REFLECTIONS FROM THE TOUR BUS

Our Capital Markets Comeback Tour bus is parked, but the party ain’t over!

As Caroline and I sit at our gate at YYZ waiting to return home after the fourth leg of the Comeback Tour, we couldn’t help but share an exhausted smile. After months of hard work, we accomplished something some people thought was impossible. 

When I was a kid, I wanted to write for Rolling Stone magazine. I was determined to find up-and-coming bands – the best of the best – and share their stories with the world. It was a pipe dream which has taken a slight pivot from touring with my favourite bands to touring with my favourite companies…

Since starting irlabs, Caroline and I clearly heard from our clients they wanted creative and unique ways to share their stories with investors in-person.

But, in typical irlabs fashion, we knew that a stuffy roadshow and hotel boardrooms wasn’t going to cut it.  After four cities, 400+ swag bags, what feels like 4,000 inspirational conversations and hours upon hours in airport security lineups, we finally have a moment to catch our breath and reflect on The Capital Markets Comeback Tour.

The best part?

As sappy as this sounds, we loved meeting our clients, investors and irlabs team members in the flesh. So many connections were made, and we knew our formula was a success when Scott Pritchard from the Canadian Securities Exchange proclaimed to Montreal attendees that it took two women from the West Coast to bring together the investment community in that city!

Our guests have been waiting for an invigorating event like this for a couple of years, and they were ready to network and hear about our clients. The collective energy at each stop on the Tour blew us away.

The most challenging part?

The travel! It’s been a while since we’ve jet-setted across the country. As privileged as we are to host such a successful Tour, trekking our life-size KISS poster to four provinces was an ordeal. But as Gene Simons once said, “James Bond has a license to kill, rock stars have a license to be outrageous. Rock is about grabbing people’s attention.” Today, we feel like rock stars, completing a tour that some called outrageous for a start-up, and succeeding in grabbing attention for our clients.

What’s next?

Although the Tour is over, our work is not done. We’re diligently following up with dozens of investors who expressed interest in our clients participating in the Tour, and we’re even answering their questions about purchasing clients’ products placed in the swag bags. We know some investments have already been made in our clients’ companies from Tour attendees, and at the end of the day, that was the ultimate purpose of the Tour.

The Capital Markets Comeback Tour was inspired by the day dreamer teenage version of myself – hungry for a story, eager to push the envelope, unafraid to make some noise! And that’s exactly what we did. The Tour was gratifying for us and our clients, and we know it has greatly accelerated awareness of irlabs across Canada. Today, we are extremely fortunate to help tell the stories of some of the leading and emerging companies out there today – and we’re doing so in a unique way. We look forward to coming back to the four cities we visited on our next Tour and visiting those cities we missed this time ‘round.

Rock on.