UDSKRIFT 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:14.800
This is the MTP Connect podcast, connecting you with the people behind the life-saving innovations driving Australia's growing life sciences sector from bench to bedside for better health and well-being.
00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:30.160
MTP Connect acknowledges the traditional owners of country that this podcast is recorded on and recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are Australia's first storytellers and the holders of first science knowledge.
00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:34.719
Welcome to the podcast.
00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:36.079
I'm Caroline Duell.
00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:41.520
Are you developing a medical science innovation and need funding for your venture?
00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:51.039
MTP Connect and Wholesale Investor are collaborating on a dedicated capital engagement program designed for life science companies looking for private investors.
00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:59.920
Steve Torso is the co-founder and managing director of Wholesale Investor, the largest capital raising platform in Australia.
00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:10.400
We take a look at how the MTP Connect Investor Ready program can help companies develop an investor network and build a skill base in investor communications.
00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:15.519
And Steve shares some tips for success and the pitfalls to avoid.
00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:19.200
Thanks, Caroline.
00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:24.480
What's the inspiration behind your capital raising platform wholesale investor?
00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:26.959
We've been in this space since 2008.
00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:35.359
We initially started out as a magazine and then sort of 2012 we got rid of the magazine and then we started focusing on online to offline.
00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:55.200
And so we did have a website and all that sort of stuff, but as the sort of years went on, I realized that capital raising wasn't quite what I thought it was, which was sort of explained to me and what you sort of read everywhere, which is basically a process of sending out a pitch deck or sending out an IM and then waiting for an investor to come back with a yes or a no.
00:01:55.200 --> 00:02:02.719
It was a little bit more, you know, sort of um nuanced than that, in that there was more of an engagement process.
00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:10.960
And I realized that unless you can actually have a centralized sort of source of truth around your capital raising, it's actually very difficult.
00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:16.000
And every time you go to raise money, you're basically starting the process from the start again.
00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:25.360
So it was a combination of my own experience when I had investor uh InvestTech becoming an investor in my business, and I realized that I wasn't ready, I wasn't prepared.
00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:33.520
And, you know, so I basically started designing the product in what I was experiencing from a capital raise perspective.
00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:39.919
And then I started using the product to, you know, it's around 2019 to start raising for my own business.
00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:49.360
And then that's sort of where the whole sort of capital HQ come from is I started building it to basically make my life easier when raising capital.
00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:51.840
And life is never easy when you're raising capital.
00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:57.360
So it was just more about how do I do this and just keep on creating efficiencies in the process.
00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:02.319
And I was just fortunate enough that I could also build a software tool that could assist with that as well.
00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:07.360
So tell us a little bit about the what the capital HQ concept is.
00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:19.120
The three parts that I think about it is that one, um, you know, providing access to investors and being able to see sort of who is in an ecosystem, I think is sort of a key part of that.
00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:23.439
The second part is streamlining and simplifying the process.
00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:26.960
And then the third part is removing friction from the process.
00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:30.719
So the only way you could do that is if you think about it from both sides.
00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:34.960
If you think about it, okay, what's an investor's experience when they come across a company?
00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:38.159
Basically, typically it's normally just a wall of information.
00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:46.479
So it's like, well, then how do you think about what are the key parts that you you speak to that get an investor's attention, you know, about an opportunity?
00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:55.919
And then likewise from the founder side, when you're raising capital, it is just so frustrating saying the same thing over and over again, answering the same questions.
00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:57.599
In fact, one of my mentors said it best.
00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:01.439
He goes, when you're raising capital, you just feel like you're the chief repeating officer.
00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:03.759
You know, you're just saying the exact same thing.
00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:18.800
So it's like, well, how can you have and also I remember my frustration in that I was having these calls and I felt like it wasn't that the deal room itself wasn't actually working for me when I wasn't pushing it.
00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:36.879
Where the way I sort of think about now is as how as I have how do I have it in an always on state so that if existing investors want to come back to it a different time, or if potential investors want to come back or shareholders, et cetera, it basically can be in that always on state for the process.
00:04:36.879 --> 00:05:03.279
So it's there's a whole bunch of things which also align, like in the design of it, align with my belief around the thesis of sort of capital raising, which has become more and more prominent now for many life science companies, just given that you know, over the last couple of years,
Load full transcript
you've seen you know the ASX make it more and more difficult for sort of earlier stage companies to list with their sort of changing of requirements in sort of 2022 and 2023.
