Short answer: A US company with 30-49 employees meets micro1's 30+ rule and Handshake AI's 20+ rule; Scale AI's preferred start is 40+. Mode applies only to legal (10+), accounting, medical and finance (15+) firms at this size; for other industries Mode asks for 50+.
Does your company fit? Check in about a minute.
To see which of these buyers fit a specific company, DataWorth AI's free quiz (about a minute, no email needed) matches it against each program's published rules: https://dataworthai.com/quiz/. It shows reasons, not promises; each program decides on its own review.
On this page
Side by side
| As published | micro1 Enterprise Data Partnership We may be paid | Handshake AI No relationship | Scale AI Data Partnerships No relationship | Mode (BizBuyData) We may be paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headcount rule | 30+ employees | 20+ full-time employees and 3+ years in operation | 40+ employees is its preferred starting point, assessed case by case | 10+ employees for legal; 15+ for accounting, medical and finance; 50+ for all others |
| Countries | US prioritized, then other Western markets; data primarily in English | Not published on its license page (its form asks for country) | Not published | United States, Canada, United Kingdom or Australia only |
| Years, systems, records | Mature business operations with operational data such as SOPs, internal documentation, knowledge bases, CRM metadata, project histories and QA processes | Business records from tools such as Gmail, Slack, Drive, NetSuite, QuickBooks and Figma | Years of records in established systems; real operational workflows | 3+ years of records still in their systems; 5+ systems (email, internal chat, file storage, a CRM, plus one more) |
| Published payout or price | $100K-$2M+ for approved data packages | $100K to $4M+ payouts | $10K-$1M+ illustrative value per data partnership, scaling with cadence | $100K to $5M program-wide. US indicative bands: $200K-$500K (20-49 staff), $400K-$900K (50-149), $800K+ (150+); under 20 quoted individually |
| Exclusivity | Not published on its company referral page | Not published | Not published | Exclusive. The company agrees not to license the same data for external AI training for 24 months (affiliate FAQ); the company page says the agreement defines scope and any exclusivity |
| Data excluded | Not published on its company referral page | Not published; says data is scoped, de-identified and confidential | Not published; says it anonymizes inside your environment before extraction | Health records, payment card data and children's data are excluded. Not a fit: staffing, insurance, title and escrow |
Sources, read October 21, 2026: micro1, micro1 Referral Program Terms (last updated Oct 14, 2026), Handshake AI, Handshake: Introducing Handshake AI Employer Data Partnerships, Scale AI, Mode, Mode affiliate FAQ (PDF, dated Oct 14, 2026), Mode company data partnerships page (FAQ). "Not published" means we could not find it on the program's public pages, not that no rule exists.
Who should pick which
Most industries, 30-39 staff
micro1 or Handshake AI. Both publish ranges.
40-49 staff
Add Scale AI, which says 40+ is its preferred starting point.
Law, accounting, medical or finance firm
Mode too, with a US band of $200K-$500K for 20-49 staff.
Insurance, staffing, title / escrow
Not Mode (listed as not a fit). micro1 and Handshake AI publish no industry exclusions.
Size in context
Many industries have thousands of US firms in this band. For example, 2,771 IT services firms and 1,302 property managers had 30-49 paid employees in 2022 (Census SUSB). See also our 30-49 guide.
How we rank and what we're paid
How we rank. We order programs first by whether a company like yours meets each program's published rules, then by how much each program publishes (headcount, countries, records, price, exclusivity, exclusions, timeline). Referral fees play no part. Of the programs compared here, we have referral relationships with Mode and micro1 (marked We may be paid); we have none with the other programs listed.
Sponsored placements: there are none on this page. If we ever accept one, it will be labeled Sponsored where it appears.
What could your company's records be worth?
Answer 6 questions. See the published range for a company like yours and which program fits. Takes about a minute.
Frequently asked questions
Does Mode take a 40-person company?
Only in legal, accounting, medical or finance. For all other industries Mode's published minimum is 50.
What do these programs publish on price?
micro1: $100K-$2M+ for approved packages. Handshake AI: $100K-$4M+. Scale AI: $10K-$1M+ illustrative.
Can I apply to several?
Yes until you sign. Ask each about exclusivity in writing.
Sources
- micro1 company referral pagemicro1.ai
- Handshake AI data partnerships: license pagejoinhandshake.com
- Scale AI Data Partnerships page and FAQscale.com
- Mode / BizBuyData referral pagebizbuydata.com
- Mode affiliate FAQ (PDF, dated Oct 14, 2026)bizbuydata.com
- U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022, detailed employment sizeswww2.census.gov
Referral-fee disclosure: DataWorth AI may be paid a referral fee by Mode or micro1 if a company we introduce, or that signs up through our link, signs a deal. Mode says its fee is paid on top of the company's offer, not out of it. We are not an agent of any program. General information only, not legal advice. Disclosure