Article

How the data partnership works, step by step

Last updated October 18, 2026

Most owners who hear that company records have a price want to know one thing first. What actually happens, in what order, before anyone sees a file? micro1 answers that in four published steps: an assessment, an evaluation, a discovery call and the partnership itself. This page walks through each step, says what the company keeps at every stage, and quotes what micro1 publishes about the money.

The short answer

micro1 runs what it calls its Company Data Partnerships program. On 9 October 2026 it announced “a commitment to spend $1 billion over the next 12 months acquiring and licensing enterprise operational data” through that program. It acquires and licenses company records to train AI models on how real businesses run.

The process has four steps, and micro1 names them on its data partnerships page. Get started. Evaluation. Discovery. Partnership. micro1 says that before any participation it defines with the company the data scope, the security standards and the redaction requirements.

What matters more than the steps is what micro1 wants. It says it “uses de-identified company data.” And it says it wants “data that reflects how work is actually performed.” In a trade business, the customer names and the payments are not the point. The point is how an estimate became a job. How a change order was settled. How a repair was diagnosed.

If you want the wider picture first, the cornerstone page on what data buyers want from a trade business goes through it file by file. This page is about the order of events.

See if your company qualifies at micro1

Before step one: who micro1 is looking for

micro1 is plain about the starting line. Its data partnerships page says it is looking for “operationally mature companies with 30+ employees, established documentation, and high-quality operational data.” Its referral page lists three company requirements in short form: “30+ employees”, “US Prioritized” and “Primarily English”.

On language, micro1 says it is “primarily looking for companies that operate in English and maintain their documentation, workflows, and knowledge bases in English.” The people at the company who deal with micro1 also need to communicate in English through the partnership and onboarding.

On location, micro1 says it currently prioritises US companies, followed by other Western markets. It says demand is strongest for companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and that companies elsewhere may still be considered.

For a company of 30 or more, the first question is not the headcount. It’s whether the work was written down. A mechanical contractor with 45 people and a decade of estimates, job folders and change orders on a shared drive has documentation. A company of the same size where the senior estimator keeps it all in his head does not, yet. The lane page for companies with 30 or more staff goes through which records count.

Step 1: Get started

micro1 calls the first step “Get started” and describes it as a simple assessment process designed to identify the right partnership for the company. micro1 does not publish the questions this step asks.

micro1’s payout estimator, a separate page, asks three questions: how many employees the company has, how many years of data it has (“typically the number of years you’ve been in business”), and where the company is headquartered.

What the company keeps at this step: everything. The records stay on your server, in your CRM and in your job management system. You have told micro1 what you have, not handed it over.

Our own estimate asks a similar handful of questions and shows a range inside micro1’s published band. It takes about two minutes. It is our range, not micro1’s offer, and it is a sensible thing to look at before you fill in anything with micro1.

Step 2: Evaluation

The second step, in micro1’s words: “Our team reviews your submission to determine whether your company is a fit.” This is where micro1 decides whether to go further.

micro1’s FAQ adds detail. It says the team reviews the company and guides it through an initial interview, which “helps assess whether the company and its data are a good fit for the program.” Companies that meet the qualification criteria then move forward.

Not every company does. micro1’s referral page is direct about it: “All companies go through the micro1 evaluation process, and matching depends on client requirements, and how well they align with available opportunities.” A good set of records can still wait for the right opportunity. That is micro1’s call, and nobody outside micro1 can make it for you, us included.

What is being judged? micro1 says it wants “data that reflects how work is actually performed within an organization.” It lists standard operating procedures, process documentation, internal knowledge bases, workflows, templates and other business process artifacts. And it says the most valuable datasets “capture real operational expertise, decision-making processes, and repeatable workflows.”

In a trade business, that is the estimate file with three revisions and the note explaining why the second one dropped. It’s the job folder where the technician wrote what he found behind the wall. It’s the service ticket that says the customer reported a noise, the tech checked the bearings, and it turned out to be the mounting. Nobody wrote those to be read by a stranger. That is exactly why they are worth reading.

What the company keeps at this step: still everything. The evaluation is about what you have, not a transfer of it.

