Chief Nothing Officer — the job title waiting on the other side of a signed deal

Life After the Exit: preparing founders for the purpose gap that follows a completed sale, and protecting decisions during the process

Mark Mills OBE has sold five businesses and knows the Tuesday morning that follows the wire transfer. He built Cardpoint from a £7 million AIM float to 6,500 cash machines and a £175 million valuation, then handed it over and found the diary empty. In his advisory work he now runs founders through the sale itself and the part nobody schedules, the months after, when the deal is banked and the person who ran the company for twenty years has nothing left to run. He is blunt about what he sees: owners who prepared the accounts to the decimal and prepared themselves not at all, then made poor calls mid-process while quietly grieving. Founders hear how to keep their judgement clean through the sale, and what to have lined up before the signature rather than after it.

About Mark Mills

Mark Mills, podcast guest

OBE Business Sale Advisor Helping UK Founders Maximise Exit Value

5 Businesses built & sold£175M Cardpoint exit valuation6,500 Cash machines in Cardpoint network£500M+ Monthly cash dispensed by Cardpoint network

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.

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Don’t BE for Sale: Mark Mills on Building Leverage and Maximizing Your Exit
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The Exit - Presented By Flippa· Listen to Mark Mills on air