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Guide · 7 min read
Does my company data qualify? A self-check before you sell to AI companies
Before you ask what your company data is worth, it helps to know whether it fits what AI companies look for today. This self-check covers the points that decide it – team size, years of history, your core systems, language, ownership and who can sign – and what tends to lower an offer.
By Linus Näslund, Co-Founder
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AI companies are training agents to do real office work, and to do that they need real records of how companies operate: years of email, files, chat, customer and financial history from the same team. Not every company's data fits. The checks below are what we look at first, based on what we see in the market right now. Demand shifts over time, so treat this as a snapshot, not a rulebook.
The self-check
| Check | What good looks like | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Team size | A sizable office or desk team working in your systems every day. Bigger teams get bigger offers. | More people means more conversations, documents and decisions – a richer record of how work gets done. The typical starting size depends on the industry; see which industries have the most valuable data. |
| Years of history | At least three years of records still in your systems; five or more is better. | Longer history shows how work, customers and the business change over time. Records that were purged or exported and deleted don't count. |
| Full mailboxes across the team, all the years kept, threads and attachments intact. | Email carries most external communication – with customers, suppliers and partners. | |
| File storage | Google Drive, SharePoint or Dropbox with real working documents, drafts and version history. | Drafts and versions show how documents are produced, not just how they ended. |
| Internal chat | Slack or Teams with channels and DMs kept rather than auto-deleted. | Chat is where teams coordinate and solve problems – the part of work that's hardest to find anywhere else. |
| CRM | Contacts, deals, notes and activity logged over time. | It shows how the company finds, wins and keeps customers. |
| Accounting | QuickBooks, Xero or NetSuite with transactions through the operating years. | It ties the rest of the record to what actually happened commercially. |
| Language | Internal communication mainly in English. | Most demand today is for English-language work. Teams that mostly communicate in another language are a harder fit. |
| Ownership and rights | The company owns its records and has the right to license them. | Records held by a franchisor or a software vendor, client-owned work, privileged material and third-party content can't simply be licensed. These are assessed case by case. |
| Decision maker | Someone who can sign soon after the first call – usually within about two weeks. | Demand moves. Deals that can close while interest is high tend to get better terms. |
| The full record | All core systems included, with sensitive material filtered inside each. | Connected systems used by the same team are worth much more than isolated pieces. |
If most of the rows describe your company, you are likely a good fit. If several don't, it may still be worth asking – but it helps to know where the gaps are.
The five core systems in more detail
The record is most valuable when the same people show up across all five systems. A customer request arrives by email, is discussed in Slack, becomes a deal in the CRM, gets a proposal in Google Drive and turns into an invoice in QuickBooks. That chain is what an AI company can learn from.
Two things often go wrong without anyone noticing:
- Retention settings. Slack and Teams workspaces on auto-delete, or mail policies that remove messages after a year, quietly shrink your history. If you are considering a deal, it is worth checking these settings before anything else gets deleted.
- Departed employees. Mailboxes and drives of people who left are often deleted with their accounts. Where they have been kept, they add years to the record.
Standalone codebases are the main exception: a substantial repository with its history can sometimes carry value on its own, without the other systems.
What lowers an offer
- A very small team. A handful of people rarely produces enough record to price on its own, outside high-demand industries.
- Less than three years of history in the systems.
- A core system missing, or a whole system deliberately left out. Sensitive content is filtered inside a system rather than by removing it.
- Internal communication mostly not in English.
- Data the company doesn't own or lacks rights to share – client-owned work, privileged material, records restricted by contract and third-party content.
- Records held by someone else. Franchisees often find that the franchisor controls the systems and the data; companies on some vertical software platforms find the same with the vendor.
- A long or unclear path to a signature. If several parties need to approve and nobody can say when, offers tend to be more cautious.
- Sanctioned or trade-restricted countries. Companies, records or teams connected to them generally can't be part of a deal.
None of these automatically rules a company out. They shape what can be included and what an offer looks like.
Cases we review individually
Some situations don't fit a simple checklist, so we look at them one by one:
- Marketing agencies. Much agency work belongs to clients, so ownership and client contracts are read first. The agency's own process, project management, internal chat, new business and finance can carry value. See marketing agency data.
- Closed or sold companies. The records must still be accessible and owned by the company or its successor. See closing a company.
- Healthcare records. Practices and clinics can be a strong fit, but EHR and patient records are assessed case by case. Patient health information is handled end to end by a certified healthcare data partner under a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). See healthcare and dental practice data.
What companies typically receive right now
| Full-time US staff | Indicative range |
|---|---|
| 20–49 | $200K–$500K |
| 50–149 | $400K–$900K |
| 150+ | $800K and up |
Smaller companies in high-demand industries are quoted individually. These are indicative ranges from what we see in the market right now, not offers – the real number comes in a written offer after a review, and depends on your industry, years of history, which systems are included and demand at the time.
Next step
The quickest way to check your own company is our data value estimator. It takes about two minutes, you don't upload anything, and it gives a first estimate based on your industry, team size, years and systems. If it looks like a fit, we review the details and get back to you within 48 hours on business days. More on how it works.
This guide describes how things generally work today, not legal advice. Every company and every deal is unique.
Questions and answers
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my company data qualifies for an AI license?
The strongest fits today have a sizable office team, at least three years of records, the five core systems in daily use (email, file storage, internal chat, CRM and accounting), internal communication mainly in English, clear ownership of the records and a decision maker who can sign soon after the first call. The estimator gives a first answer in about two minutes.
Is there a minimum company size?
There is no single rule. Bigger teams get bigger offers, and the typical starting size depends on the industry – from about 10 staff for law firms to about 50 office staff in construction or HVAC. Smaller companies in high-demand industries are quoted individually.
Can we leave a system out, for example chat?
You can, but leaving whole systems out lowers the offer. Sensitive material – HR, privileged, health information, account numbers – is filtered inside each system instead, so the rest of the record stays connected.
What if our company has closed or been sold?
Closed or sold companies are reviewed individually. What matters is that the records are still accessible and owned by the company or its successor.
More pages
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Read moreHow selling data to AI works with us
You describe your data, we assess it and prepare an offer, and you decide whether there's a deal. Buyers only see an anonymous profile, and nothing costs anything until you have said yes.
Read moreNext step
Find out what your data could be worth
Describe the data you have – it takes about two minutes. You don't send any files and nothing is shared without your approval. We get back to you within 48 hours on business days.
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