By Winston Tumanggor
For global companies preparing for a U.S. IPO, familiarity is often overlooked as a driver of investor confidence. Fundraising conversations naturally focus on revenue growth, market opportunity, product differentiation, and expansion. But beyond evaluating growth, investors are also asking a simpler question: Do they understand the company well enough to believe in it?
The issue becomes even more important for companies entering the U.S. market from abroad. That number, according to EY, is larger than ever: In the first half of 2025, 93% of global cross-border IPOs resulted in a U.S. listing, up from 30% in 2016. From a communications perspective, that means firms are competing for the same pool of investor attention.
The challenge can become even greater for companies without an existing U.S. operational footprint. Companies that already sell products, maintain offices, or operate visibly in the U.S. market typically begin with at least some level of familiarity among investors, customers, or media. Companies entering the market without that presence often must build recognition almost from scratch.
That is where many global companies discover that strong fundamentals do not automatically translate into market familiarity. A company may be highly successful in its home market, but still relatively unknown to U.S. investors, analysts, and the media. U.S. investors need more than financial performance; they need a clear narrative that explains why the company matters, how it competes, and why its success abroad should translate into long-term value in U.S. capital markets.
For many international firms, communications transform operational success into investor confidence.
Build Trust Over Time
The fundraising process should not be the market’s first introduction to the company.
One of the most common mistakes global companies make is waiting until fundraising begins to focus seriously on visibility, positioning, and messaging. By then, the company is often trying to compress months of trust-building into a very limited timeframe.
The companies that navigate this most effectively begin much earlier in the IPO process, as explained in one of our previous newsletters, “Core Communications Elements for Your IPO”. They invest time in shaping a clear U.S.-market narrative, building familiarity through media and digital channels, and creating consistency around how the business presents itself publicly.
That process should be deliberate and sustained. Quarterly media tours, for example, are critical to helping companies gradually educate the media marketplace, establish relationships with journalists, and create familiarity well ahead of a potential listing. The goal is not simply generating headlines. It is building long-term recognition and credibility over time.
That does not necessarily mean pursuing aggressive publicity. In many situations, it simply means becoming more deliberate about how the company communicates. Is the business model easy to understand? Does the company clearly articulate why it matters? Does leadership appear visible and credible? Is the messaging consistent across platforms?
In U.S. capital markets, those perceptions often shape credibility long before formal investor meetings begin.
Translation Matters
Another challenge is that global companies often communicate in ways that make sense domestically, but those same messages do not always translate in the U.S. market. Messaging can become overly technical. Executive visibility may be limited. English-language communications may feel inconsistent.
For example, executive visibility carries particular importance in the U.S. media environment. Journalists often expect to speak directly with the CEO or senior leadership team to obtain insight, perspective, or commentary. In some off-shore markets, executives more commonly delegate media engagement to communications teams or other employees. But in the U.S., that can weaken media relationships and slow broader credibility-building in the market.
Non-U.S. companies must be prepared to intellectually step outside their domestic environment, shed certain assumptions and recognize that some approaches working at home may require a rethinkand reframing for a U.S. audience encountering the company for the first time.
Strengthen Digital Visibility
A company’s digital presence plays a critical role in building that familiarity. Increasingly, the first interaction investors or the media have with a company is a visit to a company’s website.
Social media also plays a larger role than many global companies initially expect. In particular, LinkedIn has increasingly become an important platform for shaping visibility with investors, analysts, media, and broader financial audiences. A targeted paid LinkedIn strategy can help amplify executive thought leadership, company milestones, and industry commentary directly to relevant investment communities.
Digital channels may also be transformed from simple marketing devices to credibility-building tools that help shape perception before formal investor conversations even begin. A website designed primarily for customers (rather than investors) can create perception gaps during a company’s first introduction to the market. To eliminate the potential for misunderstanding, companies should invest early in a website featuring thoughtful English-language communications, a prominent leadership team, and messaging that is mirrored across owned channels. It is also important to pair a solid social media strategy with a deliberate approach to thought leadership and an investor-facing section of the corporate website where executive commentary, media coverage, and company developments can be curated over time.
Make the Company Easy to Understand
The companies that resonate most effectively in the U.S. market are not always the loudest, but the ones that make it easiest for investors to quickly understand who they are, how they matter, and why they are credible. That clarity rarely happens by accident. It requires a communications strategy built specifically for a U.S. investor audience — one that anticipates unfamiliarity, bridges cultural divide, provides market context, and translates success into terms U.S. investors immediately recognize and trust.
For global companies pursuing a U.S. IPO, strategic communications should therefore be viewed as part of the listing process itself, not an optional marketing exercise. In a market defined by competition for attention and capital, even highly successful firms cannot assume their reputation will automatically travel across borders.
That preparation often benefits from experienced outside communications guidance across media strategy, messaging, executive visibility, and digital positioning. An external perspective can help companies assess how they are being perceived by U.S. investors, media, and broader market audiences before scrutiny intensifies. Retaining an outside consultant with strong media contacts also allows companies to qualitatively measure the success of their media tours and obtain specific recommendations for improving interactions with journalists on subsequent visits.
The companies best positioned to succeed are those that enter the market prepared to list and to be understood.