United StatesKeelan Miskell netted about $25,000 selling his dead startup’s code.
No federal law bans selling dead startups’ employee data, an Emory law professor says.
Brokers like SimpleClosure sell dead startups’ Slack, email and code to AI labs that train agents on real workplace records.
Attorney Greg Ewing, who advises AI startups, calls such data “legally radioactive.”
No company has yet published tests comparing real-world training data with the alternatives.
How each outlet framed it
- MIT Technology Review
- frames shutdown data sales as a new AI-training industry, citing SimpleClosure's Asset Hub and 26–56% annual shutdown growth
Sources: MIT Technology Review