SIZE IS THE WRONG TEST
A twelve-person company with eleven years of history beats the reverse
The qualifier is real operating history, not scale. Length and texture of the record matter more than headcount or revenue, which is why small, long-running businesses often price better than large young ones.
WHAT ACTUALLY QUALIFIES
Four things that matter more than how big you are
- Years in operation. A business that has been running a decade has a decade of decisions, most with reasoning attached.
- Continuity. The same people solving related problems over time produce a coherent record rather than fragments.
- Ordinariness. The material is valuable because it is what real operating looks like, not because the company is notable.
- Intactness. Smaller companies often have their history in one place, where larger ones have scattered it across migrations.
THE CHEAPEST WAY TO FIND OUT
Two minutes to stop guessing about it
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01
Answer six questions
What does the company run on? That alone tells us whether there is anything worth discussing.
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02
Hear it straight
If you do not qualify, you will be told in the first conversation rather than strung along.
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03
A bounded review
If there is something here, we look at the record before pricing it. We do not pay for what we have not seen.
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04
Terms and payment
Typically $100K to $2M, papered within a week, paid Net 30 to 60 once the data is approved, shared, and anonymized.
SPEAK WITH A MANAGING PARTNER
Stop assuming you are too small to ask
Six questions, about two minutes, and a straight answer. Nothing you tell us leaves Polyshares.
Check your data