How I built a business that allows users to monetize their screen time!

2 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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In this short YouTube talk, the speaker explains the core insight behind Mode Mobile, a startup that aims to turn the massive amount of time people spend on their smartphones into a source of income for the users. He emphasizes that successful startups solve a specific, urgent problem rather than trying to serve everyone. By highlighting that users spend up to half of their waking hours on phones while tech companies profit from that attention, he frames the opportunity: reward users for their time and attention. The talk concludes with a call to action, inviting viewers to follow the channel for free hacks and tips.

Chapters

Every successful startup solves a very specific problem. Not for everyone, but for someone. They don't try to boil the ocean. They identify a pain that feels urgent, emotional and obvious when you see it. That clarity makes adoption frictionless. People don't need to be convinced. They need to feel understood. So at Mode Mobile, what we focused on was the fact that people were spending 40, 50, 60 hours a week on their smartphone, and there's only 162 hours in a week, and you're sleeping eight hours a day, there's only 112 left. So people are spending one third to one half of their waking lives on their smartphone. So our focus here at Mode was that people are spending a lot of time on your smartphones. Tech companies are making trillions of dollars off of that time, and you're getting nothing for it. So our focus was, how can we take that time and turn it into money for that consumer? Because at Mode, we understand that time and your attention are the most valuable assets that you have. And if you're going to spend the time to be on your smartphone, you should get rewarded for it. If you want to get more of this, follow us and get all of our hacks for free.