Business Valuation Center was co-founded in 1999 by business valuation expert Ron Everett. For twenty-two years the company has built a world-class reputation in the technology industry and its community of advisors and investors.
As the exclusive valuation adviser to SBA’s Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) private equity and venture capital program for many years, Business Valuation Center actually authored the valuation guidelines adopted by the US government. The SBIC is the largest fund of private equity funds in the world, with over $24 billion under management in 400 funds with over 4,500 individual investments in portfolio companies.
With regional offices regularly opening around the United States, BVC is rapidly developing a nationwide network of highly-experienced valuation experts and appraisers.
However, the story of BVC wouldn’t be complete without telling the story of founding partner Ron Everett. It was his quest to begin a valuation company in 1986 which eventually grew into what BVC is today.
Originally an accountant, in 1986 Ron was the CFO of a software company in Boston. He was making good money in a fast-growing industry, had been promoted several times and had finally reached the top financial position in his company…but it wasn’t enough. He was bored with the monthly grind of producing financial statements and knew in his heart that the income and balance sheet did not reflect economic reality. Sure, the financials were accurate according to the financial rules (generally accepted accounting principles) but everyone knew that this assessment of the company did not reflect the company’s true worth in the marketplace.
It was amid these frustrating circumstances that Ron received a fateful call from an attorney friend whose client was in the process of making an offer to buy a chain of White Hen Pantry Convenience stores. He told Ron that his client had no idea what the “real value” was and wanted some help in coming up with a reasonable offer.
This was Ron’s first valuation client. He resigned from his CFO position on the day he received his fee for “valuation consulting services” and was suddenly in the valuation business! His next client didn’t appear for three months, which seemed like an eternity, considering his wife was pregnant with their first child and about to deliver at any moment… plus they were selling their house. Shortly afterward, the firm started to grow quickly, which was the beginning of a string of successful valuation practices, all built from scratch.
When Arthur Young decided to get into the valuation business in New England, Ron’s company was selected to join Arthur Young as its valuation services group for the New England region. In 1989, Arthur Young merged with Ernst & Whinney to create the world’s third largest public accounting firm and Ron’s practice grew and continued to flourish after the merger.
In 1992, Ron left Ernst & Young to form a valuation and mergers and acquisitions advisory firm called Technology Venture International in order to focus on the high-growth industry sector. After four years, this firm became a part of Valuation Counselors, one of the largest valuation firms in the US. Ron became a partner at Valuation Counselors and VP in charge of its technology practice. Valuation Counselors was acquired by Century Business Services in 1997, a publicly-traded company now known as CBIZ, the tenth-largest CPA firm in the United States. Ron cashed out and resigned from CBIZ in 1999 to re-form his original company and changed the name from Business Valuation Group to Business Valuation Center.
It was in 2005 that BVC started its five-year contract as the exclusive valuation adviser for the SBIC private equity and venture capital program. As the SBA’s advisor, BVC was asked to author the valuation guidelines and related regulations which were adopted by the United States government. These are now used to regulate those funds and the valuation of their portfolio companies, meaning BVC didn’t just set the industry standard, it authored them.
