To sell your business data, you license a copy of your work records, like emails, job files and SOPs, to an AI data buyer. You keep the originals and your company. We call this data licensing for small business. Check the buyer's size floor, list your records, get a written offer, then sign.1,2,3,4
By Lead analyst (to be named) · reviewed by Reviewing editor (to be named) · published 14 Oct 2026 · updated 14 Oct 2026
First, what "selling" really means here
Owners say sell. Buyers mostly say license. The difference matters. When you license, the buyer pays to use a copy of certain records, and you keep the originals, your customers and your company. micro1 and most other buyers work this way.1
Nobody buys a share of your business, and nobody lends you money. Polyshares describes its payment as a one-time license fee with no equity or debt. A few buyers do buy datasets outright, like Sunset with closed companies, so read which one you are offered.5,6
How to sell your business data, step by step
Here is the whole process in the order it happens. Most buyers follow it, even if they name the steps differently.7,8
Check that you fit. Most buyers want 20 to 30 or more staff: Nyne, Cognor Labs and Data Value Check say 20+, micro1 and Return My Time 30+. A few, such as Troveo, Jottings and Mercor, state no minimum.9,10,11,3,12,13,14,15
List what you have: which systems, how many years each, roughly how big. micro1 calls this list a data manifest and says it takes 1-3 hours.7
Decide what stays out. Records you hold for clients, staff personnel files and health records are common exclusions. Nyne's ads say you can leave out any folder.16,17,18
Pick a buyer, or a broker who will find one. If it is a broker, ask who pays them. Jottings takes 20-30% of your payout; Pewter is paid by its licensing partner instead.19,20
Get the price in writing before any file leaves. Nyne's ads say the price is agreed first; Supersoniq's say there is a written offer before anything leaves.4,21
Clean and check. Personal details are removed, and you review samples before release. micro1 offers that sample review.1,22
Deliver and get paid. Most buyers pay within 2-8 weeks of signing: Mercor says 2-4 weeks, Your Data Value 30-60 days, Polyshares and Ventra net 30 or 60. Some, like micro1, pay only after they accept the data.23,24,25,26,8
How long it takes, and how much work
Expect weeks, not days. A third-party write-up put micro1's process at 4-6 weeks from first call to a signed deal. Your Data Value says 30-60 days from form to payment. Cognor Labs says 3-6 weeks. These are each company's own or a reviewer's estimate.27,24,28
The work for your team is small if you share records you already have. Buyers put the owner's time at about 1-3 hours: Pewter says about an hour, Goldmined 2-3 hours, and micro1 1-3 hours to list the records, plus up to 10 hours of an engineer's time to move them.29,30,7
What you can expect to be paid
Published ranges for an operating company mostly run $100K to $2M, by the buyers' own claims: micro1, Ventra and Cognor Labs all quote it. A closed startup typically gets $10K-$100K. We call the money you receive your AI data payout, and explain what sets it in a separate guide.31,26,32,33
Pros and cons
Pros
You keep your company, your customers and your original records.1
The payment is not a loan and does not dilute your ownership.5
Light work for records you already keep: hours, not weeks, of staff time.7
Most buyers charge no seller fee, including Mercor, Polyshares and Ventra.34,35,36
Cons
Most buyers need 20-30+ staff, which rules out many small shops.3,9,10
Licenses can be permanent: micro1's never ends and cannot be taken back.37
Brokers can take a real cut, such as 20-30% at Jottings.19
Personal details can survive cleaning, so the risk is never zero.38
What it means for a business like yours
Picture a 22-person landscaping company with eight years of quotes, crew schedules and customer emails. It is under micro1's floor but meets Nyne's and Handshake's 20-person floor, so it has options. The first step costs nothing: write down the systems and years, then ask two or three buyers what they would pay.3,9,39
Do not let anyone connect to your systems or take a full export before you have a written offer. SimpleClosure's CEO warns founders about buyers who want a full export before giving a meaningful offer.40,41
Should your business get in now?
Many businesses like yours are already licensing their records to these firms. micro1 has committed $1B over 12 months to buying company data. At least 18 brokers started advertising for business data between September and mid-October 2026. SimpleClosure has done over 150 data deals, and Google bid $10M for Spirit Airlines' archive, though the court has not ruled on that sale yet.42,43,33,44
Buyers also publish deals by industry. Polyshares, for example, lists a $110,000 license for a marketing agency. That is its own claim, like every payout a buyer or broker publishes about itself.45
Our view, not a promise: the money will not be around forever. AI labs are racing to buy now, budgets are concentrated in today's build-out, and as more businesses sell, prices tend to come down. There is no deadline, but waiting has a cost.42,46
It is not for everyone
Think twice if any of these sound like you:
Most of your records are client files you hold in confidence.16
Your team would feel their messages were sold out from under them.47
Your data is regulated or sensitive, which buyers ask about up front.48
Your archive is small: most buyers want 20-30+ staff and a few years of records.3,9,10,12
You are not comfortable losing control of how a licensed copy is used.37
Next step
Take the quiz to see which firms fit your business. Then talk to the brokerages: they can answer the questions unique to your business. Legal questions go to the licensing companies.
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FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
If you meet a buyer's size floor, yes. Most want 20-30+ employees and a few years of records; Troveo names no minimum. You license a copy and keep your company.3,9,13,1
Check the buyer's size floor, list your systems and years, choose what stays out, get a written offer, review cleaned samples, then deliver and invoice.3,7,4,1
Usually several weeks. A third-party write-up put micro1 at 4-6 weeks to a signed deal; Your Data Value says 30-60 days to payment.27,24
Usually 1-3 hours of the owner's time, by the buyers' own count: Pewter says about an hour, Goldmined 2-3 hours and micro1 1-3 hours to list the data.29,30,7
No. Buyers such as micro1, Turing's Project Lazarus and Troveo take companies directly. Brokers can help find a buyer, but some take a cut: Jottings says 20-30%.3,49,50,19
Our umbrella term for licensing copies of a small business's everyday work records to AI data buyers for a fee, while the owner keeps the business and the originals.1,2
Published ranges for an operating company mostly run $100K to $2M, by micro1's, Ventra's and Cognor Labs' own claims. Closed startups typically get $10K-$100K.31,26,32,33
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company: their team reviews this with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Legal questions go to the licensing company
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company before you sign: their team reviews these with you.
Questions for this kind of business
?Who owns this data: the company, an estate, or someone else?
?Do customer, vendor or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
?How is the payment taxed?
Questions for any buyer
?Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
?Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
?Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
?How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
?What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
?Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
?Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?
How this page was made
Every figure comes from a published source listed below, each with the date we checked it. Buyer statements are the buyer's own claims and are marked so in the source list. Firm counts come from the US Census Bureau's Statistics of US Businesses. Anything marked as our estimate is ours, not a buyer quote.
Drafted with AI assistance from our research files, then checked against each source. Not yet reviewed by a person, so this page is not indexed by search engines. Last updated 14 Oct 2026.
We feature companies that pay us a referral fee. Our scores and reviews don't change for it. See how we earn and how we rank. This site does not give legal, tax or financial advice.
Sources (50)
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1.beri.net, published 10 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.