Article

What happens after you apply

By TrustPast

Updated October 19, 2026

You’ve pressed apply. The form is sent, the office is busy, and nothing has left your server. What comes next is a run of conversations with micro1, an interview, a request for more information, a call and, if it goes that far, an agreement. This page settles what each of those asks of the owner, what to have ready, and what micro1 is actually after in your files.

The short answer

micro1 publishes the order of events after an application. It says its team reviews the company and guides it through an initial interview. In micro1’s words, that interview “helps assess whether the company and its data are a good fit for the program.” Companies that meet the qualification criteria “then move forward to partnership discussions, agreement finalization, and onboarding.” Once onboarding is complete, the company can begin participating.

The four published steps behind that, get started, evaluation, discovery and partnership, are walked through one by one on how the data partnership works. This page is the owner’s side of the same road. What you’ll be asked, what to bring, and what you should expect to keep.

One thing runs through every stage. micro1 says it “uses de-identified company data.” It is not shopping for your customer list or your bank records. It wants “data that reflects how work is actually performed within an organization.” In a trade business, that’s how an estimate became a job. How a change order was settled. How a repair was diagnosed.

micro1 does not publish how long any of this takes. Not the evaluation, not the call, not the agreement. Anyone who gives you a date is guessing, us included.

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Who fills in the application

micro1’s referral page says the company’s point of contact completes the application. That person matters more than owners expect. They are the person micro1 has on the application.

On language, micro1 says: “Company representatives must also be able to communicate with the micro1 team in English throughout the partnership and onboarding process.” So the contact needs to be someone who can talk about the records in English, for months, not for one form.

Our own advice: pick the person who knows where the records live. In a 50-person contractor that’s often the operations manager or the office manager, not the owner. They know the year the job numbers changed format. They know which estimator kept his reasoning in the bid file and which kept it in his email. The owner signs. The contact answers.

If you haven’t checked the bar yet, who qualifies for the data partnership goes through micro1’s published criteria one at a time.

The questions at the start

micro1’s payout estimator asks three things: how many employees the company has, how many years of data it has, and where the company is headquartered. It describes years of data as “Typically the number of years you’ve been in business.” The headquarters answer is one of four: United States, Canada, Europe or Other.

micro1’s data partnerships page describes the first step as a simple assessment process designed to identify the right partnership for the company. It does not list the questions that step asks.

Have three numbers ready before anyone asks. The headcount, counted honestly. The year of the oldest estimate you still hold. The year of the oldest work order. Our estimate asks similar questions and shows a range inside micro1’s published band. It’s our range, not micro1’s offer.

The initial interview

micro1 says its team guides the company through an initial interview, and that the interview “helps assess whether the company and its data are a good fit for the program.”

That is all micro1 publishes about it. It does not publish the length or the questions. So the honest preparation is general, and what follows is our own advice.

Expect to describe the work, not to show it. The interview is about whether the company and its data fit. Nobody needs a file to judge that. They need a clear account of what you keep.

Be ready to say, in plain words:

what the company does, for whom, and at what size;
which systems hold the records: the estimating program, the job management or field service system, the shared drive, the email;
how many years each system goes back, and what happened to the old ones;
what a typical record looks like, described rather than sent.

That last point is where most owners undersell. “We have job files” says nothing. “Every job since 2012 has a folder with the bid, the revisions, the change orders, the daily logs and the punch list” says a lot. The second sentence describes what micro1 says it wants: “real operational expertise, decision-making processes, and repeatable workflows.”

The wait while micro1 evaluates

After the interview, micro1 decides. Its data partnerships page puts the step in one line: “Our team reviews your submission to determine whether your company is a fit.”

micro1 does not publish how long the review takes. It also does not publish what happens if the answer is no, or whether a company can apply again later. If those matter to you, ask.

micro1 is plain about one thing. Its referral page says a referral “does not guarantee placement.” It adds: “All companies go through the micro1 evaluation process, and matching depends on client requirements, and how well they align with available opportunities.”

Read that second sentence twice. It means a good set of records can still wait. A mechanical contractor with fifteen years of clean estimates may not match the opportunity micro1 has open this quarter. That isn’t a judgment on the files. It’s how matching works, and it’s micro1’s call, not ours.

