# Startup shutdown data checklist: what to export before you cancel your tools

> Before you cancel any tool, take a full, native export of email, team chat, docs, tickets, code and CRM, store it somewhere the company still controls, and write down what you exported and when. Cancelled SaaS accounts are often deleted, and with them the records that AI labs now pay for.

Source: https://filefunding.com/learn/startup-shutdown-data-checklist · Updated 2026-10-21

A shutdown checklist usually covers payroll, taxes, investors and dissolution paperwork. It rarely says "export your Slack." But in 2026 a company's email, chat, docs, tickets and code can be sold or licensed to AI labs, and a cancelled subscription can delete that value overnight. MIT Technology Review reported that 47% of shutdowns handled by one wind-down platform now include a code or data sale.[3]

This checklist covers what to save, how to export it so it's still usable, and what to record so a future buyer can trust it.

> This is general guidance, not legal advice. Some records must be kept, and some must be deleted, under law or contract. Run your plan past your lawyer.

## Before you start: four rules

1. **Export before you cancel.** Assume an account can be deleted soon after the subscription ends. Check each vendor's current terms rather than relying on a grace period.
2. **Use native, admin-level exports.** Exports should come from each tool's own admin export, run by an admin. For chat this matters legally: Slack's API terms bar apps offered outside your organization from using API data to train a large language model.[2]
3. **Store it where the company controls it.** A company-owned cloud bucket or encrypted drive, not someone's laptop. Record who has access.
4. **Write it down.** For each export: the system, who ran it, the date, the date range covered and the file size. This log becomes part of the provenance a buyer will ask for.

## The checklist

### Email (Google Workspace or Microsoft 365)

- [ ] Export every mailbox, including former employees' accounts that are still held. Don't delete departed users' accounts until they're exported.
- [ ] Google Workspace: use the admin data export tool for the organization. Microsoft 365: use eDiscovery or a mailbox export to PST, run by an admin.
- [ ] Include shared mailboxes and group inboxes (support@, sales@, billing@).
- [ ] Note the number of mailboxes and the earliest and latest dates.

### Team chat (Slack or Microsoft Teams)

- [ ] Run Slack's workspace export as the owner. On Free and Pro plans the standard export covers public channels only; private channels and direct messages need a Business+ or Enterprise plan.[1] If those matter, decide whether a temporary upgrade before the export is worth it.
- [ ] Slack exports include links to files rather than the files themselves,[1] so download shared files separately while the workspace is still active.
- [ ] Teams: export through Microsoft 365 eDiscovery along with email.
- [ ] Don't use third-party "backup" apps for the copy you plan to license.[2]

### Docs, drives and wikis

- [ ] Google Drive or SharePoint/OneDrive, including shared drives and departed users' files.
- [ ] Notion, Confluence and similar wikis: use the workspace-level export (HTML or Markdown keeps structure best).
- [ ] SOPs, runbooks, checklists and templates are especially valuable. Make sure they're included.

### Support and ticketing

- [ ] Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk, Jira Service Management or similar: export tickets with comments, internal notes, tags and timestamps. Check what your plan's export includes before you downgrade.
- [ ] Export macros and help-center articles too.

### Code and engineering

- [ ] Mirror every repository with full history (for example `git clone --mirror`), not just the latest snapshot.
- [ ] Export issues, pull requests and review comments, which live outside the git history.
- [ ] Note any third-party or open-source code with restrictive licenses, and any client-owned code.
- [ ] Rotate or revoke secrets. Credentials in old commits must be stripped before any sale.

### CRM and sales

- [ ] Salesforce, HubSpot or similar: export objects with activity history and notes.
- [ ] Flag contact data. Personal details of customers and prospects will need to be removed or excluded.

### Calls and screen recordings

- [ ] Gong, Zoom cloud recordings, Loom: download recordings and transcripts.
- [ ] Note where participants were located and what recording notice was given. Consent rules vary by state and country.

### Paperwork a buyer will ask for

- [ ] Your privacy policies and terms of service as they were over time (the Wayback Machine can help).
- [ ] Customer contracts and NDAs that restrict how data can be used.
- [ ] Board or officer approvals for the wind-down, or the court order or assignment if you're in bankruptcy or an ABC.

## What not to export (or keep separate)

- HR files, payroll, benefits and medical records. Keep what the law requires, but separately. Buyers exclude HR records,[3] and it's the most contested category: at Spirit, labor groups filed four of the six objections to the data sale.[4]
- Customer payment data.
- Passwords, API keys and other credentials.

## After the export

1. Check that each export opens and is complete (spot-check old dates, private channels, attachments).
2. Keep at least two copies in company-controlled storage.
3. Only then cancel or downgrade the tool.
4. Get an estimate of what the archive could be worth. Our guide to [what your company's data is worth](/learn/what-is-my-company-data-worth) explains how buyers price it, and [how to sell your company's data after a shutdown](/learn/sell-company-data-after-shutdown) covers the rest of the process.

## Sources

1. Slack Help Center, "Export your workspace data" https://slack.com/help/articles/201658943-Export-your-workspace-data
2. Slack, API Terms of Service https://slack.com/terms-of-service/api
3. MIT Technology Review, "AI labs are buying data from dead startups", Oct 13, 2026 https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models/
4. Stretto Research Suite, "The Spirit Airlines deidentified data sale", Sept 13, 2026 https://chapter11cases.com/blogs/news/the-spirit-airlines-deidentified-data-sale-auction-results-objections-and-the-september-30-hearing