CEO Says Trade Secrets Are Undervalued, Underinsured Assets
Mary Guzman of Crown Jewel Insurance argues firms ignore proprietary know-how, leaving core business assets exposed and underutilized.
Many companies invest heavily in patents and trademarks while leaving their most operationally critical assets — trade secrets and proprietary processes — without formal valuation or insurance coverage, according to Mary Guzman, Founder and CEO of Crown Jewel Insurance.
Guzman, appearing on the podcast Disruption Interruption, made the case that the "how" behind a company's innovation often drives more day-to-day competitive advantage than registered intellectual property, yet firms rarely assign a defensible monetary value to that knowledge. Without such a valuation, she argued, businesses are exposed on multiple fronts.
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The consequences of that gap extend well beyond liability. Guzman outlined how an unvalued trade secret cannot be effectively leveraged in financing discussions, may be underrepresented on a balance sheet, and can suppress overall enterprise value during mergers, acquisitions, or investment rounds. In her view, quantifying proprietary know-how is not merely a risk-management exercise but a strategic financial one.
The Tampa Bay-based executive positioned Crown Jewel Insurance as addressing a blind spot in the broader insurance and asset-protection market — one that has grown more consequential as knowledge-driven businesses become a larger share of the economy. Guzman's argument centers on the idea that intangible operational assets deserve the same structured protection framework long applied to physical or registered intellectual property.
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