# Help licensing company data to AI: who does which step > Looking for help selling company data to AI? Here is who does each licensing step, what we do for free, and what our optional paid readiness service covers. By Matt Burns, Vaultfish. Canonical: https://vaultfish.com/answers/help-selling-company-data-to-ai Published: 2026-07-20 Updated: 2026-10-14 ## The short answer Help comes from the program's own team, an advisor, a lawyer or a readiness service. Our fit check, discovery call, tools, guides and introductions are free. Managed readiness is a paid option, quoted in writing first. We never take a percentage of your deal. The useful question is which step you need help with, and who is paid to do it. ## Which steps need help, and who does them? | Step | Who helps | What a source says | |---|---|---| | Inventory and sizes | You, a program's intake form, or us | micro1's David Revland described, in an undated recorded forum talk, a data manifest form that asks which services you use and a rough size for each (self-reported) | | Rights and contracts | Your lawyer | Frankfurt Kurnit says to review customer, partner, vendor and platform terms before any offer ([its checklist](https://technologylaw.fkks.com/post/102o455/selling-company-data-for-ai-training-what-to-know-before-you-say-yes)) | | Matching to buyers | An advisor or a buyer | [Handshake AI](https://joinhandshake.com/ai/data-partnerships/) says it holds a scoping call on data parameters, de-identification, terms and timeline, then delivers to labs under contract | | Transfer | micro1, per its forum talk | Revland said in the same talk that micro1's engineers walk your IT team through the transfer, and its CFO put IT time at about 10 hours over a week or two (self-reported) | | Anonymizing | The company you license to | [Troveo](https://www.troveo.ai/business-data) says it handles the anonymization, packaging and buyer conversations | ## What do we do? The fit check, a discovery call, the tools, the guides and introductions are free to your company. Managed readiness is an optional paid service. It produces five pieces: a buyer one-pager, a systems inventory, questions for your counsel, a buyer shortlist with each buyer's current criteria, and a term-question checklist. We build them from descriptions and counts, never records, and deliver in 2 to 3 weeks with two rounds of revisions. Every legal question goes to your counsel in writing. The [managed readiness page](/managed-readiness) shows what goes into each piece and who decides it. ## What do we never do? We never touch your data, hold your credentials or sit in a data room. We give no legal advice and never say whether you may license a set of records. We don't negotiate or sign for you, and we guarantee no buyer, price or timeline. A review can end in a no, or a price near zero. ## How are we paid? Managed readiness is optional, scoped and quoted in writing before you pay. Everything else on this page is free to your company, and we never take a percentage of your deal. micro1 may pay us a referral fee if a company we introduce goes ahead with it. [How we are paid](https://vaultfish.com/disclosure) ## How does an advisor's fee compare? A success-fee advisor charges nothing upfront and takes a percentage of what you receive, agreed in writing and charged when you are paid. Managed readiness is a fee quoted in writing before you pay, and it does not change with your deal. Our [advisor page](/answers/data-licensing-advisor) shows how each fee model pulls in a different direction, and our [services page](/answers/ai-data-licensing-services) compares the kinds of provider. ## Where do you start? Run the [rights check](/rights-check) or take the free [fit check](/business). Both take a few answers and no data. Talk to a privacy or commercial lawyer in your state before you sign. Figure: steps We gather the facts -> Your counsel decides -> You choose, then the transfer. We gather the facts, your counsel makes the legal calls, and you choose the buyer. [Apply to micro1's data partnership (paid link)](https://req.micro1.ai/post/74520e8b-4673-4da5-b855-53609aaf6710?referralCode=f82e519e-5d64-4e0e-9574-760c84371cf2&utm_source=referral&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=data_referral) ยท [micro1's own data-partnerships page](https://www.micro1.ai/data-partnerships) _Paid link: micro1 may pay us a referral fee if a company we introduce goes ahead with it. You pay nothing extra._ _Vaultfish helps you run the process. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. If you need counsel who knows this area, we can point you to one._ ## Sources - [its checklist](https://technologylaw.fkks.com/post/102o455/selling-company-data-for-ai-training-what-to-know-before-you-say-yes) - [Handshake AI](https://joinhandshake.com/ai/data-partnerships/) - [Troveo](https://www.troveo.ai/business-data)