Brent Beshore - Contrarian Private Equity Investing - EP.20

Today on The Alternative Investor we have our first guest on the
show: Brent Beshore! Brent is the CEO and founder of Adventur.es
— a private equity firm in Columbia, Missouri. Adventur.es has a
unique investment approach: they seek boring businesses. They
explain this perfectly themselves: 


“Boring businesses endure because they consistently solve a
meaningful problem and were patiently built over decades,” “Truth
be told, our responsibility is not just to seek and sustain
boring businesses, but to be boring ourselves. Boring is
reliable, faithful, and predictable. Boring is sustainable. We
are committed to doing what we say we would, when we said we’d do
it.”


This episode, Brent, Brad, and I discuss the workings of Brent’s
firm, how they go about securing deals, their due diligence
process, what deals they look for, and how he deals with a
variety of situations within the firm. He also gives his views on
growth, what industries he won’t touch, and what he thinks about
current asset pricing.


Adventur.es has some pretty contrary views and approaches to
traditional private equity firms so it was an extremely
interesting interview that we recommend you all tune in to this
week!


Key Takeaways:


[:10] Our guest, Brent Beshore, introduces himself and tells us a
little about his background and how he got to where he is today.


[2:28] How Brent started up his private equity firm, Adventur.es,
and what they’re all about.


[8:09] About the makeup of Aventur.es’ portfolio: what kind of
companies they currently have, what they like, and what they’re
looking for.


[11:05] How did Adventur.es get comfortable with some of the more
cyclical deals (especially with the pool companies).


[14:14] Does Brent believe that volatility does not equate to
risk?


[17:11] How do they have the liberty with their fund where they
can hold a deal indefinitely?


[18:58] Are they reinvesting dividends each year?


[19:55] Do they have discretion?


[20:16] Does Brent find that the sellers they buy deals from
generally involve competitive bidding?


[24:40] How Brent keeps a sense of urgency in their operation
(without the pressure of the 3-5 year time frame a traditional
private equity firm generally has with businesses).


[27:37] In most cases, is Brent dealing with the CEO who’s
selling the business with a management team stepping up or is he
hiring other operators to come in?


[29:21] When the owner is not staying around, and a new
management team is stepping up how does Brent keep those people
incentivized?


[31:05] Brent’s process of finding deals.


[34:30] If a broker sent Brent a deal he would normally want to
buy, but it’s part of a bigger process with multiple firms
bidding on it, does he step out?


[37:52] Brent gives us a back-of-the-envelope approach to how he
thinks about what is an attractive business for Adventur.es.


[42:31] How Brent thinks about due diligence and the major things
that kill a deal.


[46:53] In their due diligence process, how much time is spent
within the company internally and how much is spent thinking
about the market and external factors?


[50:31] About Brent’s meeting with Warren Buffett.


[52:04] What kind of multiples is Brent seeing in business right
now? And how does he think about what’s the best multiple to
pick?


[55:11] How much is too much customer concentration?


[57:05] How much does Brent care about growth? 


[58:24] Are there any industries Brent wouldn’t touch?


[59:48] How does Brent think about current asset pricing?


[1:03:22] Where to find more of Brent’s content and Adventur.es
online.


Mentioned in this Episode:


Adventur.es


Brent Beshore’s LinkedIn


The Oracle of Omaha


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