point is gonna be the one running the meeting, and if you do your prep work, you'll be able to run the meeting if there were 20 people there the same way. I hope that helps. I think Zoom is more challenging. I mean, look, at the end of the day, the part of the meeting that you really want to try to mitigate or shake [00:05:00] out.

[00:05:00] Is the awkwardness. It's like you gotta shake the scaries out of the meeting. And that happens on Zoom and that happens in person. And so your job, in addition to running a really great meeting is to set the tone that like we are friends here. We are friends. Zoom can be difficult. Wish we were in person, but you can ask any questions like, you know, grab coffees, grab waters.

[00:05:28] Like we want this to be a candid, informal conversation and you just sort of. Address the elephant in the room, which is like meetings suck and meetings are awkward, so let's try to have a good time. Are you an investment boutique looking to grow your business and need a little help? If you feel like you're fighting for the spotlight and well still stuck in the shadows of the bigs, join us in the Boutique Investment Collective Haven's new membership community dedicated to the specialist in the investment industry.

[00:05:58] In the collective, we'll [00:06:00] guide you through the billion dollar blueprint we've used to help boutiques add over $30 billion. In a UM, you'll refine your story, focus on your ideal target market, and practice your pitch. You'll rethink your marketing materials, rewrite your emails, and refresh your differentiators.

[00:06:16] We'll even help you step up your LinkedIn game and give your profile a makeover. You wanna grow your biz, we've got your back. Learn more about the collective, the curriculum, and the amazing coaches who will help you on your journey. Visit Haven or capital.com/collective high five. Hope to see you in a coaching session soon.

[00:06:43] This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. The information is not an offer, solicitation, or recommendation of any of the funds, services, or products, or to adopt any investment strategy. Investment values may fluctuate and [00:07:00] past performance is not a guide to future performance.

[00:07:02] All opinions expressed by guests on the show are solely their own opinion and do not necessarily reflect those at their firm. Manager's appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement by Stacy Haven or Haven or Capital.

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