Tom Lister, Co-Managing Partner of Permira

In this episode, Permira Co-Managing Partner Tom Lister discusses the three sectors he is focused on in the investing landscape, why he thinks it is important to sell ahead of an investment’s top performance, and why resilience is a key trait of great investors.

On lessons from his investing career: “We think it’s really important in this industry to sell ahead of the top of the performance. So monetizing at the absolute peak leaves lots of ill will on both sides. It’s totally fine in our industry to monetize something you’ve done a really good job with and leave opportunity and return and reward for the next owner, whether that be public shareholders or a corporation or another private equity owner, and it never bothers me when I see somebody and they say, ‘You know, we bought something from you, and it’s done incredibly well.’”

On what differentiates a great investor: “If you look at our most successful investors and those who’ve had the best track record, they typically are resilient… So when they come with an idea and they get pushed back either from another partner or from the investment committee, they don’t disappear. They don’t climb back into their shell and give up, but they keep pushing. They come back with a different alternative to the problem that they face.”