# Would you license your old/dead codebase as AI training data for $10k?

> Source: <https://dev.to/hansel_hud_gtm_guy/would-you-license-an-olddead-startups-codebase-as-ai-training-data-for-up-to-10k-12jc>
> Published: 2026-06-05 09:01:30+00:00

Quick disclosure up front: I work with HUD AI (YC W25). We license private (high-quality) codebases as training data for Frontier AI labs, and I'm trying to figure out how builders/founders actually feel about this.

**TL;DR** — if you've got a private, closed-source codebase with real history (multiple contributors, a lot of commits, built over months or years — a dead or pivoted startup/SaaS is the classic case) it can be worth real money as training data. Frontier AI labs pay up to $10k for a qualifying one. It's a **license, not a sale** — you keep ownership — and the same codebase can be licensed to more than one buyer, each a separate one-off payment if it's rare.

**How the process works today (feedback welcome):**

In the last month alone HUD has facilitated a couple million in transactions, so we know there's real demand from the people we've introduced it to.

**What I'm actually curious about (from a cold-intro perspective):**

If you want to just try the check it's at vendor.hud.ai/codebases — but I'm as interested in the objections as the leads. Happy to answer anything in the comments or by DM,. Happy to hop on a quick call too if you have feedback or questions you'd rather not type out. Thanks!