# Acquihire meaning: how deals work and what's left to sell

> What an acquihire is, how acqui-hire deals are structured, who gets paid, how reverse acquihires work, and what a startup can sell when no one wants the team.

Canonical: https://origindatapartners.com/guides/acquihire-vs-selling-startup-data
By: Origin Data Partners
Status: Published
Published: 2026-11-05
Updated: 2026-11-05
Sources checked: 2026-11-05

## Quick answer

An acquihire (also written acqui-hire) is a deal in which a company buys a startup, or hires its team and licenses its technology, mainly to get its people rather than its product. Most of the money usually goes to the hired team as signing bonuses, retention payments and stock in the buyer. Investors receive only what the deal pays the company or routes to them, and they often use the consents it needs to ask for their money back. In a reverse acquihire the buyer hires the founders and pays a licence fee without buying the company, as Microsoft did with Inflection in 2024 and Google with Windsurf in 2025. When no buyer wants the team, the startup can still sell or license what it built: code, patents, domains, customer contracts and its workspace records, which AI developers now buy from closed companies.

## Key points

- In an acquihire the money mostly follows the people: compensation for the hired team does not pass through the cap table.
- Investors' leverage is the approvals and waivers a deal needs; they often make them conditional on a 1x return.
- No buyer for the team does not mean nothing to sell: code, IP, domains and workspace records can be sold or licensed on their own.

## What is an acquihire?

Before you agree a team deal or shut the company, check what its records are worth. AI developers now pay for the operational records of closing and closed companies, such as code, tickets, email and chat archives ([public deals](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/ai-data-licensing-deals)). A [free valuation](https://origindatapartners.com/check-fit) takes six questions about the business and no files.

An acquihire is the purchase of a company to use its employees' skills or knowledge rather than its products or services. The word blends acquisition and hiring ([Haekens](https://kgi.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Reverse-Acquihires-in-AI_Haekens_46.pdf)), and [Cambridge Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/acquihire) lists acqui-hire, acquihire and acqhire as spellings of the same thing. In these deals the buyer has little interest in the startup's projects or assets; its main motive is to hire some or all of the engineers ([Coyle and Polsky, Duke Law Journal](https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol63/iss2/1/)).

Large technology companies have used the structure for years. Mark Zuckerberg once said Facebook had "not once bought a company for the company itself," buying companies instead to get excellent people (quoted by [Haekens](https://kgi.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Reverse-Acquihires-in-AI_Haekens_46.pdf)). Since 2024 a variant, the reverse acquihire, has driven the largest AI deals (see below).

Source: [Cambridge Dictionary: acqui-hire](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/acquihire)

## How acquihire deals are structured

Acquihires generally take one of three forms, each with different liability and payout effects ([CRV](https://www.crv.com/content/acquihire-explained)):

- Most of the value usually goes to the people. Proceeds are directed to the founders as signing bonuses, retention payments and vesting stock options in the buyer, plus any purchase price or licence fee for the IP ([Ashurst](https://www.ashurstperkinscoie.com/en/insights/tech-ma-recent-acquihires-in-the-tech-sector/)). Those packages do not pass through the cap table, so the headline value can overstate what investors and common stockholders receive ([CRV](https://www.crv.com/content/acquihire-explained)).
- Staff the buyer does not keep fare worst: no new job and no equity value if common stock is underwater after preferences are paid ([CRV](https://www.crv.com/content/acquihire-explained)).
- Investors are not powerless. A deal usually needs their approvals, waivers, consents and indemnities, so they can make cooperation conditional on part of the consideration, often a 1x return ([Ashurst](https://www.ashurstperkinscoie.com/en/insights/tech-ma-recent-acquihires-in-the-tech-sector/)). Coyle and Polsky predicted a money-back-for-the-investors norm would develop ([Duke Law Journal](https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol63/iss2/1/)), and newer charters treat an IP licence plus a transfer of key staff as a liquidation event, so the proceeds follow the preference waterfall ([EquityZen](https://blog.equityzen.com/the-death-of-the-backdoor-exit-how-charters-are-closing-the-acquihire-loophole)).
- Founders usually owe the startup confidentiality, non-compete and loyalty obligations, so a buyer will seek indemnities from investors and a covenant not to sue from the startup and its stockholders ([Ashurst](https://www.ashurstperkinscoie.com/en/insights/tech-ma-recent-acquihires-in-the-tech-sector/)).
- The parties also decide whether and when the startup is wound down, and how it pays its tax, employee and creditor liabilities ([Ashurst](https://www.ashurstperkinscoie.com/en/insights/tech-ma-recent-acquihires-in-the-tech-sector/)).

