How to bring up your records with your wind-down team

Closing a company is tiring. You want the lease ended, the staff paid and the filings done. A long talk about records will feel like one more chore. One short question will not.

When to bring it up

Raise it when your attorney or shutdown service walks you through the closing checklist, at the line about systems and accounts. You are already thinking about shutting things off. Say it before anything is deleted.

1. 1

   First call

2. 2

   Checklist review

   Ask while the list is open.

3. 3

   Last payroll

What to say

Use your own words. This is a base.

"Before we shut off Slack and email, one quick question. Some AI labs pay to use old company records. Most records are worth little, and some are worth a phone call. Can we hold off on deleting anything until I run a free check?"

If they ask what that means, give the picture.

"It works like renting a room in a house I own. A lab uses the records for a while, under rules. I keep the house. My lawyer reads every contract first."

If you decide against it, ask them to write that down in the file and move on.

Five worries, with calm answers

"Who decides what happens to the records?"

You do, with your lawyer. The check is short, and you can stop at any point. Nothing moves to a buyer without your yes.

"What about my employees' privacy?"

This is the biggest risk in a wind-down. The Spirit Airlines sale drew an objection from a union over employee data, per Time. Your lawyer decides what can be shared and what must come out first. See our risks page.

"Does anyone really buy old Slack?"

Yes, in some cases. SimpleClosure sold archives from nearly 100 small companies at $10,000 to $100,000 each, per Gizmodo.

Google won the auction for one airline's archive with a $10 million bid, and court approval is pending, per Time. Those are ranges from public deals, and many records are worth little.

"Who gets the money, me or the creditors?"

That depends on the company, the debts and the court if there is one. Your counsel answers that, not us. We say so up front, so nobody is surprised later.

"The deletion date is next week."

Then the check matters more. If the law and your counsel allow it, pause deletion for a few days. The first check takes about three minutes, and you decide after that.

What to do after the talk

1. Run the free data check and bring the result to your wind-down team.
2. If it looks worth a call, send Matt a note. Your shutdown service can also send us your name, with your OK.
3. Compare the buyers side by side on the buyer comparison.
4. Pause deletion if allowed, and ask your team to add the records step to the file.

If your attorney or shutdown service sent you to us, we tell you so. With your OK, we send them a short note once we have talked.

What about a fee for your attorney?

Your attorney gets no per-referral fee from us. Their duty runs to you, and you pay them for any legal review. The page on who pays whom on your wind-down team has the rest.

A few tips for the conversation

• Say "records," not "data."
• Use the room picture, not the tech.
• Quote numbers with their source, and call them ranges.
• Go easy on yourself. Closing a company is a loss.