Going Public Example - Peet's Coffee

When Chris Mottern, CEO of Peet’s Coffee, took his company public in 2001 (listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol PEET), he and his associates gave 63 presentations of their road show in three weeks. In an interview with Inc. magazine, Mottern emphasized how important it is to have a good story to tell, because that’s what captures the attention of your audience.

The Peet’s Coffee road show was fairly standard, never taking more than one hour. “You have to give a good presentation every time,” Mottern says. First, Mottern spoke for about 20 minutes, educating the audience about the coffee industry, the market, and the company’s future prospects. Then his CFO spoke for about five minutes, covering the financials. The remaining time was spent answering questions from the investors and analysts.

In the road show, you must present all the good and bad aspects of your company. By bad aspects, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the company is doing something wrong. It refers to the challenges a company must overcome. For example, Peet’s Coffee had very unimpressive financial results to defend in its presentation. The year before its IPO, the company had lost $2.3 million. But this gave Mottern the opportunity to explain why the company had lost money and how the company had spent $23 million in the previous three years to develop the necessary infrastructure for future profitability.

Click this link to go to the Inc. magazine website and read more of Chris Mottern’s advice on the IPO road show: www.inc.com/articles/2002/05/24190.html.

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