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Side question. It seems the conventional advice here is to take the money. What if it was far less, say half that? How much is too little?
Even $2m would mean you could take a very long sabbatical then come back and bootstrap your next startup idea.
I don't have any advice here, just a note of commiseration.
1- you won’t need to work again. This lets you work on what you want next.
2- you’re very likely to get funded 2m for the next thing. This sale gives you a big stamp.
In short, this game is never about just one company. Get the 14m, stay hungry, and go for the 400m sale on the next.
Play the fucking long game and play it on your terms.
I'm doing great with my current startups now but several years ago I founded a very promising startup which almost immediately got many acquisition offers in the high six figures and low seven figures. I, of course, took all of this to mean that we were onto something and were sure to get very wealthy in short order.
That didn't happen. What our app did got simply duplicated as a feature by an industry leader in software for our target vertical and that startup rapidly went from extremely profitable to bust.
TL;DR: Unless you're financially secure take the money.
But be wary - companies are bought not sold. If you're below $1m in ARR, those approaches you think you're getting at tenuous and possibly totally fake. It may not feel that way to you or even to them, but acquisition are HARD without a revenue number to calculate price on or a really motivated CEO.
But back to the issue at hand:
You could sell it while continuing to be actively part of it, in fact that might be a condition of selling. Plus, with the budget of a larger company and a potentially unlimited supply of talented engineers from said acquirer, sounds like you'll be rich and continuing to build your dream product.
Sounds like you could retire nicely and basically not have anything to worry about for the rest of your life. I would go for that personally.