Have been through an acquisition before as a core/senior team employee at a startup. The big company that acquired us didn't even ask to take a look at your co

Have been through an acquisition before as a core/senior team employee at a startup. The big company that acquired us didn't even ask to take a look at your code until after a deal was discussed, and intent signed, but before closing. (i.e., final due diligence... and they wanted it to scan for GPL violations, etc.). They evaluated our software/company by focusing their efforts on extensively using our software in various (stress) test scenarios prior to discussing the deal. They also asked us to add a few features on short notice to test our ability to execute. In fact, they kept the competing implementers (read: engineers who would actually write code) away from the deep technical decisions (and they had a competing effort which they merged with us later). Most of the technical discussions were limited to the engineering director who ran the group. They took a very caution approach: they have much more to lose then us if the deal didn't went through and they did in fact end up launching the product (i.e., possibility of a failed startup suing them). I think if it any reputable big company in the valley, they will probably follow the same protocol. One word of caveat: you may end up working on a deal, but generally it will take a LOT of your time. So you should find out if the discussions are leading to something you want ASAP.