Preparing for a microcap investor conference

Why the schedule needs research

At events like LD Micro, Planet MicroCap, Sidoti, Roth or Noble, a small company can meet ten or more investors in a day. Many of the names on the schedule are small funds, family offices and private investors that most databases do not describe well.

In Krypton AI's own conference work, Form 13F data identified only about one counterparty in ten. Automated name matching was worse than nothing: four confident matches were to different firms with similar names.

The order that works

Work through the public record in this order, and stop when you have what you need.

• SEC investment adviser search, then the Form ADV itself. Item 5.F gives assets under management and the number of accounts.
• EDGAR Form D, for funds too small to file a 13F. It shows how much a fund has raised, how many investors it has, and who runs it.
• Form 13F, for funds large enough to file one: what they own, and whether they own your peers.
• Schedules 13D and 13G, for anyone who has ever held five per cent of a company.
• FINRA BrokerCheck, for anyone who works at a broker-dealer.
• The firm's own website, which is usually where titles and roles finally make sense.

One page per meeting

Long briefing books do not get read between meetings. What gets used is one page per meeting with the few facts that change how the meeting goes: who is in the room, what the fund owns, whether it has owned you or your peers before, and what it is likely to ask.

A fund that held your stock and sold it needs a different first five minutes from a fund that has never looked at you.

After the conference

The meeting is the start. Follow up with each fund with the materials it asked for, and find out what it actually thought, which is often different from what it said in the room. A company that learns why a fund passed can fix the reason before the next conference.