i appreciate this as a first approximation of what a founder should do, but it presumes some specific clarity that is somewhat rare (which i'd guess even pg would concede). for example, sometimes you don't know that the person contacting you is corp dev, sometimes founders differ on when they should sell, and sometimes you may have differing feelings from day to day.
in my limited experience, these kinds of discussions usually end in email. they likely wouldn't give you a number, but would it hurt to ask for an offer to see if they're serious before taking a meeting? the "we're focused on growing" answer can always be thrown out to end the discussion if it's not solidly serious.
Nobody's going to throw out even a ballpark without due diligence, and that's the distraction factor. You really don't want to be roped into that unless you're serious.
in my limited experience, these kinds of discussions usually end in email. they likely wouldn't give you a number, but would it hurt to ask for an offer to see if they're serious before taking a meeting? the "we're focused on growing" answer can always be thrown out to end the discussion if it's not solidly serious.