[DaiPlusPlus]

The hypothetical case I was describing was when the employees (say, 1-5 people) are also the sole shareholders.

Supposing I write a _killer app_ with a friend and get a patent for it - and it ends up with tens of millions of users quickly - and Apple really wants it for themselves at short notice (too short a notice for them to try to recreate the software code, sic their legal team to invalidate the patent and market it to get enough users) - how far would Apple bend to accommodate my _think different_ attitude?

[fpo]

You’re describing an acquisition including IP and not an acquihire. I’m not sure how much Apple cares about idiosyncrasies of founders for potential full acquisitions but I imagine they matter quite a bit for a run of the mill acquihire.