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WTR Virtual Insights Conference: Preview with Shawn Severson · WTR Small-Cap Spotlight

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the WTR Small Cap Spotlight Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Tim Gerdeman, Vice Chair and Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Water Tower Research.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm pleased to welcome my co-founder and WTR CEO, Sean Sieverson, to the WTR Small Cap Spotlight Podcast to preview our upcoming WTR Virtual Insights Conference.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: The two-day virtual event runs from Tuesday, September 22nd, through Wednesday, September 23rd, under the theme Direct Access, Deeper Insights.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: It brings together over 40 presenting companies across seven sectors: chemicals and materials technology, consumer, energy transition and sustainable investing, healthcare, mobility and industrial technology, natural resources, and finally technology.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Each session runs approximately 30 minutes, structured as fireside chats between a WTR industry analyst and senior company management, with investors able to submit questions before, during, and after every session through the conference portal.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: For investors seeking more direct engagement, there is also an opportunity for one-on-one and small group meetings with management.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Investors can register at www.watertowerresearch.com.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Sean, thanks for joining me today.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, Tim.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Excited to be here.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Lots lots going on this week.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: There sure is.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: So speaking of that, let's uh start out with the big picture, Sean.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Please tell our listeners about the vision behind direct access, deeper insights, and what makes this format different from a typical investor conference.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, great question.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's important to differentiate what investors usually have access to and what we're able to provide here.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So first and foremost, this is this is participation for all investors, for retail, through the traditional institutional RIAs, family office.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: We want to make this an open format just like our research is and accessible to every investor.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, it really creates a great way for them to interact.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we host these events for investors and companies connect.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's really what this is all about.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're not an investment bank, we don't do trading, we're not pitching stocks.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is about connectivity and information flow between small cap companies and investors across all categories.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, that's our one objective that we have with everything we do, you know, connecting those companies' investors.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing that's unique is, you know, you know, again, the fireside chat format, you know, I think is so much more interesting for investors instead of just hearing a presented deck and something that, you know, that goes through every conference.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is a chance to hear the interaction between one of our uh senior analysts and the company management, which creates a very different dynamic uh than you get at most conferences, which is just a canned presentation and uh and no QA participation except for perhaps attendees at the conference, which are highly restricted.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, very open access and you know, as it says, direct access, you get deeper insights.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh you know, it's a direct correlation.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Agreed.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: This serves as a really critical conduit between corporates and investors and is always well received.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so moving on, Sean, this event brings together over 40 companies across seven sectors, as I mentioned before, with names ranging from early stage developers to firms with multi-billion dollar projected economics.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: What went into building up, building rather the lineup with that much breadth?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: And how should investors think about turning it into actionable watch lists?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, one of the first battles in small cap is, you know, identifying you know the opportunities in the companies.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, depending on how you define small cap and microcap, you know, there's 3,000, even 4,000 companies for investors to choose from.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you really have to be a jack of all trades as an investor.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You need to look at companies across multiple sectors.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: You're generally looking for ideas, you know, inside themes, of course, but it's not like mega cap research.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you got to look at a lot of different companies and understand what's going on.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's multiple industries, technologies, and finding the multiple opportunities.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I guess it's a way you have to look broad, right?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And get that, get an idea of what's fitting and what and what uh is appealing to you.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, this is how small cap research is done and exposure to the companies is key.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, not just regular, you know, staged information or things on their sites.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is an interaction and is a critical part of small cap investing is uh is interaction or at least being able to see the management team present.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I've always appreciated your line that a company can't get investors if the investors don't know they exist.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: First and oftentimes most difficult battle, right, for small cap companies and investors to connect on good ideas.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: So every session is roughly a 30-minute fireside chat hosted by a WTR analyst alongside company management.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And investors can submit questions before, during, and after each session through the portal.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: How has that format combined with real-time access changed the way investors engage with small cap leadership?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think it I think there's a couple things.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: First, you know, most investors don't really have a chance to hear from company managements, you know, except for very sterile earnings calls, which are generally written by lawyers, right?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And check the boxes of things that they go through the disclosure from the quarter.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just not a great, uh, a great format or venue for investors to really understand the company, get to hear the management team.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And this also ties into another uh you know mega trend, I guess you could call it out there, and it's it's the commoditization of information.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, what that means to me anyway is that as a small cap investor or analyst, it's critical that you take time and have the opportunity to interact with management.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be able to see the management, hear them answer the questions, have some type of engagement with them as opposed to listening to an earnings call or reading a press release.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why these are so important, you know, to the small cap investors.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, they can they can interact, hear the companies, and that's just a very different uh, you know, very different thing because no matter what in small cap investing, the best plans go awry, right?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever company, you know, whatever the company uh strategy is, there's going to need to be pivots and adjustments and reactions, and that's a critical part for small cap investors to understand.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: What that means is you have to get uh you have to get involved with the management the best you can.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And these are the types of things where you want to see the management, hear the management, hear it from their own voice.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we're offering here and why we host these these conferences, as I mentioned before.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: That is indeed why these are highly differentiated and create a lot of incremental value for the investor and the corporates.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So uh walk us through how investors request a one-on-one or small group meeting with management.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is easy.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's all in the registration.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be able to see the companies.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's a click-through.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: We've made it very easy for uh for access to management.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So nothing difficult there.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to email in separately or call us or anything like that.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: The opportunities will be available once you register, once you go through.