Article

Who qualifies for the data partnership

Last updated October 18, 2026

micro1 publishes who it is looking for. The list is short: 30 or more employees, established documentation, English, and the US first. Most owners read it and get stuck on one phrase, “documented operations”, because nobody in a trade calls a job folder documentation. This page goes through each criterion in micro1’s own words, shows what documented operations look like in a real company’s files, and says what to do if you sit under the bar.

The short answer

micro1 runs what it calls its Enterprise Data Partnership. On its data partnerships page, it says: “For our Enterprise Data Partnership, we’re looking for operationally mature companies with 30+ employees, established documentation, and high-quality operational data such as SOPs, knowledge bases, CRM data, project histories, and internal processes.”

Its company referral page puts the same thing as three requirements:

“30+ employees”
“US Prioritized”
“Primarily English”

That is the whole published bar. Four things, then: headcount, records, language and location. The rest of this page takes them one at a time.

One more line from micro1 matters before you start. Its company referral page says a referral “does not guarantee placement,” and every company goes through micro1’s evaluation. Meeting the criteria gets you considered. micro1 decides who it partners with.

See if your company qualifies at micro1

Thirty or more employees

The number is the easiest part. micro1 writes “30+ employees” and does not define who counts. Our estimate counts everyone: office, field crews, drivers and part-timers alike, now and at peak. That is our method, not micro1’s definition. If the count is close to the line, give micro1 the real number and let it decide.

Why 30? micro1 doesn’t say. What changes at around 30 people is that a company can no longer run on what the owner remembers. Three estimators can’t share one notebook. Six crews out at once can’t all ring the owner for every decision. So the company starts writing things down, and it never stops. The page for companies with 30 or more staff goes through that in detail.

Established documentation

This is the criterion owners undercount. micro1 doesn’t ask for a binder labelled “operations manual.” It says: “We are looking for data that reflects how work is actually performed within an organization.” It then names the kinds: “standard operating procedures (SOPs), process documentation, internal knowledge bases, workflows, templates, operational frameworks, and other business process artifacts.”

Read that list with a trade company’s office in mind. A template is the estimate form your estimators fill in. A workflow is the path a service call takes from the phone to the invoice. A process document is the checklist taped inside the truck door. An internal knowledge base is the shared folder of install guides, or the note on the dispatch board that says which supplier to ring when the usual one is out.

micro1 adds what makes a dataset worth most: “The most valuable datasets capture real operational expertise, decision-making processes, and repeatable workflows.” In brick-and-mortar words, that is how an estimate became a job, how a change order was settled, and how a repair was diagnosed.

What documented operations look like in real files

Here is our own description of what “established documentation” looks like in a company that has never called it that. Take a 40-person HVAC company that has run for twelve years.

The estimate chain. Every quote, with its line items and its versions. The first price, the revised price after the site visit, and the note on why it moved. A thousand of those a year is a thousand records of how the company priced work.

The work orders. What the customer reported, what the technician found, what was replaced, how long it took. A work order that says “customer reported no cooling, found failed capacitor, also flagged a refrigerant leak at the coil” is a diagnosis written down while the work happened.

The change orders. The job that grew when the old ductwork turned out to be undersized. The change order shows the new scope, the new price, who approved it and when. The email thread before it shows how the disagreement was settled.

The service history. Ten years of visits to the same commercial units, each one building on the last. That history is how the company learned which equipment fails, and in what order.

The dispatch log. Who was sent where, and the reshuffle when an emergency call came in at 3pm. That is a record of decisions made with incomplete information. micro1’s 9 October announcement says real business operations involve “incomplete information, competing priorities and exceptions that require judgment.”

None of these files was made to sell. They exist because the company had to run. That is what makes them documentation.

Paper, software and the gaps in between

Owners ask whether the records have to be tidy, digital or complete. micro1’s pages don’t set a format. They ask for “established documentation” and “high-quality operational data.” What follows is our own advice on reading that.

Software helps, but it isn’t the test. A field service system with eight years of tickets is easy to describe. So is a shared drive with a folder per job. Boxes of carbon-copy work orders in the back office are harder, and worth mentioning anyway. micro1 discusses the data itself on the discovery call.

