Answers
Licensing your data versus selling it.
The word owners reach for is sell. The structure that serves them is almost always a license.
What each structure actually does.
A sale transfers the asset. One payment, ownership gone, no further claim on anything done with it afterward.
A license grants use. The buyer gets specified rights over specified material for a specified period, and everything not granted stays with the company. Ownership never moves.
- Ownership
- Sale transfers it permanently. A license leaves it with the company.
- Your own use
- Unaffected either way in practice, though a sale can carry restrictions. A license does not.
- Repeatability
- A sale happens once. A non-exclusive license can be granted again as the record grows.
- Payment shape
- A sale is a single number. A license can be structured per term, per buyer, or both.
- Risk
- A sale ends any control over downstream use. A license carries defined scope and permitted use.
Why the record keeps getting bigger.
An operating business does not stop producing. The record that is worth $100K to $2M today is larger next year, and larger again the year after.
A sale prices a growing asset once, at its smallest. A non-exclusive license prices it repeatedly as it grows. For a company that intends to keep operating, that difference compounds.
Where a sale does make sense.
It can, in narrow cases. A record from a business that has wound down is no longer growing, and a company that wants no continuing obligation may reasonably prefer to be finished with it.
For a going concern with a record that is still accumulating, the license is the better instrument. It is also what we buy.
Questions
Questions about structure.
What is the difference between licensing data and selling it?
A sale transfers ownership permanently in exchange for one payment. A license grants defined rights over defined material for a defined period while the company keeps ownership, keeps operating on its own records, and can license again later.
Which structure pays more?
A sale can carry a higher single number. A license usually pays more over the life of the asset, because the record keeps growing and can be licensed again. It also leaves the company with something it still owns.
Does licensing stop me using my own data?
No. The company operates exactly as it did before. A license grants rights to the buyer, it does not remove them from the seller.
What is exclusivity?
An exclusive license means no other buyer may license that material for the term. It commands a premium and it closes off every other buyer for the duration, so it is a decision to make deliberately.
Which structure does Polyshares use?
We license. The company keeps the business and the underlying data, and the license is defined and bounded.
Inquiries
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