Referral program for family offices: direct holdings and principals' networks

Two ways a family office can work with SourceX

A family office can take part as an owner or as a referral partner. For operating companies the office controls, the company licenses its own records and receives the license price; for companies the principals or investment team know, the office can register as a partner and introduce them.

Keeping the two roles apart avoids most of the confusion.

For direct holdings, the company itself applies at sourcex.si/apply. How the program terms treat an introduction of a company the office itself controls is a question to put to SourceX before you register, not something to assume.

Why family offices are well placed

Family offices combine patient capital with unusually deep personal networks. Principals often built or ran operating businesses themselves, sit on boards and have decades of relationships with founders who would never answer a cold approach.

The investment team's calendar supplies the openings: investment committee meetings, quarterly holdings reviews, the annual family assembly or family council, co-investment debriefs with lead sponsors and board meetings of direct holdings. Because a family office rarely faces a forced exit date, its operating companies tend to build long histories in the same systems, which is what AI developers look for. The guide to family office value creation without an operating team covers the wider set of levers.

Which holdings and relationships fit

Start with what the office owns, then move to who the principals know.

Whatever the route, the company must be US-based, have had 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), show several years of documented history, hold the rights to what it would license and have someone authorized to sign. The who qualifies page has the detail, and the company fit checker gives a quick, non-binding first read.

The two-list screen

Build two short lists before the next investment committee meeting and run each against its own checklist.

List A: companies the office controls

• The company, not its clients, created the records, and its customer contracts do not bar licensing.
• Someone in finance, operations or IT could own a data inventory and run exports.
• Management is open to granting exclusive AI-training rights for a fixed period.
• No sale, recapitalization or refinancing is underway that a license would complicate.

List B: companies principals and staff know

• You can reach the owner, CEO, CFO or another authorized representative personally.
• The relationship can carry a business suggestion without strain.
• You can describe the company's fit from public or freely shared knowledge, with nothing confidential.
• The person making the introduction is comfortable disclosing that a referral reward may follow.

When to raise it in the office's calendar

How the introduction works

For a company the office controls, management applies directly and works with SourceX on qualification, inventory, price and terms. For a company the principals know, the sequence runs like this:

1. The principal asks the owner whether they would like to hear about it.
2. The office, or the principal personally, registers as a partner and shares the referral link, which carries the referral code into the company's application; the company can also be submitted through the referral form.
3. SourceX qualifies the company directly with its sponsor on size, history, data breadth and rights.
4. The company completes a data inventory, then agrees price and terms with SourceX before AI labs and data buyers review it.
5. If the company signs, its records go through the agreed de-identification and redaction steps before delivery, and payment goes to the company.
6. Any reward to the office follows after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee.

At no stage does anyone at the office export, upload or describe the company's confidential records.

What a principal can say

How rewards and compliance work for a family office

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 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 never reduces what the company receives.

Before registering, run three checks:

• Registered people on staff. If anyone at the office holds a FINRA registration through a broker-dealer, that firm's outside activities rules apply. FINRA reported that the SEC approved new Rule 3290 on outside activities on September 15, 2026, replacing Rules 3270 and 3280, with the effective date to be announced; until then the existing rules apply. Involve the broker-dealer's compliance team.
• Tax documentation. Whoever pays a referral reward may ask for a Form W-9 from a US payee or a Form W-8BEN-E from a foreign entity, so payments can be documented and reported. Ask your tax adviser which applies to the office's structure and read the program terms.
• Internal policy. Multi-family offices that advise outside clients should check their compliance manual and client agreements on receiving outside compensation, and disclose it where required.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel, tax adviser or professional body before acting. The program terms set out the remaining details.

When not to bother

• The company's records mainly belong to its clients or patients.
• A direct holding is mid-sale or mid-refinancing and the lenders or buyer have not been consulted.
• The principal's relationship with the owner is purely social and would suffer from a commercial suggestion.
• The company falls short of the 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded) baseline.
• Archives were destroyed when systems were replaced.

Next step

Draft List A and List B before the next quarterly review. For List B introductions, register as a partner; for direct holdings, have management apply at sourcex.si/apply. Other investors use the same approach, including search fund investors and private equity operating partners.