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So again, not much uh not much to add there because it is so simple, um, you know, and then we'll be able to go through and look for qualified investors and and make sure that um you know that we're getting we're getting those to the company and have an opportunity to meet with them.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really curious, Sean, from your perspective, is there a sector or a theme this cycle that you think investors are underestimating as we head into the conference?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think the the themes are very well known and they come from the mega cap down to the small cap, right?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you know, AI and energy, critical minerals, all these things that that we we know are out there as thematic investment opportunities.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: But what you know, what gets underestimated is is in small cap, you know, you really have to do more diligence, quite honestly.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: They're incredible opportunities, but they're not well covered.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: You have to search through lots of companies, you have to hear from a lot of companies.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, the the things that are missing, I guess, are underestimating, going in, underestimated going into the conference, is you know, the amount of work that you need to do in identifying these companies and then doing your own due diligence.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's where we're able to come in with the access, the presentation, and behind that also our research.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it's really about um you know getting through a lot of companies.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, investors know the themes that they're interested in, right?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because we see them at the larger cap companies and they're on CNBC every single day.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So there's no there's no news or rocket science there to figure that out.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: But when you get into small cap, there's a lot of additional due diligence, and that's underestimated across the board.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: So this is an opportunity for come for investors to really do some of that due diligence and importantly discover new ideas.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I agree.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: These uh small cap stories are highly nuanced and require a lot of attention.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um so moving on, I'm I'm very interested to know for someone attending a WTR Insights conference for the first time, what is the best way for them to get the most out of the two days?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think a lot of it, you know, ties into the last question as well, right?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the themes, and it begins with a chance to do initial discovery work.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're approaching this conference, you're coming in as an investor, you know, you want to look and see, you know, you have great opportunity.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Over 40 companies are gonna be here that you can see and hear, um, you know, uh listen and watch the presentations.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna be able to, you know, the light bulb goes off.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's interesting, it fits my theme.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I'm looking for.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so you'll be able to see that company and do that initial discovery work.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's critical because as I mentioned, you know, you gotta, you know, as I like to say, that it's like a box of cereal, you got three or four thousand of them on the on the you know, in the aisle of the grocery store.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: How do you pick one out, right?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: How do you do any more work before you even look at the ingredients?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: You got to pull out one of the boxes.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this is one of those opportunities where you can sit down on your own time in terms, available on demand and live, go through and get your initial discovery work done.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Also, you know, tying into the due diligence, which you must do, you know, in small cap, the again hearing from the company, the analysts setting out for the investors what some of the important themes are.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the QA is gonna be focused on.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're all analysts and you know, we've been investors, so we we know what the key points are.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be able to narrow that down a little bit for you.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully the fireside chat formats and questions provide this uh, let's call it a you know, a shortcut to understanding the key themes on these companies.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, you know, not just reading PRs and looking at the website.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is your opportunity to hear directly from the companies and our experienced analysts.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the interactive uh aspect of this conference is where I think the real value is created.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: So uh moving on to sponsors, what do Likosky, Brookman, Sentinel, and TMX Newsfile bring to the table?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And explain to our listeners why WTR partnered with these reputable companies.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first, we're we're very excited to have them participate in our conference.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's an ecosystem in small cap that is immense and sophisticated.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And these are some of the great examples of companies that uh that we partner with, obviously, TMX and the PR side, Likoski being you know one of the premier, um the premier small and microcap capital markets law firms, Sentinel to be able to monitor social media, you know, which is critically important because you know the audience today, you know, for them, you know, 30, 40 percent of younger investors get their information through social media outlets.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So all of this, um, you know, these are great examples.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: The ecosystem is large, and you know, we love working with our partners and very excited to have uh to have these participating in our conference this year.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: But it's a you know, it takes a village to get small cap done, and these are some great examples.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Wrapping up, Sean, what is your hope for what investors and the presenting companies both walk away with after uh the conference over the next two days?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think first and foremost, um, that they can come away with some new ideas, right?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And learning some more about companies that they don't know.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think going back to this, how do you how do you get your ideas, right?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Where do they come from?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is an opportunity to hear it directly from from analysts and directly from management.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: So again, the discovery process.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: I hope every investor that participates this in this walks away with a couple new ideas that are worthy of additional due diligence on their part.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully we can help with that as well, you know, through our research and other events and things we do.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: But they have to discover them, like the theme, like the management, and go forward.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's number one.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the other thing, too, of course, there, you know, many of these companies, investors have seen before or they've started doing some work or heard about them in some capacity.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: This creates, again, a real a differentiated due diligence opportunity that goes away from the written part of research, away from the you know, the the press releases and the things positioned in the website.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's an opportunity to hear it.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, and small cap investing takes several steps, um, you know, identifying the company, the management, understanding the technology, knowing the balance sheets are critical.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So again, I I you know, I think there's a lot to be taken away with this.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, many of the top, you know, top five, six, seven are critical in the first part of your uh of your discovery through due diligence and action in small cap small cap companies.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I hope and all every investor comes away with uh with some new new ideas and some parts of that.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, great.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for those insights, Sean.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining me.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: I know I'm personally excited to attend over the next couple days, so really looking forward to it.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Great, thanks, Tim.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Very exciting.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening, and don't forget to subscribe, as well as visiting www.watertowerresearch.com to stay up to speed on the company's small cap written research reports, podcasts, fireside chats, industry specific symposiums, and conference schedules.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: We will see you next time for another edition of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight Podcast.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Finally, a special thanks to the producer and editor of the podcast, Krista Fitzpatrick.