| Structure | What the buyer gets | What happens to the startup | Where the money goes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Stock sale or merger | All of the company's equity; liabilities move with it | Becomes part of the buyer | The price flows through the cap table; the hired team also gets compensation |
| Asset sale | Specific assets such as IP and employment contracts | Left behind to pay its debts and wind down | The price goes to the company for creditors, then stockholders; the team gets compensation |
| Licence plus release (the reverse acquihire) | Access to the IP and the ability to hire key people | Stays in existence, often without its leaders | A licence fee to the company, if any; most value to the hired team |

Source: [Ashurst: recent acquihires in the tech sector (Aug 2024)](https://www.ashurstperkinscoie.com/en/insights/tech-ma-recent-acquihires-in-the-tech-sector/)

## What is a reverse acquihire? Four AI deals compared

In a reverse acquihire, a large company hires an AI startup's founders and key employees and pays the startup for a licence to its technology instead of buying it ([Haekens](https://kgi.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Reverse-Acquihires-in-AI_Haekens_46.pdf)). The startup keeps existing, usually with part of its team. Regulators have looked closely: the FTC opened probes into Microsoft's Inflection deal and Amazon's hiring of Adept employees ([CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/19/how-ai-zombie-deals-work-meta-google.html)), and the UK's competition authority concluded that the Inflection arrangements amounted to a merger ([Ashurst](https://www.ashurstperkinscoie.com/en/insights/tech-ma-recent-acquihires-in-the-tech-sector/)).

- The staff left behind carry the risk. Windsurf employees hired in the previous year received no payout from the Google deal, and investors left the company over $100 million in capital to keep operating ([TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/01/more-details-emerge-on-how-windsurfs-vcs-and-founders-got-paid-from-the-google-deal/)).
- An investor quoted by [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/19/how-ai-zombie-deals-work-meta-google.html) said what is left after such deals is something resembling a zombie company.
- A non-exclusive licence leaves the startup free to license the same technology elsewhere, as TechCrunch noted of Inflection ([TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/21/microsoft-inflection-ai-investors-reid-hoffman-bill-gates/)).

| Deal | What the buyer paid for | What investors and staff got | What was left | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Microsoft and Inflection AI (March 2024) | About $650 million: $620 million in non-exclusive licence fees and $30 million for Inflection to agree not to sue over the hiring, which included its co-founders | Reportedly 1.5x for investors in the early $225 million round and 1.1x in the later $1.3 billion round; they kept their equity | A company pivoting to an AI studio for other businesses | [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/21/microsoft-inflection-ai-investors-reid-hoffman-bill-gates/) |
| Amazon and Adept (June 2024) | A licence to Adept's technology; its co-founders and part of the team joined Amazon | Adept received around $25 million; investors who put in $414 million were expected to roughly recoup their investment | About a third of the employees, refocused on agentic AI products | [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/28/amazon-hires-founders-away-from-ai-startup-adept); [Semafor](https://www.semafor.com/article/08/02/2024/investors-in-adept-ai-will-be-paid-back-after-amazon-hires-startups-top-talent) |
| Google and Character.AI (August 2024) | A non-exclusive licence to its technology, reported at $2.7 billion; its two co-founders rejoined Google | An escrow from Google's cash, paid out to employees over time, its interim CEO said | Most staff stayed. In October 2026 it filed for Chapter 11, with Disney as stalking-horse bidder to license some of its IP for $20 million | [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/02/character-ai-ceo-noam-shazeer-returns-to-google/); [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/19/how-ai-zombie-deals-work-meta-google.html); [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/13/character-ai-chapter-11-disney-bid.html) |
| Google and Windsurf (July 2025) | $2.4 billion in licence fees and compensation; the CEO and other senior staff joined Google | Investors about $1.2 billion, about 4x the roughly $243 million raised; the other half went to about 40 employees Google hired | About 200 staff, sold days later to Cognition, reportedly for $250 million, with vesting cliffs waived and fully accelerated vesting | [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/14/cognition-to-buy-ai-startup-windsurf-days-after-google-poached-ceo.html); [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/01/more-details-emerge-on-how-windsurfs-vcs-and-founders-got-paid-from-the-google-deal/); [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/19/how-ai-zombie-deals-work-meta-google.html) |