00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:11.360
And then likewise at that time there's been a corresponding sort of you know introduction of so many different grants that have been made available.
00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:22.079
But you realize now that, you know, a lot of the state and sort of federal government budgets are are under pressure, and you just sort of have that fear that, you know, what if they do start sort of cutting those programs?
00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:36.399
So, you know, it's sort of I suppose my thesis, you know, is that if you're targeting high net worth and family offices, which many companies will have to because there's only a handful of sort of VCs, and there's a different approach in how you do that.
00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:44.000
That's where I've spent a lot of my time trying to understand what is the art and I suppose the science of raising money.
00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:46.800
Yeah, so that's that's what we're going to talk about today.
00:05:46.800 --> 00:06:03.360
It's really this focus on the life sciences sector and startups and small to medium enterprises that are looking for backing and an opportunity that MTP Connect and Wholesale Investor have worked up really for our life sciences sector.
00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:05.680
Maybe you could talk to us a little bit about that.
00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:13.199
So those things I just mentioned before, I suppose they sit at the foundation of sort of why you know this sort of program became available.
00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:16.720
For me, I got the life science bug in 2009.
00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:26.480
We worked with uh Q Biotics and we've obviously worked with a lot of life science companies, ranging from you know 4D medical when they come out of sort of Monash University.
00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:29.600
Likewise, you know, I've got Recy Pharmaceuticals coming to mind.
00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:34.319
We've been there with sort of Imogen as they've gone through their various sort of ups and downs, etc.
00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:48.240
So I understand the nature of how hard it is with raising capital, but also I understand that the majority of life science companies who come across, they've all been the majority being funded, you know, in the early days by high networks and family officers.
00:06:48.240 --> 00:07:12.879
So that's where sort of this conversation between us was really about how do we put a spotlight on the what great work's happening in life sciences, because you guys do a great job of communicating the success about what people are doing and where they're at, but very few other people really get to get a real big feel for how many great success stories and all the incredible things that people are building sort of in that space.
00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:23.360
And then when you have buzzwords like AI come over and
you start to see all those start to dominate, it's like, well, you know, how do you sort of then capture investors, uh investors' attention?
00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:31.759
So that's where we sort of started designing this whole program around how do you create something where it puts a spotlight on it?
00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:40.399
It allows the sort of CEOs and the people behind the business to tell the story behind the business, but also the technology as well.
00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:53.360
And then how do you, I suppose, create the story for the companies where it's simple, it's more personal, it's more humanized, and much more engaging to involve people in.
00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:57.839
So, you know, as I said, it's it's multi-step in the way in which we've thought about it.
00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:13.519
But my my biggest hope is that sort of by the time we sort of finish this program and by the time we've finished the the sort of life sciences investor day, that people share the same enthusiasm that I have, you know, after sort of chatting with all the various companies that will be participating.
00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:33.919
And what you're talking about really is um your wholesale investor network, you've built up a huge ecosystem of like 45,000 private investors, high net worth investors, who tap into a number of different opportunities throughout the year for you know to invest in different sectors.
00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:39.519
Um this is the first time you've actually looked at doing a specific uh life science investor day.
00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:42.960
It's due to happen next um next year in February.
00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.600
Um, tell us about that opportunity.
00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:48.799
I'm a big believer in concentration of energy.
00:08:48.799 --> 00:09:00.720
And so whilst we've always worked with you know life science companies, the the reality is that when we've done it, there's we've basically had them in amongst all sort of other types of opportunities.
00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:09.519
So, for example, we could have had like an ag tech opportunity or a you know renewable energy opportunity or a fund, for example.
00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:18.879
And so, you know, whilst we would always have you know life science companies presenting, there was never that one time where it's like just life science.
00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:31.919
And so that way, you know, you know, like for every company that's presenting, they know that every single person in that room is there to listen to life sciences, listen to medical device, listen to healthcare opportunities and there to engage.
00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:52.320
And I know also from a psychology factor as well, in building up something like this, when you're promoting it, it's so much easier when you're promoting something sector focused, you to attract likewise all the investors that have an interest in that area, even though they won't be as technical as probably one every CEO wants them
to be.
