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Mark Mills OBE started Cardpoint plc from scratch in 2000. Two years later it floated on AIM at a £7 million valuation. By 2006 it was turning over £100 million a year on £19.8 million of EBITDA, and he exited in 2007 at £175 million.
He now sells other people's businesses. One owner was told his company was worth £3 million. Mark sold it for just over £10 million. Nothing changed in the accounts — what changed was who the business was presented to, and why they needed it.
In this episode:
- Why bids from strategic buyers don't resemble a multiple of EBITDA
- The £3m-to-£10m sale, and the buyer maths that produced it
- Rule one of any business model: recurring income — learned from a payphone business that died in the 1991 recession
- How Mark and his CFO reverse-engineered £100m of revenue onto a sheet of paper, then landed within 2%
- Why "in three years" is a useless target and "by 31 August 2029" is not
- Solving a working capital problem by finding a bank with too much physical cash
- The one metric he never ignores when assessing a company for sale
- FARM — why people work for Fun, Achievement, Recognition, then Money, in that order
- Selling to strangers, and why referrals cannot scale a business
- What AI actually changes about client acquisition and KPI monitoring
- Realistic exit timelines: 12 to 30 months, not six
Mark's book is Making Your Mark: How I Built a Fortune From £1.50 — and You Can Too.
He offered listeners a free signed copy — email him at mark@mark.co.uk with your address and he'll send one out.
More from Mark: www.mark.co.uk · linkedin.com/in/markrichardmills
Hosted by Ademola Odewade — chartered accountant, author of Human-Led, AI-Powered Finance (foreword by Professor Dave Ulrich), and Founder of K-Dems Consulting.
The King Dems Podcast. Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights. Ranked in the global top 2% of podcasts.
Diary of a CFO. Finance leadership, unfiltered. Ranked in the global top 2.5% of podcasts.This description contains paid links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
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