Source: [Haekens: Reverse acquihires in AI, Georgetown Digital Competition Conference (2026)](https://kgi.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Reverse-Acquihires-in-AI_Haekens_46.pdf)

## When no acquirer wants the team

Acquihires usually happen when a startup has struggled to raise money on acceptable terms, has not found a buyer for its shares and has no route to an IPO ([Ashurst](https://www.ashurstperkinscoie.com/en/insights/tech-ma-recent-acquihires-in-the-tech-sector/)). If no one makes an offer for the team either, the board's job is to get the most from what remains. The options range from an informal approach to a public bankruptcy filing ([Cooley](https://www.cooleygo.com/running-out-of-cash-your-duties-and-options-for-winding-down/)):

- Individual hires: other companies may still hire people one by one. That is not an acquihire, and it pays the company nothing.
- Sell the assets, then dissolve. Code, patents, domains and customer contracts can be sold separately. In Delaware, a sale of all or substantially all assets needs a majority stockholder vote ([section 271](https://delcode.delaware.gov/title8/c001/sc010/index.html)).
- Dissolve: a formal state process, typically managed by an officer, that winds up the company and ends it ([Cooley](https://www.cooleygo.com/running-out-of-cash-your-duties-and-options-for-winding-down/)). See the [startup shutdown checklist](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/how-to-shut-down-a-startup) and [how to dissolve a corporation](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/dissolve-a-corporation).
- If debts exceed assets: an assignment for the benefit of creditors, where a professional assignee liquidates the assets for creditors, or Chapter 7, where a trustee takes control. See [selling company data in an ABC](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/company-data-assignment-for-benefit-of-creditors) and [business bankruptcy and company data](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/business-bankruptcy-company-data).
- Start early. [Carta](https://carta.com/learn/startups/exit-strategies/dissolution/) advises beginning a dissolution at least three months before the cash runs out, and a team's negotiating power lasts only while it is still together ([CRV](https://www.crv.com/content/acquihire-explained)).

Source: [Cooley GO: running out of cash, your duties and options for winding down (reviewed Sept 2025)](https://www.cooleygo.com/running-out-of-cash-your-duties-and-options-for-winding-down/)

## What a startup can still sell without its team

Even after an acquihire, much of the company is left to sell. When Google hired Windsurf's leaders, Cognition bought the rest: its intellectual property, product, trademark, brand and remaining staff ([CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/14/cognition-to-buy-ai-startup-windsurf-days-after-google-poached-ceo.html)). Character.AI's bankruptcy sale opened with a $20 million bid to license some of its IP ([CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/13/character-ai-chapter-11-disney-bid.html)). For a smaller startup, these are the assets to list:

