All articles

Guides, reviews and comparisons on licensing your company’s operational data to AI labs.

Guides

Data licensing guideHow companies license Slack, email, CRM and ticket data to AI labs: what qualifies, what it’s worth, how deals work, the legal checks, and who the buyers are.What is operational data?Operational data is the working record a business produces: Slack, email, CRM, tickets, SOPs, call recordings and ERP exports. See what AI buyers value most.How data licensing worksThe five stages of licensing company data to AI labs: intake, review, offer, anonymization and payment, with timelines buyers publish and what you decide at each step.What your data is worthPublished price ranges for licensing company data to AI labs in 2026, the five factors that move the number, and why volume matters less than you think.Who buys company data?The three kinds of buyers for company operational data: direct buyers, AI data partnership programs, and marketplaces or brokers. How each works and which to choose.Is it legal?The three questions that decide whether you can license company data to AI: ownership, contracts and personal information. A US-focused checklist to take to your lawyer.Anonymization & PIIWhat gets stripped from company data before licensing, who does it, how synthetic rewrites work, and the questions to ask a buyer about anonymization.Licensing vs sellingLicensing keeps ownership with you and pays for defined use; selling transfers the data outright. Compare control, price, risk and ongoing income.Contract checklistScope, use rights, term, exclusivity, anonymization, retention, deletion, audit, payment and indemnity: the 15 terms to check in any AI data licensing agreement.ResourcesA free readiness checklist to see if your company data is worth licensing, plus a plain-English glossary of data licensing and AI training terms.

Reviews & comparisons

Polyshares reviewOur Polyshares review: how it buys company operational data, stated deal sizes ($100K–$2M), fees, payment timing, anonymization, pros, cons and who it’s not for.micro1 reviewOur review of micro1’s data partnerships program for companies: stated value tiers ($100k+ to $1M+), eligibility, data protections, process, pros and cons.Polyshares vs micro1Polyshares vs micro1 compared on stated pay, eligibility, data types, speed, fees and data protection, so you can choose where to license your company’s data.Buyers vs marketplacesShould you license company data to a direct buyer like Polyshares or a data partnership like micro1, or list it on a marketplace? Compare fees, speed, privacy and control.Ways to monetize dataFive ways companies turn internal data into revenue in 2026, from licensing to AI data partners like micro1 and Polyshares to marketplaces and wind-down deals.

By industry

SaaS companiesSaaS companies hold some of the most useful data for AI agents: support tickets, engineering discussions, CRM history and product docs. What to include and exclude.AgenciesMarketing, creative and dev agencies have rich project histories, but much of their data belongs to clients. What an agency can license, and what it can’t.E-commerceOnline stores generate support, fulfillment, merchandising and supplier data. What e-commerce brands can license to AI labs, and how to handle customer data.Home servicesSolar, roofing, HVAC and other home services companies run on quoting, scheduling, sales calls and job records. What they can license to AI labs and how.Professional servicesLaw, accounting, finance and consulting firms hold scarce expert reasoning, but heavy client confidentiality. What these firms can license, and what’s off-limits.Startup shutdownsStartups that are winding down are licensing their Slack, email and Jira history to AI companies. How it works, what it pays, and what to do before you delete anything.

By data type

Slack dataCompany Slack workspaces are among the most sought-after data for training AI agents. What Slack data is worth, what to exclude, and how to license it safely.Email dataBusiness email archives capture negotiation, escalation and long-form reasoning. What company email data is worth to AI buyers and how to license it safely.CRM dataCRM history shows long, multi-step sales processes AI agents need to learn. What HubSpot and Salesforce data is licensable and how contacts are protected.Support ticketsSupport tickets are complete problem-solving records: issue, diagnosis, back-and-forth and resolution. What helpdesk data is worth to AI buyers and how to license it.Call recordingsSales and support call recordings capture spoken reasoning and objection handling. Consent rules, what to exclude, and how to license recordings safely.ERP & accountingERP and accounting exports from NetSuite, QuickBooks and similar systems show structured business operations. What finance data is licensable and what to exclude.