Mode review: what sellers actually get

Mode's data page now asks for 30 or more employees for most businesses and nonprofits, 10 for accounting, finance and medical practices, and 6 for law firms. At launch in October the general floor was 20 full-time US office staff, so the bar has moved. Several years of records you own and a mainly US team make the strongest case.

Accepted data includes call recordings, calendars, chat, email, files, CRM and billing, from tools such as ServiceTitan, QuickBooks, NetSuite, Paychex, Zoom, AutoCAD, Figma, HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Drive, Outlook and Gmail. Mode says it supports more than a thousand sources.

Mode alone is the source for $100K to $5M. A firm number comes only once it has looked at the systems, the years covered and how much data there is. Its FAQ says the final offer is fixed and the written agreement sets the amount and payment schedule before any export.

Following the estimate, a non-binding 14-day letter of intent locks in the figure while Mode inspects the data, with one 7-day extension at Mode's request. Accept the final offer and Mode spends 15 to 30 days gathering and cleaning it. Expect a few hours of your time and no password sharing: your staff sign in to the approved systems themselves.

Mode's own pages say the agreement defines any exclusivity. An affiliate FAQ reports the license as exclusive for 24 months. That would stop you licensing the same records to another buyer for two years, so confirm the term in writing.

Mode's referral page offers $50,000+ for each qualifying company, plus $5,000+ when someone you refer brings in another company. Its launch release put the fee at the greater of $50,000 or 6% of the organization's payment. The referral page targets larger firms than the data page does and covers the US, Canada, the UK and Australia. We are in this program.

Mode.Inc is mainly known for consumer apps that reward people for routine phone use, including EarnPhone, and it has bought apps such as NGL and JibJab. Business Insider reported in June 2026 that Novaes founded it in 2019 and had raised over $80M, largely through crowdfunding. Mode's own pages now cite $120M+ raised.

Mode.Inc is a consumer app company that pays people for everyday phone activity and sells consented data to AI buyers. In October 2026 it added a program that buys de-identified copies of company records. Mode says it built its own de-identification tools after trying to license its own operating data, because other vendors would not let it audit how personal details were removed.

1. 1

   Tell Mode about the business

   Size, years of operation and the systems you use, for an initial estimate.

2. 2

   Letter of intent

   A 14-day non-binding LOI holds the estimate while Mode reviews the data.

3. 3

   Approve scope and offer

   You agree the value, terms, systems and date ranges before any export.

4. 4

   Export and de-identify

   Your staff sign in; Mode exports and cleans the agreed copy over 15 to 30 days.

5. 5

   Payment

   Paid on the schedule in your agreement; the launch release expected about 60 days.

Small accounting, finance, medical and law practices have few options, and Mode is one. Everyone else needs 30+ staff. Before signing, compare its exclusivity terms with what a non-exclusive buyer offers.

We run the same checks on every buyer we rank. They take an afternoon and they protect the one thing you cannot take back: the copy of your records.

• Find the legal entity. A registered company name, an address and at least one named person. A Facebook form alone is not enough.
• Get the offer and the contract in writing before any export. A sample agreement tells you more than a sales call.
• Ask who strips personal data, how, and when. You should approve the method and see a sample before anything leaves your systems.
• Ask where the data goes. Which AI companies receive it, whether you are told, and whether it can be resold.
• Ask how everyone is paid. By you, by the buyer, or out of your deal. Referral fees are normal; hidden ones are not.
• Get a second quote. Terms from at least one other buyer is the fastest way to know if an offer is fair.