00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.080
You know, they want to understand the science.
00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:58.559
They want, you know, the fact they've got an interest is a great starting point.
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:07.360
And you find that the way it works with sort of high net worse is they could say they they could go through all the sessions they want and say, Oh, don't don't invest in something you don't understand.
00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:13.360
Don't do the reality is, you know, I've had so many times where investors said, I only invest in this type of deal.
00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:20.879
And then you see that they've gone and invested into a life science company or in a biotech because they've got some sort of personal connection.
00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:29.200
So, you know, if we do this, do this right, we're basically helping the companies articulate the humanized story of what they're doing.
00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:43.279
We're helping them sort of communicate what is the critical pathways or sort of, I suppose, inflection points in the valuation of their business, and then helping them take the investor uh along for the journey as well.
00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:46.720
And then obviously the outcome is we want them to participate.
00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:51.840
So the whole idea is to try and help life science companies get investor ready.
00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:53.840
What do you need to be investor ready?
00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:55.919
Because you need more than a website, right?
00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:00.480
Investor ready has become like I suppose a term that people like to use.
00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:08.240
I sort of frame it slightly because the hardest part is I I just don't feel like you're ever really investor ready, no matter who your business is.
00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:17.679
So the way I think about it is it's more about you're you're articulating what you're doing in a way that engages investors.
00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:27.039
So you're gonna do all your stuff like preparing your preparing your deal room, getting your information, getting IP, getting what all the all the stuff that you expect.
00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:29.919
That's sort of when someone's already interested.
00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:31.519
That's when that becomes really important.
00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:34.399
The question is, is how do you get someone interested?
00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:46.879
So I suppose the part I focus on is what is the narrative that that a technical business is going to sell to high net worth and family obviously investors that makes them want to know more.
00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:52.879
So in marketing, you're taught effectively there's three stages of someone buying something.
00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:58.080
There's the awareness of it, then there's a consideration, and then there's a decision.
00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:04.399
Most people, when they're raising money, they think about it like, hey, you're aware of me, right?
00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:08.240
And you should make a decision, you know.
00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:14.000
And unfortunately, that consideration part is the part that sort of people forget, you know, in that.
00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:27.279
So, you know, that that that investor ready part I talk about is more around how do you communicate what is your three to seven-word hero text about what you're doing that is relevant to high net worth and family offices.
00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:28.879
You know, what is that seven?
00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:34.559
Because effectively you get seconds of headspace with someone before they're deciding if they're interested.
00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:40.320
You know, there's another acronym in in marketing they call awareness, interest, desire, action, right?
00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.679
And you only have seconds to capture someone's awareness.
00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:56.000
So the hardest part for every, you know, every life science founder or medical device founder is just sitting there thinking that I spend my life 24-7 thinking about this, working on it, solving problems.
00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:02.159
But the truth is the person you're going to be pitching it to gives you seconds of headspace to decide if they're interested.
00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:05.919
So that's why I always start with what is that headline hero text?
00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:13.519
The next part that I really love to go into is how do you succinctly summarize that sort of problem solution statement?
00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:18.080
So, you know, do you know how to identify the problem?
00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:20.639
What we do is identify the solution.
00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:26.000
And then the next part that I love is that what are the investment highlights?
00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:40.480
And investment highlights can also get misconstrued and to think about, oh, I need to sell what's revenue, what's, you know, it's that that can be a part at some stage, but at this early stage, it's really about, you know, who is the team?
00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:42.960
What is the team's been there, done that experience?
00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:45.679
How can that be explained in one to two lines?
00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:48.720
That when an investor sees it, they think that's interesting.
00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:57.200
You know, I think that's the I think that's the key word you're going for is you you're trying to get into the headspace of investors where they look at what you're doing and think, that's interesting.
00:13:57.200 --> 00:13:58.720
I want to know more.
00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:06.320
So headline hero text, then problem solution statement, and then the next one is those highlighting of those investment highlights.
00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:08.559
So teens been there, done that experience.
00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:10.559
Who has backed you to date?
00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:13.120
You know, and what is what form has that been in?
00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:18.240
You know, have you put in a
significant amount of money yourself into the actual business?
00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:20.399
That's always a good sign.
00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:23.919
Have you had investors already put money, you know?
