Cal Parker, Vice President, Sales & Strategy, BizEquity

Cal Parker, vice president of sales and strategy at BizEquity, sat down with Invest: to discuss the firm’s new Exit Valuation Module, and how the transition of wealth is providing opportunities for advisors in the industry. “We help to provide business owners with insight into how they can achieve their goals and how many years it may take,” Parker said. 

How have recent industry changes shaped the company? 

In the industry in general, we have seen an increased focus on working directly with the business owner. This is largely due to the great wealth transition, and anyone who stays in touch with the wealth management industry is quite familiar with that. Roughly $16 trillion in assets is set to change hands, transferred from business owners to those in their families or to third-party buyers. Advisors, wealth managers, and accountants are using our platforms to value clients’ most significant asset, which is their business, while also providing better financial and holistic planning for the future of these business owners. This helps these owners, who are the backbone of the U.S. economy, grow before their exit. We have many updates coming and this new exit valuation feature is just the beginning. This feature allows a business owner to see where they are today and where they would like to be. 

How has your partnership with Biz2Credit created new opportunities in financing? 

Our Biz2Credit initiative is entering phase two. This will give any advisor or any BizEquity user the ability to access different financing opportunities, whether those are needed for an add-on to grow, or a quick injection of capital needed for payroll. Now, advisors are able to immediately access those opportunities within the BizEquity platform. We will start to see that come to fruition in the next few months when we release that to our entire user base. 

How has your integration with QuickBooks Online improved advisor workflows, particularly for firms serving Pittsburgh’s small- and midmarket companies? For any small, midmarket, or large enterprises, it provides a real opportunity to work with other centers of influence. Not only can an advisor delegate the BizEquity link to the business owners so they can log into their QuickBooks, but they can now delegate it to a CFO or accountant that may work for a different firm. It allows the advisor to be the quarterback in the process and makes the client experience much more smooth. Valuation used to take two weeks, but now we can do it at the snap of a finger. We will start to see that being a real focus as AI continues to evolve. 

What impact have you observed among your clients or within the industry from tariffs? 

Industrywise, there has been some uncertainty with tariffs. We just released a document covering their impact on business valuation. Some of these costs may hurt a business’ valuation in the short term and some of that hurt may be passed to the consumer. We expect this impact being very short term, based on some of the trends and different transactions that we have seen. We think that even with the tariffs there is a tremendous opportunity for any kind of advisor in the business-owner landscape. 

As you look ahead to the next 12 months, what are your top strategic priorities for  BizEquity?  

We are really excited about what the future holds and to work with more banks and  wealth management firms across the country. Delivering more advice to business  owners is a big priority for us, and we have some exciting announcements in the next  few months. We are looking to make it easier and quicker for an advisor to provide  business valuation and financial planning insights.  

Looking at Pittsburgh, it is similar to Philadelphia in that small businesses make up a  large part of the economy. Only about 30% of businesses actually have an advisor, so a  lot of these businesses are unprepared for what their future holds. Making sure that  advisors and accountants are working with these business owners to provide advice  and capital at the snap of a finger can have a huge impact on small businesses that  otherwise wouldn’t know what to do.