How a deal runs
Every deal has two sides. The seller is a company licensing its own operating data. The buyer is an AI lab or model team licensing it for training. We represent the seller, the same way a sell-side broker does on a business sale: inventory, rights, presentation, competing offers, terms, close. Written contract, counsel review and insured handling on every deal.
If you are selling or licensing
You do steps 1, 2 and 6, export to the vendor in step 7, and review a sample before anything goes out. We do the rest. Nothing leaves your company until you sign with the buyer you pick.
| Step | Who | What happens | Takes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Qualify | Seller | Ten-minute intake: systems, counts, years, where data lives, who owns it, whether outcomes are recorded | 1 day to reply |
| 2. Discovery call | Seller and us | Thirty minutes mapping how a request moves through your tools to a result, and where the data lives | 1 call |
| 3. Rights check | Us, with the seller's counsel | Separate your own data from client-held material; read customer terms for de-identified-use clauses | 2 to 5 days |
| 4. Summary | Us | One page: what it is, size, years, systems, outcomes, rights status, exclusions. No files leave the seller's company | 2 days |
| 5. Buyers compete | Us and buyers | Summary goes to the buyers asking for that industry this month, along with any buyer whose open request it fits. Buyers make offers; the seller sees them side by side | 1 to 2 weeks |
| 6. Negotiate | Seller, buyer, us, counsel | Price, exclusivity term, scope of use, one-off or ongoing, security and privacy requirements, deletion, liability, insurance | A few days |
| 7. De-identify | Third-party vendor | The seller exports securely to the vendor, never to the buyer. All PII (names, emails, phones, accounts) is masked as stable pseudonyms, plus any custom rules from the seller's data policy. The seller reviews a sample. Raw files deleted | About 1 week |
| 8. Deliver and accept | Vendor and buyer | Buyer receives the package with a provenance memo and has a written acceptance window | 5 to 30 days |
| 9. Payment | Buyer | Buyer pays the seller on the terms in the license. Our finder's fee comes from the buyer; any advisory fee from the seller as agreed in writing before work starts | 1 week to 60 days |
What kills a deal on the seller side
| Phone-first operations | The data reads "ticket opened, ticket closed" with nothing between |
| Software switch in the last 3 years | Scorable history starts at the switch |
| A missing core system | No chat export, email retention off, CRM purged |
| Client-held data under a master agreement | Belongs to the client, cannot be licensed |
| Non-English data | De-identification tooling is English-first |
| Seller wants to de-identify themselves | Breaks the relationships and the value |
| Padded data | One broker shipped thousands of copies of one film to look bigger. The lab checked |
What we never do to a seller
- Take custody of your raw data
- Sign you to a perpetual license
- Quote a number before a buyer has looked
- Send anything to a buyer you have not approved
If you are buying
You never deal with raw files: you see summaries and de-identified samples, then receive the package from the vendor. Rights are checked before any summary reaches you.
| Step | What happens | Takes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Send a request | Data types, industries, volume, exclusivity, timeline. We say what exists and what we can find | 1 day to reply |
| 2. Summary and offer | Read the one-page summary and de-identified samples, then make an offer. The seller compares offers side by side | 1 to 2 weeks |
| 3. Negotiate | Price, term, scope of use, security, handling and deletion, in writing, with your counsel | A few days |
| 4. De-identify and deliver | The seller exports to a third-party vendor, never to you. You receive the package with a provenance memo, then accept within the written window | About 1 week, then 5 to 30 days |
| 5. Payment | Pay the seller on the license terms. Our finder's fee is agreed before any introduction and due on close | 1 week to 60 days |