An IPO roadshow video runs on the same clock as the prospectus, so it inherits every delay upstream of it. This guide lays out the order of decisions that keeps the video off the critical path.
When should a Q1 IPO roadshow video start?
If you plan to price in the first quarter of 2027, your IPO roadshow video should already be in production. The video isn’t gated by the shoot. Instead, it waits on the equity story, the speaker format, the figures on screen, and the review path through counsel and the underwriters. So the calendar date matters less than the order in which those decisions land.
Our earlier piece on IPO communications readiness suggests beginning the roadshow and listing-day video assets about six months out. For a first-quarter pricing, that point has passed or is close. That isn’t a crisis. However, the remaining decisions need owners and dates this month.
Exact timing depends on scope. A single executive narrative built on existing footage moves faster than a multi-site shoot with custom animation. What moves the schedule is the number of people, places, and approvals each stage needs.
Why does a late IPO roadshow video matter more this cycle?
The market a first-quarter issuer launches into is still unsettled. Renaissance Capital’s 3Q 2026 US IPO review, dated October 1, 2026, counted 30 listings in the quarter. Proceeds reached $32.8 billion, but excluding the SK hynix offering they fell to $6.2 billion. The review also says year-end deal flow “will hinge on market conditions stabilizing,” and it describes OpenAI as “now waiting until 2027 to list.”
Our reading is that investor attention early in 2027 could be contested. As a result, the roadshow video has a narrow job: make your story easy to grasp in the first meeting, before the questions start. Our piece on why proof beats promises in roadshows makes a related point. Investors want evidence they can see, not adjectives about it.
What has to be decided before anyone writes a script?
Four decisions come before the first draft of a script, because each one changes what the crew shoots.
- The equity story. The video should carry the same three or four ideas as the roadshow deck and the prospectus summary. If the story is still moving, the script will move with it.
- The speaker format. Choose, executive by executive, between a teleprompter (a screen on the lens that displays the script) and an interview. Our guide to choosing teleprompter or interview explains why this choice comes before scripting.
- The numbers on screen. Every figure in a chart or animation should trace to the registration statement. Decide early which metrics the video will show, and let the animation team build around them.
- The approval path. Name the reviewers at the company, at counsel, and at the underwriters. Then agree on how many rounds each one gets.
Few of these calls belong to the production team. Still, they gate every production step after them.
Which SEC rules shape the IPO roadshow video edit?
The provisions that matter most for the edit sit in Securities Act Rule 433, and how they apply is a question for your securities counsel. Under 17 CFR 230.433, a road show that is a written communication is a free writing prospectus. Paragraph (c)(1) says information in a free writing prospectus shall not conflict with information in the filed registration statement.
Paragraph (d)(8)(ii) adds a filing requirement for common or convertible equity offerings by an issuer not yet required to file Exchange Act reports. The road show must be filed unless the issuer makes “at least one version of a bona fide electronic road show available without restriction.” So the edit may need to exist in two versions.
Filing dates also reach the video. For confidential filers, the SEC’s draft registration statement accommodations condition nonpublic review on the issuer publicly filing at least 15 days before any road show. That date becomes a fixed point you plan backward from.
Bring these questions to counsel before the script locks:
- Will we file the video, or post an unrestricted version?
- How closely must the unrestricted version track the one shown in meetings?
- Which legends does each version need, and where do they sit?
- What happens to the edit if a prospectus amendment changes a number?
Inline image: roadshow-video-two-version-review.webp
The gating sheet: plan backward from pricing
Build one working document, the gating sheet, that lists every dependency of the IPO roadshow video in reverse order from the pricing date. Each row names the gate, what it unlocks, the owner, and where it usually slips. Treat the table below as an illustrative planning example, not a quote or market average. It shows sequence rather than durations, because durations depend on scope.
The gating sheet, latest gate first
| Gate (latest first) | What it unlocks | Owner | Where it usually slips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Listing-day and post-IPO reuse of footage | Company and underwriters | Market conditions move the date |
| Road show launch | Final versions in meeting rooms and on the unrestricted link | Company, underwriters, counsel | Late changes to the deck that the video now contradicts |
| Public filing (at least 15 days before the road show for confidential filers) | Final review of every figure on screen | Counsel | Amendments that change metrics after animation is finished |
| Picture lock (no more changes to the cut) | Captions, legends, versions, delivery checks | Production and counsel | Comments that arrive outside the agreed rounds |
| Rough cut (first full assembly of the edit) | Company, counsel, and banker review | Production and IR | Reviewers seeing the story for the first time at this stage |
| Shoot days | Interviews, b-roll (supporting footage of operations), aerials | Production | Executive calendars and site access |
| Script or interview plan | Shot list, location requests, animation design | IR, production, executives | An equity story that is still changing |
| Equity story and on-screen metrics | Everything above | CEO, CFO, IR, bankers | Debates that belong in the deck drafting sessions |
How to read the gating sheet
Read the table from the bottom up. Each row depends on the one beneath it, so the video moves only as fast as its lowest open gate.
