Investor Meetings · May 26, 2026

What I Learned After Thousands of Investor Meetings: Forget the Script

One thing I learned after thousands of investor meetings and calls over the years:

I almost never prepared a "script" before meetings.

Of course I knew who I was meeting, but I did not try to force the same presentation on every investor.

Usually within the first 3–5 minutes I could tell who was sitting across the table.

A highly technical quant.

A family office investor.

A pension consultant.

An allocator from Japan speaking limited English.

An entrepreneur new to hedge funds.

The core message about the strategy stayed the same:

Why we make money. What our edge is. How we differ from others. What environments are good or bad for us. Risk, drawdowns, operational structure.

But the way I explained those things changed dramatically depending on the audience.

Early in my career, I thought the goal was to give the "perfect presentation."

Later I realized the real skill was understanding how the person across the table processes information.

Some investors wanted deep technical detail.

Others only wanted to know one thing:

"Why should I trust you with my money?"

That is a completely different conversation.

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