Employee Spotlight: Edison Chan, Valuation Analyst at Eqvista

Hello everyone, on this edition of our employee spotlight series we’ve Edison Chan who joined our team a couple of months back. He is currently working as a valuation analyst, helping clients conduct financial analysis, perform valuations and manage the equity for their company.

Hello Edison, it’s great to have you on our employee spotlight series. Congratulations on your new role. Could you please share a brief about yourself?

Hello, thanks again for letting me join the team, it is my pleasure to join Eqvista. I just graduated from a university in Hong Kong and I’m now working as a valuation analyst in Eqvista. During my study, I learnt various skills and theories in both finance and statistics. Now I am helping Eqvista perform valuation and financial analysis for different private companies.

Could you please share your journey to Eqvista? 

I was looking to apply for different positions related to finance and statistics, and one day I found the valuation analyst position on LinkedIn. I thought that it will be very interesting and challenging to become a vaIuation analyst and perform valuation for private companies with Eqvista, so I applied for this position, and I think this is the starting point of my journey. 

What is your role/responsibilities at Eqvista? If possible, can you take us through a day in your life at Eqvista?

Everyday at Eqvista is really challenging and fulfilling. I mainly help to perform financial and valuation analysis for private companies by using various valuation models, investigating industry comparable data and forecasting for a company’s future performance. I also do research about different industries and perform waterfall analysis to estimate the value of different assets of the firms. After completing the valuation, I draft the valuation.

What is the best thing about working at Eqvista?

I think the best thing is that our team is professional and people here are all very nice. I can always seek other people’s help if I face any problems with valuation. Also, I like the efficiency and the fast-paced nature of the job at Eqvista.

What has been your most challenging aspect of work?

I think the most challenging part for me is how to adjust client’s data accurately and how to take the most suitable method to perform valuation. Real life situations are always more complicated than the valuation theory itself, so sometimes it is really difficult to apply the theory in practice, especially when choosing the multiples to apply into the model.

Tell us more about valuation, especially 409a valuation and why it is important for a business? 

Valuation is very important for business, it can help the owner to understand the value of a business. 409A valuation is used to compute the fair market value of a firm. It is conducted by a third party valuation service provider like Eqvista, and 409A valuation allows firms to follow all the tax laws and avoid IRS audits, which may cause legal troubles, tax issues and even interfere in the firm’s functions in case some problems arise.

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in joining the Eqvista team? 

They should be analytical and willing to take different challenges and learn new things.

Thank you so much for your valuable time. We wish you all the success for your career at Eqvista. 

You are welcome! And, I’m very excited and eagerly waiting to explore more interesting opportunities with our team.