As a founder fortunate enough to get to and through a positive acquisition, just reading the chapter outline and clicking into a few I can see there's useful perspective here I wish I'd had. Since the situation is pretty rare there's not a lot of info for founders from founders.

As it was I had to figure it out as it happened. I managed to thread the needle while avoiding any major pitfalls but it was a close thing that easily could have blown up. The difference probably came down to some good luck at the right moment, which isn't a great feeling in retrospect.