Does my company qualify?

Updated October 25, 2026 · How we research

What kinds of companies are buyers looking at?

As of October 2026, reported deals have involved companies of many types, from software startups to an airline in bankruptcy. Buyers want records that show how work actually gets done, so the common thread is a real operating history kept in digital tools, not a particular industry.

Both operating companies and companies that are closing or have closed can qualify. Their situations differ, which the other guides explain.

A quick checklist

If you can answer yes to most of these, your company is likely worth a closer look.

• The company had a team that worked together, not a single person.
• Work was done in systems such as email, Slack or Teams, a ticketing tool, a CRM, shared documents, accounting software or a code repository.
• Those records go back at least a couple of years and can still be exported.
• The company owns the accounts and can get the data out (or its administrator still can).
• No contract with customers, partners or investors clearly forbids sharing the records.
• Personal, HR and regulated data can be identified and removed.
• Someone with authority to sign for the company (an officer, a board, a trustee or an estate) is willing to approve it.

What usually rules a company out?

Some situations make a deal hard or impossible, at least for now.

• The company does not control the data. For example, it was stored in a client's systems, or the vendor account was closed and the data deleted.
• Customer or partner contracts say their information may only be used to serve them, and there is no way to separate it out.
• Most of the valuable material is regulated, such as patient health records or consumer financial records, and cannot be cleanly removed. Clinical and medical records are handled on our sister site, licensemydata.com.
• There is an ongoing legal dispute, an investigation or a litigation hold over the records.
• Nobody with clear authority can sign. In a bankruptcy or a dissolved company, that may be a trustee or a court, not the former founders.

Does company size matter?

Size affects value more than eligibility. Smaller companies can still have useful records if the history is long and varied. Larger companies (250 or more employees) usually have more systems, more legal review and more to exclude, which is why this site offers them a call rather than only self-serve links.

See the guide on what company data is worth for the factors buyers weigh.

What about employee and customer privacy?

This is the area where most companies need professional advice. Your records contain other people's names, messages and sometimes sensitive details. Privacy law, employment law, and your own contracts and policies may limit what you can share, even after names are removed.

In California, for example, the CCPA (the state's main privacy law) has covered employee and business-contact information since January 1, 2023, for businesses that meet its thresholds. The guide on employee and customer privacy explains those thresholds. Other states and countries have their own rules. Talk to your lawyer before you share anything.

What should I do next?

Start with a simple inventory: which systems you used, for how long, roughly how many people, and whether you can still export from each. The guide on preparing a data inventory walks through this. Then check the buyer programs shown on this site against your situation. Each buyer sets its own criteria, and the site matches you only to programs that appear to fit.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice.