Archives for July 2017

Spotlight: Of Investing, Bull Markets, and Smelling Trouble

Like clownfishes, while navigating their way towards home, lose the ability to sense vital smells in more acidic waters, investors lose their sense of smelling trouble during bull markets.

If you have kids, or even if you don’t, I am sure you must have watched Disney’s animated movie Finding Nemo. It tells the story of the overprotective clownfish named Marlin who, along with a regal blue tang named Dory, searches for his abducted son Nemo all the way to Sydney Harbour. Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and comes to terms with Nemo taking care of himself.

Marlin had big reasons to worry when Nemo was abducted. This is because clownfishes live their entire adult lives nestled in the protective arms of a single sea anemone (group of water-dwelling, predatory animals named after a terrestrial flower) on a coral reef.

Between birth and adulthood, however, the fishes have to complete a treacherous journey. After hatching, a larva – a tiny, partially formed version of an adult fish – swims out of the reef to the open sea to finish developing, presumably away from predators.

After maturing for 11 to 14 days, the young one is ready to swim back to the reef and select an anemone to call home. But as it swims close, it must cross a “wall of mouths” – all kinds of creatures that lurk around the reef ready to gobble up the tiny fishes.

To successfully navigate these dangerous waters a clownfish needs to recognize the smells of the predators and avoid their grasp.

Investor Insights: Brent Beshore

Note: This interview was originally published in the March 2017 issue of Value Investing Almanack. To read more such interviews and other deep thoughts on value investing, business analysis and behavioral finance, click here to subscribe to VIA.

Brent Beshore - Value Investing Almanack

Brent Beshore is the Founder and CEO of adventur.es, a family of North American companies that invests in family-owned companies with unfair advantages. For the past nine years, Brent’s firm has started, funded, bought, and operated organizations across a wide range of industries.

The companies adventur.es owns have recruited doctors for the U.S. military, provided online public relations to some of the world’s largest organizations, manufactured cutting-edge home solutions, created software products for small businesses, curated the latest in women’s fashion to sell on the internet, and even helped make a couple of blockbuster movies.

Brent founded adventur.es in 2007 with the goal of creating an organization that allowed him to do what he loved, in places he enjoys, with people he admires. Since then, adventur.es has made over 50 investments, and was ranked #28 on the 2011 Inc. 500. Brent reads a lot, writes occasionally, dabbles in wine-making, and was nominated for a VH1 Do Something Award for helping his hometown of Joplin, Mo. recover from the devastating tornado.

As you would have understood from Brent’s profile, he isn’t a typical public markets investor like the ones I usually profile in this series, but an owner of private businesses. The thoughts Brent has shared in this interview, however, are equally valuable for a public market investor, as you would realize as you read forward.

So, over to Brent!

Value Investor Interview: Brent Beshore

Note: This interview was originally published in the March 2017 issue of our premium newsletter – Value Investing Almanack (VIA). To read more such interviews and other deep thoughts on value investing, business analysis and behavioral finance, click here to subscribe to VIA.

So, over to Brent!