How exit planners can start making data licensing referrals in the first 30 days

How should an exit planner start making data licensing referrals?

Start with a four-week plan that screens your existing book, asks permission before you mention anything, and makes one or two introductions at most in the first month. The aim is not volume. It is a repeatable routine you can run at the next planning review, using the client relationships you already have.

Exit planners are well placed because owners tell you things in planning sessions that nobody else hears: which systems hold the history, when the ERP is due for replacement, and whether the owner has any appetite for a new source of proceeds. Your job is to notice the companies that fit and say one accurate sentence about licensing.

What does the first month look like?

Adjust the calendar around your own planning-review rhythm. Related plans for other roles exist, such as the first-month plan for agency owners, but yours should follow the cadence of owner meetings.

Week 1: how do I screen my book?

Go through client files and tag each company on four points.

• Size: did the company reach 50+ full-time employees at peak, contractors excluded?
• History: several years of documented operations, including retired systems?
• Systems: email, chat, CRM, finance, support and operations tools; stronger candidates often have 10-15+?
• Sponsor: can you reach the owner, CEO, CFO or another authorized representative?

Do not try to learn what is inside the records. Fit information stays at the level of size, tenure and system types. Park any client who is mainly consumer-facing, mainly healthcare records without authorization, or whose data belongs to its own clients.

Owner-dependent companies are not excluded, but the conversation differs. If the owner holds every decision, read the guide on reducing owner dependence before an exit first, since the same owner may be reviewing documentation anyway.

Week 2: what do I check before I mention it?

Review your own obligations, then prepare the explanation.

1. Your firm's policy. Many planners work inside a larger firm. Ask compliance whether paid referrals need approval or disclosure.
2. Professional rules. If you hold a license or designation, read what your body says about referral fees.
3. Registered representatives. FINRA has reported that the SEC approved new Rule 3290 on outside activities, replacing Rules 3270 and 3280, with an effective date to be announced. Until then, the existing outside-activity rules apply, so tell your firm about paid referral relationships. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel, tax adviser or professional body before acting.
4. Your referral link. Register as a partner to get one; it sends the company to sourcex.si/apply with your credit attached.
5. Your one-minute explanation. Use the plain-English explanation for owners and practice it aloud.

Week 3: how do I ask permission?

Never introduce a client without asking. Use the next scheduled call, not a cold message.

Expect three answers. A yes gets an introduction. A no is respected and logged. A later gets a diary note tied to a trigger, such as an ERP replacement or a valuation meeting.

For written follow-up, adapt the client introduction email templates for exit planners. Keep emails free of reward amounts and promises.

Week 4: how do I make the introduction?

You introduce; you never touch company records.

1. Give the owner your referral link, or submit the company on the referral form with the owner's permission.
2. SourceX talks to the sponsor and checks size, history, data breadth and rights.
3. The company produces a data inventory of its systems and archives.
4. A single all-in price is agreed and nothing binds the company until it signs.
5. AI labs and data buyers review, typically responding within about two weeks once the company is deal-ready.
6. If a deal closes, data goes out under redaction rules set beforehand and the company is paid once.

If the owner is not sure, the company fit checker lets them run a preliminary, non-binding screen without giving contact details.

What mistakes should I avoid?

How do rewards work?

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. The reward becomes payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee; a lead, meeting or signed agreement alone does not trigger payment, and no reward is guaranteed. The reward is a share of SourceX's fee and is never deducted from what the company receives. Read the program terms and check your own rules on referral fees and disclosure. Broker-oriented guidance is at referral opportunities for business brokers. If a sale you worked on stalls, what to do when a sale falls through may help you reopen the data question.

What should you document after the first conversation?

Keep a short note per client in your own file, not in SourceX systems: the date you raised the topic, who the sponsor is, whether the owner agreed to a follow-up, and the next date you promised. Record only basic fit information such as industry, approximate headcount at peak and the kinds of systems in use. Never copy, describe or request confidential records from the client.

Review the notes at each quarterly planning meeting. A client who said not now during a valuation exercise may answer differently once a buyer's diligence list arrives. A dated note lets you pick the conversation up without repeating yourself, and it shows the owner that you listen.

Next step

Block an hour this week for the screen. When you have a shortlist, register as a partner to get your referral link, and send the first permission conversation to your calendar.