I friend of mine was an MD advisor to a bio-tech startup. They wanted her to sign off on things that she didn't feel comfortable signing. I guess she wasn't too happy with them as she gave up a $30K severance so she could disparage them. :-)

Sometimes the knowledge that they’re sweating after you reject the offer is worth quite a lot.

and maybe they change their behavior :) the sacrifice does have value.

>you shouldnt have turned down because it was way too small for a gag order

You're saying that if someone offers me a small amount of money I should accept it, but if someone offers me a large amount of money I should maybe reject it?

That sounds backwards to me.

I think the idea is, assuming you have already resolved to disparage the company

in that case, rightfully you should not take the money regardless of the amount.

but, if it's a tiny amount of money (tiny enough to indicate that the company probably isn't going to bother coming after you in court) then you can maybe consider taking it anyway and accepting the miniscule risk

whereas receiving a vast sum of money would carry a much larger risk of legal action

yeah just game theory. their money was so small that it was meaningless for its intended purpose.