While you wait, keep running the company as normal. Nothing has been shared, and nothing should be.

The request for more information

If micro1 sees a potential fit, the next message asks for more. 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.”

micro1 does not publish what the additional information is. Our own advice is to prepare a short inventory before you’re asked. One page, no files attached. For each system:

What it is and what it holds. “Estimating software, every bid since 2014, with revisions.”
The years it covers, and any gaps.
Roughly how much. A count of jobs, tickets or estimates is enough.
What’s in it that you would never let out. Client-owned drawings, HR files, the bank exports.

That fourth line saves time later. micro1 says that before any participation, together with the company, it defines four things:

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

If you arrive at discovery already knowing your boundaries, the scope conversation starts from your list rather than a blank page.

One more piece of our own advice. Don’t send files at this stage unless micro1 asks for something specific and the scope has been agreed. micro1’s own order is scope first, participation second.

The discovery call

The call is about two things, by micro1’s description: “your data and privacy requirements.” micro1 learns what the records are. You say what you need before anything moves.

micro1 does not publish who joins the call from its side, or how long it runs. From yours, our advice is to bring two people: whoever decides, and whoever knows where the files are. In most trade companies those are different people.

This is the call to ask your questions. micro1 publishes answers to the common ones, and the call is where you hear how they apply to your company. Our list:

Who will see the records? Ask how many people, in which roles, and on whose devices.
Will our records be kept apart from other companies’ records?
Can we see the prepared data before it is used? Ask how many samples, and who on your side signs them off.
How long is it kept? Ask for the period in months or years, not the name of a policy.
How do we ask for deletion, and how do we know it’s done?
Who owns the records when the engagement ends?

micro1’s published answer to each of these is quoted, with its source, on whether it’s safe to license company data.

What micro1 wants from the records

This is the part owners get wrong most often, so here it is plainly.

micro1’s October announcement describes its work with “de-identified company data.” Its data partnerships page says personally identifiable information “is removed when relevant.” It adds that “certain datasets may undergo synthetic rewrites that preserve workflow structure while reducing direct ties to original records.” For what that looks like on an estimate or a work order, see how de-identification works on your records.

In plain words, the names come out and the shape of the work stays. The customer’s name on the estimate is not what is wanted. Neither is the card number on the invoice, or the balance on the account. What is wanted is the work.

micro1 lists what it calls “Decision-making patterns”: “How teams evaluate information and make operational decisions.” Its announcement says real business operations “involve incomplete information, competing priorities and exceptions that require judgment.”

In a trade company, that judgment lives in a few places:

How an estimate became a job. The first number, the site visit, the revised number, and the note on why it moved. The bid you lost and the one you won at a lower margin.
How a change order was settled. The wall that turned out to be load-bearing. The request, the price, the push-back from the general contractor, and what was finally agreed.
How a repair was diagnosed. A walk-in cooler that iced up every few days. The first visit replaced the defrost timer. The second found a door gasket letting warm air in. Both visits written down, with what was ruled out and why.

None of that needs a customer’s name to make sense. All of it needs the record left as it is. The cornerstone page on what data buyers want from a trade business goes through this split file by file.

The agreement and onboarding

If micro1 approves, its words are: “we’ll finalize the agreement and data requirements and begin the partnership.” Its FAQ describes the same stretch as partnership discussions, agreement finalisation and onboarding. “Once onboarding is complete, the company can begin participating in the program.”

micro1 does not publish the agreement’s terms or a template. It does publish what decides the money. Its data partnerships page lists “dataset size and volume, workflow complexity, data quality, domain expertise represented, and the uniqueness of the operational knowledge.” It says “Each partnership is evaluated individually.”

micro1’s payout page adds that its estimator gives an “Indicative estimate only,” and that the “Final payout is determined based on data sources, volume, quality, access terms, and due diligence.” Due diligence is on that list. micro1 does not publish what its due diligence involves. Our advice is to expect questions that check what you said at the interview, and to have the inventory from the earlier step to hand. In our reading, that puts the figure for your company at this step, not before.

micro1’s published tiers, and what moves a company up or down them, are set out on what a company’s records are worth.

