I'll give you a more specific example from my past. A startup seemed interesting to the large fortune 50 company I was working with. We, the large company, had a rather large budget to buy them, like 7 figures, not bad for a company without a published v1 and with no revenue. We did not specifically say how much we were willing to give or what we were willing to do for them, because that is negotiation. On the other hand, they hide behind lawyers, talked to us only generally, and left us in the dark. In the end we decided the time wasn't worth it (their technical skills and product offering sure were, but that's another story), so we ended the discussions. Ultimately they ran out of funding and said it was our "large companies distractions" that kept them from "making it big". Maybe that is true, I can't rewrite history to know for sure whether it is or not. However, what I can say is if they had said "Sure we're willing to show what we can do, we want $x,000,000 if we can show we are capable", we would have given it to them. Hell we would have paid for the due diligence ("We want $200,000 to go through your due diligence whether we make a deal or not" would have been a very acceptable request). Your milage WILL vary, but remember business, funding, and moving forward can take a number of routes.

That's their decision. You don't have to make it easy for them--especially if they are going to be your competitors.

For a motivated big company, cold hard cash isn't as hard to come by as you might think.

As for now, the only thing I can do is echo how absolutely crucial it is for you to have a knowledgable lawyer on your side RIGHT NOW. Get several on the phone today, and make a decision as soon as you can. If you're in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I can make a recommendation but please, please do this.

What sort of information have you shared already?