They first reach out for some kind of "we're looking to do something in this space and wanted to discuss working with you". Our first conversation was along the lines of "We're not sure whether we're going to build this, partner with someone or buy something. Keen to find out more about what you guys are doing and see if we can work together".
Next meeting it went to "We're clearly not going to build this ourselves, and it doesn't make sense to partner but let's talk about what it would look like if we acquired you. How do you think your tech/team would work inside our company".
Took maybe 6 meetings in total to get to a price though we probably could have forced that sooner.
I can't reply to your last comment for some reason but there was a mutual NDA in place.
I think they needed it more than us to be honest, they were effectively opening up their corporate roadmap to us for what is now a publicly traded company. We were talking to competitors of theirs who we could have shared this insight with which would have done more harm than them taking any of our IP.
They first reach out for some kind of "we're looking to do something in this space and wanted to discuss working with you". Our first conversation was along the lines of "We're not sure whether we're going to build this, partner with someone or buy something. Keen to find out more about what you guys are doing and see if we can work together".
Next meeting it went to "We're clearly not going to build this ourselves, and it doesn't make sense to partner but let's talk about what it would look like if we acquired you. How do you think your tech/team would work inside our company".
Took maybe 6 meetings in total to get to a price though we probably could have forced that sooner.