Closing your company

What a failed startup can still sell: domain, code, IP and data

The company did not survive, and you would like to recover something for investors, the team or yourself.

Even a failed startup has saleable assets: the domain, the code, its IP, Slack, email, documents and software accounts. Data is the most recent addition to that list and the one most often forgotten.

AI Data Offers research deskChecked against our methodology Updated October 28, 2026 2 min read 8 sources

In this guide

Five assets, five kinds of buyer

Domain
Whoever wants the name or its traffic
Code
Companies that want the product, and AI companies that want training material
IP and patents
Strategic buyers, sometimes as a license
Workspace data: Slack, email, docs, tickets
AI data buyers and wind-down marketplaces
Accounts and brand
Buyers who want an audience or a running start

Asset	Who buys it
Domain	Whoever wants the name or its traffic
Code	Companies that want the product, and AI companies that want training material
IP and patents	Strategic buyers, sometimes as a license
Workspace data: Slack, email, docs, tickets	AI data buyers and wind-down marketplaces
Accounts and brand	Buyers who want an audience or a running start

Sell each asset separately, since whoever wants the domain seldom wants the Slack history. Put one founder in charge of each asset from start to finish.

The data line

SimpleClosure counts 150+ data deals with startups that wound down, mostly $10K to $100K. One crypto startup's codebase brought in roughly $25,000, and cielo24's 13 years of records reportedly sold for hundreds of thousands.

Who buys: SimpleClosure, Pewter for teams that peaked at 20+, Grepped for code and tickets with no stated minimum, and micro1 for closed companies with 25+ at peak.

Order of operations

1Keep every data-holding account paid
2List assets and owners on the team
3Check who owns each asset: contractors, clients, licenses
4Get indications for data and code first, since they decay fastest
5Sell the domain and brand once data buyers have sampled

See shutting down a startup and selling the codebase.

FAQ

Questions, answered

What can a failed startup sell?

Its domain, code, IP, workspace data, accounts and brand. Each usually goes to a different buyer.

Which asset should I sell first?

Data and code, because accounts lapse and value erodes quickly during a shutdown.

Find the buyers that fit your company

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Sources

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