Brent Beshore, founder and CEO of Adventur.es, specializes in acquiring small family-owned businesses. He discusses his unique investment strategy focused on long-term relationships and community impact. Brent shares insights from his new book on navigating the sale of businesses, offering guidance to sellers. He reflects on his journey from early entrepreneurial challenges to raising capital and building strong partnerships. Additionally, he emphasizes the importance of networking and integrity in both business and personal relationships.
Brent Beshore emphasizes a long-term investment strategy by acquiring family-owned businesses without imposing heavy debt, enabling sustainable growth.
His unique approach to sourcing deals focuses on building relationships and credibility, prioritizing leadership continuity over mere financial gains.
In his new book, 'The Messy Marketplace', Beshore offers insights into the emotional and practical aspects of selling a business.
Deep dives
Brent Beshore's Investment Philosophy
Brent Beshore focuses on acquiring and holding small, family-owned businesses indefinitely, emphasizing a long-term investment strategy. His approach diverges from traditional private equity by avoiding heavy debt burdens and seeking to maintain existing leadership teams. He values emotional connections and integrity in business dealings, aiming to create win-win scenarios for both sellers and buyers. Beshore believes in allowing businesses to operate without added pressure from debt, enabling sustainable growth without disruptions.
Learning Through Early Experiences
Beshore's early entrepreneurial endeavors, including a challenging event marketing company, taught him valuable lessons about business models and their sustainability. These experiences shaped his understanding of what constitutes a viable business, emphasizing the importance of recognizing when a venture is not working. His journey illustrates the concept of adapting and evolving based on valuable lessons learned from failures. This foundation set the stage for his subsequent focus on acquiring businesses with strong models and growth potential.
Sourcing and Evaluating Deals
Beshore describes a unique approach to sourcing deals that contrasts with traditional cold-calling methods, focusing instead on building relationships and credibility in the market. He aims to attract sellers who prioritize a smooth transition and leadership continuity rather than merely seeking the highest price. His investment criteria emphasize evaluating not just financials, but also the strength and stability of existing leadership teams. This hands-on approach to due diligence allows him to uncover valuable insights that differentiate potential deals.
The Messy Marketplace
Beshore's new book, titled 'The Messy Marketplace', serves as a guide for business owners contemplating selling their companies. The book distills his experiences and lessons into a resource that addresses both practical and emotional aspects of the selling process. By framing it as a conversation, he aims to help sellers understand the complexities involved in transitioning ownership while fostering long-term relationships. It demonstrates his commitment to empowering sellers with knowledge to navigate their business transitions effectively.
Structured Capital for Opportunity Fulfillment
Beshore recently raised external capital to enhance his firm’s ability to capitalize on investment opportunities as the demand for their services grows. His decision to implement a permanent capital vehicle reflects a desire for flexibility without the pressure of immediate returns, allowing for a focus on long-term growth. This fund structure aims to align investor incentives with the goal of building value over time, contrasting with traditional management fee models. By prioritizing significant investor relationships, he seeks to foster a collaborative environment for shared goals and values.
Brent Beshore is the founder and CEO of Adventur.es, an investment firm that buys small family-owned businesses with the intention of holding them indefinitely. After launching a few businesses out of college, Brent developed a distinct investment strategy and style. Earlier this year, he raised outside capital for the first time in a permanent capital vehicle, and I am a happy investor in the fund.
Brent regularly shares his insights on business and investing through his widely distributed letters on his website and commentary on Twitter. And just last week, he released his first book, The Messy Marketplace: Selling Your Business in a World of Imperfect Buyers. It’s a fantastic instructional guide that covers everything from emotional expectations to the fine print in documentation.
Our conversation covers Brent’s childhood interest in business, early mistakes, structural differences in his strategy from traditional private equity, search funds and fundless sponsors, sourcing deals, conducting due diligence, understanding valuation, negotiating, raising a first-time permanent capital vehicle, entering the ranks of professionals, and his new book.
Brent is unusually insightful about investing in general and deeply knowledgeable about the niche he occupies.