Most business owners can pull up their 401(k) balance on their phone, but 98 out of 100 can’t tell you what their business is worth. In this first episode of the relaunched series, BizEquity’s Kevin Saad sits down with exit planning veteran Mark Dorman to talk about why that gap exists and how advisors can close it.

Mark is President and Managing Director of Succession Plus USA, a Certified Exit Planner and family business specialist, and a 35+ year industry veteran who has counseled more than 100 privately held businesses. He is also the author of numerous e-books on exit planning and host of his own podcast, Finish Big.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• Why starting with valuation is the fastest way to earn a business owner’s trust
• How Mark reframes the conversation: “Why are we only talking about your $600K IRA when your business is worth $6.5M?”
• Why 35–40% of a typical business’s value goes unrealized, and how to find the “leaks”
• Why the $3M–$20M “black hole” is a huge opportunity, since owners there often have no real advisory team
• How Succession Plus has documented an average 35% value increase over 36 months, and how the retainer-and-revaluation model makes the ROI easy to see
• Why the real drivers of exit planning are often family, legacy, employees, and community, not just money
• The “aha moment” owners have when they see their number for the first time
• A first look at BizEquity’s new Private Company Index (PCI), built with American City Business Journals to give a real-time pulse on private company valuations

If you serve small and mid-sized business owners as an advisor, CPA, attorney, or exit planner, this episode is a practical playbook for starting the conversation and keeping it going for years.

Connect with Mark Dorman

• Succession Plus USA
• Mark Dorman on LinkedIn

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Meet Mark Dorman

01:52 From College Golf to Business Insurance: Mark’s Origin Story

03:43 Finding Exit Planning and Meeting BizEquity

05:09 Succession Plus and Using Multiple Valuation Tools

06:52 “What’s Your Business Worth?” The Owner Challenge

10:25 Your $600K IRA vs. Your $6.5M Business

13:04 Business Owners Are the Heroes of the American Economy

14:48 Valuation Acceleration: Closing the Value Gap

17:04 The Advisory “Black Hole” Between $3M and $20M

19:46 Why Lower Middle Market Owners Are Great Clients

21:59 The Emotional Side of Exit Planning

25:23 The “Aha Moment”: Seeing the Number for the First Time

28:19 Growing Value 35% in 36 Months

30:39 BizEquity’s New Private Company Index

32:35 Wrap-Up and Golf Talk