Editorial / opinion. This is my opinion as the publisher of GetToolRank, not a tool ranking or a news report.
Disclosure: I’m an independent DataSupply Strategic Partner. If a business I refer completes a licensing deal, I may earn a referral fee. Please weigh my view with that in mind. It has no effect on GetToolRank’s tool rankings.
Most of what we cover here is about AI tools you can use. This piece is about something different: what your business might have that AI companies want.
If you’ve run a company with a real office team for a few years, you’ve been building something without thinking of it as an asset: years of internal email, support tickets, CRM notes, team chat and written procedures. To you it’s just the record of how work got done. To the companies building AI, I think it’s increasingly the kind of material they need most.
Why AI companies care about ordinary business records
Today’s AI models learned largely from public text on the internet. That supply isn’t endless. Researchers at Epoch AI estimated in 2024 that, if trends continue, language models will fully use the stock of quality public human-written text sometime between 2026 and 2032 (Epoch AI).
The bigger point for business owners, in my view, is what kind of data is missing. The public web is full of articles and opinions. It’s thin on how a real team actually resolves a customer problem, moves a deal from first call to signed contract, or hands a job between people and software tools. That knowledge lives inside companies, in the operational records you already have. If AI agents are going to do useful office work, they have to learn from examples of useful office work.
It’s a license, not a sale
This is the part most owners don’t expect. Under the model DataSupply uses, you don’t sell your data and you don’t give up ownership. You keep 100% ownership of your records.
Instead, a lab licenses a one-time, de-identified snapshot under a temporary term license, typically about 90 days. The lab trains on it and then deletes the raw data. Customer data is de-identified and licensed, never sold.
I’ve spent decades negotiating oil and gas leases, so the shape of this feels familiar: you keep what you own, and someone pays for the right to use it, on your terms, for a set period. The analogy isn’t perfect, but it’s a better mental model than “selling your data.”
What gets protected
Any owner should ask about privacy first. Here’s how the process is described:
- De-identified before training. Personal names, email addresses, customer identities and trade secrets are redacted or transformed before any training happens.
- Sensitive material left out from the start. Passwords, financials and client agreements are excluded upfront.
- No access to your systems. Nobody logs into your servers, and DataSupply never receives or stores raw company files.
One rule worth repeating: legitimate data licensing should never require you to hand over logins, passwords or raw files to anyone at the first conversation. If someone asks for those to “evaluate” your data, walk away.
How the value gets set
I’m not going to put a dollar figure in this article, because nobody honestly can before the process runs. Here’s how value is actually set:
DataSupply catalogs which software tools your business uses into an anonymized metadata manifest. It describes the kinds of records you have without exposing what’s in them. That finalized manifest goes in front of multiple top vetted AI laboratories at the same time, and they bid against each other for the license. The competing bids set the value, not a price sheet.
There’s no cost upfront: no setup fees, retainers or evaluation costs. DataSupply earns a performance fee only after a deal closes and your business gets paid.
Who tends to be a fit
This isn’t for every small business, and I’d rather say that plainly. The main requirement is team size: about 20 or more people working at a desk on the same email and software. Field and hourly crews don’t count. A few special cases:
- Accounting and CPA firms can qualify from about 10 desk staff.
- Law firms can qualify from about 6 desk staff.
- Closed or closing businesses that had about 50 or more desk staff at their peak can license their old records.
Two things raise value but aren’t cutoffs: years of digital history (old or retired systems count too) and the number of systems your team uses every day, such as email, chat, CRM, help desk and project tools.
Industry matters less than how your team works. Software and IT, call centers, finance and accounting, legal and professional services, consulting, healthcare administration and medical billing, property management, ecommerce, logistics and oil and gas can all be strong fits. The US, Canada, the UK and Australia are the main focus; other countries are considered case by case.
It’s usually not a fit if your records are mostly on paper, involve minors, are export-controlled or classified, or if you don’t have the rights to license them. That last one matters for professional firms: if many of your records really belong to your clients, raise it early.
Three questions to ask yourself first
- About how many people work at a desk, on the same email and software?
- What software runs the business, and how long have you been on it?
- Who would decide on licensing company data? If it isn’t you, they should be part of the conversation.
My take
I don’t think every owner should rush into this, and I don’t think anyone should treat it as found money. But I do think established companies with real desk teams should at least know that their everyday records may have value, and that there’s a way to find out that doesn’t involve selling anything or handing over the keys. Timing can matter too: if you’re closing, selling or switching systems, that’s often when old records get archived and forgotten.
If you’re curious, the low-effort first step is the two-minute eligibility checker on BidMyData.com. It runs in your browser, and nothing you enter is stored or sent. If you look like a fit, the next step is a free, confidential 30-minute discovery call with a DataSupply consultant. It’s a conversation, not a commitment.
Disclosure, again: BidMyData.com is operated by an independent DataSupply Strategic Partner, and I may earn a referral fee if a business I refer completes a licensing deal. No outcome or amount is guaranteed; valuations are set by competitive bids from top vetted AI laboratories on the finalized data manifest.