Insights
Wind-downs and transitions
95 guides · page 1 of 2
ABC vs Chapter 7 for a startup: which preserves more value from data?
ABC vs Chapter 7 for a startup, compared on speed, cost, buyer title, privacy review and data handling, with the questions boards ask before choosing.
Access risks at shutdown: revoke departing staff without losing the archive
Revoke access when closing a company without losing records: suspend before you delete, keep two admins and a break-glass account, and transfer data first.
Accommodation agreements for distressed auto suppliers: records and tooling
What an accommodation agreement for a distressed automotive supplier usually covers: access rights, tooling, records to preserve and what stays off-limits.
Assignment for the benefit of creditors: what happens to the company's data
In an assignment for the benefit of creditors, company data passes to the assignee. Learn who holds title, who can sign a license and how proceeds flow.
AI interest in bankrupt companies' data: what courts check before a lot sells
AI developers may bid on a bankrupt company's records. What courts check before a data lot sells: authority, notice, privacy policies, liens and license terms.
Before you sign a shutdown service agreement: questions about data rights
Shutdown service provider questions to ask before signing: who controls your records, what gets deleted and when, and how a data license fits the plan.
Board resolution for a data license during a wind-down: what to include
What a board resolution for a wind-down asset sale or data license should include: scope, exclusions, conditions, consents, signing authority and proceeds.
Business owner retiring without a successor: a records-first exit plan
Retiring with no successor? A two-year, one-year and six-month plan to protect job, order and quality records before you sell, hand over or close.
Can a closed startup sell its Slack messages and emails?
A closed startup can license Slack messages and emails only when four conditions hold. Use this yes-if rule to see which channels and inboxes qualify.
Can a dissolved Delaware corporation still sign a data license?
How winding up works for a dissolved Delaware corporation, when it can still license its records, who signs, and how terms must fit the wind-up period.
Can data licensing proceeds fund a wind-down?
Can you fund wind-down costs with asset sales such as a data license? How license payment timing compares with payroll, leases and renewals.
Can you license data from software you no longer pay for?
Can you license data from a cancelled SaaS account? It depends on whether you exported it, the vendor still holds it, or it is gone. Deadlines to check.
Can you sell source code from a company that shut down?
Selling source code after a startup shutdown turns on four rights checks and a secrets scan. See what to verify, what to preserve and when licensing beats a sale.
Cancelling SaaS subscriptions in a wind-down: export checklist
Export data before cancelling SaaS tools in a wind-down: a system-by-system checklist, the order to cancel in, and how to verify every export first.
Chapter 11 liquidating plans and data assets: what the plan administrator can do
Liquidating trust data assets: where a plan administrator's power to license records comes from, which privacy limits remain, and an authority checklist.
Chapter 7 trustee's guide to a debtor's cloud accounts and SaaS records
A Chapter 7 trustee's first-month checklist for debtor cloud accounts: secure admin access, stop automated deletion, inventory SaaS records and value them.
Chief restructuring officer checklist for overlooked intangible assets
A chief restructuring officer checklist for intangible assets that slip past the first inventory: operating records, domains, contract rights and claims.
Closing a business checklist: records, systems and subscriptions
A closing a business checklist with the records track most guides skip: exports before cancellations, retention, value review and final deletion.
Closing a consulting firm: records retention and client file duties
Closing consulting business records the right way: client return-or-destroy duties, retention by record type, and an archive plan that keeps options open.
Closing a machine shop: customer programs, drawings and records
Closing a machine shop? A checklist for returning customer programs and drawings, keeping quality records, archiving the ERP and assessing your own history.
Closing a staffing agency: what to do with candidate and client records
Closing a staffing agency? A records checklist for payroll, I-9s, timesheets, client contracts and candidate files, plus what to export before cancelling.
Closing an architecture firm: records, clients and licenses checklist
Closing an architecture firm checklist: what to do for clients, open projects, firm licenses, insurance tail, records custody, software and the archive.
Customer contracts after shutdown: confidentiality clauses that survive
Confidentiality survives termination of most customer contracts, even after a shutdown. A survival clause checklist and an exclusion approach for archives.
Directors' duties in the zone of insolvency: do they include data assets?
Director duties in the zone of insolvency, mapped: whom the board serves as cash runs low, and why overlooked records like support and code history count.
