Net Proceeds After Tax.

The number that matters at the end is not the headline valuation - it is the net proceeds the owner actually keeps after tax. Two companies can sell for the same price and their owners walk away with very different outcomes, decided years earlier by how the enterprise was structured.

Focus on the trophy at the end. The legal and tax architecture that determines net proceeds is built over a multi-year horizon, not negotiated at the event - which is exactly why it must be engineered from the beginning.