10 Steps to do an ICO Series: Step 6 Your Roadshow
Read this article in 中文 / 日本語 / 한국어
You've got your product in place; you're implementing your marketing strategy, speaking with lawyers, building your community, now it’s time to hit the road.
Getting out and presenting your project to potential investors is important for a number of reasons. It will allow you to actually meet potential investors in person, as well as help you refine your pitch.
When I presented ZILLA in front of audiences especially when there was a language barrier such as in Korea, it helped me distill our message to what was really important.
Presenting in front of actual people also helped us to refine our product and include features that we noticed were repeatedly requested (such as providing a service to translate ICOs into multiple languages, handling KYC so that users can do KYC one time and then easily participate in multiple projects, help ICOs list on exchanges, etc).
Here are a few things that you will need to decide before going on your roadshow:
Who should do the roadshow?
Where should they go?
How much is it going to cost?
What should I prepare?
Who should do the roadshow?
Preferably the CEO or CTO. The problem is, I don’t know many people that are good at, or comfortable with public speaking. This has been something that I personally have had to work at. It can be terrifying speaking in front of a crowd, especially if you are not a native English speaker.
The best qualities for a public speaker in the blockchain space are:
- Someone charismatic
- Native English Speaker
- Someone that truly understands the blockchain space
Where can you find this person if this isn’t you?
If you join blockchain meetups in your area (I would say join 2 per week), you should be able to find a good business development person who can help you present your project.
Where should I go?
First of all, you can set up your own meetups, or speak at conferences. I suggest you do both.
This next bit involves a bit of jiujitsu, but bear with me.
Do a search for blockchain conferences in the regions or countries that you are targeting for your ICO. Ask your community. “Which conference should I speak at?”, then pick about 5 conferences.
Speakers
Then look on meetup.comand find blockchain meetups happening in the area and time of each of those conferences. Reach out to the organizers, and ask to present your technology (NOT promote your ICO).
If you can’t find any, then contact a speaker at one of the blockchain companies that is sponsoring the conference. LinkedIn or their Telegram channel is a good way to connect. ‘Hey James, I’m an entrepreneur in a similar space, and I’m impressed with what you’ve built”. Be sincere and make it personal and they will be happy to connect.
Now hold that thought.
Influencers
Now, go to YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn and find the blockchain influencers in the area of those conferences. Connect with them and make it personal ‘Hey I will be in Japan for the first time for the X blockchain conference, would you have time to grab Okonomiyaki? I’ve always wanted to try authentic Okonomiyaki, do you know a good place?’
or
“We are arranging a meetup, could we do a joint meetup that we sponsor with food and drinks and you could present on how to become an influencer?”
Back to the speakers
After they’ve connected with you on LinkedIn or Telegram, also ask them if they would like to speak at your meetup. Tell them that you potentially have a blockchain influencer attending/speaking as well.
Then after you’ve got a conversation going with that person, ask to be introduced to one of the organizers of the main conference because you are interested in joining a panel about X when someone drops out(there are always emergencies at events).
Of course you need to research what panels are happening at the event, or come up with a panel that you think would be relevant for their audience. The key is to speak about a subject that is happening in the news (Bitcoin ETF, Ethereum scaling, wallet security, exchange hack of the month, blockchain regulations in your area, etc)
Another idea, is to get together with a few other ICOs, and come up with a panel yourselves and pitch it to the event. If it’s good enough, they may give you some time on stage.
The point is, you need to fucking hustle.
How much is it going to cost?
5-10k per location for airfare, a hotel, and alcohol.
You may need to hustle and arrange an ‘afterparty’.
What should I prepare?
T-shirts
Get t-shirts made with your logo to bring to the events and to meet-ups. We gave away 30-50 at each meetup. When you pass these out, get a photo of people wearing your t-shirt and preferably that influencer that you invited!
Stickers
These are great because they are cheap to make and don’t take up much space. I just thought of this, and wish I thought of it earlier, but you should send stickers to everyone that whitelists your project. You should have their address, and it’s cheap to send a letter by mail, so pop a thank you note along with some stickers in an envelope. Then ask them to stick it somewhere and tweet about it.
Closing
There are quite a few things that I skipped over such as how much time goes into planning a roadshow. It took weeks for us to prepare and schedule everything and even once the dates were set, plans changed. You should have an assistant or an intern divide some of this work for you as it’s a bit like planning a wedding.
If you would like to share hacks, tips, and tricks please tweet at me @abasa. I would love to share them!
Step 7— How To Pick The Right Advisor
