File everything, follow trade secret compliance protocols, etc.

This will give you march in rights and generates a legal minefield that can make poaching top talent far riskier.

If you want to know why they aren’t acquiring the company - blame the government making it harder for large companies to acquire other companies. But the government can’t stop these same companies from just hiring the people. They didn’t want the probably money losing product and history shows most acquisitions result in shutting down the product anyway