> our largest customer who made up 70% of our revenue insisted on the code being put in escrow > then they hired me as a contractor for them using the code the

> our largest customer who made up 70% of our revenue insisted on the code being put in escrow > then they hired me as a contractor for them using the code they now had access to Did you live in the same city? Or did you work remote? Did they want to meet you in person first, before the escrow agreement? Maybe that can be an addition to your answer: Start with big companies close to where you live?