00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:29.840
For example, one of the companies I spoke to had, you know, the Mayo Venture Fund put money into them.
00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:31.600
That's interesting, right?
00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:36.240
Or have you had private high net worth that uh sort of known put money in?
00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.240
Even if it's 25k, 50k, 100k, it doesn't matter.
00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:43.840
The fact they invested is a signal for other investors.
00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:47.840
And then have you received what grants have you received?
00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:58.159
Because often the grant process sort of goes through a lot more you know technical depth as far as what you're actually doing before you've actually received funds.
00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:00.480
And if there's bigger investment groups, fantastic.
00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:04.240
So whether they be personal investors or bigger investors, highlight that.
00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.159
So they're the sort of two starting ones.
00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:09.279
And then the next one is is well, where are you actually at?
00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:12.639
You know, are you you know going through your trial process?
00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:16.240
Have you done some of the early data work, you know, etc.?
00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:18.720
Where where is that, you know, what have you got to do?
00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:21.120
Yeah, correct.
00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:26.639
Are you close to getting regulatory approval or you know, are you just starting out with your first clinical trial?
00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:33.039
Like all of those sort of milestones they can position companies in a particular in a particular way.
00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:35.279
And did you get any partnerships with that?
00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:42.559
You know, is do you have any partnerships with hospitals, research institutes, you know, et cetera, that you can sort of speak to?
00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:57.919
Because again, once again, it's all leveraging off brands that would be known, you know, like whether it be, you know, I'm just trying to think of the name, but there was like various research institutes that sort of got mentioned in in a lot of the conversations, or various hospitals that got mentioned.
00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:00.639
That becomes about yeah, correct.
00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:13.120
So so there's some of the things like when I think about investment ready, I think about marketing, I suppose marketing marketing ready, you know, for for for going out to sort of high net worth and family offices.
00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:20.879
And what do you think about the need to educate investors about investing in the life sciences sector?
00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:27.200
Because it's it's a different game to perhaps other technology.
00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:36.960
It's it might be a longer game, for instance, um, depending on what it is, whether it might be a therapeutic versus a medical device or um a diagnostic or something like that.
00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:47.519
But yeah, as part of the program that that MTP Connect is running with um wholesale investor, there's also some uh investor education as part of that.
00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:49.039
What does that look like?
00:16:49.440 --> 00:17:04.559
So when you started mentioning that, I thought straight away we had a keynote from Hashan DeSilva from KPRX at our Emergence Conference, and it was one of the best educations about where he likes to invest in into life science, you know, in life science companies.
00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:20.000
But I think the the education is a key part because if you hear how investors explain how they're trying to assess opportunities, you can then also reframe your narrative to align with that.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:28.559
So for example, you know, when you're when you're, you know, you always got to think about in your decks about use of funds.
00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:40.480
So you're raising X amount of million to go and do X trials or you know, basically get to next sort of data point or prototyping or first products or go to market strategy, et cetera.
00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:47.759
Well, I suppose in their mind, they're trying to assess how you're using that money, right?
00:17:47.759 --> 00:18:00.559
And this is where invest and this is where it's helpful to understand that that investor education part, how you're using that money and how it correlates with a value inflection point if you achieve that milestone.
00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:09.680
So many companies will tell me about oh, we want to do this because we want to get our trial to you know this next stage or you know, phase two or whatever it is.
00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:15.519
So effectively, if that's the case, what does that actually mean?
00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:20.880
If you get it to that, how does that change the valuation profile of the business?
00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:23.440
What opportunities does that mean?
00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:29.680
You know, what companies are there that are in your sort of simulator area where you can look to as references?
00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:44.960
So that investor education is important because however they receive their education, you need to understand that they will also then want to hear opportunities communicated, then in the way that they have understood what to be looking for.
00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:48.319
You've worked with so many companies over the years.
00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:50.720
You know, you've been doing this for about 14 years now.
00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:58.160
It's actually our this October was our 17th birthday, which is you know, it's comes out when it comes out of your mouth.
00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:02.160
That's it's like when you get older, you only realize your age when it
comes out of your mouth.
00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:14.400
It must be um rewarding to be sort of matchmaking these investment opportunities for companies and and seeing you know company exits and you know that type of success.
