Why we exist
Canadian companies have an investor marketing problem.
Over the past few years, the number of small and mid-cap companies has been shrinking. As evidenced by a median deal premium of 33% across over 30 2025 takeouts, this isn’t a company problem - it’s an investor marketing problem.
There’s a logical explanation behind why this problem is hardest to solve for quality small and mid-cap companies. The financial incentives dictating where both traditional sell-side and marketing services direct their attention leaves this category underserved.
Traditional sell-side
Research is a cost center. Its incentives are steered by sales & trading and investment banking.
It’s no secret that broker equity research is a money losing business, designed to support the commercial efforts of the sales & trading desk or deal teams (equity capital markets, investment banking, corporate banking, etc.). As a result, the financial incentives in these divisions influence the way research operates.
Sales & trading is a flow business. It makes money on the steady stream of order execution, position financing, and hedging among other activities - so its main client is the buy-side. This influences the marketing impact of research in two ways:
Short-term bias: The desk isn’t making money on a buy & hold investor, it’s making money on volume. Despite their inaccuracy, price targets and ratings have commercial value: changes to them are tradable events. Assuming you’re looking to attract long-term investors, this financial incentive is misaligned.
Buy-side distribution: While tenured analysts have their own buy-side reach, research typically relies on sales & trading to distribute their message. If your stock isn’t liquid and there’s no inbound buy-side demand, the desk can’t make money on you - so there’s no financial incentive to share your story.
Investment & corporate banking is a size business. It makes money on the fees attached to advisory mandates, capital raises, and credit facilities - so its main client is the corporate issuer. Large companies who grow through M&A financed by debt and equity are the highest fee payers, creating a financial incentive for research to work harder for them than a small or mid-cap company prioritizing organic growth. That can translate to a higher valuation, which unlocks financing flexibility, enabling more growth - a feedback loop that you’re not a part of.
Traditional sell-side
Research is a cost center. Its incentives are steered by sales & trading and investment banking.
It’s no secret that broker equity research is a money losing business, designed to support the commercial efforts of the sales & trading desk or deal teams (equity capital markets, investment banking, corporate banking, etc.). As a result, the financial incentives in these divisions influence the way research operates.
Sales & trading is a flow business. It makes money on the steady stream of order execution, position financing, and hedging among other activities - so its main client is the buy-side. This influences the marketing impact of research in two ways:
Short-term bias: The desk isn’t making money on a buy & hold investor, it’s making money on volume. Despite their inaccuracy, price targets and ratings have commercial value: changes to them are tradable events. Assuming you’re looking to attract long-term investors, this financial incentive is misaligned.
Buy-side distribution: While tenured analysts have their own buy-side reach, research typically relies on sales & trading to distribute their message. If your stock isn’t liquid and there’s no inbound buy-side demand, the desk can’t make money on you - so there’s no financial incentive to share your story.
Investment & corporate banking is a size business. It makes money on the fees attached to advisory mandates, capital raises, and credit facilities - so its main client is the corporate issuer. Large companies who grow through M&A financed by debt and equity are the highest fee payers, creating a financial incentive for research to work harder for them than a small or mid-cap company prioritizing organic growth. That can translate to a higher valuation, which unlocks financing flexibility, enabling more growth - a feedback loop that you’re not a part of.
Internet marketing
The internet was leveraged by a riskier part of the industry, making it unsuitable for larger companies.
Historically, the internet has been used out of necessity. Small issuers with no broker coverage had no way to reach investors, so an ecosystem was built to facilitate this activity. While useful for micro and nano-cap companies, the industry isn’t suited for small and mid-cap companies for a number of reasons:
Limited distribution: What can move the needle for thinly traded micro-caps isn’t enough for larger companies. On top of the absolute level of distribution not cutting it, the investor risk-profile is misaligned. You’re looking for quality long-term shareholders, not short-term speculative investors.
Reputational risk: Because the industry was built around speculative issuers it’s riddled with promotional material, company blow-ups, and fraudulent activity. There is real reputational risk in being associated with most existing options.
Lack of transparency: There’s limited information available to help you think about pricing and performance correctly, making it difficult to move forward with an investment in digital marketing.
There’s no incentive for these service providers to move upmarket, given their current business activity requires minimal overhead and is extremely profitable.
Let’s work together
If you’re stuck in the middle, we should talk.
I’ve spent the better part of a decade exploring the industry from both the sell-side and the digital side. At Bullpen, we combine the good parts of institutional research…
High quality coverage
Professional readership
Strong distribution
… and the good parts of internet marketing…
Scalable
Measurable
Cost effective
… to help credible Canadian companies attract long-term shareholders.
We look forward to working for you,
Eli Rodney
Founding Partner
Trusted by high quality Canadian companies:
Let’s work together
If you’re stuck in the middle, we should talk.
I’ve spent the better part of a decade exploring the industry from both the sell-side and the digital side. At Bullpen, we combine the good parts of institutional research…
High quality coverage
Professional readership
Strong distribution
… and the good parts of internet marketing…
Scalable
Measurable
Cost effective
… to help credible Canadian companies attract long-term shareholders.
We look forward to working for you,
Eli Rodney
Founding Partner
Trusted by high quality Canadian companies: