Data sale vs business sale calculator
Owners who learn their data has value face a choice: license the data and keep running the company, or sell the whole business while it is worth a good price. Enter your profit, valuation multiple and the data deal on the table, and the calculator compares three paths in today's money, including licensing first and selling straight after. It also shows the sale multiple at which selling now becomes the better choice.
The three paths compared
Present value of everything each path pays you.
Cash by year if you license and keep the business
| Year | Profit | License income | Sale proceeds | Total | In today's money |
|---|
How the paths are compared
Each path is turned into one number: the present value of every payment it brings you. The path with the highest number earns you the most, before taxes and before counting your time.
Sell the business now
B = profit × multiple today
License first, then sell now
You collect the upfront fee and future license income, and the business sells for slightly less.
C = upfront + PV(license income) + B × (1 − value lost)
License and keep the business
You collect profit growing each year, license income while it lasts, the upfront fee, and the sale price at the end.
A = upfront + Σ PV(profit + license) + PV(final profit × later multiple)
Discount to today
Every payment in year t is divided by (1 + rate) to the power t.
PV = amount ÷ (1 + rate)t
Find the break-even multiple
The sale multiple today at which selling now matches the best of the other two paths.
Questions about selling data or the business
Can I sell my company data without selling my company?
Yes. Most data deals are licenses: a buyer pays for a copy of cleaned records to train AI models, and you keep the business, the originals and the right to use them. That is the first path in this calculator. Selling the company transfers everything, data included.
Why compare in today's money?
A dollar paid five years from now is worth less than a dollar today, because of inflation and because money in hand can be invested. The calculator discounts every future payment back to today using your discount rate, so a sale now and income spread over years can be compared fairly.
Does licensing data before a sale lower the sale price?
It can, a little. Some buyers value exclusive access to the data, and a non-exclusive license already granted to someone else takes part of that away. The "value lost" setting lets you test this. For most service and operations businesses the effect is small.
What discount rate should I use?
Use the return you could reasonably earn elsewhere with similar risk. For a small private business 10 to 20 percent is common. A higher rate favours selling now; a lower rate favours keeping the business and collecting income.
What does the calculator leave out?
Your time and stress running the business for more years, taxes, earn-outs and the chance that profits or valuation multiples change. Those can matter as much as the numbers, so treat the result as one input to the decision.