A referral program for business owners who know other business owners

Why are business owners well placed to refer other owners?

Owners hear what other owners are dealing with: a system being retired, an acquisition, a planned sale, a new CFO asking what the business actually owns. You already sit in peer groups, industry associations, boards and local networks where those conversations happen, and a peer is more likely to answer you than a stranger.

This role is separate from licensing your own company's data. You can do either, or both, and each is its own decision. The introduction asks little of you: one honest conversation, with the peer's permission before any contact is passed on.

Which peer companies are worth mentioning?

B2B software, IT services, professional services, engineering, logistics, distribution and the back offices of manufacturers tend to fit. Still-operating, acquired and wound-down companies can all qualify if the data still exists. The full baseline is on who qualifies.

The permission-first rule

Never pass a peer's name or details to anyone before they say yes. Use this three-step test:

• Ask: have I described the program and the possible reward to this owner myself?
• Agree: did they say they want an introduction, in writing if possible?
• Allow: does the introduction go only through their referral link or the referral form, so the peer controls what is shared?

A peer who declines is a normal outcome. Do not follow up more than once, and do not ask a third party to nudge them.

What to say to a peer owner

Sending the link, so the peer applies directly at sourcex.si/apply with your referral code, keeps the peer in control and preserves your credit. The introduction email builder can help you draft the message.

How does the introduction work?

1. You register as a partner and get your referral link.
2. You tell the peer about the program and get their permission.
3. The peer applies through your link, or you submit them on the referral form.
4. SourceX checks size, history, data breadth and rights.
5. The peer completes a data inventory, and price and terms are agreed with them before anything goes to buyers.
6. Buyers review. If the deal closes, data is delivered under redaction rules the company agrees to, and the company is paid.
7. After the buyer pays SourceX, your reward is paid.

You never export, upload or describe the peer's confidential records.

How do rewards work for an owner?

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. Rewards become payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee, and no reward is guaranteed. The reward is a share of SourceX's fee and is never deducted from what the peer receives. Explore the formula in the referral earnings calculator and read who pays the referral fee.

Reward income is generally taxable, as the IRS explains in Publication 525. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own tax adviser.

How do owners keep this clean in a peer group?

• Say up front that you may earn a reward. Owners who learn it later feel used.
• Do not use group meetings to promote. One-to-one conversations only.
• Know your group's rules. Many have norms against solicitation, and some chairs are paid, as described in how CEO peer-group chairs get paid.
• Do not vouch for outcomes or price.
• Compare it with what advisers do in consulting referral fee norms and ask the same disclosure questions in is my advisor paid to refer me.
• Where a peer is planning a sale, point them to a business broker and their own advisers, not to this program alone. The private equity finder's fee guide explains why sale-related fees need legal advice.

When in an owner's year does the conversation come up?

Illustrative: what a good first conversation sounds like

Illustrative and fictional. Two owners, one in commercial landscaping and one running a regional engineering firm, share a table at an association lunch. The engineer mentions that the firm is replacing a project-management system it has used for eleven years. The landscaper, a partner, asks whether the old history will be kept, mentions the program in two sentences, discloses the possible reward, and offers a link by email. The engineer says he will look at it on his own time. Nothing more is sent.

That restraint is the point: no pressure, no names passed along, no promises about price or timing, and no description of anyone's records. The company decides whether to apply, and whether to sign, long after the lunch is over.

When not to bother

Skip it when the peer is a competitor you would rather not help, mainly holds consumer or medical data, has already licensed its data for AI training, or has fewer people than the baseline. Also skip if you do not want money mixing with a friendship.

Next step

List two owners who fit the signals above, ask each for permission, then register as a partner.