A recent article in The New York Times, “Do You Know What Your Business Is Worth? You Should,” says the majority of small business owners delay determining the value of their enterprise until a sale is imminent—something most business appraisers are painfully aware of in their own practices.

Only recently, however, have some owners started “to treat the act of valuing their business as an integral part of running it,” the article adds. That’s good for business appraisers to hear, coming from so venerable a source. But then the NYT highlights Bode Tree, a startup that created cloud software for valuing small businesses. (According to its website, the company offers “an alternative to overcomplicated and overpriced software and services currently available.”)

The article also quotes a business broker who believes “there’s still something to be said for having a real person trained at valuations come in and get to know your business before running the numbers,” adding: “There’s an art to doing a valuation.” Has the article cleared or clouded the BV process for small business owners? Email your thoughts to the BVWire editor.