Two pieces of our own advice, neither of them legal advice. Have your own counsel read the agreement before you sign. And check that it says in writing what micro1 says in public: ownership stays with the company, the scope is named, the retention period has a length, and deletion has a route. Our page on whether you keep ownership of your records lists the clauses worth looking for.

After onboarding

Participation starts only after onboarding. micro1 says that after data is shared, “it is processed according to the agreed use case and handling requirements.”

Then comes the step owners should not skip. micro1 says companies “are given the opportunity to review representative samples before prepared data is used.” Look at them. If a customer’s name survived the redaction, or a client’s drawing slipped into scope, that is the moment to say so.

And the company keeps running. Your estimators still price from last year’s jobs on Monday morning. The service desk still pulls up a customer’s history when the phone rings.

What this means for a mechanical contractor

Take a hypothetical mechanical contractor of 45 people, our own example and not a list from micro1. Fifteen years in business, commercial and light industrial work, a service department and a projects department.

At the interview, the contact describes four sets of records. The estimating files, every bid since 2011 with its revisions. The project folders, each with the submittals, the change orders, the daily logs and the close-out. The service tickets from the field service system, about 6,000 a year since it was installed. And the email threads with general contractors that sit behind the change orders.

At the request for more information, the inventory names each system and its years. It also names what stays out. The client-owned mechanical drawings. The HR folder. The payroll and bank exports. The safety incident reports with employees’ medical details.

On the discovery call, the operations manager explains where the old estimating program’s export lives. The owner asks about retention, deletion and the samples, and writes the answers down.

What micro1 is interested in, if the fit is there, is the reasoning in those files. The bid that dropped 8 percent after the walk-through, and the note that says why. The change order for the undersized ductwork, and the three emails it took to agree the price. The rooftop unit that failed twice in one summer, and the ticket that finally names the cause. Ten years of those is a record of how a mechanical contractor decides. The names of the building managers are not the point.

The test is the same for any trade. How many years, and how completely, was the work written down where colleagues could see 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, and the anonymisation and redaction requirements, are defined together before any participation. micro1 does not publish a fixed list of excluded records. What is left out is settled with each company.

The following is TrustPast’s own advice, not micro1’s guidance. Expect these to stay 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. 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 don’t scrub names yourself before you’re asked. micro1 says personally identifiable information is removed when relevant, under rules agreed up front. Ask on the call how that is done, and check it in the samples. Scrubbing by hand can strip the context that makes a record worth anything.

Our page on whether licensing your company records is legal goes through the contracts, privacy notices and staff records to check.

Where we fit

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

Before you press apply

Four things to settle first, as our own advice:

Choose the contact. The person who knows where the records live and can talk about them in English, for months.
Write the inventory. Each system, its years, roughly how much, and what never leaves the building.
Find the client contracts. Anything a client owns stays out, and it’s easier to say so on the call 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. Tidy them and they’re worth less.

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

TrustPast

Questions and answers

What happens first after a company applies to micro1?

micro1 says its 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 move forward to partnership discussions, agreement finalisation and onboarding.

How long does micro1 take to evaluate a company?

micro1 does not publish a timeline for evaluation, for the discovery call or for the agreement. Its pages describe the order of the steps, not their length.

Does applying mean micro1 will make an offer?

No. micro1’s referral page says a referral “does not guarantee placement” and that “All companies go through the micro1 evaluation process, and matching depends on client requirements, and how well they align with available opportunities.”

Does micro1 want our customer names and payment records?

No. micro1 says it “uses de-identified company data” and that personally identifiable information “is removed when relevant.” What it says it wants is “data that reflects how work is actually performed within an organization.” In a trade company, in our words, that is how an estimate became a job, how a change order was settled, how a repair was diagnosed.

What is agreed 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.

When is the payout figure set?

“Final payout is determined based on data sources, volume, quality, access terms, and due diligence,” says micro1’s estimator, which calls its own figure an “Indicative estimate only.” micro1 says each partnership “is evaluated individually.” In our reading, that puts the figure at the end of the process, not the start.