Data Value TalkValuation notes on operational records

Introduction

What is your company’s data worth?

Notes for company owners on what their operational records may be worth to AI labs and how licensing works.

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AI labs license a company's own operational records, such as standard operating procedures, support tickets, CRM history and project files. This site explains what your data may be worth, how a deal works and what moves the price. When a company may qualify, we refer it to an AI data buyer through a referral link.

What AI labs license

  1. Standard operating procedures and QA processes

    They record step by step how your company completes real work, material that cannot be collected from the public web.

  2. Knowledge bases and internal wikis

    Answers written by the people who do the work show how recurring problems get solved.

  3. Support tickets and chats

    Each ticket pairs a problem with the steps that resolved it, once customer details are removed.

  4. CRM history

    Notes, stages and outcomes show how deals move from first contact to a close or a loss.

  5. Project histories and cloud files

    Plans, revisions and handoffs on finished jobs show how work unfolds over weeks or months.

  6. Internal chat and email

    Informal threads show how teams coordinate and decide, though they often carry personal data and need careful removal.

  7. Accounting exports

    Structured records show how transactions are coded, reconciled and explained.

How a deal works

  1. Confirm the data is yours to license

    List what your systems hold and separate your own records from anything covered by a client contract or NDA. Only data you own can be licensed, so this step sets the limits for everything after it. Check vendor terms and your operating agreement or bylaws at the same time.

  2. Check the buyer's requirements

    Each buyer sets its own rules on company size, market, language and the records it accepts, and those rules change. Read a buyer's current terms before you apply. The eligibility check on this site tests the criteria we use for referrals.

  3. Agree scope, anonymization and approvals

    Before any data moves, agree which systems and date ranges are included, which AI labs may receive the data, how it is kept apart from other companies' data and how long it is retained. Settle who removes personal data, and how you review and approve the result. Get each point in writing.

  4. Prepare the data

    Export the records, take out client material, and put the files in a consistent format. Whether you remove personal data yourself depends on the buyer, so ask before you start. Review a sample yourself before anything leaves your systems.

  5. Sign the license

    The agreement sets the rights granted, exclusivity, duration, warranties, deletion and payment. Find out what happens to the data when the license ends, including whether the buyer must delete it. Have a lawyer read it before you sign, and ask your CPA how the fee will be taxed.

  6. Transfer the data and get paid

    Payment follows the terms you agreed, and the data has to be reviewed and approved along the way. Ask what triggers payment and whether it comes as one payment or several. Plan for months between applying and being paid.

What drives the price

  1. Years of history

    History cannot be recreated, so a long run of consistent records carries weight with a buyer. Note how many years each of your systems covers, and where the gaps are.

  2. Domain depth

    Records of specialist work, such as how a trade, a regulated process or a niche service is actually done, are harder for a buyer to find elsewhere. Generic records that look like every other company's are easier for a buyer to replace.

  3. Breadth across workflows

    Records that span several teams and business functions give a buyer more to work with than one system's export. Each added system or span of years widens what a buyer can use.

  4. Structure and cleanliness

    Consistent fields, linked records and few gaps need less preparation. A ticket linked to its resolution is easier to use than a free-form dump, and duplicates cost a buyer more time.

  5. Personal-data load

    The more personal data is mixed into your records, the more removal work and risk there is. Ask each buyer who de-identifies the data, when, and what it commits to before the data reaches an AI lab.

  6. Ownership and rights

    Records covered by client contracts, NDAs or vendor terms usually cannot be licensed. Clear ownership keeps more of your data in scope.

  7. Exclusivity

    Ask each buyer whether its license is exclusive and for how long. Giving up the right to license the same data again should show up in the price.

Who qualifies

We refer companies with 30 or more full-time employees that operate mainly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or the European Union, with records mainly in English. Companies that are closing or have closed can qualify too. Other buyers set their own rules. You also have to own the data: records you hold for clients under a contract or NDA usually do not count. The eligibility check on this site asks four questions.

Check your company's records

Check whether your company meets our referral criteria. The check asks four questions about your company and records.

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Frequently asked questions

What does it mean to sell data to an AI company?

You license your company's own operational records, such as SOPs, tickets and project files, and you keep your copy. The buyer is usually a data company that supplies AI labs. Who removes personal data, and when, depends on the buyer. Data brokers are a different market: they resell personal information about people.

How much is my company's data worth?

It depends on how much you hold, how many years it covers, how specialized and consistent it is, how much personal data it carries and whether the license is exclusive. A buyer prices records after it has seen them, so no single figure applies to every company. Few deals are public, and a reported price for one company says little about another's.

Do I have to be a technology company?

No. Our referral criteria don't depend on industry, and operating businesses of many kinds keep records of real work, from trades and agencies to logistics companies and clinics. What matters is the records you hold and whether you own them.

Do I lose my data if I license it?

A license gives the buyer defined rights and you keep your copy. Check exclusivity and duration, because an exclusive, perpetual license can limit how you use or license the data later. Ask each buyer to price exclusive and non-exclusive versions.

Is Data Value Talk run by a data buyer?

No. Ingenious Digital LLC publishes this site for company owners and operators. The buyer does not own or run it. Buyer referrals fund the site; our disclosure page explains the arrangement. You pay us nothing.