Most business owners know roughly what their equipment, inventory, vehicles, and cash are worth, but some of their most valuable property may be practically invisible. Intangible assets—including a brand name, customer relationships, proprietary processes, software, digital content, and intellectual property—can sometimes represent a surprisingly large portion of a company’s value. In fact, Ocean Tomo’s 2025 Intangible Asset Market Value Study estimates that intangible assets represented approximately 92% of S&P 500 market capitalization at the end of 2025, compared with just 17% in 1975.
That does not mean every neighborhood business has a million-dollar trademark, but it does show how dramatically business value has shifted away from things owners can physically touch. For some established small businesses, identifying and documenting these overlooked assets could potentially uncover six figures of previously unrecognized economic value.
