[gfodor]

One important lesson I learned in getting acquired is that it will dominate at least one of the founders' time. This means that simply going through the negotiation process will put a major dent in your ability to grow your company. Your potential acquirerers, if they're savvy, realize this, and may see this as leverage as the deal goes on. (Your time is much more valuable than theirs, as a small company.)

So, you need to fail fast. If things are looking like they're going to be a long negotiation process to get to a point of agreement on the major terms, you need to realize that to move forward at that point you are likely ending the startup. If you get acquired, you win, if you don't, you'll have a hell of a hole to dig out of and you'll likely not be able to.

This, like anything else, might be worth the risk. But in an ideal scenario you will walk sooner rather than later if you have faith in your business. It's better to walk away quickly, get back to work for 6-9 months, and hopefully have them coming back to you more engaged and potentially with a higher offer that you can close in on quickly after you've solidifed your business and product more.