00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:17.119
How do you feel about being the matchmaker?
00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:22.960
Ultimately, like I'm I realize that we play a small role, but it's a high value role.
00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:33.279
I think where you get satisfaction is from you know seeing what you've actually assisted with in the early days then sort of come to fruition down the track.
00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:35.440
Like 40 medical comes to mind.
00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:58.480
You know, I said working with them as a siege stage company, sort of coming out of Monash University and speaking with Andreas, you know, just as he was going into IPO and just telling me how important it was those 50, 100k, 200k checks were sort of in those early days compared to how much easier it was when he was going to IPO and he was being offered 5 million, you know, 2 million, 10 million from different instants.
00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:01.359
That's that's pretty rewarding.
00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:06.799
You know, it doesn't really get acknowledged, you know, too much, but that's sort of a very rewarding fact.
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:27.440
Or someone like Cube Ice said, you know, we are coming out the back end of the GFC and they needed to raise 2 million and seeing our network sort of deliver on that 2 million, then sort of 2021 seeing TDM go in for 50 million, you know, in into the company, and now they're sort of making their pathway sort of more, you know, towards an exit as well.
00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:28.640
That's pretty cool.
00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:38.880
Or, you know, looking at some of the, you know, some of the life science companies like a Recce, you know, go through their journey through all their different sort of stages and like it's very rewarding.
00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:49.119
It's also you realize all your anti-portfolio of what you didn't invest into, but it's it's rewarding to see them hit their goals and and you know that you played a small role sort of in that.
00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:51.599
I think that's where I get a lot of satisfaction from.
00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:55.839
Tell us about what the Life Sciences Investor Day is going to look like in February.
00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:58.799
What's involved in a wholesale investor day?
00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.960
So the Life Science Investor Day is part of our bigger conference called Emergence.
00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:05.759
So Emergence is the biggest thing that we do each year.
00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:10.000
We last year, I think we had somewhere between 750 to 1,000 come along to it.
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:12.240
This year, obviously, you know, no different than everyone else.
00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:13.519
I want to make it bigger.
00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:27.519
Um, so it's a really simple format, and we typically have like three sort of panel sessions, and you know, with that, we have different investment groups provide their sort of investment thesis about how they're sort of looking to invest.
00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:44.640
And you know, you typically have a couple keynotes, but the main part is that we we provide various networking sort of sessions, both in the morning, during the event, and then sort of in the afternoon, so that you know investors can go around and chat to the various companies that are being featured.
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:48.480
And then each company gets their own sort of eight-minute presentation as well.
00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:58.960
So it's not just about having a trade table and being at it, you actually get to present to investors your opportunity and effectively they can then sort of come up and engage with you.
00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:09.279
But the the key part to how we've worked together on this is that you know we're going to start doing all the recording of CEO interviews, we're gonna be doing articles on the companies involved.
00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:12.000
Um, it within our Capital HQ software.
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:14.240
We've actually got a conferencing component in there.
00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:22.240
So the companies that are presenting can access the investors in in the conference as well and can message them directly and invite them to come and chat with them.
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:26.799
Plus, we're also recording everyone's presentation, so we'll make that available to them afterwards.
00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:29.200
We'll be doing interviews at the event as well.
00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:38.480
So all this sort of stuff becomes all the different touch points that you can sort of build, you know, in the process of your own capital raising and you can share across your LinkedIn media, et cetera.
00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:44.880
So my look, basically, my hope is that thousands of people get, you know, a whole bunch of content around.
00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:47.759
Oh, and we also live stream as well, which is the other component.
00:22:47.759 --> 00:23:03.519
But my the big hope is is that just so many different touch points around life sciences and medical device and healthcare is created for us across the next few months and where bring a lot more investor interest sort of into the area.
00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:08.000
I suppose this, you know, what we've termed a tight funding environment.
00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:08.319
Yeah.
00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:13.759
Can you share any sort of capital insights that are relevant for the life sciences sector?
00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:23.680
Yeah, I'll I would just say like capital raising is frustrating at the best of times, except for that beautiful spot of late 2020 and uh early and 2021.
00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:28.079
But you know, I would say focus on engagement of investors.
00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:33.680
Instead of focusing on just raising from investors,
focus on the engagement component.
