Big-money offers for your closed company's records: testing them

Treat any figure in an ad as the best case. The more careful buyers admit their ranges describe possible deals and their calculators give rough indications, with no promise attached.

Reported figures for closed startups are lower. SimpleClosure counts 150+ finished data deals with startups that wound down, usually worth $10K to $100K apiece. Expect a written offer well below the advertised maximum.

SimpleClosure's chief executive has singled out SHFA.ai as one of the advertisers whose numbers do not match closed deals. See SHFA's review.

Check how other buyers run things. Pewter says your data stays in your systems unless an offer is made and you accept it. Mode issues a non-binding letter of intent with its estimate while it reviews. Insist on a written price based on a sample.

• What have you actually paid for a company like ours?
• Will you give a written price from a sample, before a full export?
• Which party removes names and personal data, and can we check their work?
• Is the licence exclusive, and if so, for what period?
• When do you pay, and on what condition?
• Who ends up with the data?

For a buyer-by-buyer check, see how to check a buyer.