Zillow is a great tool that lets a homeowner figure out the value of their house. But small business owners don’t have the similar service, making it hard to know how much to sell a business when the time comes. BizEquity offers a web site where small businesses of any kind can check the value of other businesses in a given territory.
You can, for instance, look up the value of pet stores in San Jose, Calif. The site comes up with a list of all of the pet stores in the area with a single assessment of the value of the business. When it comes time to sell a business, the small business owner has a better idea of what to hold out for.
With pet stores, for example, the first page lists stores ranging from $21,000 to $330,000 in value. I assume there are reasons for the wide range, but that does make me wonder about the site’s accuracy.
The company is based in Spring House, Pa., and is privately funded. It has built up a database with value estimates for more than 10 million of the 30 million small businesses in the U.S. Competitors include sites such as BizBuySell, BizComps.com, and Valuadder.com.
