How search fund CEOs and ETA operators can make paid data licensing introductions

Search fund CEOs and ETA operators can join SourceX's referral program to introduce other US companies, such as owners they passed on during search or peers' businesses, that may license operational records to AI developers. For your own company you act as the sponsor and apply directly; the partner program is built around introducing other companies.

Why search fund CEOs are well placed to refer companies

Few people meet more owners of established, private US companies than a searcher. The search phase leaves you with a CRM of owners you contacted, companies you modeled and turned down, brokers who know your criteria, and a peer group of CEOs who did close. Once you are operating, quarterly board meetings, investor updates and peer CEO calls keep that network active.

That network maps closely onto what AI developers need. They license records of real work, such as quotes and their outcomes, service tickets, project files and internal discussions, from companies with years of history across many systems. Many searchers focus on durable B2B services, IT services, software and distribution businesses, which are among the sectors that screen well.

The program works because you only make the introduction. SourceX handles qualification, inventory, pricing, buyer review, contracting and delivery with the company directly.

Your own company versus the companies you introduce

The first distinction to get right is your role.

Situation	Your role	How it moves forward
The company you acquired and now run	Sponsor, with your board's approval	Apply directly at sourcex.si/apply as the company's authorized representative
A fellow searcher's company	Referrer	Send the CEO your referral link or submit the company through the referral form
An owner you passed on during search	Referrer	Re-approach only if your NDA allows it, and introduce only if the company meets the baseline
A company held by one of your investors	Referrer, coordinated with that investor	Agree who makes the introduction so the owner hears it once
A company you are negotiating to buy	Neither, for now	Keep it out of the program until the deal is resolved, or disclose fully to the owner and your investors

For your own company, read whether an owner can refer their own company and the program terms before assuming any reward applies. Your investors may want to hear about the program too; the referral program for search fund investors explains their side.

Which companies in your network fit

Most of the screening discipline you built during search carries over, with a different bar.

Signal	What to look for	Why buyers care
Size	50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded); many search targets are smaller, so check the peak year	More people produce more connected records
Operating history	Several years of documented operations; 5-10+ years of system history is better	Long histories show how decisions and outcomes changed
System breadth	Email, Teams or Slack, CRM, accounting, ticketing, project and file systems; strong companies run 10-15+ systems	Connected systems show whole workflows
Outcomes on record	Quotes won or lost, tickets resolved or escalated, projects on or over budget	Outcomes make records useful for training and evaluation
Clean rights	The company created the records itself under its own contracts	Buyers need clear rights before delivery
Reachable sponsor	Owner, CEO, CFO or another authorized representative you can contact directly	Nothing moves without a decision-maker

The who qualifies page has the full baseline.

The second-look screen for owners you passed on

Owners who would not sell, or whose companies did not fit your thesis, can be the best introductions you make. Fortune's coverage of McKinsey's ownership-transfer research reported that 92% of small-business market exits happen through closure and only 5% through a sale (Fortune, February 2026). Plenty of the owners you met may never run a sale process, yet their records may still be worth licensing.

Before you re-approach anyone, run this check:

Your NDA and the broker's process terms do not bar a new approach or the use of what you learned
You can reach the owner directly, not only through a broker's data room
The company had 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded)
Its records go back several years and someone there can still export them
The owner said no to selling, not no to every outside idea
The records are the company's own, not mainly its clients'

Never pass on anything from a CIM, model or data room. The owner tells SourceX about the company directly. The guide to turning deals you passed on into introductions covers the outreach in more detail.

When to raise it in an operator's calendar

Moment	Who you are talking to	What to raise
Quarterly board meeting	Your investors	That you are a registered partner, and whether their other holdings might fit
Peer CEO calls and searcher groups	Fellow operators	How licensing works, plus the size and rights bar
Closing out a passed deal	The owner	A respectful thank-you now, and a short note later if the screen fits
ERP or CRM migration at your company	Your CFO or controller	Keep complete exports before the old system is retired
Annual planning	Your board	Whether your own company should run a fit screen
Preparing your own exit	Investors and advisers	Timing of any license relative to the sale

The search fund exit guide covers the records questions your eventual buyer will ask.

