I was courted by corp dev from a big public company. It was quite an experience -- events, dinners, wine, private meetings, large groups of the corp folks hanging on every word. They got pretty pushy, demanding to know trade secrets to keep going with a negotiation. At the end of it I pulled the plug because it was clear they were not working in our interest. (The word "pillage" comes to mind.)

The experience was nice to have, but as the essay claims, it ultimately was a poor use of time.