Gaps are normal. Plenty of companies have switched systems at least once. The old estimating program from 2016 still has an export somewhere, or the old server is in a cupboard. Those years count as years of records if the files survive. Find them before you apply, because micro1’s payout page asks how many years of data the company holds.

Thin records are the real problem. A job folder that holds only the final invoice shows what was charged, not how the work was done. A company where every decision happened by phone and nothing was written down has little to describe, at any headcount. The test is simple: could a new estimator learn how your company prices a job from the files alone?

Mess is fine. The third revision of an estimate, the email where the customer pushed back, the note that says “price held, scope cut”: those are the parts micro1 describes wanting when it says “decision-making processes.” Don’t clean them up.

Primarily English

micro1’s data partnerships page is direct: “At this time, we are primarily looking for companies that operate in English and maintain their documentation, workflows, and knowledge bases in English.” It adds that company representatives “must also be able to communicate with the micro1 team in English throughout the partnership and onboarding process.”

So micro1 names two things. The records, and the people who will speak for the company. A crew that talks in another language on site is not the question. The question is the language the estimates, work orders and procedures were written in. micro1 uses the word “primarily,” not “only.” If part of the record is in another language, say so at application and let micro1 decide.

US prioritised

micro1 writes: “We currently prioritize US companies, followed by other Western markets.” In its FAQ, it says the programme “accepts referrals globally,” and that current demand is “strongest for companies based in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.” Companies from other regions “may still be considered,” with selection depending on active opportunities and customer demand at the time.

Prioritised is not required. A Canadian roofing company or a UK accounting practice can apply. A US company sits at the front of the queue, by micro1’s own description. micro1’s payout page asks where the company is headquartered, with four answers: United States, Canada, Europe or Other.

How micro1 checks it

micro1 publishes four steps:

Get started. A simple assessment to find the right partnership.
Evaluation. micro1 reviews the submission to judge fit.
Discovery. If there is a potential fit, micro1 asks for more information and schedules a call about the data and the privacy requirements.
Partnership. If approved, the agreement and the data requirements are finalised and the partnership begins.

micro1’s payout page asks three things up front: the company’s headcount, its years of data, and where it is headquartered. It describes years of data as “Typically the number of years you’ve been in business.” A company that has run for fifteen years with 45 people answers those in a minute.

The documentation question comes later, at evaluation and discovery. At discovery micro1 requests more information and holds a call about the data. That is where the estimate chain, the work orders and the change orders get described.

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

What qualifying is worth

micro1 publishes three tiers on its data partnerships page. “$100k+” for qualified Enterprise Data Partnerships. “$500k+” for large-scale operational datasets, or ongoing participation across multiple teams and business functions. “$1M+” for highly unique, proprietary operational data. Its company referral page lists company compensation of “$100K-$2M+ for approved data packages.”

micro1 says compensation is based on “the quality, uniqueness, and value of the data provided.” Its payout page says the final figure is “determined based on data sources, volume, quality, access terms, and due diligence.” So qualifying is the floor, not the price. micro1 prices each company, and our estimate is a range, not an offer.

The records are de-identified first

Owners ask about customers before they ask about money, so here it is plainly. micro1’s 9 October 2026 announcement describes its work with “de-identified company data.” Its data partnerships page says personally identifiable information “is removed when relevant,” and that some datasets “may undergo synthetic rewrites that preserve workflow structure while reducing direct ties to original records.”

The customer’s name on an estimate is not what is wanted. Neither is the card number on the invoice. What is wanted is the work: the scope, the line items, the revisions, the diagnosis, the change and the reason for it. The cornerstone page, what data buyers actually want from a trade business, goes through that file by file.

micro1 also says access is restricted to a limited number of authorised team members, data runs through isolated pipelines, and companies “have the opportunity to review representative samples before use.” Data is kept for agreed periods and deleted on request or at the end of the engagement. Our page on how it’s safe sets out the steps in order.

What this means for a company of 30 or more

Here are three companies above the line, as our own description and not a list from micro1.