00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:45.359
Let them sort of, you know, said that going back to that awareness, consideration, decision part, spend let them spend time in that consideration part, but make it easy for them to spend time in that consideration part.
00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:49.440
So have things like your frequently asked questions already prepared.
00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:55.119
You know, so all the questions that other investors have previously asked you, don't make them ask it to you again.
00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:58.880
Have it ready for them, sort of in you know, in your deal room.
00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:08.960
Um have a video that's really easy, that's very humanized about sort of what you're doing, where you're at, you know, as and obviously we do that as part of our CEO interview.
00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:12.000
And and then also there's gonna be a key part.
00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:24.559
There's a key part of raising money where you've got interest in what you're doing and you're you're massively frustrated because you've got this interest and then no one's converting.
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:32.640
And it's at that stage, that is the most crucial point, is where you've got to have the courage to put a deadline in place.
00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:42.319
By human nature, we typically work towards deadlines, manufactured or real, everyone works towards deadlines like an IPO.
00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:47.680
An IPO puts a deadline on something and makes everyone move towards that deadline.
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:56.160
And so effectively, when you have that, when you have that sort of feel that momentum, you switch on a deadline and then you crank up the activity.
00:24:56.160 --> 00:25:04.640
So you crank up things like information sessions, crank up sort of doing more one-to-one conversations, boardroom sessions, etc.
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:08.079
You know, it's just leaving it out there.
00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:10.799
They've got to feel those multiple touch points.
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:22.960
So focus on the engagement system and then also, you know, I've called it capital engagement system, but and then also even when you close your raise, keep communicating like there's a raise coming up.
00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:32.000
So the best lesson I learned was from a journalist where he said, uh, companies only want to speak to me when they're going to raise money, and then when when I'm done, they never speak to me again.
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:34.880
And that can also happen, you know, with companies.
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:48.400
So, you know, that just focus on that engagement, make sure, and every time you send out an investor update about where, you know, about an announcement or whatever it is, try and do at least every month to two months.
00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:52.559
So that way they feel like you're not out of sight, out of mind.
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:57.440
So try and stay top of mind, focus on engagement, and
content plays a role.
00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:05.039
And content's so much easier to create now with AI and make sure it's human-centric in the way in which you communicate.
00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:10.000
Of course, your instant investors and you're more technical investors, you may want to have different sort of communications for them.
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:15.759
But if you're dealing with high net worth and family officers, you know, make sure it's sort of very, very humanized.
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:22.799
Yeah, so it's you've really got to think about that investor strategy in terms of the continuing that connection and that communication.
00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:26.400
Yeah, and running a process and actually running it as a process.
00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:32.400
But then I said, just remember that key inflection point where you've got lots of interest and no one's converting.
00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:34.880
That's when you've got to switch on a deadline.
00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:39.119
And that's the scariest thing to do because you know you could look like a failure.
00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:40.240
What can go wrong?
00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:43.440
Where do companies go wrong when they're approaching investors?
00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.519
Firstly, thinking that they'll understand the science.
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:48.640
Number one.
00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:52.720
Number two is treating investors like a transaction.
00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:53.759
Right.
00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:58.559
As I said, all of us as humans, we want to feel, you know, like we've got some sort of connection.
00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:04.319
I think they would be the the two biggest things, you know, and and then also not actually running in process.
00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:06.160
Like I'd say would be the three.
00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:20.960
So typically what happens with a capital raise is that you know, you start out the raise, you're very because to get your energy up, you get really bullish, really confident, and you start out with, I want to raise five million from five investors, right?
00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:30.559
And then as you find out that that's not as realistic as what you thought, then you suddenly start to think, you know, so you've got to be confident, but not overconfident.
00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:39.680
Humanize the the process and actually run, you know, to a process and just make sure you factor in sort of multiple touch points in it.
00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:55.920
So one of the um opportunities through the program that we're running that we've asked companies to um sign up for, which is kicking off in November, as part of that package, they get access to your um capital HQ program.
00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:19.279
The idea is that so they don't have to bother about setting up other data rooms or setting up other, you know, effectively they can create multiple rooms, they can have a high-level room to engage investors in, they can have a deeper data room if they want to, they can even use create a room for their their board meetings, you know, if they want to for the earlier, for the earlier sort of companies, you know, other down the track they can get sort of official board software, etc.
