Closing your company
Closing a startup? Reported payouts for founders' data
You are winding the startup up: last payroll, dissolution paperwork, a final update to investors.
Before cancelling the subscriptions, add a task: sell the code and data. AI labs now buy training material from startups that have shut down.
In this guide
01
Two founders' deals, as reported
Keelan Miskell ran his crypto startup for roughly two and a half years. According to MIT Technology Review, its codebase brought about $25,000, with around $15,000 more for workspace data still pending. A short-lived company can still find a buyer.
At the other end sits cielo24: 13 years of Slack, Jira and email, reportedly sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Longer histories and larger teams generally mean larger payments.
02
The usual range
SimpleClosure counts over 150 data deals, the usual one landing between $10K and $100K. Per MIT Technology Review, code or data now features in 47% of its transactions.
Mercor has also sought out Slack and Jira history from startups that closed. See what dead-company data sells for.
03
Add these to your shutdown plan
- Keep Slack, Google Workspace and GitHub paid until a buyer has sampled
- Record your peak headcount and years of history
- Tell investors and the board you are exploring a data sale
- Ask two channels for offers: a shutdown service and a direct buyer
- Agree how proceeds flow under your documents
Full list in the winding-down checklist.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Will a small startup's data sell?
It can. One startup that ran about 2.5 years got about $25,000 for its code, per MIT Technology Review.
Who receives the money?
That depends on your company's documents and creditors. Reporting suggests proceeds often go to senior creditors and investors first.
Find the buyers that fit your company
Answer a few questions about your size, tools and history. We show which buyers want a company like yours. Free, no files.
Keep reading
Sources
Every number on this page links back to one of these.
- 1MIT Technology Review: AI labs are buying data from dead startups (13 Oct 2026)technologyreview.com
- 2Forbes: AI's new training data is your old work Slacks and emails (16 Apr 2026)forbes.com
- 3AI Weekly: Mercor chases shuttered startups' Slack and Jira archivesaiweekly.co
- 4SimpleClosure: what your startup's assets are worthsimpleclosure.com
- 5Pewter Datapewterdata.com
- 6Mode: company data programdata.mode.inc
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