A referral program for search fund investors backing several searchers

Why search fund investors are well placed to make introductions

A search fund investor usually backs several searchers at once, and every company those searchers acquire is a potential data licensing candidate. One investor relationship can therefore lead to several introductions, provided each company had 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), holds years of its own records and has a CEO who wants to explore a license.

Your week already includes the right conversations. You read searchers' deal memos, take calls about LOIs and quality of earnings findings, join boards after close, review monthly dashboards and sit in quarterly board meetings. In the first year after an acquisition you often help the new CEO with systems decisions inherited from the founder. Each of those touchpoints is a natural, low-pressure place to mention licensing.

The role boundary matters. The searcher, now CEO, runs the company and decides; the investor makes the connection with the CEO's agreement. The referral program page for search fund CEOs covers the operator's side, and what a search fund is explains the model for anyone new to it.

Which companies in a search fund portfolio fit

Some search acquisitions fall below this program's baseline, so check peak headcount before anything else. Of those that clear it, the strongest candidates are businesses whose daily work is recorded in detail.

The 4H portfolio pass

Ask four questions for each company on your board list. Anything short of a yes means park it and check again at next year's budget.

• Headcount: did the company reach 50+ full-time employees at its peak, not counting contractors?
• History: does it hold several years of documented operations, including records kept from before the acquisition?
• Hands: is there someone, such as an operations lead, controller or IT provider, who can run exports and own a data inventory?
• Holder: did the company itself create the records, and did the acquisition move them to the entity the CEO now runs?

The company fit checker gives a preliminary, non-binding read, and the who qualifies page lists the full baseline, including the need for an authorized sponsor.

When to raise it across the search fund lifecycle

Pick moments when the CEO is already thinking about systems, budgets or the long-term plan, and avoid the first weeks after close.

Searchers you backed who never closed still hold relationships with the owners they met; the guide on turning passed search fund deals into introductions covers that route. For portfolio companies nearing a liquidity event, the guide to records questions at a search fund exit is the companion read.

How the introduction works with a CEO in charge

The CEO decides, the company does the work, and you never handle records.

1. Raise it with the CEO privately, outside a formal board vote, and ask whether they want to explore it.
2. If they do, register as a partner and pass the CEO your referral link so the company can apply under your referral code; alternatively, enter the company in the referral form once the CEO agrees.
3. SourceX reviews size, history, breadth of records and rights with the CEO or another authorized representative.
4. The company builds a data inventory of its systems and the years each one covers.
5. Price and terms are agreed with the company before any buyer review begins.
6. AI labs and data buyers review the opportunity, the company signs only if the terms work, and data is delivered after redaction rules are agreed and the agreement is executed.
7. Any partner reward follows once the buyer has paid and SourceX has received its fee.

Check the company's operating agreement or board resolutions for who must approve a license. Some governance documents reserve material contracts for the board, which means fellow investors will see the proposal in any case.

What to say to a searcher-turned-CEO

Keep it optional and transparent; the CEO is already carrying a lot.

How rewards work for an investor with several companies

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. Because the cap applies to each referred company separately, every company you introduce is assessed and rewarded on its own; rewards become payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee, and no reward is guaranteed.

Three practical points apply to board-level investors. The reward is a share of SourceX's fee and is never deducted from the company's proceeds. Tell the CEO and your fellow directors about it, because you sit on the board and hold equity in the same company. And if you invest through a fund or a fund of search funds, check whether its documents require you to disclose or share fees connected to portfolio companies. Details beyond these basics sit in the program terms.

When not to bother

• The company never reached 50+ full-time employees, even at its peak.
• The acquisition was an asset purchase and the founder's historical records stayed with the seller.
• The company mainly processes data for its clients, such as outsourced billing or agency work, and those clients have not consented.
• The records are mostly patient files, claims or consumer personal data.
• The CEO is in a turnaround month, a refinancing or a key-customer crisis; wait for calmer weeks.
• Old systems were switched off after close without exports.

Next step

Take your current board list through the 4H pass before the next round of quarterly meetings. For each company that passes, speak to the CEO first, then register as a partner and pass on your referral link; a CEO who prefers to start alone can use sourcex.si/apply.