How an introduction works

Register as a partner first, so your referral link exists before your first conversation.
Send the owner a short note with your link, which takes them to sourcex.si/apply with your referral code attached. You can also submit the company through the referral form.
SourceX speaks with the owner to confirm size, operating history, data breadth and rights.
If the company qualifies, its team completes a data inventory: each system, how many years it covers and what can be exported.
SourceX and the company agree one all-in price and the terms. Nothing is binding until the company signs.
AI labs and data buyers review the opportunity. When a deal closes, the data is delivered under the agreed redaction rules and the company is paid.
Your reward is paid after SourceX receives its fee.

At no point do you see, export or describe the company's records.

Attribution when several people know the same owner

Credit goes to the first valid referrer whose introduction leads to a verified company application within the attribution window. In the search world that matters, because the same owner may have heard from several searchers, a broker and a lender.

Register and send your link before you discuss licensing with the owner, not after.
Ask the owner to apply through your link so the application carries your code; an application that arrives without it may not be credited to you.
If an investor or another searcher also knows the owner, agree between you who makes the introduction.
The window and the detailed rules live in the program terms, which take precedence over anything on this page.

What to say to an owner you passed on

The disclosure line is deliberate. If you recommend SourceX publicly, for example in a LinkedIn post or a newsletter to other searchers, the FTC's endorsement guidance says a material connection such as payment for referrals should be disclosed clearly and close to the recommendation (FTC Endorsement Guides FAQ). This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.

How rewards work for search fund CEOs

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 are paid only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee, and no reward is guaranteed. The payment comes out of SourceX's share, so the owner you introduce receives the same amount either way.

Two checks are specific to operators. If your employment agreement or your company's operating agreement covers outside activities or business opportunities, read it and tell your board before you register. And keep partner activity separate from your company's own decisions, so a referral never appears to influence a deal you are negotiating.

When not to bother

The company never had 50+ full-time employees at peak, contractors excluded. Many good search targets fall below this bar.
Its records mainly belong to its clients, as at many agencies and outsourcers.
The data is mostly consumer personal information or patient health records.
You can reach the owner only through a broker running a sale.
Old systems were switched off without exports.

Next step

If you want your referral link ready before the next peer call or board meeting, register as a partner today. For the company you run, start with the company fit checker and then apply directly at sourcex.si/apply.

Step 1Share your linkSend your personal link to a company you know.
Step 2Company appliesThe company applies itself at /apply.
Step 3Buyer selects and paysThe buyer selects and pays for the data and SourceX receives its fee.
Step 4You get your rewardYour share of SourceX fees becomes payable.

Common questions

Can a self-funded searcher who has not closed a deal yet join?

Yes. Anyone can join the partner program, from any supported country, and you do not need to own a company to make introductions. Searchers still in the search phase often have the widest owner network. What matters is that you can reach a decision-maker directly and that the companies you introduce are US businesses that meet the baseline.

What if a broker first introduced me to the owner?

Respect the broker's process and your NDA. If a sale process is running, do not use what you learned in it to approach the owner about something else. Once you can contact the owner directly, an introduction is possible, but the broker may also know SourceX, and credit goes to the first valid referrer whose introduction leads to a verified application within the attribution window.

Will a data license make it harder to sell the company I run?

Not if it is planned. Data is licensed, not sold, so the company keeps ownership, but the license usually grants the licensee exclusive AI-training rights for a set term. Your eventual buyer will want to see the agreement, so disclose it in the data room and decide with your investors whether a license should close before or after a sale process.

Do my investors have to approve a license at my own company?

That depends on your governance documents. If your operating agreement gives the board consent rights over material contracts, a license will likely fall under them, so involve the board early. As CEO you can act as the company's sponsor, and the company is not committed to anything until it accepts the price and terms and signs, so the board has time to review.

Does the owner pay anything because I introduced them?

No. The company receives one all-in price with SourceX's fee already included and no separate charges. The partner reward is a share of the fee SourceX collects, so it is never deducted from what the company receives, whether or not a partner made the introduction.

Free resources

Business DSCR calculator — Debt service coverage from cash flow and loan terms.
MCP ROI calculator — Estimate hours saved, implied savings and first-year ROI from MCP.
Business exit readiness assessment — A preliminary exit readiness score and checklist for advisors.
All free tools · MCP resource center

By SourceX Partnerships Team · Published 2026-10-09 · Updated 2026-10-09

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