Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors are how venture-backed companies wind down outside of bankruptcy court. The legacy practice has dominated this market for 30 years. We rebuilt it on AI infrastructure.
An ABC is a state-law liquidation in which a company transfers all of its assets to an Assignee — a special-purpose entity — which then sells the assets and distributes the proceeds to creditors in statutory priority. It is faster, cheaper, and more flexible than a Chapter 7 or liquidating Chapter 11. It is also where Silicon Valley wind-downs happen.
The legacy playbook is a rolodex, an email thread, and a quarterly PDF. Our playbook is six AI systems running on top of Trademarkia's 125,000+ IP-portfolio data, the Buyer Graph trained on a decade of corporate-development patterns, and a live creditor portal that replaces statements with a real-time ledger.
The Triage AI ingests your runway, debt stack, cap table, IP inventory, headcount, and lead investor — and returns a modeled recovery range before our first call ends. You walk in unsure. You walk out with a number.
Trademarkia's network of 125K clients across 80+ countries plus eight years of acqui-hire and patent-transfer pattern data. Targeted outreach to the buyers who can actually close on your specific assets — within days, not months.
General Assignment, Board Resolution, Stockholder Consent, Interested Party Declaration, Patent Assignment, Trademark Assignment, 401(k) trustee appointment, Compensation Letter — AI-drafted to your facts, attorney-reviewed before execution.
Creditors submit Proofs of Claim through a portal. AI verifies against books and records. Statutory priority distribution is modeled live. Every dollar is auditable in real time, not in a quarterly PDF you have to ask for.
California is non-judicial. Delaware Chancery has affidavit, bond, and disinterested-appraisal duties. Texas adds preference recovery. The Compliance Engine handles the variation programmatically so the wind-down is defensible in every jurisdiction it touches.
Standard (8% bonus, no up-front). Contingency (15–20% above creditor threshold, $0 below). Pre-pack (6% bonus, $25K up-front, 30-day target). All published. No hidden fees. No 24-month tail.
You reach out — through the form, an introduction from your VC, or a referral from counsel. Within one business day, we deliver a Triage AI memo: modeled recovery scenario, asset valuation range, and an honest read on whether an ABC is actually the right tool. No board notice. No filing. No commitment.
If you proceed, we draft the Board Resolution, the Stockholder Consent, and the General Assignment Agreement — typically within 72 hours via the Document Mill. We coordinate with your D&O carrier on tail coverage, with your counsel on severance and WARN-Act compliance, and with your secured creditor on consent.
On the agreed date, the Board signs the Resolution, stockholders execute the Consent (typically >51% per your charter), and an officer signs the General Assignment Agreement. Title to all assets passes to the Assignee. The Assignment Notice goes out to creditors that day.
Within 48 hours of the Assignment, the Buyer Graph identifies and contacts the 30 most likely strategic, acqui-hire, and IP-only buyers. NDAs, data room, structured bidding, and asset purchase agreements run on a 21–45-day timeline. We close the highest-value bidder.
Sale proceeds flow into the assignment estate. Proofs of Claim are verified through the Creditor Portal. Distributions follow statutory priority. Final reports are filed. Books and records are stored for the seven-year period required by California law. Engagement closes with a public final accounting.
Every ABC begins with a packet. The legacy practice drafts each document manually over days or weeks. We generate them in hours via the Document Mill, then attorneys review before execution.
ABC law is state-specific. The Compliance Engine handles the variation:
The Buyer Graph determines the path:
Pre-packaged ABC. When a strategic buyer is already identified — or when the Buyer Graph surfaces a clear acquirer within 48 hours of intake — we run the asset sale simultaneously with the Assignment. This is the highest-recovery scenario for creditors. Closing in 30–45 days is typical. Going-concern value is preserved.
Operating ABC. When continuing operations for a defined period maximizes recovery — for example, when a software company needs to keep maintaining a product to support a buyer transition, or when a consumer brand needs to liquidate inventory in an organized manner — the Assignee may continue running portions of the business. This requires consent of the secured creditor and sufficient liquidity to meet go-forward obligations.
Liquidation ABC. When neither path is available, we run a structured wind-down: assets sold piecemeal, lease premises returned, employees released, books closed. Recovery is at liquidation value rather than going-concern value, but the process is fast, defensible, and costs a fraction of a Chapter 7.
An ABC is a form of insolvency under state law. It provides board members and officers with the protections typically associated with insolvency proceedings. Asset sales are conducted by the Assignee, not the Board — directors and officers cannot be attacked by creditors questioning the sale price or process. For directors carrying real fiduciary exposure, an ABC is the most defensible record available outside a court-supervised proceeding.
Compared to the legacy standard $35,000 up-front plus 12% transaction bonus plus 24-month tail, every Graveyard.vc ABC structure delivers more recovery to creditors and equityholders.
Graveyard.vc was founded by Raj Abhyanker, who grew up in a family retail business in Phoenix and finished college and law school only after that family business wound down. He has launched dozens of companies since — and built this practice around the conviction that founders facing a wind-down deserve someone who has lived both sides of it. Read Raj's full bio →