Ever catch yourself wondering, "What is my business worth—like, the real number, not the cocktail-party guess?"

If your business represents the majority of your net worth (and for most CEOs, it does), not knowing your true valuation is risky. You could be planning an exit, thinking about succession, considering a partnership change, or even just trying to make smarter growth decisions—but without a real valuation framework, you're basically relying on back-of-the-napkin math. In this episode, you'll get a clear, CEO-friendly breakdown of how valuations actually work and what drives value up (or quietly drags it down).

You'll walk away with:

• A practical understanding of the real valuation methods (market comps, public peer multiples, discounted cash flow, and when asset-based valuation applies) so you can stop guessing and start thinking like an investor.

• A sharper perspective on what increases or decreases your company's value—especially risk factors like customer concentration, shaky financials, key-person dependency, and unreliable forecasts.

• A clearer playbook for "valuation readiness" so you can improve value before a buyer, a partner, or the IRS forces the question.

Press play now and steal the same valuation lens buyers use—so you can protect your wealth, reduce risk, and increase what your business is worth before the next big decision hits.

Check out:

• 0:03:10 — The 3 main ways your business is valued (market comps, public peer multiples, and discounted cash flow—plus why valuation is forward-looking).

• 00:10:55 — How to value intangible assets like patents and trademarks (including the "relief from royalty" method that's surprisingly practical).

• 00:22:40 — The biggest value drivers you can actually control (clean financials, forecasting confidence, reducing key-person risk, and de-risking the business for buyers).

About Dave Bookbinder

Dave Bookbinder is a corporate finance executive with a focus on business and intangible asset valuation. Known as a collaborative consultant, Dave has served thousands of client companies of all sizes and industries.

Dave has conducted valuations of the securities and intangible assets of public and private companies for various purposes including acquisition, divestiture, financial reporting, stock-based compensation, fairness and solvency opinions, reorganizations, recapitalizations, estate planning, S-Corp. conversion, exit strategy, and succession planning.