Markfive Advisory
Markfive is an advisory firm for owners of established US businesses. Our practice is sell-side records licensing: we represent owners who license copies of their operating records to AI developers, from the first assessment to signed terms.
The practice
AI developers have read the public internet. What they cannot find there is how real work gets done: how a quote is priced, a part is reworked or a delivery is rescued. That history sits in the systems your team has used for years.
Most owners have never been asked to sell it, and the buyers are not set up to explain it. We sit between the two. We find out what your records show, keep out what should stay private, and bring a clear opportunity to a buyer who wants it.
We work with one buyer at a time. Buyers take a serious look at an opportunity that is not being auctioned, and you are never pulled into several negotiations at once.
What qualifies
A finished report tells part of the story. A request, the steps your team took and the outcome, kept together, show how the business actually runs. That is what buyers look for.
You do not need an organized archive. Start with the tools you have used and the years they cover.
Our order shows delivered on Monday. Nothing reached our dock and we need it by Friday.
Traced the carrier scan. It was left at the wrong dock on the same street. Reshipped overnight.
Order received. The carrier was told about the dock label and the cause is noted on the account.
Illustration, not a client record
Markets
Job travelers, quality records, change orders and the drawings behind each part.
CAD models, calculations, revisions and the correspondence behind each project.
Orders, substitutions, delivery exceptions and the customer threads that resolved them.
Bids, RFIs, submittals, daily logs and closeout packages.
Work orders, service notes, parts used and what fixed the problem.
Quotes, dispatch notes, claims and the exceptions handled on the road.
Requests, methods, results and the reports that went back to the client.
Engagement files, working papers and the decisions recorded along the way.
Approach
A 20-minute conversation about the work you do, the systems you have used and how many years they cover. We say plainly if your records are unlikely to sell. No files and no logins.
We work out what you may license and what stays out: client files under contract, staff and pay records, anything regulated. You approve the scope before anything moves.
We prepare a short brief with no name on it and take it to the single buyer that fits best. A sample goes out only with your written approval. If that buyer passes, we go to the next.
We work through price, permitted use, exclusivity, delivery and payment with you. Your own counsel reads the license. You sign directly with the buyer and keep your originals.
The license
We go through each of these with you before you sign anything.
The firm
We take on a limited number of owners at a time. The people you speak to on the first call are the people who run your process through to signature.
Markfive LLC, a Virginia limited liability company.
Questions
No. You license a copy of past records and keep the originals. Nobody gets access to your systems.
The copy is de-identified, which is not the same as anonymous. You decide what stays out, such as client files, staff records and anything regulated, before anything is shared.
There is no price list. A buyer prices a set of records after reviewing what it holds, and many firms are offered less than they expect or nothing at all. We will not quote a number for your firm before that review.
The buyer or licensing house pays our fee when a deal closes. You never pay us. Because the buyer pays us, we are not your lawyer, and we ask you to have your own counsel review the license.
No. Nothing is binding until you sign a license with the buyer, and you can stop at any step.
Records from a closed or closing business can still qualify, as long as they still exist and you have the right to license them.
Inquiry
A note on what your company does and the systems you have used is enough to begin. We read every inquiry ourselves and reply by email.
Please do not send files or records. We will say how to proceed in our reply.
Or read more on how it works.