Topology Partners: compare any offers from AI data buyers for your business data.

What we do

AI companies pay to license real records of how businesses work: the Slack and Teams threads, email, CRM history, support tickets, docs and call transcripts (where everyone consented to the recording) that show a request being handled, decided and closed. Topology Partners introduces US companies with 30–500 employees to several AI data buyers at once, so you can compare any offers instead of getting one take-it-or-leave-it quote. We are a referral intermediary. We never receive your records; any data goes from you directly to a buyer, under terms you agree with that buyer.

Who the buyers are

*From each buyer's own website, checked Oct 7–15, 2026. These are ranges, not offers. Each buyer evaluates every company, and nothing is guaranteed.

Other options: Turing licenses business data through Project Lazarus, from companies with a real operating history, including ones that have closed, and runs a referral program (fee below). Troveo is a marketplace with no referral program, so it pays us nothing.

What stays out

• Passwords or credentials
• Card and bank details
• Health information and government IDs
• HR and personnel files
• Anything your customer or vendor contracts restrict
• Privileged legal material, and anything else you name

Buyers replace names, email addresses and account details with labels (“Person 14”, “Company 08”) before training; we ask each to put its method in your contract. How the buyer gets the data (an export, or tool access you grant and can revoke) is set in your contract.

The 5 steps

1. 30-minute call. We check you against each buyer's criteria (size, systems, years of history, data ownership, exclusions).
2. Counts, not data. You send screenshots of record counts from your admin dashboards; we'll sign a mutual NDA with you first if you want one. No raw records change hands.
3. Written OK. You confirm by email which buyers we introduce you to, after we tell you in writing what each one pays us.
4. Same-day introductions to 2–3 buyers. Each reviews you on its own timeline; those that are interested make an offer. Ask each buyer for its NDA before it scopes your data.
5. You compare and choose. You sign directly with the buyer you pick, or with none.

How we're paid

If you sign with a buyer that runs a referral program, that buyer pays Topology Partners a referral fee. Each buyer's published terms, as read on October 24, 2026:

• micro1: $50,000 for deals up to $700,000, or 7.5% of deal value above that; $75,000 for a company that has shut down, on deals up to $1M. Paid by wire after micro1 has received and approved the data.
• Mercor: 5% of the signed deal, up to $100,000 (each listing sets its own cap, currently $25,000 to $92,500). Paid after your first data delivery.
• Scale AI: up to $50,000, paid only if Scale signs a partnership with you.
• Handshake AI: $10,000, paid once your data transfer is completed and accepted.
• Turing (Project Lazarus): up to $10,000 when a referral “becomes a deal”; Turing doesn't define that.
• Troveo: a marketplace with no referral program; it pays us nothing.

You pay nothing, and nothing is deducted from your contract. Because the fees differ, we tell you in writing what each buyer pays us before any introduction. Offers come straight to you, and you can strike any buyer.

Your workload

Your team's time with us: about 1 hour. A 30-minute call, about 30 minutes of record-count screenshots, then a call with each buyer that wants to proceed. If you sign, the buyer's team handles extraction and de-identification with your IT lead; ask each buyer to scope that time up front, and have your counsel review the contract.

FAQ

Is this selling our data?

No. It's a license: you keep ownership, the scope is defined and the term is fixed. You can require deletion at term end in the contract; models already trained stay trained.

Where does the data go?

To the buyer you sign with, never through Topology Partners. Buyers use it to train and test AI models, for themselves and the AI labs they supply. Some US data vendors have been reported to also sell training data to labs in China. If it matters to you, we ask every buyer in writing; any that refuses comes off your list. The ask: a contract ban on transfer to entities in China or other countries of concern, and on resale outside named customers.

We have customer data in these systems. Is that OK?

Often yes, with exclusions. Anything your customer contracts restrict is left out, and the buyer de-identifies personal details before training; ask each buyer to describe its method in writing. Companies holding patient health data are not a fit.

What if we've already talked to one of these buyers?

Tell us. We'll leave that buyer out and introduce you to the others.

How long until we're paid?

It depends on the buyer. For example, Mercor says it pays by wire on delivery of the anonymized dataset, typically 2–4 weeks after signing; micro1 says it pays in full within 30 days of accepting the data (read Oct 25, 2026); Scale AI doesn't publish its timing. Each buyer's payment terms go in your contract.

Do we have to accept any offer?

No. No fee from us, and no obligation until you sign a buyer's contract.

Next step

Reply to Hoyt's email, write to hoytgong@gmail.com, or book 30 minutes.

Topology Partners · [postal address], Boston, Massachusetts · Topology Partners is an independent referral intermediary and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the buyers named above.