- The last row is new. AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models, [MIT Technology Review](https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models/) reported in October 2026, and demand for defunct companies' data emerged suddenly last year. One wind-down firm it quoted values a dying client's assets by head count, years in operation, volume of data and how the team used its tools.
- The CEO of Cielo24, a now-defunct software company, sold every Slack message, internal email and Jira ticket as training data for "hundreds of thousands of dollars," [Fast Company reported](https://www.fastcompany.com/91528808/shuttered-startups-are-selling-old-slack-chats-and-emails-to-ai-companies).
- Suppliers scrub personally identifiable information and exclude HR records, according to MIT Technology Review. See [how to de-identify company data](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/de-identify-company-data-before-licensing) and [selling source code for AI training](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/sell-source-code-ai-training).
- Licensing records does not need the team, and a licence can be non-exclusive, so the company keeps its copies and can license them again.

| Asset | Who might pay | What makes it worth more |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Source code and repositories | Companies in the same space; AI developers that want real code with its history | Signed IP assignments from every employee and contractor; reviews and tickets kept with the code |
| Patents and trademarks | Acquirers, competitors and patent buyers | Recorded assignments: a patent assignment is void against a later buyer without notice unless recorded within three months ([35 U.S.C. 261](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/261)) |
| Domains and brand | Companies in the same market | An active domain with traffic; registered trademarks |
| Customer contracts | Competitors that take over the customers | Contracts that can be assigned; clean billing records |
| Workspace records: Slack or Teams, email, tickets, documents | AI developers that license company records for training and testing | Years of history, a team of dozens, linked systems, personal data removed |

Source: [MIT Technology Review: AI labs buying data from dead startups (Oct 2026)](https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models/)

## Before you delete company systems, check what the records are worth

Acquihire talks and shutdowns both tend to end with cancelled subscriptions. When the team leaves and Slack, Google Workspace, GitHub and Jira lapse, the records go too, and the people who could explain them have already gone.

Checking takes minutes: [see what the company's records are worth](https://origindatapartners.com/check-fit) from six questions, before any system is cancelled or any team deal is signed.

- Keep one admin account on every system until the exports are complete.
- Check what an export includes. Slack's Free and Pro plans export public channels only; private channels and direct messages need a Business+ or Enterprise plan, and the workspace owner must apply ([Slack](https://slack.com/help/articles/201658943-Export-your-workspace-data)).
- Keep what the law requires. US employment tax records must be kept at least 4 years, and insurers or creditors may need records longer ([IRS](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/how-long-should-i-keep-records)).
- Read the acquihire agreement. If the buyer licenses or buys the IP, confirm whether code and internal records are included before offering them to anyone else.
- More detail by system: [export company records before closing](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/export-company-records-before-closing).

Source: [Slack: Export your workspace data](https://slack.com/help/articles/201658943-Export-your-workspace-data)

## Acquihire vs asset sale vs data licence vs dissolution

The routes can be combined: a startup can license its records, sell its code and then dissolve. How they compare:

|  | Acquihire | Asset sale | Data licence | Dissolution |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| What changes hands | The team, plus the company, its assets or a licence to its IP | Specific assets: code, IP, domains, contracts | A licence to use copies of records; the company keeps them | Nothing by itself; assets are sold or distributed while winding up |
| Needs the team | Yes | No | No | No |
| Who decides | Founders negotiate; investor consents and waivers are usually needed | The board; in Delaware also a stockholder majority for all or substantially all assets | The board, or a trustee or assignee once a formal process starts | In Delaware, the board and a majority of the outstanding voting stock, plus any preferred vote |
| Where the money goes | Mostly to the hired team; to the company only as a price or licence fee | To the company: creditors first, then stockholders by preference | To the company, like any asset sale | Creditors first, then stockholders in the order the charter sets |
| The company afterwards | Merged into the buyer, or left with little or no team | Usually wound down | Keeps operating or winds down; a non-exclusive licence leaves it free to license again | Ended; a Delaware corporation continues 3 years to wind up |
| Main risk | Staff left behind; investor and founder disputes | A price below the debts | Personal data in the records | Claims after distribution; records deleted too early |

Source: [Delaware Code, Title 8, sections 271 to 285 (sale of assets, dissolution and winding up)](https://delcode.delaware.gov/title8/c001/sc010/index.html)

## Founder decision checklist: acquihire, sale or shutdown

Work through these with counsel before signing a term sheet or announcing a shutdown.

