In any real acquisition process—and I say “real” because there are instances when you might receive unsolicited emails about people buying your company (be careful there!)—you’ll know it can potentially go somewhere when the leadership team of the company looking to acquire yours sets up a fairly formal meeting with you (and likely your executive team). They’ll want to spend time talking about your business and they will express enthusiastic interest in what you could do together. This is before any diligence begins and likely well before you get an official term sheet or offer.