I chatted with an entrepreneur in the medical field who has built a business doing seven figures in annual revenue. He built the company from the ground up over the last decade and was recently approached by a private equity firm about acquiring his business.

He wasn’t looking to sell but decided to go through the process of having the private equity firm evaluate his business. In the end, the firm gave him a thorough analysis of his company and an offer to buy the entire company. He would have had to stay on, with a high salary, to continue running the company.

The founder did his own analysis and declined the offer. His business is generating a material annual free-cash flow. He concluded he’d rather own the business for the long haul than sell for a lump sum today because he’s built an asset that’s giving him an above-average return that probably will improve over time. He’d rather own a cash-flowing asset he controls with potential for increasing returns than take a lump sum and find other assets to invest in that will likely pay a lower return.

I enjoyed talking to this founder and hearing his thought process. I like the way he views his company as a cash-flowing asset and how he factored returns of his two options into his decision-making.