One of the reasons we enjoy valuing businesses is the opportunity to see ‘behind the scenes’ of many different businesses operating across a variety of industries – including companies whose products or services we use. The history behind the conception and growth of the company are often interesting and entertaining. We find that most business owners are happy to walk down memory lane to answer questions such as ‘how did you get into this industry’ or ‘tell me about the history of your company’.

In our own walk down memory lane, we realized that we have not only valued many businesses in industries you might expect – construction, manufacturing, retail, agribusiness, etc. but we’ve had the opportunity to value some very unique businesses. One of our more unusual valuations was to determine the value of a currency used in a commercial barter trade network – members ‘sold’ products or services in exchange for trade credits to be used to purchase products or services from other members. Another interesting valuation was the determination of the value of a sports franchise – quantifying the ‘prestige factor’ that motivates a prospective buyer to purchase a sports team was a challenge. We also have had an opportunity to value companies developing intellectual property – there are truly innovative ideas being developed that hopefully will gain some traction and may one day change how we do things.

The variety of companies and stories in our line of work definitely keeps life around here from being boring.