| Question | Why it matters |
| --- | --- |
| Is the offer for the team, or for a few people? | Individual hires pay the company nothing; an acquihire can include a price or licence fee |
| How is the money split between compensation and price? | Compensation bypasses the cap table, so investors and staff not hired may get little |
| What do the investors' documents require? | Approvals, waivers and preferred protective provisions give investors a say; newer charters treat a licence-plus-hire deal as a liquidation event |
| What happens to employees the buyer does not hire? | They may get no job and no equity value; settle severance, vesting and notice before announcing |
| Can the company pay its debts after the deal? | If not, creditors can bring derivative claims against directors, and a formal process such as an ABC may fit better |
| Does the buyer take the IP, or license it non-exclusively? | A non-exclusive licence leaves the company free to license the same technology or records again |
| What records does the company hold, and who can export them? | Code and workspace archives can be licensed separately, but only while they exist |
| Who signs once the founders leave? | Someone with board authority must stay to run the wind-down and sign any asset sale or licence |

Source: [Cooley GO: running out of cash, your duties and options for winding down (reviewed Sept 2025)](https://www.cooleygo.com/running-out-of-cash-your-duties-and-options-for-winding-down/)

## Next step

Whether or not a team deal happens, list what the startup owns apart from its people: code, IP, domains, contracts and the records in its systems. No export is needed to find out what the records are worth. See [selling company data after closing](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/sell-company-data-after-closing), the [deals tracker](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/ai-data-licensing-deals) and, if you are selling the whole business, [licensing company data when selling a business](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/license-company-data-when-selling-business).

Origin Data Partners is independent and is not affiliated with any AI data buyer. We help owners compare buyers and find the best fit for their records. [See what your data is worth](https://origindatapartners.com/check-fit).


## Questions and answers

### What is an acquihire?

A deal in which a company buys a startup, or hires its team and licenses its technology, mainly to get its employees' skills rather than its products. The buyer usually pays much of the value as compensation to the people it hires, and the buyer has little interest in the startup's product.

### Is it acquihire or acqui-hire?

Both are used for the same thing. Cambridge Dictionary lists acqui-hire, with acquihire and acqhire as other spellings, as a noun and a verb: to buy a company in order to use its employees' skills or knowledge rather than its products or services.

### What is a reverse acquihire?

A deal in which a large company hires a startup's founders and key staff and pays the startup a licence fee for its technology, without buying the company. Microsoft and Inflection (2024), Amazon and Adept (2024), Google and Character.AI (2024) and Google and Windsurf (2025) are the best-known examples. The startup keeps existing, often with only part of its team.

### What is the difference between an acquihire and an acquisition?

In a standard acquisition the buyer pays for the business, and the price flows through the cap table to stockholders. In an acquihire the buyer mainly wants the people, so much of the value is paid as compensation to the hired team, and the product matters little to the buyer. An acquihire can still be structured as a stock purchase or merger.

### Do investors get paid in an acquihire?

Only from the part paid to the company or passed on to them. Investors often use the approvals and waivers a deal needs to negotiate a share, commonly a 1x return. Results vary widely: the investors' portion of Google's Windsurf payment was about $1.2 billion, roughly 4x what they put in, while Adept's investors were expected only to roughly recoup their $414 million.

### What happens to employees who are not hired in an acquihire?

They are in the weakest position: no job offer from the buyer, and no equity value if common stock is underwater after preferences are paid. At Windsurf, about 200 of roughly 250 employees were not hired by Google; the remaining company was sold days later to Cognition, which waived vesting cliffs and fully accelerated vesting.

### Can a startup sell its code and data without an acquihire?

Yes. The company owns its code, IP, domains and records, and can sell or license them separately from its people, before or during a wind-down. AI developers now buy closed startups' workspace data, usually with personal information removed. The board, or later a trustee or assignee, has to sign.

### What happens to a startup after a reverse acquihire?

It keeps existing with whoever stays. Inflection pivoted to an AI studio for other businesses, Adept kept about a third of its employees, Windsurf's remaining company was sold to Cognition, and Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 in October 2026, two years after its Google deal.

