#21: Brent Beshore - Investing in 'Boring' Small Businesses

Brent Beshore is the Founder and CEO of adventur.es, a company investing in family-owned businesses. Brent is also the author of The Messy Marketplace: Selling Your Business in a World of Imperfect Buyers. They discuss the history of the company, doing deals, mentorship and tons more, enjoy!  For more information on Chris Powers and Fort Capital, visit www.fortcapitallp.com Follow Chris on twitter! @fortworthchris Connect with The FORT by emailing us at thefortpodcast@gmail.com  2:10 - How did you start this business? 2:55 - What are the benefits of running your company out of Columbia, MO vs. a major market? 5:13- What are the common characteristics of companies that you acquire? 9:27 - When talking with these founders, what is the relationship like in terms of selling them later on?  14:10 - Do you find that as you grow, you see the people that come to you are more aligned with what you are looking for?  16:28 - is your traffic inbound or are you doing outbound marketing? 18:07 - How has “The messy Marketplace” been recieved, and has it led to more growth for Adventures? 20:02- The experience of writing a book 21:58- What are some of the questions you love to ask potential businesses early on? 27:10 - What is your role in getting a deal done? 28:35 - How do you learn about buying a business and keeping everyone on board motivated to keep running it the same way? 30:50 - Once you buy a business, how is it determined how long current management will stay on? 32:16 - How do you define the “line” of we are here for you but you are your own company and need to run it? 34:57 - Have you ever recalled a time where the company was caught in conflict and how are those conflicts resolved? 37:05 - What are common tools that you use to work on with companies?  41:44 - Is there a common thing that small businesses arent doing well in marketing that can be easily fixed? 44:26- What does Google Analytics do for a business 47:02 - Owner Earnings vs. EBITDA 53:40- How do you determine what a ‘boring business’ is, and what industries are you interested in these days? 58:05 - When you start redistributing to investors, does it ever come off as a sign of weakness? 1:01:36 - How much time do you spend reading? 1:02:50 - How important is your morning routine to you? 1:03:58 - Do you have a favorite book 1:04:25 - What is something you believe that few people believe?  1:07:49 - What advice would you give your 21-year old self? 1:08:45 - Do you have a mentor(s)?