When it comes to the roadshow video, the panelists encourage leaders to be overly prepared and not to reinvent the wheel. Utilize the bankers to access other roadshow videos to learn best practices. Companies and financial institutions value authenticity. Precision and language matter! If executives need public speaking coaching, hire one! Creating this content is expensive and time-consuming, and Denise smartly mentioned the importance of repurposing these video materials for future use. To that end, it’s imperative to invest in a skilled videographer, use a teleprompter, and own the script of the video.
The day of the IPO is a special celebration of all the employees’ hard work over the years, but it’s also a huge marketing event! Alex shared that Datadog invited many of the company’s local NYC employees to celebrate together on the trading floors and at Times Square. Datadog captured this phenomenal experience with the help of a professional photographer to ensure they had the shots they might want for future content. Snowflake’s IPO was unique given the COVID-19 pandemic. The company sent an “icebox” (box of swag) to every employee, which many of them “unboxed” on social media, resulting in viral posts. Although the panelists agree on the importance of the IPO milestone, Carilu mentioned the IPO is just the beginning of the next chapter for the company. Ryan agreed that the best way to have an outstanding IPO is to continue running the business well.
Ultimately though, the IPO is a financing event with a myriad of marketing benefits, from elevating your brand to opening doors to iconic partners and global resources. Seize the moment, and the market!
Surely the gold standard of a marketing career is to guide a brand to a successful IPO, something Laura Dowling – CMO of Digital Brands Group – experienced just recently. We interviewed Laura to learn about the IPO process and insights on her role in helping the company go public. Read on for a glimpse at the work it takes to prepare for IPO, plus her key takeaways from the exciting experience.
Laura, how does it feel now to IPO with Digital Brands Group? What are the next steps here?
It feels great to IPO on the Nasdaq last week! Exhausting, but great! It was an amazing feat for the business as it provided an enormous opportunity of increased visibility and, even more importantly, the capital that we needed to put our vision of a modern fashion holding company to life.
The next steps for me right now are to finally put the key team members in place, because it really is all about the people you surround yourself with... you can’t achieve anything without the right players on your side. Then, it is all about applying that strategic lens on what we are looking to achieve in the retail market; truly take over and own that white space of offering personalized fashion content.
Exciting! You mentioned a couple of things here that I would like to learn more about: a modern holding company and personalized fashion content – can you explain those in more detail?
Yes, of course! Digital Brands Group is revolutionizing the holding company model that luxury fashion houses have had for years, i.e. LVMH Corp, Kering Group, Tapestry, etc. DBG is a holding company like those just mentioned in that we have a portfolio of brands that share back office services while still communicating to the customer as an individual brand in their own branded voice.
However, unlike a traditional model, we also combine the brands together to create editorial-driven content that is personalized to the end consumer. It is similar to a department store’s approach of combining multiple brands from various categories to create looks; however, what we are offering is much more targeted to each individual consumer versus pushing content driven by the department store’s POV.
It really is a breakthrough business model and the main reason why I joined the group.
Interesting, so tell us a little bit more about why you joined the group.
I joined Digital Brands Group about two and a half years ago. I moved across the country for this role, from New York to Los Angeles. Before I even landed on the West Coast I spent a good six months after I left my role at COACH really soul-searching on my next move. It was extremely important to me not to just take another job similar to what I had before (and even for many years prior to that).
I spent many a Friday night walking home in Chelsea past bars brimming with people with my earbuds firmly in place reciting my goals and agenda for the following day. It was an intense and demanding job that definitely had it’s stellar moments, but had run its course. I didn’t mind the intensity of it because I am a passionate person, especially about fashion and marketing.
I craved a seat with more decision making power, so I listed out the pros and cons, then JUMPED! I knew I had to take the risk and enter start-up land to get what I wanted, so as I pushed my feet off the ground to get that air I reminded myself, if not now, when?
Very Nike-like…love it! So for others within our network, what advice would you give them about joining a start-up with an opportunity to IPO?
I would say for sure to calculate the risk and the reward. The risk at a start-up is great and there is no doubt about that. There are no guarantees like there are at many corporate jobs in terms of consistency, salary and insurance (which are all major things, of course!).
Start-ups don’t breed a great deal of consistency, but that is also part of the allure – you don’t feel like another employee on the assembly line, rather you get a chance to break out and really make that change. That being said, you have to be ready to get your hands dirty, mentally prepare yourself for former colleagues to no longer call you back since you don’t work on the aspirational/sexy brand and stay primed to pivot your strategies on a dime. Start-ups really make you dig deep and test yourself, which is something that I love to do. I know for sure especially now that I am happiest when I am learning, and and I can definitely attest that in this role I am ALWAYS learning.