Inline image: roadshow-video-gating-sheet-dependencies.webp
Where do IPO roadshow video schedules usually break?
Schedules usually break at the handoffs, not on set. Three patterns recur.
First, the video waits for a finished deck. Teams treat the deck as the master and the video as a cutdown. However, the video needs footage that only exists after a shoot, so it can’t start last and still finish on time.
Second, executives see the story for the first time in the rough cut. That turns an edit review into a strategy meeting. Instead, give each executive an interview plan or script before the shoot, with time to react.
Third, the numbers move after the animation is done. Animated charts take time to rebuild. So design the graphics to swap figures easily, and keep a source sheet that ties each on-screen number to its page in the filing.
Experienced producers typically protect two things above all: executive shoot time and the review rounds. If either one shrinks, the edit absorbs the damage.
What do well-prepared issuers do differently?
Well-prepared issuers treat the video, the deck, and the IR site as one production with one story owner. They lock the equity story first, and then they let each format do what it does best.
Our work on the Yesway IPO roadshow supported the company’s April 2026 Nasdaq listing. It combined simultaneous executive interviews in Boston and Dallas-Fort Worth with b-roll across multiple store locations, aerial footage, and custom animation supporting the business and financial narrative. Running interviews in two cities at once is a sequencing choice. It can protect executive time when calendars are the binding constraint.
Reuse belongs in the plan too. For the Oklo pre-IPO roadshow, we repurposed footage for a Times Square digital placement on Oklo’s NYSE listing day. When you plan reuse before the shoot, the crew can capture the extra coverage while everyone is already on site.
Our view is simple. An IPO roadshow video earns its place when it shows investors something the deck cannot: the plant, the stores, the product, the people. That requires access and footage, and both take lead time.
When does an outside production partner make sense?
An outside partner makes sense when the video needs more than your internal team can schedule, shoot, and finish alongside the filing. Use these criteria to decide:
- Multiple locations or cities. Coordinating crews and site access across markets takes dedicated producers.
- Custom animation tied to filed numbers. Someone has to own the source sheet and the rebuilds after amendments.
- Executives new to camera. Coaching and format testing need time before the shoot day.
- Two or more versions. An unrestricted version adds legends, review, and delivery checks.
- Reuse after pricing. Listing-day, IR site, and Investor Day assets take far less effort when planned now.
If none of these apply, your internal team can likely produce the IPO roadshow video with a clear video production timeline for each stage.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, and you should plan for it before the shoot. Footage from a roadshow production can feed listing-day screens, the IR website, and later investor events. However, ask counsel to review anything reused publicly, since the context and date change. Ask your crew to capture extra coverage, such as wide shots and clean b-roll, while they have access. That coverage costs little effort on the day and is hard to recreate later.
That is a question for your securities counsel. Under Rule 433, when more than one written road show is used, a bona fide electronic road show must discuss the same general areas of information as the others. Counsel will tell you how closely the versions must align for your offering. On the production side, plan both versions from one script and one edit, so changes flow to each.
The CEO, CFO, and head of IR should approve the script before counsel sees it. Bankers often want input too, so agree on that early. The goal is to send counsel a version the business already stands behind. Otherwise counsel reviews a moving target, and every internal change restarts their review. Record each sign-off in an approval record with the date and the version number.
Assume figures can change as late as the final prospectus amendment, and build the video to absorb that. Ask the animation team to design charts where figures swap without a rebuild. Keep a source sheet that maps every on-screen number to its page in the filing. Then a late amendment becomes a short update rather than a new round of animation. Confirm final figures with counsel before picture lock and before launch.
Talk through your gating sheet
If you’re pricing in the first quarter, start the gating sheet for your IPO roadshow video this week. Fill in the owners before you fill in the dates. When you want a second set of eyes on the sequence, our investor relations content team is glad to walk through it with you.
