As a former M&A guy and later a founder - It's not just that your interests aren't aligned in terms of financials or IP, your timelines aren't aligned and your

As a former M&A guy and later a founder - It's not just that your interests aren't aligned in terms of financials or IP, your timelines aren't aligned and your desired outcomes aren't aligned. There is ZERO hurry with a lot of BigCo acquisitions - there are layers and layers of board approvals, analysis, opportunity costs, competitor research, etc. There may not be any actual interest in an acquisition of people or technology, but rather a curiosity about the space - e.g. "what are smart and hungry people in X space capable of actually building?" or "what does technology Y in the wild actually look like?" It's all fun and games for the BigCo but can absolutely kill a startup with delays and 180 degree turns on the product roadmap.