MFG Valuation Specialists - About Us

MFG Valuation Specialists is led by our founder, Dr. Kipp Krukowski, ASA, CVA, who has over 20 years of helping entrepreneurs understand and create value. Dr. Krukowski is also a business professor at Colorado State University (CSU).

After earning his mechanical engineering degree in the late 90s, Dr. Krukowski started his career in manufacturing holding positions in global purchasing, quality assurance, and production control/logistics. He received six sigma training and focused on value creation strategies to improve efficiencies and eliminate waste within production, utilizing value stream mapping and participating in make vs. buy studies and total cost analyses.

After taking several entrepreneurship courses during his master’s program at Carnegie Mellon, he decided to explore the purchase of an existing company. However, going through this process helped him realize that the real opportunity was using his experience in operational improvements to assist business owners in the preparation of selling their companies. So, in 2003, he opened up a business brokerage firm. In addition to recommending value creation strategies to improve operations prior to placing companies on the market, he helped in areas of business valuation, negotiation, deal structuring, and due diligence.

The company expanded to offices in three industrial cities, and they completed over 100 successful transactions during his ownership. He earned the CBI credential from the International Business Brokers Association along with the CEPA credential from the Exit Planning Institute and was recognized by the Business Brokerage Press as an industry expert for selling manufacturing companies.

When the Global Financial Crisis hit, he looked for a service to add to the company’s offerings. The machinery and equipment service that he added exploded, and focus turned to its growth. A few years later, business valuations were added expanding the appraisal offerings. During this time, he received the ASA in Machinery & Technical Specialties credential from the American Society of Appraisers and CVA credential from the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts, and he provided expert witness testimony for million-dollar litigation cases related to valuation. In 2018, after client valuation projects reached the 1000s, an opportunity presented itself to harvest, so he sold his company turning focus to teaching and research. However, companies and individuals continued to reach out for valuation services and thus the decision was made to launch another company, MFG Valuation Specialists.

Professor Krukowski has been the recipient of several Outstanding Teaching Awards at CSU and has been an advisor to the College of Business Ethics Case Competition Team. His research focuses on entrepreneurial exits, small business valuation, and value creation and has been published in journals such as Business Horizons, Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Journal of Small Business Management, and The Value Examiner, among others. He completed his doctoral studies at Oklahoma State University, received his bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Youngstown State University, and MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.