Step 3: Discovery

The third step is where the conversation gets specific. micro1’s words: “If there’s a potential fit, we’ll request additional information and schedule a discovery call to discuss your data and privacy requirements.”

Two things happen here. micro1 learns more about the records: which systems, how many years, how complete. And the company says what it needs on privacy before anything moves. Both sides come out knowing whether there is a deal worth writing down.

micro1 publishes the four things it defines with the company “before any participation”:

Approved data scope and clear boundaries.
Security and confidentiality standards.
Anonymization and redaction requirements.
Internal approval processes and permissions.

That order matters for an owner. Scope comes first. If the change orders are in and the client contracts are out, that is written down before anyone touches a file. If your operations manager has to sign off on each export, that is an internal approval process, and it goes on the list too.

This is also the step to bring the questions that worry you. Who will see the records. Where they will be processed. How long they will be kept. micro1 publishes answers to each, covered in the next step, and the discovery call is where you hear how they apply to your company. Our page on how it’s safe lists the questions worth asking.

A practical note, as our own advice: have someone on the call who knows where the records live. In a 40-person contractor that is usually the office manager or the operations lead, not the owner. They know that the old estimating software was replaced in 2019 and the export is on a drive in the back office.

What the company keeps at this step: everything, plus a clear picture of what it would be agreeing to.

Step 4: Partnership

The last step, in micro1’s words: “If approved, we’ll finalize the agreement and data requirements and begin the partnership.” micro1’s FAQ describes the same stretch as partnership discussions, agreement finalisation and onboarding. “Once onboarding is complete, the company can begin participating in the program.”

Only after this step does the company begin participating. micro1 publishes how it handles shared data.

On personal details: “Personally identifiable information (PII) is removed when relevant.” Depending on the data, micro1 says, “certain datasets may undergo synthetic rewrites that preserve workflow structure while reducing direct ties to original records.” In plain words, the sequence of the job survives. The customer’s name and address do not need to.

On who sees the records: micro1 says “access is restricted to a limited number of authorized team members.” Employees with access use company-managed devices and follow established security controls and training requirements.

On where they go: micro1 says customer data “is processed through isolated pipelines that prevent it from being commingled with other engagements.” Your job files don’t sit in a pile with another company’s.

On review: micro1 says companies “are given the opportunity to review representative samples before prepared data is used.” You see what the prepared version looks like before it is put to work.

On how long: “Data is retained only for a limited period based on agreed retention policies.” And at the end: “Upon request or at the end of an engagement, data is deleted according to the agreed retention and deletion terms.”

What the company keeps at this step is the main thing. micro1’s answer to “Who owns the data?” is one sentence: “Companies retain ownership of their underlying data.” The estimates are still your estimates. The job folders are still yours. You keep running the company on the same systems the next morning.

What micro1 pays

micro1 publishes three tiers on its data partnerships page:

$100k+: “Qualified Enterprise Data Partnerships.”
$500k+: “Large-scale operational datasets or ongoing participation across multiple teams and business functions.”
$1M+: “Highly unique, proprietary operational data” of significant value.

Its referral page gives the whole band as “$100K-$2M+ for approved data packages.”

micro1 says compensation “is based on the quality, uniqueness, and value of the data provided.” It names the factors: “dataset size and volume, workflow complexity, data quality, domain expertise represented, and the uniqueness of the operational knowledge contained within the dataset.” It adds: “Each partnership is evaluated individually.”

micro1’s own estimator is careful about its own figure. The page says: “Indicative estimate only. Final payout is determined based on data sources, volume, quality, access terms, and due diligence.” That is the honest position. The number is set at the end of the four steps, not the start.

micro1 does not publish whether payment is one sum or paid over time. Its $500k+ tier mentions “ongoing participation,” and nothing more is said. Ask about it on the discovery call. For what moves a company up or down the band, read what a company’s records are worth.

What this means for a company of 30 or more

Here is how the four steps look for three kinds of company. These are our descriptions, not micro1’s list.

A mechanical or electrical contractor of 40 to 80 people keeps its record in the estimating files, the job folders and the change orders. The bid versions show how a number was argued down or held. The job folders show what the crew found on day two that nobody priced. The change orders show who asked for what, what it cost, and how the argument with the general contractor was settled. In step two, that is the kind of record that shows “how work is actually performed.” In step three, the scope might take the change-order log and leave the client contracts out.

