Sell the Potential…or Realize It Yourself?

Brent Beshore never set out to be a private equity investor. He didn’t come from Wall Street, never took a finance class, and once had to google the term “due diligence.” (He typed “do diligence.”) He was an operator building a marketing firm from scratch—until one day a founder offered to sell him their business. That deal closed in 2010 and became the seed of Permanent Equity, Beshore’s investment firm. 

Fifteen years later, Beshore has grown Permanent Equity into one of the most respected acquirers of privately held businesses in the U.S. But his approach is the opposite of traditional private equity. There’s no debt at close, no quick flip. Permanent Equity raises 30-year funds and often holds businesses indefinitely. They don’t slash teams to boost margins; they invest in people to grow value over time. 

At the heart of Beshore’s model is a simple truth: Most founders leave money on the table when they sell. 

Take the pool company he acquired in 2015. The website had no way for prospects to get in touch—no lead form, no call to action. With the seller’s blessing, Beshore’s team reworked the site. It generated 16 qualified leads on day one. Over the next few years, the company doubled. 

That’s the kind of growth Beshore looks for—plain to a professional investor but untouched by the founder. 

And this is where the real decision lies. 

If you’re a founder approaching your end game, you have two paths: 

1. Sell with some meat on the bone, leaving upside for the next owner. 

2. Think like an investor, make the upgrades yourself, and capture the value you’ve built. 

Neither is wrong. Selling now gives you certainty and liquidity. But if you still have energy and a runway, there’s a case for being what Beshore calls long-term greedy—delaying gratification, doing the work, and building a business that commands a premium. 

He tells founders all the time, “If you’re really convinced the business is about to triple, the dumbest thing you could do is sell it to me.” 

So ask yourself: Are you ready to sell the potential…or are you willing to realize it? 

If you’ve got gas in the tank, maybe it’s time to stop thinking like a seller—and start thinking like your own investor.