AI Data Referral Programs: What Each Pays an Introducer
12 min readAIData.Broker research12 Nov 202612 records, 14 sources
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Several AI data buyers pay whoever introduces them a company that licenses its data: micro1 pays $50,000 for an operating company's deal up to $700,000, or 7.5% of a larger one, Mercor a fixed amount per kind of company, up to $100,000, Turing up to $50,000, AfterQuery up to $85,000, Handshake AI $10,000 and Scale AI $10,000 on its referral form. Every one of them pays only when that buyer itself signs or licenses with the company you named, most pay only the first person to name it, and most take only companies above a size or in certain countries. So a single programme pays on the few companies that fit that one buyer. AIData.Broker's own introducer programme pays one third of what we earn on each company you introduce, for 12 months, across every buyer we introduce it to.
This guide is for anyone who meets companies with years of records and wants to be paid for pointing them to the buyers: an accountant or bookkeeper, a fractional finance lead, a business broker or M&A adviser, an investor or operating partner, an assistant agency, a newsletter or community for founders. It lists what each buyer's own programme pays an introducer and on what conditions, what every programme asks of you, where a programme's fee is worth less than its headline, and how AIData.Broker's programme works beside them. Every term is the buyer's own published wording or its agreement, cited to its record; where a line is our reading, it says so.
AIData.Broker is itself paid through several of these programmes: we introduce companies to the buyers that take their data, and the buyers pay us. That is why we know their terms in detail, and also why you should read each programme's own page before relying on any line here.
This guide is research from public sources, not legal, tax or financial advice.
Contents
- The programmes at a glance
- What every programme asks of you
- When a headline payout is worth less
- One buyer's programme or every buyer at once
- Who should not take a referral fee
- Questions people ask
- What this means for you
The programmes at a glance
Of the 44 buyers on our buyer board with a public way in, 9 buy company records and publish an amount or a share they pay whoever brings them a company, with budgets of $9.24K to $50K for a mid-sized sale. The table lists those and the other programmes that a company's operating records (email, chat, tickets, CRM, documents, code) are most likely to fit.
| Buyer | What it pays an introducer | When it pays | Who it takes | How you refer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| micro1 | $50,000 up to a $700,000 deal, then 7.5%; $75,000 for a defunct company's deal up to $1 million | Once micro1 approves the transferred data | 30+ employees, English, the US first | A referral link from its partner portal |
| Mercor | a fixed amount per listing, up to $100,000 | Confirmed when the company signs, paid after its first delivery | Each listing names its own size, place and years | Its Refer a company app, listing by listing |
| Turing (Project Lazarus) | Up to $50,000 per referral | If the company signs and its record sells | Active, winding-down and closed companies; strongest demand in the US, UK, Canada and the EU | Its Refer & Earn form |
| AfterQuery | "Refer and earn up to $85k" | When it buys the company's data | Several teams across several systems, a few years of history | Its referral form, no account |
| Handshake AI | $10K per company that completes its data transfer | After the data is accepted; processing up to 30 days | 20+ full-time employees and 3+ years, any industry | Its referral form |
| Scale AI | $10,000 on its form; its FAQ says up to $50,000 | Only if Scale signs a partnership agreement | 40+ employees preferred, case by case | Its Refer a team form |
| Patronus AI | 15% of the licence fee | Once the company itself has been paid | No company rule published | Its partner account, after the company confirms |
| Replay | A flat minimum or a share of the company's upfront fee, whichever is greater ( its referral agreement) | Shortly after Replay pays the company | 2+ years, 20+ full-time staff at once, mostly English, its own codebase | Its referral portal |
| Nyne | Up to $20,000 | When the company completes a transaction | 20+ full-time US employees, 3 years in business | By email to its referral team |
| Mode (BizBuyData) | For a US company, the greater of $50,000 or 6% on an introducer's first five qualified deals; 6% outside the US | After the transaction completes | Companies whose full records it licenses | Its affiliate referral agreement |
| DataVendor (by HUD) | 5% of what it receives, more for supply it accepts in writing | On deals within 180 days of its written acceptance | Sellers sign up themselves, no review | A written acceptance by its named approver |
Two things the table does not show. First, the amounts are ceilings or flat fees set by each buyer, and several have changed in weeks: Scale's form and its FAQ name different figures on the same page, and micro1's referral page and its data-partnerships FAQ describe the moment of payment differently. Second, none of these programmes pays because a company talks to the buyer: each pays on a signed licence, a completed data transfer, or the company's own payment.
What every programme asks of you
The programmes differ in amounts but share most of their rules. Read together, they ask six things of an introducer.
- Be first. Handshake pays only "the first to introduce the company to us", and a company "already in contact with our team" is not eligible ( its referrals FAQ). Scale pays one referral per deal, "based on who successfully intros Scale to the right stakeholder" ( its data partnership page). Mercor counts "the first valid referral for a company" ( its referral app).
- Name a company the buyer does not already know. micro1 pays nothing on a company that is already "an existing lead, applicant, client, customer, or prospect" in its system, and decides the original lead source in its sole discretion ( its referral terms). Replay pays nothing where it had a "Prior Relationship" with the company, as it determines ( its referral agreement).
