[hinkley]

Do not, under any circumstances, go to your bosses looking for advice on this.

In many cases the C-level employees of the old company have bonuses tied up in retaining a certain fraction of the original employee team for the term of their incentive package, and they lose out on part of their payout if they don't.

Not to say your bosses are going to steer you wrong, but it's very likely that it's now a conflict of interests for them to weigh in.

[mnw21cam]

That sounds like a really big opportunity to me. Those bosses are going to want to give you some leeway in order to retain you, which gives you some bargaining leverage.