A service company of 30 to 100, the kind that maintains equipment on contract, keeps its record in the ticket system and the service histories. Each ticket is a diagnosis written down: what the customer reported, what the technician checked first, what it turned out to be, and what part fixed it. Ten years of those tickets show how a team learns. The dispatch notes show how the day was rebuilt when an emergency call came in at 7am.

An auto repair or fleet maintenance operation of 30 or more keeps its record in the repair orders and the parts records. The repair order holds the complaint, the cause and the correction. The parts record shows what was tried and returned before the right part went in. A repair that took three visits is worth more as a record than one that took one. It shows the reasoning.

In each case, the customer’s name on the ticket is the least interesting thing on it. The question is the same for all three: for how many years, and how completely, was the work written down where colleagues could see it? If you want to see the general version of that answer, can a company get paid for its records covers it.

Worth two minutes to see your range? The estimate asks five questions.

What is never included

micro1’s own words on this are short. Every partnership “is designed around your organization’s requirements, with clear controls over what is shared, how it is handled, and what is never included.” The approved data scope and clear boundaries are defined together before any participation, along with the anonymisation and redaction requirements. micro1 does not publish a fixed list of excluded records. What is left out is settled with each company before it participates.

Our own advice is to keep these out of scope unless micro1 tells you otherwise: attorney-client privileged records, health information, payment-card and financial-account details, Social Security numbers, minors’ data, biometric data, and classified or export-controlled material. That list is ours, not micro1’s. Ask micro1 before you apply if any of your records sit near those lines.

Two more points, also our own advice. Anything a client owns under contract belongs to the client, and only the contracts say which is which. Read them before the discovery call. And on names of staff and customers, micro1 says personally identifiable information “is removed when relevant.” Ask on the call how that is done before you scrub anything yourself. Scrubbing by hand can strip out the context that makes the record useful.

Where we fit

We, TrustPast, explain the process and give you a range with our estimate. Five questions, two minutes. The range is ours, not an offer. You apply to micro1 yourself, through the button below, and every step on this page happens between you and micro1. micro1 pays us a referral fee. You pay us nothing, and we never see your files.

Before you apply

Four things to settle first, as our own advice:

Count the people. micro1’s published line is 30 or more employees. Have the number ready; micro1’s own estimator asks for it first.
List the systems and their years. The estimating software, the job management system, the ticket system, the shared drive, the old system you replaced. For each, how far back it goes.
Find the client contracts. Anything a client owns stays out of scope, and it’s easier to say so in step three if you’ve already looked.
Leave the records as they are. The revised estimate, the disputed change order and the three-visit repair are the record. Tidying them up is the one way to make them worth less.

Then answer the five questions. If the range is worth your time, apply.

Alex, TrustPast

Questions and answers

What are the steps of a micro1 data partnership?

micro1 publishes four: get started, a short assessment to identify the right partnership; evaluation, where its team reviews the submission to decide whether the company is a fit; discovery, where it requests more information and schedules a call about the data and the privacy requirements; and partnership, where it finalises the agreement and the data requirements.

What is settled before any records are shared?

micro1 says that before any participation it defines with the company the approved data scope and clear boundaries, the security and confidentiality standards, the anonymisation and redaction requirements, and the internal approval processes and permissions.

Do we keep our records?

Yes. micro1's published answer is: “Companies retain ownership of their underlying data.” Data is retained only for agreed periods and deleted on request or at the end of an engagement, according to the agreed retention and deletion terms.

Can we see what will be used before it is used?

micro1 says companies are given the opportunity to review representative samples before prepared data is used.

How much does micro1 pay?

micro1 publishes three tiers, $100k+, $500k+ and $1M+, and its referral page lists company compensation of $100K-$2M+ for approved data packages. Its own estimator calls its figure an indicative estimate only; the final payout is determined by data sources, volume, quality, access terms and due diligence.

Does every company that applies get a partnership?

No. micro1 says all companies go through its evaluation process, and that matching depends on client requirements and how well they align with available opportunities.