- Have the company's agreement. The buyers write to the company you name, so the company should know you named it. micro1's terms also require you to disclose in writing a company you own or work for before you refer it.
- Refer through the buyer's own channel. Each programme credits only its own form, link or portal; an email to a general address usually credits nobody.
- Read what the agreement forbids you. An affiliate agreement can bind the introducer as well as pay it. Mode's pays only on a licence of substantially all of a company's operational records, bars the affiliate from taking any fee from the company, and for the agreement's term and a year after bars it from encouraging that company to license to anyone else. If you advise companies, an agreement like that decides what you may tell them.
- Wait for the buyer's deal, not yours. Payment follows the buyer's own process: a sample, its review, a signed licence, a delivery, sometimes the company being paid first. On the programmes above that is weeks at the least, and a company the buyer turns down pays nothing.
When a headline payout is worth less
A headline is the most a programme pays, on the company that fits it best. Three things lower what it is worth to you, and they are worth reading before you choose where to send a company.
The company must fit that one buyer. Each buyer takes only some companies: Handshake names 20 or more full-time employees and three years of operation, Scale prefers 40 or more, Replay asks for its own codebase, micro1 for 30 or more employees working in English, Nyne for US staff. A company with twelve people, records in German or no code of its own fits few of them, and a programme whose buyer turns it down pays nothing.
The amount often depends on the company, not the programme. Buyers budget a share of the deal or a fixed amount for whoever brings them a seller. Mercor sets its amount per listing, with the full amount only from 30 employees ( its referral listings); micro1's fixed fee changes at a deal size; Patronus and DataVendor pay a share of a licence whose size nobody knows when you refer.
The buyer also reaches companies itself. micro1 runs its own outreach and states a large budget to buy with ( its referral terms), and Mercor says "We handle the outreach" ( its referral app). A company the buyer reaches first, through any channel, is no longer yours to refer to it.
One buyer's programme or every buyer at once
If you refer a company to one buyer, you are paid if that one buyer licenses its data. If the buyer turns it down, or the company prefers another buyer's terms, you are paid nothing, and you have usually used up your chance with that company.
AIData.Broker's introducer programme is built the other way round. You register a link once, on our introducers page, and pass it to companies yourself, or name a company that agreed to hear from us. Each company values its data with us free, and with one press we introduce it to every buyer whose referral programme, published or agreed with us in writing, takes its data. You earn one third of what we earn on that company for 12 months: of every buyer's referral payout for introducing it, and of our fee if we sell its data ourselves. The company pays nothing more for it, and we tell it in writing that you introduced it and what share you receive.
Our rules for introducers are on that page and in our terms. Two of them matter most here: a buyer's payout whose own terms do not let us share it earns no share (we tell you which, if you ask), and if two people register the same company, we ask the company which of them introduced it.
Who should not take a referral fee
Some introducers are limited by the rules of their own profession, whatever a programme offers.
- Lawyers. In many places professional conduct rules restrict paying or receiving a fee for referring a client. We pay counsel no share; a firm whose clients ask about selling their data can point them to us, and we can point companies that need counsel for their rights review to it.
- Accountants, tax preparers and other advisers bound to confidentiality. A firm that must keep its clients' affairs confidential passes a buyer or a broker nothing about a client, not even a name. It can tell its clients about the programmes in ways its own rules allow, and a client that wants a valuation comes forward itself and says who referred it.
- Advisers whose rules require consent to a fee. Get the client's consent first, or decline the share or have it credited to the client.
- Publishers and creators. A newsletter, site or channel that earns from a link tells its readers so, beside the link.
If you are unsure which rules apply to you, ask your own professional body before you refer anyone.
Questions people ask
Do I need an account to refer a company?
For some programmes, no: AfterQuery's and Handshake's referral forms take a referral without an account, and Turing's form names you as the referrer. micro1, Mercor, Replay and Patronus credit referrals in an account or portal of their own. AIData.Broker's introducers page registers your link in a minute, with no account.
Can I refer my own company?
Read the programme's own terms first. micro1 lets you refer a company you own or work for only after disclosing it in writing. Under our rules a holder's own director is not its introducer, and we pay no share to an employee, officer or adviser of the holder unless the holder agrees in writing.
How long do I wait to be paid?
As long as the buyer's own deal takes. Every programme above pays after a signed licence, an accepted delivery or the company's own payment, so weeks at the least, and nothing on a company the buyer turns down.
Is a referral fee legal?
Usually, for someone who is not bound by professional rules that forbid it, and when the company knows. The rules that apply to you depend on your profession and country, so check them before you refer anyone. Nothing here is legal advice.
Can I tell the company what I will earn?
You can, and under AIData.Broker's rules the company learns it from us in writing anyway. Some buyers' own terms limit what may be said about their programme, so read those before quoting one.
What this means for you
If you meet a company that holds years of records, the buyers above will pay you to name it, but each only when that one buyer licenses, and only if you were first and the company fits its rules. Read each programme's own page before you refer anyone, and get the company's agreement before you name it. If you would rather be paid whichever buyer takes the company, register a link on our introducers page: the company values its data free, is introduced to every buyer whose programme takes it, and you earn one third of what we earn on it for 12 months.