00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:32.400
But yeah, it's more like I said, it's just taking a long-term approach to the raise and appreciating that as a life science company, medical device company, capital is going to be a consistent requirement going forward.
00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:49.440
So if an investor can come into your room three years from now and they can see every milestone, every progress that you've done, every announcement that you've made, and every announcement you've delivered on, you don't have to answer the question about the history of your business because it's all summarized in one area.
00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:53.519
And instead of asking you all those questions, they can spend that time with your room.
00:28:53.519 --> 00:29:01.200
So, you know, I found for me that sort of cut down me having to spend four to six hours with every investor down to 30 minutes to an hour.
00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:09.839
I know there's going to be other opportunities that companies will want to be involved in, sort of whether it be our events or dedicated emails or whatever it may be.
00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:22.559
But the core foundation is if they're already set up, they've got that sort of, you know, get ready, stay ready, always be raising sort of mindset, then they're ultimately just setting themselves up for success long term anyway.
00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:23.759
Brilliant.
00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:30.559
Tell us how companies can find out more about wholesale investor and and your Capital HQ platform.
00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:44.960
They can obviously reach out to you guys, or uh, or they can just come to wholesaleinvestor.com and uh you know just basically sort of you know register on one of the sort of capital raising pages and you know come and chat to us and learn more.
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:47.039
You run a lot of programs.
00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:53.440
I mean, every week you've got seminars and webinars, and you have a lot happening um on your platform.
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:59.680
Things are up on YouTube, you can kind of see how how you roll at wholesale investor.
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:10.400
The thing I'm most excited about is I want people to feel how I felt after two weeks of chatting to, you know, chatting to various sort of life science and medical device companies.
00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:18.640
And the easiest takeaway that I've been saying to people is I'm very bullish about Australian innovation after having all these conversations.
00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:26.720
So I just hope that, you know, when we sort of get the feedback from attendees of that day, they feel the same way that I do.
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:33.759
And if we've set everyone up right and done all the right promotion and helped everyone tell
their stories right, etc., then they should feel that.
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:36.880
Well, it's only a few months away now, the the investor day.
00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:40.000
So we're starting to work with companies that have signed up for the program.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:43.039
And um it's really exciting.
00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:44.559
It's very exciting.
00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:55.759
I said, I think I think when this is all when we're sort of finished, this, I think, you know, I said for me on the on the personal side, this has been one of the most fun things that I I've enjoyed.
00:30:55.759 --> 00:31:10.079
Ultimately, you know, it will be on the day where I said I I just hope that the companies, you know, when they sort of finish their presentation, they finish the engagement across even across the rest of the conference as well, just going around and sort of meeting with everyone.
00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:15.599
But they also feel bullish about investor interest in Australian life science companies as well.
00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:24.880
Because I know that's been a common theme along a lot of companies, as they think, oh, Australian investors just don't understand us, or Australian investors don't back life science, they just want to back software.
00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:26.720
And I just don't think that's the case.
00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:38.720
So there's too many investors that have invested into you know listed list, you know, if you think about the share registries of all the public unlisted companies and listed companies, it's littered with high net worth and family offices.
00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:42.240
Lots of opportunity out there, so we're just trying to make that happen.
00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:43.039
Correct.
00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:53.359
You know, if you if you aren't able to make the program because we've sort of finished the allocations and sort of at least come along and feel the energy of the day itself.
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:57.039
Thank you, Steve, for coming on the MTP Connect podcast.
00:31:57.279 --> 00:31:57.839
Thanks, Caroline.
00:31:57.839 --> 00:31:59.519
I appreciate the interview.
00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:08.559
That was Wholesale Investor's Steve Torso joining us from Sydney to talk about raising capital and the new MTP Connect Investor Ready program.
00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:20.480
The program culminates with the inaugural Life Sciences Investor Day, which is part of the Emergence 2026 conference, to be held on the 18th of February in Sydney.
00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:26.160
If you want to get involved, check our website for details or contact Wholesale Investor.
00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:31.200
You've been listening to the MTP Connect podcast.
00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:36.319
This podcast is produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people here in NAARM, Melbourne.
00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:38.079
Thanks for listening to the show.
00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:41.839
If you love what you heard, share our podcast and follow us for more.
00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:43.440
Until next time.