Referral income for former executives: introduce owners, never your old employer's records

Why former operators make credible introducers

Former CEOs, CFOs and COOs can earn referral income through SourceX because they know owners of established US companies personally and understand what years of operational records represent. An introduction from someone who has run a similar business is more likely to get a reply than a cold email.

Your network is probably wider than it looks on LinkedIn: the owner who bought your former company, peers from industry groups, suppliers and customers you dealt with for years, executives you hired who now run businesses, and companies where you sit on a board or advise. Some of them run companies with 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded) and a decade of history in their CRM, ERP and ticketing systems.

What you bring is judgment. You can tell quickly whether an owner would consider licensing records under an exclusive term, and whether a company's systems capture whole workflows or scraps. What you do not bring, and should not try to, is knowledge of any company's records.

Check what you signed before your first introduction

Read your old paperwork before contacting anyone you met through a former employer. Separation and employment agreements commonly include non-solicitation, confidentiality and sometimes non-compete clauses, and their scope and enforceability vary by state.

A non-solicit that covers customers does not automatically cover every introduction, and one that looks narrow can be read broadly. The question page on whether a non-solicitation agreement prevents referrals covers the issue in more depth; employment counsel should settle your own case. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.

Introduce the owner, not the records

Your job is to connect SourceX with a person who can authorize a license, never to describe what a company holds. The rule matters most for a former employer, where you may know exactly which archives exist and where.

As a partner you never export, upload or describe a company's confidential records. The company completes its own data inventory, agrees de-identification and redaction rules before any work begins, and delivers data only after an executed agreement and its own authorization.

Which companies in your network fit

The baseline for every row is the same: a US company with 50+ full-time employees at peak, several years of documented operations, rights to license the data and an authorized sponsor. The who qualifies page has the full list, including red flags such as client-owned data and deleted archives.

The clean-introduction checklist

• You reread your separation, employment, equity and board agreements, and nothing restricts contacting this person.
• Nothing you will pass along came from confidential information you learned as an employee or director.
• You know the sponsor (owner, CEO, CFO or authorized representative) well enough for a warm introduction.
• The company meets the size, history and rights baseline.
• You disclosed that you may earn a share of SourceX's fee, which never reduces the company's proceeds.
• Where you sit on the company's board, you disclosed the interest and followed its conflict policy.

What referral income looks like in practice

Treat referral income as occasional and uneven, not a retainer. The steps between an introduction and a payout take time and turn on decisions you do not control.

1. You introduce the owner with your referral link or the referral form.
2. SourceX qualifies the company: size, history, data breadth and rights.
3. The owner's team lists the company's systems and records in a data inventory.
4. SourceX and the company agree price and terms; the company is not bound until it signs.
5. AI labs and data buyers review the opportunity, and once the company is deal-ready they typically respond within about two weeks.
6. A buyer signs, the data is delivered and the company receives its payment.
7. Your reward is paid after SourceX receives its payment.

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 cumulative per referred company, and rewards become payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee.

Because the cap applies per referred company, the number of separate eligible companies you know matters more than any single relationship. No reward is guaranteed, and an owner who qualifies and then declines is a normal outcome.

Taxes and paperwork for US and non-US partners

Referral rewards are income. IRS Publication 525 explains that amounts included in income are taxable unless specifically exempted by law. US partners can expect to provide a Form W-9 so payments can be reported, and individual partners living outside the US are generally asked for a Form W-8BEN instead. Former executives who have moved abroad can still join from any supported country; the companies they introduce must be US companies.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own tax adviser before acting.

What to say to an owner you know

The introduction email builder can turn that into a tailored email.

When to pass

• A non-solicit still covers the person or the company.
• The introduction would only make sense because of confidential knowledge.
• The company never reached the size baseline, or its records mostly belong to its clients.
• The owner has said they would never consider an exclusive license.
• You sit on the board and the conflict cannot be managed cleanly.

If you now coach or advise owners on a regular basis, the playbook for business coaches covers raising the topic inside an ongoing engagement, and attorneys in your circle have their own page on referral opportunities for business attorneys.

Next step

List five owners you could call this month with the network opportunity finder, run each through the checklist above, and register as a partner so your link is ready when the first one says yes.