Do former employees have to consent before a closed company licenses their messages?
Employee consent for licensing Slack messages after a company closes turns on three questions: ownership, personal data and third-party confidentiality.
Do preferred investors have to approve a data license in a wind-down?
Investor approval for an asset sale or data license in a wind-down: when preferred holders, the board, stockholders and lenders consent, and what to read.
Does a B2B company's bankruptcy data sale need a privacy ombudsman?
Privacy ombudsman rules for B2B bankruptcy data sales: which records about individuals raise the question, and why de-identified records may not.
Does a secured lender's lien cover data licensing revenue?
Whether a blanket lien on general intangibles reaches your records and the fees they earn, which loan clauses to read, and how to ask for lender consent.
Domain and email after shutdown: why letting them lapse is risky
What happens to a company domain after shutdown? Once it lapses, anyone can register it and receive your email. Learn when it is safe to let the domain go.
Exit planning checklist: is your operating data part of the value?
An exit planning checklist for owners: goals and timing, financials, contracts and people, plus a data readiness section on records, rights and prior licenses.
Fraudulent transfer risk: licensing data just before insolvency
Fraudulent transfer rules before bankruptcy can unwind a rushed data license. Learn the reasonably equivalent value test and how to document fair value.
Google Workspace at shutdown: export everything before deleting the account
Export Google Workspace before closing your business in the right order: Vault holds, the admin export, Drive ownership transfers, checks, then cancellation.
How assignees value and sell intangible assets in an ABC
How an ABC assignee values and sells intangible assets: lot brands, code, domains and operational records separately to reach the right buyer for each.
How long to keep emails after closing a business
How long to keep business emails after closing depends on what each email proves. Use this rule by email type, and see which inboxes may hold value.
How much can a shut-down company's workplace data be worth?
How much is dead startup data worth? There is no price list. See the value drivers buyers weigh, and the avoidable losses that cut value after a shutdown.
How to export a Slack workspace before you shut down the company
Export a Slack workspace before shutting down: what each export type covers, what needs approval, what exports leave out and how to verify the result.
HR channels and DMs: what to exclude from a closed company's archive
Exclude HR data from the archive before any license: a checklist for HR channels, DMs, reviews, pay, investigations, and how to find hidden sensitive threads.
HubSpot portal at shutdown: what to export before you downgrade
HubSpot export before canceling: an object-by-object checklist for contacts, deals, logged emails and engagements, plus what HubSpot keeps after termination.
Indemnities and reps when a seller will cease to exist
Indemnification from a dissolved seller is hard to collect. Compare as-is terms, holdbacks, escrow and insurance for data licenses and wind-down asset sales.
Inherited a business? What to do with its records
Inherited business records? A step-by-step guide for heirs and executors: secure access, keep required records, inventory systems, get advice, then decide.
Insolvency professionals' guide to AI-era data assets
Insolvency data assets now include operational records that AI developers license. A workflow for trustees, receivers and assignees, from access to approval.
Is it ethical to license a dead company's Slack archive?
Is it ethical to sell employee Slack messages from a closed company? Five principles, what to leave out, and the questions a founder should answer first.
Licensing data outside bankruptcy to avoid a filing: is it worth trying?
A CFO's framework for licensing company data to raise cash outside bankruptcy: when it can help, when it cannot, and how to limit fraudulent-transfer risk.
Licensing vs selling data assets in bankruptcy: why non-exclusive licenses matter
Should an estate license data in bankruptcy instead of selling it? Compare outright sale, exclusive and non-exclusive licenses on value, privacy and control.
Litigation holds during a wind-down: what you cannot delete
A litigation hold during a wind-down overrides deletion plans: what a hold covers, which systems need care, and how to keep held and licensed copies apart.
Microsoft 365 after cancellation: grace, disabled and deleted stages explained
What happens to Microsoft 365 data after a subscription ends: the expired, disabled and deleted stages, what admins can do in each, and what to export first.
Microsoft Teams or Slack consolidation: archiving the platform you drop
Migrating Slack to Teams after an acquisition? Move active channels, archive the rest as a complete export, and keep old history intact for holds and records.
Notion and Google Drive at shutdown: preserving internal docs with context
Export a Notion workspace and Google Drive before closing a company without losing authors, dates, links and hierarchy. A settings checklist for ops leads.