You are absolutely correct. I went through exactly this when a large valley tech company bought the startup I founded and I joined the company as part of the de

You are absolutely correct. I went through exactly this when a large valley tech company bought the startup I founded and I joined the company as part of the deal. My lawyer explained it as "For regular employees these aren't enforceable but you're when you get millions of dollars personally, this is part of what they get in return." Seemed fair enough and we also negotiated the wording to be pretty specific. Basically, I couldn't go make another version of the products they purchased from me as part of the acquisition. However, if I wanted to quit and compete against any of their other pre-existing products I could (even though I wouldn't want to anyway).