An owner's guide

Got a data licensing offer? Run it through five questions before you sign anything.

Pitches for company data are suddenly everywhere, and most of them lead with a big range on a slider. A range is easy to design. A real offer is easy to check. These five questions separate the two, and any legitimate program will answer all five without blinking.

5Questions that separate a real offer from a guess

$0What a real assessment should cost you

0Passwords or logins a real process needs to value your records

~60 daysTypical timeline, assessment to payment, once records are accepted

Read the Five Questions Run Your Own Number First

Evaluating an offer right now? Bring it on a free 15-minute call and we'll run it through the same five questions with you, whichever company you end up using.

The five questions

Ask these, in this order.

Question 1

Can you show me a published outcome?

What a real answer sounds like: a sector, a company size, an amount, and somewhere you can check it yourself: a published report, a case study with the details on it, a court filing. Real outcomes leave a paper trail.

What a red flag sounds like: only ranges. "Companies like yours have received up to..." with nothing published behind it, and testimonials with no company, no sector, and no number you can verify.

Question 2

What's your range actually based on?

What a real answer sounds like: published deal data, bands by industry and company size, and a review of your actual records before any number hardens. An indicative range comes after someone looks, not before.

What a red flag sounds like: a firm-looking number produced by two sliders in thirty seconds, or a range that somehow only moves up the longer you stay on the page.

Question 3

Do I sign anything exclusive, or pay anything, before I see a real number?

What a real answer sounds like: the assessment and an indicative range come first. Any commitment comes later, in writing, after you've seen actual terms and had time to think.

What a red flag sounds like: a multi-month exclusive agreement required before any valuation, or any upfront fee charged to you. In this market the buyer side pays the people in the middle. The owner should never be the one paying to be evaluated.

Question 4

Who sees my records, and at what point?

What a real answer sounds like: a rights and privacy review first, before anything is shared. Identifying details are stripped or replaced before any buyer sees a sample. You approve the scope and the cleaned sample. Your company isn't named to buyers without your say. And nobody needs your system logins or passwords to value your records.

What a red flag sounds like: "Connect your systems so we can scan everything" as step one, or requests for files and credentials before any privacy review has happened.

Question 5

What exactly am I signing, and who pays you?

What a real answer sounds like: a license of a de-identified copy, not a sale. You keep ownership and keep using your data. The term and the permitted uses are in writing. The intermediary's fee is paid by the program, and it's disclosed to you before you sign.

What a red flag sounds like: vague "data partnership" language with no license terms, or a fee that quietly comes out of your side of the deal.

Our answers

The same five questions, answered for us.

Our outcomes are published, with the details on the page: read the 2026 Data Licensing Payout Report. Our estimator's bands come from those published outcomes, by industry and company size, not from a slider designed to flatter. There's no exclusive agreement to start a conversation, and the assessment costs nothing. A rights and privacy review comes before anything is shared, you approve the scope and the cleaned sample, and no one will ever ask for your logins. What you sign is a license for a de-identified copy. You keep your records and your ownership. When a license closes, the program may pay us a fee, disclosed to you before you sign, and never charged to you.

If another company's offer survives these five questions too, you have two real options, and that's a good position to negotiate from. If it doesn't, you have your answer.

Straight answers

Questions every owner asks

Is data licensing legitimate?

Yes. Companies license de-identified copies of their operational records to AI companies and data programs, and the deals are published: outcomes in this market include $1.6 million paid to a freight company and a $10 million bid for a bankrupt airline's records in a court-supervised sale, with the approval hearing on November 6, 2026. The category is new, which is exactly why an offer should be evaluated carefully before anything is signed.

Should I ever pay a fee to license my company's data?

No. In a legitimate arrangement the evaluation costs you nothing, and if a license closes, the intermediary is paid by the program or buyer, with that fee disclosed to you before you sign. An upfront fee, listing fee, or evaluation fee charged to the owner is a red flag.

What's an exclusive agreement, and should I sign one?

An exclusive agreement bars you from licensing conversations with anyone else for a set period. Signing one before you have a valuation means giving up your options before you know your number. Get an indicative range first. Commitment should come after you've seen real terms, not before.

Can I talk to more than one company about licensing my data?

Yes. Before you sign anything exclusive, comparing is exactly what the five questions are for. Once your company is formally introduced to a licensing program, that introduction is the channel your file travels through, so the first conversation is worth choosing carefully.

What happens to my data if I proceed?

A rights and privacy review comes first, before anything is shared. Identifying details are stripped or replaced, you approve the scope and a cleaned sample, and you license a de-identified copy. You keep ownership of your records and keep using them exactly as before.