A 40-person roofing company. Its documentation is the inspection reports with photos, the estimates and their revisions, the supplement requests to insurers and the replies, the crew schedules, and the warranty callbacks. The supplement thread is where a price was argued and settled. The callback log is where the company found out which installs failed and why.

A 35-person HVAC or plumbing contractor. Its documentation is the service tickets, the maintenance agreements, the parts records, the dispatch board and the install checklists. Each ticket is a diagnosis. Each maintenance visit is a line in a history that goes back years on the same equipment.

A 30-person accounting office. Its documentation is the engagement checklists, the review notes between a preparer and a reviewer, the templates and the edits made to them, and the year-end close procedure. The review notes are where judgment was applied: what was questioned, what was changed, and why.

In each case the test is the same. Was the work written down while it happened, for how many years, and in English? If the answer is yes for most of the company’s life, the records likely meet micro1’s description. micro1 makes the call.

What is never included

micro1’s payout page says every partnership is designed “with clear controls over what is shared, how it is handled, and what is never included.” Before any participation, the company and micro1 define the approved data scope, the security and confidentiality standards, the anonymisation and redaction requirements, and the internal approval processes. micro1 settles what is excluded with each company. It does not publish one fixed list.

The following is TrustPast’s own advice, not micro1’s guidance. Expect these to stay out: 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. Anything a client owns under contract belongs to the client. Raise any of it at discovery, and ask micro1 before you apply if your records sit near those lines.

If you are under the bar

A company of 18 people that has kept every estimate for twenty years has real records. It sits under micro1’s published line of 30 employees. That is a fact about headcount, not about the value of the files.

Our estimate asks how many people work at the company, now and at peak, and routes by that number. It names the programme that fits the headcount you enter, so you don’t have to work out which page applies. Five questions, two minutes.

If the company has closed or is winding down, the questions are different. Read the page for closed companies instead.

Two things not to do. Don’t round the headcount up to clear the line; micro1 asks for it at the first step. And don’t hold off because the files are messy. The messy part, the revisions and the arguments, is the record.

Before you apply

Four things to settle first, as our own advice:

Count the people. Everyone, now and at peak. micro1’s published line is 30 or more employees.
Count the years. micro1’s payout page asks for years of data, typically the years in business. Find the oldest estimate and the oldest work order.
Check the language. Are the estimates, work orders and procedures written in English? micro1 says “primarily.”
Find the client contracts. Anything a client owns under contract stays out, and only the contracts say which is which.

We, TrustPast, explain the process and give you a range. The estimate is ours, not an offer. You apply to micro1 yourself. micro1 pays us a referral fee. You pay us nothing, and we never see your files.

Alex, TrustPast

Questions and answers

How many employees does a company need?

micro1 says its Enterprise Data Partnership is looking for “operationally mature companies with 30+ employees.” Its company referral page lists “30+ employees” first among the company requirements. micro1 decides at evaluation.

What does micro1 mean by documented operations?

micro1 asks for “established documentation, and high-quality operational data such as SOPs, knowledge bases, CRM data, project histories, and internal processes.” It says it wants “data that reflects how work is actually performed within an organization.”

Do our records have to be in English?

micro1 says it is “primarily looking for companies that operate in English and maintain their documentation, workflows, and knowledge bases in English.” Company representatives must also be able to communicate with the micro1 team in English throughout onboarding and the partnership.

Can a company outside the US apply?

Yes. micro1 says the programme accepts referrals globally, that it currently prioritises US companies, followed by other Western markets, and that demand is strongest in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Companies from other regions may still be considered.

Does meeting the criteria mean we will be paid?

No. micro1 says a referral “does not guarantee placement” and that every company goes through its evaluation. Meeting the published criteria gets a company considered.

Does micro1 want our customer names?

micro1 says personally identifiable information is removed when relevant, some datasets are rewritten synthetically, and the anonymisation and redaction rules are defined with the company before any participation. Customer names and payment details are not what is wanted. What is wanted is how the work was done: how an estimate became a job, how a change order was settled, how a repair was diagnosed.