Data Desk
Hugo licenses your company’s records to AI companies. You approve the deal.
AI labs pay for real work records (messages, email, documents, tickets and job histories) to learn how businesses run. Hugo audits yours, finds the buyers, negotiates the licence and collects payment. You pay a share of the licence only if you sign one.
Start
Tell Hugo about your records.
A few questions about the business and where its work is recorded. Your answers stay in your browser until you send them.
How it works
Hugo runs the sale from audit to payment.
- Agreement
You appoint Hugo as the business's agent. Nothing is charged unless you sign a licence.
- Audit
Hugo measures what your records hold with a tool that runs on your computer, reads your policies and contracts for what's yours to license, asks your staff to opt in, and removes personal details from a sample.
- Pricing
Hugo prices the record from its database of what comparable records have sold for, including every licence it has closed.
- Buyers
Hugo approaches the AI companies that want records like yours. They see an anonymous summary first, and the sample only under a confidentiality agreement.
- Negotiation
Buyers bid on the same standard terms. Hugo negotiates, then brings you the offers side by side. Nothing is licensed until you approve the buyer, the price and the terms.
- Payment
The buyer pays into escrow, and you're paid when it accepts delivery. Hugo's fee comes out of each payment. Updates and renewals pay again.
Privacy
Your files stay on your computer.
Hugo’s audit tool runs in your browser. It reads your Slack or email exports, folders and spreadsheets on your own machine and sends Hugo the counts: how many records, over which months, how many conversations explain a decision. No message, name or file leaves your computer in this step.
Later, records are prepared in a clean room run under a data processing agreement. Hugo never takes raw exports, and you approve the de-identified sample before any buyer sees it.
{
"kind": "messaging",
"label": "Slack export",
"records": 412806,
"start": "2016-03-02",
"end": "2026-09-30",
"people": 58,
"conversations": 61240,
"decisionShare": 0.21,
"references": { "tickets": 3120, "documents": 9877 }
}Fees
Hugo works for you, not the buyer.
A buyer that charges you no fee makes its money from your records after it pays you, and you never see how much. Hugo is paid a share of the licence you approve, so it does best when you do.
Bring your best offer. If you already have a written offer for your records, Hugo’s fee only comes out of what Hugo gets above it. You never keep less than the offer you brought.
12% of the licence value
- Nothing upfront, and nothing if no licence is signed.
- 8% on any part above $250K.
- A $3K minimum.
- Taken from each payment as it arrives, so Hugo is paid when you are.
- Privacy counsel and personal-data removal are passed on at cost, only with your approval.
Your team
Ask the people in your records, and share the proceeds.
Most of a company’s messages were written by its staff. Hugo gives each person a private link that explains what’s licensed and what comes out, and lets them say yes or no. You decide whether to set aside a share of the proceeds for those who agree.
Anyone who says no has their messages taken out first. Records your team agreed to carry less risk for buyers.
Who can license
- The records are the business's own work, not data it keeps or processes for clients.
- What staff and customers were told allows this use, or they agree to it now.
- No customer or vendor contract rules it out. Contact data bought from vendors stays out.
- Health, children's and customers' financial records stay out unless they can be de-identified to the legal standard.
- Recorded calls need everyone's consent, and voiceprints are removed.
- Payment is cash or royalties, never shares in the buyer.
Questions
What owners ask first.
Who buys these records?
AI labs, companies that build training environments for AI agents, and AI companies that serve one industry. They use real records to teach models how work gets done: how a quote becomes a job, how a support ticket gets solved, how a team decides.
What will my records sell for?
Buyers set the price by bidding against each other. Hugo prices each record from its database of past deals, and uses that to choose which buyers to approach and to negotiate. You see every offer, with Hugo's fee and what you'd keep, before you decide. Hugo doesn't publish estimates.
Do I lose my records?
No. A licence gives a buyer the right to use a copy for training and testing. You keep the business and the records. A permanent, exclusive licence means you can't license the same records to anyone else, so Hugo shows what each offer gives up before you choose.
Could a competitor see my business in the data?
Buyers get records with names, contact details and account numbers removed, and they agree not to try to identify anyone. Prices and customer terms can be aged or left out. You can also tell Hugo which companies not to approach at all.
What about my employees' messages?
You can ask each person to opt in through a private link, and set aside a share of the proceeds for those who do. If someone says no, their messages come out before anything is licensed.
I'm planning to sell the business. Does this get in the way?
It can. An acquirer may expect the records to come with the company. Tell Hugo in the rights questions; Hugo can line the licence up with the sale, or hold it until the buyer agrees.
Can I sell to a buyer I find myself?
While the agency letter is in force, licences go through Hugo. That's what lets Hugo run a proper sale, with buyers bidding against each other. If you already have a written offer, bring it: Hugo's fee only comes out of what it gets above that offer.
How long does it take?
The questions take a few minutes, and the audit tool a few minutes for most exports. A sale usually takes weeks, mostly the clean room and the buyers' reviews.
What does it cost?
Nothing unless a licence is signed. Then 12% of the licence value, 8% of any part above $250K, with a $3K minimum.
Does Hugo sell the information I give it?
No. The Data Desk licenses records you own, on your instruction. Hugo never sells or licenses what its users tell it.
For AI companies
Looking for licensed records?
Tell Hugo what you need. Every record comes with a rights check, staff opt-in and a measured datasheet.