## Sources

- [Cambridge Dictionary: acqui-hire](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/acquihire)
- [Coyle and Polsky: Acqui-hiring, 63 Duke Law Journal 281 (2013)](https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol63/iss2/1/)
- [CRV: acquihire explained](https://www.crv.com/content/acquihire-explained)
- [Ashurst: recent acquihires in the tech sector (Aug 2024)](https://www.ashurstperkinscoie.com/en/insights/tech-ma-recent-acquihires-in-the-tech-sector/)
- [EquityZen: how charters are closing the acquihire loophole (2026)](https://blog.equityzen.com/the-death-of-the-backdoor-exit-how-charters-are-closing-the-acquihire-loophole)
- [Haekens: Reverse acquihires in AI, Georgetown Digital Competition Conference (2026)](https://kgi.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Reverse-Acquihires-in-AI_Haekens_46.pdf)
- [TechCrunch: Microsoft's Inflection deal and its investors (Mar 2024)](https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/21/microsoft-inflection-ai-investors-reid-hoffman-bill-gates/)
- [TechCrunch: Amazon hires founders away from AI startup Adept (June 2024)](https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/28/amazon-hires-founders-away-from-ai-startup-adept)
- [Semafor: investors in Adept AI will be paid back after Amazon hires its top talent (Aug 2024)](https://www.semafor.com/article/08/02/2024/investors-in-adept-ai-will-be-paid-back-after-amazon-hires-startups-top-talent)
- [TechCrunch: Character.AI CEO Noam Shazeer returns to Google (Aug 2024)](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/02/character-ai-ceo-noam-shazeer-returns-to-google/)
- [CNBC: AI deals are leaving behind zombie companies, investors say (Aug 2025)](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/19/how-ai-zombie-deals-work-meta-google.html)
- [CNBC: Cognition to buy Windsurf days after Google hired its CEO (July 2025)](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/14/cognition-to-buy-ai-startup-windsurf-days-after-google-poached-ceo.html)
- [TechCrunch: how Windsurf's VCs and founders got paid from the Google deal (Aug 2025)](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/01/more-details-emerge-on-how-windsurfs-vcs-and-founders-got-paid-from-the-google-deal/)
- [CNBC: Character.ai files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (Oct 2026)](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/13/character-ai-chapter-11-disney-bid.html)
- [Cooley GO: running out of cash, your duties and options for winding down (reviewed Sept 2025)](https://www.cooleygo.com/running-out-of-cash-your-duties-and-options-for-winding-down/)
- [Carta: how to close a business (May 2024)](https://carta.com/learn/startups/exit-strategies/dissolution/)
- [Delaware Code, Title 8, sections 271 to 285 (sale of assets, dissolution and winding up)](https://delcode.delaware.gov/title8/c001/sc010/index.html)
- [35 U.S.C. § 261: ownership and assignment of patents (Cornell LII)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/261)
- [MIT Technology Review: AI labs buying data from dead startups (Oct 2026)](https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models/)
- [Fast Company: shuttered startups are selling old Slack chats and emails to AI companies (Apr 2026)](https://www.fastcompany.com/91528808/shuttered-startups-are-selling-old-slack-chats-and-emails-to-ai-companies)
- [Slack: Export your workspace data](https://slack.com/help/articles/201658943-Export-your-workspace-data)
- [IRS: How long should I keep records?](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/how-long-should-i-keep-records)

## Related reading

- [How to shut down a startup: a founder's checklist](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/how-to-shut-down-a-startup)
- [Closing a software business: what could have value beyond the code?](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/sell-company-data-after-closing)
- [Can a company sell its source code to AI companies for training?](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/sell-source-code-ai-training)
- [Selling your business or practice: can you license its data separately?](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/license-company-data-when-selling-business)
- [AI data licensing deals tracker: who paid what, 2023 to 2026](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/ai-data-licensing-deals)