Mark Mills

Mark Mills OBE is a business sale advisor who helps UK founders sell their businesses for maximum value.

He got into this work after spotting overlooked value as a child selling broken biscuits at school and then carrying that instinct into founding and exiting companies. The early biscuit story taught him to see what others ignore and to turn small advantages into commercial wins, a thread that runs through his approach to identifying hidden value in mature businesses. Over time that practicality led him from founding companies to deliberately learning from each exit and packaging those lessons into a repeatable system.

He has built and sold five businesses, most notably building and exiting Cardpoint at a £175 million valuation; Cardpoint floated on AIM at £7 million, grew to 6,500 cash machines and 300 employees, and dispensed over £500 million a month. Since 2007 he has worked as a Non-Executive Chairman and advisor applying his methods to other owners. In December 2024 he was awarded an OBE for services to Business and Charity and he holds the title of Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire.

Day-to-day he steps in as Non-Executive Chairman, works directly with founders to uncover hidden value, and manages the full sale process from preparation through to finding the right buyer. He runs a three-module system focused on getting the business model right, driving sales growth without burning cash, and running a disciplined sale process; he uses a codified 40-step process built from multiple exits. His typical clients are owners who have run businesses for decades and who are aiming to increase buyer interest and valuation ahead of a sale.

His central thesis is that the accountant values a business today but the real opportunity is what the business is worth to the right buyer at the right moment with the right story around it - that gap is where the real money gets made. He argues that model clarity, scalable sales, and competitive sale execution unlock outsized offers and that those elements can be deliberately engineered rather than left to luck. The 40-step process and three-module framework distill that argument into practical actions founders can follow.

As a podcast guest, Mark Mills OBE tells practical, story-driven exit case studies, explains the 40-step framework in tactical terms, and gives founders concrete actions to increase buyer interest and valuation. He brings vivid war stories from his exits, clear commercial examples of fee-and-upside arrangements, and step-by-step ideas audiences can apply to their own exits. Hosts can draw on his Cardpoint story, recent exit case studies, and the sales-led middle module to create actionable episodes for founder audiences.