Closing that gap is what Mark Carmichael has spent his career doing.
Mark works exclusively with mid-market founders and family businesses worldwide who reject the standard exit playbook and instead create a real market for their business. Then turn it into leverage, terms, and price.
A lifelong serial entrepreneur long before becoming a globally recognised sell-side advisor, he has built and exited multiple companies himself. He understands the pressure, the uncertainty, and the weight of these decisions because he has lived them from the founder’s side of the table.
Behind him is a senior team that has worked alongside Mark for more than 15 years – one of the longest-standing deal teams in the mid-market. All Oxford-educated, deeply experienced, and deliberately down-to-earth, they combine rigorous financial discipline with a founder-first philosophy designed to challenge conventional advisory models and push for outcomes most processes never reach.
Most founders assume their advisor’s role is to maximise the outcome.
In reality, the traditional M&A model is built to maximise deal completion.
Advisors are typically paid when a transaction closes, not when it closes exceptionally well. That incentive shapes behaviour. Processes become predictable. Marketing materials interchangeable. Outreach familiar. The focus shifts from building leverage – which drives valuation and terms – to building momentum simply to get a deal across the line.
This is not a new problem. The advisory playbook has changed little in decades. Generic positioning. Limited buyer funnels. Lacklustre outreach. And too often, no true competitive bidding environment.
Deals still get done. Fees still get paid.
But many founders never see what their business could have achieved under a process designed differently from the start.
The cost of that gap – in valuation, in terms, in missed strategic options – is rarely visible in the moment.
But it’s real. And in most cases, avoidable.
Mark and his team don’t “run a process”. They build a market for your business. One built around genuine competitive tension, robust marketing, truly international buyer outreach, and an exhaustive effort to identify the global universe of qualified acquirers – not just the obvious ones. The objective is simple: uncover what the market is truly prepared to pay, and why.
Rather than relying on a single Information Memorandum and a narrow outreach list, the team deploys a multi-document, multi-modal communications strategy designed to position the business effectively to each buyer profile.
More touchpoints. Better qualification. Stronger rapport. And ultimately, more buyers at the table – the kind of competitive dynamic that moves valuation and terms.
No process can guarantee an exceptional outcome, and anyone who suggests otherwise is not being straight. What this approach does is materially increase the probability of achieving one. For founders facing a once-in-a-lifetime decision, that distinction matters.
Optimal exits are not negotiated at the end. They are designed from the beginning.
Oxford MBA (Saïd Business School). International M&A Advisor, 20 years. Global Managing Director, STS Capital Partners – 18 years. Regular M&A speaker, Oxford University Saïd Business School
Runner-up: Global M&A Thought Leader of the Year. Award-winning author: The Intelligent Exit: The Business Owner’s Guide To A Winning Strategy For Selling Your Company
Creator: The Exit Academy video training series. 5 Businesses Built and Exited. Hundreds of Founders Advised Globally. STS Capital Presence in 26 Cities Worldwide
The award-winning book that’s given more than 15,000 founders worldwide the framework many only wish they had before starting their own exit process.
28 lessons. 5 phases. 11.5 hours. A complete roadmap to preparing for and navigating an optimal exit.
A no-cost initial conversation – no pitch, no pressure. Just clarity on your situation and your options.
Before you decide how to sell your business, understand how ready it really is – and how prepared you are to maximise the outcome.
Most founders do not start with a strategy. They start with an advisor – and inherit whatever process comes with them.
The Exit Readiness diagnostic is where many of Mark’s conversations begin . a structured, founder-first assessment designed to bring clarity to timing, positioning, marketing strategy, and buyer dynamics before any decision about going to market is made.
It’s not a pitch. It’s a way to step back, see your business through the lens of the global buyer universe, and understand what you truly need to achieve an exceptional outcome.
The goal is not simply to complete a transaction . it is to understand what your business is truly capable of achieving before you decide anything at all.
Confidential. Founder-led. No obligation to proceed with a transaction.
A structured perspective on readiness, positioning, and buyer dynamics – before any decision about going to market.
Designed for founders and family businesses who want clarity first, not pressure.
