Skip to content
AI Data Payout

Selling data

A 20-person company's data partnership, step by step

A company data partnership for a made-up 20-person plumbing and heating firm takes weeks: check the buyer's size floor, answer a short form, list your systems, leave out sensitive folders, get a written offer, review cleaned samples, deliver and get paid. Each step comes from buyers' published processes.1,2,3,4,5,6

By Lead analyst (to be named) · reviewed by Reviewing editor (to be named) · published 14 Oct 2026 · updated 18 Oct 2026

Meet the example company (it is made up)

This is an illustration, not a real deal. Picture Brightline Plumbing and Heating: 20 people on payroll, nine years in business, a dispatch board, QuickBooks, a shared Gmail inbox and a binder of install procedures. The owner sees an ad saying old dispatch data could be worth six figures.7,8

Why 20 people? Because that is where the market opens up. Nyne and Handshake both ask for 20 or more full-time staff and 3+ years in business. micro1 asks for 30, so it is out for Brightline. Everything below follows what Nyne and other buyers say they do; we do not know what any buyer would actually offer this firm.1,9,10

The deal, one step at a time

These are the steps in the order a small firm would meet them. Where buyers differ, we say so.11,12

  1. Check the fit. Brightline has 20 W-2 employees and nine years of records, which clears Nyne's floor of 20+ US W-2 staff and 3+ years.1
  2. Answer a few questions. One ad, from a Meta page called Nyne AI, offers to text a quote after three quick questions. micro1's estimator asks six: staff, years of data, business entities, English share, location and sensitive data.2,13
  3. List what you have. The office manager writes down each system and how far back it goes: dispatch since 2017, QuickBooks since 2016, Gmail since 2017. micro1 calls this a data manifest and says it takes 1-3 hours.11,8
  4. Leave out what is sensitive. Brightline keeps HR files and customer payment details out. Nyne's ads say any folder can be excluded.3,14
  5. Get the price in writing first. Nyne's ads say the price and contents are agreed before anything is transferred. With a second written offer in hand, Nyne says it compares offers on net cash for the same data and rights.4,15
  6. Clean and check. Customer names are swapped for codes, and the owner reviews cleaned samples. Nyne's ads describe the code swap; micro1 offers sample review before release.16,5
  7. Deliver and get paid. Nyne says it pays after the dataset is delivered and accepted. micro1, by comparison, has 30 business days to accept before the seller invoices.17,12
  8. Raw files deleted. Nyne's ads say raw files are deleted within 30 days; its website says retention is set per engagement.18,19

How long, and roughly how much

Weeks, not days: the buyers' and reviewers' estimates mostly run one to two months from form to payment. Staff time is small: micro1 describes up to 10 hours of engineering to move the data.6,20,11

On money, the published figures for a firm this size are thin. Nyne says its deals are typically $100K or more. DataFactor's own tiers put 20-50 employee firms at $50,000-$500,000 as a rough guide. Both are the companies' own claims. Our reading: a 20-person firm would likely sit near the bottom of either range.21,22

Pros and cons

Pros

  • A 20-person firm already clears the floor at Nyne and Handshake.1,9
  • Little staff time: hours for the list, up to 10 engineering hours to transfer.11
  • You can leave folders out and agree the price before anything moves.3,4

Cons

  • Smaller firms sit at the low end of published ranges, and there are few to compare.22,21
  • Some of the biggest buyers, like micro1, need 30+ staff.10
  • Retention promises can differ between a buyer's ads and its contract.18,19
  • A small team feels a data deal more, and staff may object.23

What it means for a business like yours

If your company looks like Brightline, the steps above are your checklist. The hard part is not the paperwork; it is deciding what to leave out and getting the offer in writing before any file moves.3,4

If you have fewer than 20 people, the same steps apply but your list of buyers is shorter. Troveo names no minimum headcount, though its estimator starts at 20 employees.24

Should your business get in now?

Businesses are already licensing their records: micro1 has committed $1B over 12 months to buying company data, and at least 18 firms started advertising for it between September and mid-October 2026.25,26 Our view, not a promise: the money will not be around forever, because prices tend to come down as more businesses sell.25,27 Take the quiz to see which firms fit your business.

Plus a free Seller's Guide when you finish.

Take the quizWho the brokerages are

We feature companies that pay us a referral fee. Our scores and reviews don't change for it. How we earn.

FAQ

Questions, answered with sources

  • A 20-person company can license its data with several buyers. Most want 20 to 30 or more staff, so a 20-person firm clears the 20-staff floors, and a few buyers state no minimum.1,9,28,29,24,10,30

  • Published figures are thin. Nyne says its deals are typically $100K or more; DataFactor's own tiers put 20-50 staff at $50,000-$500,000. Both are their own claims.21,22

  • Usually weeks: about one to two months from form to payment, on the buyers' and reviewers' estimates.6,20

  • A few hours of the owner's time, about 1-3 by the buyers' own count, plus engineering time to move the data.31,32,11

  • Brightline Plumbing is a made-up example. Each step is taken from what buyers such as Nyne and micro1 publish about their own processes.4,12

  • Speeds vary, but it's usually around 3-6 weeks after signing, sometimes longer.33,34,35,36,20

  • Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.

Before you sign

Questions to talk through with your buyer

Every business is different, so these are best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over them with you before anything is signed.

Questions for this kind of business

  • How do CCPA, GDPR, UK GDPR and state privacy laws apply, and is de-identified data still personal information?
  • How are employee data, union contracts and NLRA questions handled?
  • 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: drafted with AI help from the sources below, each checked; a buyer's claims about itself are its own. Updated October 2026. How we rank.

Sources (36)

  1. 1.Nyne sell-company-data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  2. 2.Meta Ad Library, Nyne AI, published 14 Sep 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  3. 3.Meta Ad Library, Nyne.ai. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  4. 4.Meta Ad Library, Nyne.ai. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  5. 5.beri.net, published 10 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  6. 6.RemoWork, published 29 Jun 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  7. 7.Meta Ad Library, Nyne.ai, published 4 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  8. 8.Nyne sell-company-data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  9. 9.Handshake AI data partnerships referral page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  10. 10.micro1 company referral page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  11. 11.Summary of micro1's video "How to earn up to $2M training AI models with anonymized company data". Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  12. 12.micro1 Data License Master Terms, published 7 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  13. 13.micro1 data payout estimator. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  14. 14.SimpleClosure press release (Business Wire), published 3 Sep 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  15. 15.Nyne compare offers page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  16. 16.Meta Ad Library, Nyne.ai. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  17. 17.Nyne data partnerships page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  18. 18.Meta Ad Library, Nyne.ai page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  19. 19.Nyne sell-company-data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  20. 20.Your Data Value website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  21. 21.Nyne sell-company-data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  22. 22.DataFactor data partner page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  23. 23.Slashdot discussion, published 18 Apr 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  24. 24.Troveo business data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  25. 25.The Next Web, published 9 Oct 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  26. 26.Meta Ad Library (our review). Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  27. 27.TechCrunch, published 16 Sep 2025. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
  28. 28.Cognor Labs partners page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  29. 29.Data Value Check website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  30. 30.Return My Time Sell My Data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  31. 31.Pewter website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  32. 32.Goldmined.ai website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  33. 33.Mercor Data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  34. 34.Cognor Labs manufacturing page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  35. 35.Polyshares website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
  36. 36.Ventra company data page. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.