Licensing your company's codebase to AI companies

Buyers come in two kinds. Some want repositories and nothing else, including private and legacy COBOL code. Others take code as one part of a package with email, tickets and documents. Per MIT Technology Review, code or data features in 47% of SimpleClosure's deals.

Many trades built their own software, from quoting programs and stock databases to scripts linking the accounts to the job board. Legacy languages form their own niche. We think code with years of commit history and linked tickets beats a snapshot of the current version.

1. 1Is it all yours? Software built by a contractor or on someone else's code may carry license conditions.
2. 2Any secrets inside? Old code and config files often contain passwords, API keys and customer details.
3. 3Is it still running your business? Licensing a copy is fine, but decide whether the logic is your competitive edge.

On its own, code has fetched small amounts: a few thousand dollars up to roughly $25,000 in one reported shut-down startup sale. Bundled with a company's other records, it gets priced as part of the package.