Published 13 November 2026.
AI developers training models on real work need examples that look like the work itself: the quote, the emails that argued over the scope, the drawing that changed, the invoice that closed the job. A tidy summary written after the fact is less useful than the messy trail that produced it.
That is a general pattern, not a promise about your archive. Not every set of files is a fit, and we can’t promise a buyer. A short fit check — six questions, nothing sent — is a private way to see whether a conversation is even worth having. Sellers pay nothing for a first look. How we’re paid.
Everyday working records
The records that tend to matter are the ones staff used to do the job: emails, chats, quotes and orders, job or project files, drawings, tickets, and the CRM or support notes that sit alongside them. We describe those types in more detail under record types, and we keep a current note of what we’re being asked for on the homepage under “Wanted right now”.
At the time of writing, that note points to consulting, advisory and audit firms, and to B2B software companies with a data team, in mid-sized ranges. It is a snapshot of demand, not a rule, and it does not mean other sectors are uninteresting. If your firm is in construction, manufacturing, logistics or another of the sectors we cover, the same idea applies: linked, genuine working records, held digitally.
The links between files often matter more than the pile
A folder of invoices on its own is thinner than the same invoices tied to the quote, the correspondence and the finished job. Buyers are usually trying to learn how a decision was made and what happened next. Years of that, rather than a single month, tend to be more useful — again as a pattern, not as a valuation rule. See what affects the value of a business archive.
What is usually not a fit
- Paper archives. We deal with digital records only.
- Records you hold only for someone else, unless that owner agrees.
- Material you are not free to license — client files under professional rules, vendor-licensed software data, or records already promised exclusively to someone else. See are you free to license these records?.
- An archive where authority is unclear, including many dissolved companies, where assets have usually passed to the Crown. See digital records when a company closes.
If it isn’t a fit, we’ll say so. That conversation is free, and it doesn’t commit you to anything. For a buyer’s view of how an introduction works, there is a short page for AI developers.
This page is general information, not legal advice. It isn’t a ruling on any case. Please speak to your own adviser about your situation.
Sellers pay nothing. The first look is free. How we’re paid.