As we reflect on 2018, Cosmo DeNicola Companies’ portfolio company, BizEquity, has a lot to be thankful for and are equally as excited for what is in store in 2019.
BizEquity is in a relentless pursuit of their mission to democratize business valuation knowledge for the business owner. They couldn't do it however, without their clients and partners. The financial advisors, bankers, accountants, insurance agents and M&A advisors that subscribe to their platform help BizEquity fulfill that mission every day.

Today, when BizEquity is introduced to executives at top financial services firms all over, they often hear "what great timing as business owners represent the biggest opportunity for advisors the next decade with the $12 trillion-dollar wealth transfer that will be seen.” While that fills them with excitement, founder and CEO Mike Carter can't help but note that maybe it wasn't great timing 7 years ago when the idea was born, but today they are very pleased to have been early and to be the global market leader in this new bourgeoning space.

For as long as we can remember, there have been great data and resources available to the 1% of businesses that are either public, private equity or venture funded. However, 99% of businesses - the tax efficient SMBs that we all know and love - are under-served.

Financial services leaders tell BizEquity that their timing is "right" because they are seeing a transition happening. Not just the transition of $7 Trillion of business value (CNBC) that will change hands in the next decade, but the transition of attention. More and more attention is being paid to the 99% of businesses that fuel our economy because, as Mike Carter says, they are the "belly of the beast" for financial services.

They’ve long been confused as to how anyone that serves the business owner could ever provide proper advice, product, or services without an understanding of what that business is worth. Yet, only 2% of businesses (IBIS world study) value themselves in a given year. When you look at the traditional approach to business valuation, it becomes apparent that it wasn't built with the business owner in mind. It's expensive. It's offline. It's slow. It's highly intrusive.

As they look back at their user growth in 2018, and the success that their users have using their platform as the on ramp to their discussions with the business owner, they’ve never felt better about the good we are doing. Not just for their clients, but for the business owners they serve. As Mike says, when they talk to advisors about using their services to prospect and engage with business owners “we aren’t selling, we are helping.”