How to prepare your company's records for an AI data license

A practical checklist for any company: inventory systems, check ownership and contracts, exclude regulated data, and confirm exports.

Last updated 5 sources cited1 min read

Short answer: List your systems and years, confirm you own or may license each one, exclude regulated and personal data you can't share, and check what your plans can export. Mode says its intake asks only for descriptions and rough numbers, and nothing is uploaded until a license agreement is signed.

On this page
  1. 1. Inventory
  2. 2. Ownership and contracts
  3. 3. Exclusions
  4. 4. Exports
  5. 5. Process
  6. Frequently asked questions
  7. Sources

1. Inventory

Email, chat, files, CRM, calls, billing and work tools, with date ranges. Mode asks for 3+ years and 5+ systems (Mode affiliate FAQ).

2. Ownership and contracts

Confirm you own the records (Mode requires it) and that customer, vendor and platform terms allow licensing. Frankfurt Kurnit's checklist starts here (Frankfurt Kurnit).

3. Exclusions

Mode says health records, payment card data and children's data are excluded, and that its AI customer is contractually barred from trying to identify anyone in the data (Mode affiliate FAQ). Add anything your contracts, privacy promises or regulators restrict.

4. Exports

Slack exports public channels on every plan, but private channels and DMs only on Business+ and Enterprise (Slack). Google Workspace has an admin Data Export tool (Google); Microsoft 365 uses Purview eDiscovery export (Microsoft).

5. Process

Mode's FAQ describes a 30-minute call, a non-binding letter of intent with a mutual NDA, an intake form and indicative range, a fixed offer in the license agreement, upload of the agreed systems within 10 days of signing, de-identification with a sample audit, and payment within 30 days of acceptance. It says most companies go from first call to payment in about 2 to 3 months (Mode affiliate FAQ).

This is general information, not legal advice. Talk to your own attorney or compliance advisor before you share or license any records.

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.

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Frequently asked questions

Do we need to clean data first?

Mode says it de-identifies and lets you audit a sample. Exclusions are still your decision.

Who needs to be involved?

An owner or officer, IT, and your attorney.

Sources

  1. Mode affiliate FAQ (PDF, dated Oct 14, 2026)bizbuydata.com
  2. Frankfurt Kurnit: Selling Company Data for AI Trainingtechnologylaw.fkks.com
  3. Slack Help: Export your workspace dataslack.com
  4. Google Workspace Admin Help: Export all your organization's datasupport.google.com
  5. Microsoft Learn: Export search results in eDiscovery (Purview)learn.microsoft.com

Referral-fee disclosure: we may be paid by a program if your company signs with it after using this site. General information only, not legal advice.

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