Welcome. I’m Eric Jordan, CPPA business valuator, business writer, and founder of www.pin.ca
Today, we unpack a seismic shift in business valuation that’s reshaping everything in 2025. This episode is called “Intangible Assets Revolutionize Business Valuation: Wisdom Trumps Knowledge.” You’re about to hear why traditional approaches no longer work and why wisdom not just accounting knowledge is the key to accurately valuing modern businesses.
Let’s start with a fact: 90% of the value of the S&P 500 in 2020 was intangible. That’s according to Ocean Tomo. Today, in 2025, that number holds or even grows. We’re talking about assets like artificial intelligence, user data, proprietary algorithms, brand equity, and platform synergy. Businesses aren’t just brick-and-mortar anymore they're ecosystems.
And yet, we still see Chartered Business Valuators clinging to the outdated trinity of market, asset, and income approaches. These methods were developed when tangible assets machinery, inventory, buildings drove most business value. That world no longer exists for tech firms, global brands, and AI companies where synergy can double or triple value overnight.
Let’s define the core divide. CBVs and accountants operate from knowledge rules, standards, and formulas. But real-world valuation today demands wisdom. That’s the intuitive, caution-driven insight earned from experience. Specifically, failure.
Venture capitalists understand this. And so do business owner-operator valuators trained in the “Eric Jordan 25 Factors Affecting Business Valuation” methodology. We require 10 years of business ownership because only failure teaches you what inflated projections, cooked books, and artificial goodwill really smell like.
Wisdom identifies, measures, and assigns dollar values to intangibles. It asks, “Does this synergy make sense?” “Will this algorithm scale?” “Is that brand sentiment real or manufactured?”
Many CBVs claim their work is bulletproof because it's rooted in court precedent—stare decisis. But the law evolves. Look at R v. Sullivan (2022) from the Supreme Court of Canada. The Court made clear: if precedent is outdated, unworkable, or based on flawed rationale, it can be rejected.
This applies to business valuation. A tech company valued at $50 million using a discounted cash flow approach might be rejected by the courts in favour of a $100 million figure based on synergies, technology advantages, or customer engagement—intangibles accurately identified by a Jordan-trained valuator.
CBVs lean heavily on financial statements. But what if those numbers lie? Enron, Wirecard, Luckin Coffee, and Theranos all manipulated data to inflate intangible asset value. Accountants were fooled. Why? Because they lacked the pain-hardened skepticism that comes from actually running a business through chaos.
Meanwhile, business-owner valuators would’ve flagged the inconsistencies. We’ve seen real losses. We’ve endured real competition. We don’t just ask what the numbers say—we ask why they might be false.
Let’s bring in some modern proof:
All these companies would be grossly undervalued by traditional CBV methods—while our 25 Factors approach catches the full picture.
So what’s the lesson in 2025?
Intangible assets are the new gold. Traditional valuation methods are relics. Courts are adjusting. Investors are adjusting. It’s time for business valuation to catch up.
CBVs have knowledge. But valuators with hands-on experience and failure-forged caution have wisdom. And in a market ruled by synergies and intangibles, wisdom trumps knowledge every time.
If you’re buying, selling, or financing a business in today’s economy, make sure you’re using a methodology built for 2025 not 1985.
This is Eric Jordan, CPPA. Learn more at www.pin.ca
, and remember business valuation today is more than numbers. It’s intuition. It’s synergy. It’s experience.
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