How to model referral income when no deal is guaranteed: a probability-free scenario planner that keeps every amount at zero until a payment condition is met

Short answer

Model it as named scenarios tied to the program terms, not as an expected value. Give each introduced company a ledger state, keep its planned income at zero until SourceX has paid the company and every payment condition has cleared, and run four cases side by side: zero, delayed, reduced and repeat. If a reward becomes payable, a first qualifying transaction pays the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap, and a repeat inside the Repeat Window pays 15%; until then it is a possibility, not earned income.

Visual briefFull-size diagram
Illustrative. Four first-transaction outcomes: existing relationship earns $0; delayed $250,000 payout earns $62,500 after all payment conditions; reduced $320,000 payout earns $66,000; $800,000 payout earns $120,000, uncapped.
Illustrative, not a forecast, quote or completed deal. For a company's first qualifying transaction, the reward is the greater of USD 50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap. The Minimum Transaction is USD 100,000 unless SourceX agrees in writing. Qualifying repeats agreed within the 12-month Repeat Window pay 15%; the floor applies once per company.

This is the opposite of an odds-weighted forecast. The expected earnings spreadsheet multiplies a payout assumption by your own odds; this planner declines to, and replaces odds with events you can document and terms you can quote.

Why the planner uses no probabilities

SourceX's rewards page says it does not provide income projections and does not offer estimates or guarantees regarding potential earnings, and the program terms describe estimates in the portal or calculator as projections, not promises. No conversion rate, average payout or time-to-payment figure has been published. A probability typed into a cell is therefore a guess with a percent sign, and a guess multiplied by a payout guess produces a figure that looks like a forecast and travels like one into a budget or a board pack.

The planner takes three inputs instead:

  • Amounts come only from the formula: on a first qualifying transaction, the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap; on a repeat first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing, 15%; applied to a payout figure you label as an assumption until it is paid.
  • Timing comes only from triggers in the terms: acceptance, handoff, the supplier payment and the remaining payment conditions.
  • Status changes only on a documented event, never on a feeling about how a conversation went.

The calculation base and the conditions that govern it

The base is Actual Supplier Payout, and the terms define it narrowly. It means compensation actually paid to the supplier for selected data that reaches Closing and the qualifying completed handoff, under the supplier licensing agreement, including any signed Confirmation and amendments. It excludes separately itemized taxes and expense reimbursements, the partner reward, SourceX's own fees and the Acquisition Partner's full transaction price. Indicative ranges, unclosed data and unpaid supplier amounts are not Actual Supplier Payout, so none of them can appear in the model as a base.

TermWhat it does to the modelWhere it is set
CreditThe earliest valid introduction inside the 90-day attribution window takes the credit, but not before the company submits a verified application; one partner per companyTerms, section 2
Existing relationshipA company with any earlier lead, account or email correspondence with SourceX is not credited to a later partnerTerms, section 3
Minimum, floor and repeatsA transaction qualifies only at USD 100,000 or more of Actual Supplier Payout unless SourceX agrees in writing; the USD 50,000 element applies once per referred company, to its first qualifying transaction; repeats first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing pay 15% with no floor; there is no cap per transaction, per company or in totalTerms, section 4
InstallmentsThe reward is payable proportionately as each installment is paid: the USD 50,000 element with the first installment that meets every condition, the 5% element proportionatelyRewards page
Payment conditionsAcquisition Partner acceptance, Acquisition Partner payment received by SourceX in cleared funds, payment of the supplier compensation, SourceX finance approval, your payment and tax details, and a lawful paymentTerms, section 5
DeadlineWithin 60 calendar days of the later event: completed handoff, or the Acquisition Partner issuing final written acceptance of the complete, validated dataset; a condition still open at the deadline is paid promptly once met, with no new 60-day periodTerms, section 5
ReductionsA cancellation, refund or chargeback that lawfully reduces the supplier payout reduces the reward proportionately, as the reduced scenario below showsTerms, section 6
Signed exceptionsA different rate, base or floor in a signed Schedule A, or a signed addendum, prevails over the defaultTerms, section 8

For the floor, a parent company plus its subsidiaries is one company, so a group with several licensing entities gets the USD 50,000 element once, on its first qualifying transaction, not once per entity.

The probability-free scenario planner

The planner has two parts: a ledger that says where each introduced company stands, and a scenario sheet that says what each documented outcome would be worth and when.

Part 1: the ledger. One row per company, moved forward only by the event in the second column.

Ledger stateEvent that moves the company hereAmount in the planAmount shown as possible
1. IntroducedYou submitted the introduction under a signed Channel Partner Agreement$0Nothing yet
2. CreditedThe company submitted a verified application and yours was the first valid introduction$0Nothing yet; no payout exists
3. Agreement signedThe company signed its supplier licensing agreement$0The formula on any agreed figure you know, labeled possible
4. Closing and handoffSelected data reached Closing and the completed handoff$0Same
5. AcceptedThe Acquisition Partner gave final written acceptance; the 60-day deadline runs from the later of acceptance and handoff$0Same
6. Supplier paidSourceX paid the company$0 until the remaining conditions clearthe greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of what was actually paid on a first qualifying transaction, 15% on a repeat
7. PayableCleared Acquisition Partner funds, finance approval and your tax and payment details are all in placeThe rewardNot needed
8. PaidThe reward reached your accountThe reward, as cashNot needed

A probability, an expected value and an optimistic date are deliberately missing. The payable-date question covers the gap between states 6 and 7 in more detail.

Part 2: the scenario sheet. Each scenario is defined by an event and the term that governs it, not by a likelihood.

ScenarioDefining eventResulting amountTimingGoverning term
ZeroNo verified application, an existing SourceX relationship, a decline in review, no Closing or a payout below the USD 100,000 Minimum Transaction$0NeverSections 2 to 4; the payout definition
DelayedA payment condition is still open at the 60-day deadlineThe formula amountPaid promptly once the condition clears; no new 60-day periodSection 5
ReducedThe supplier payout is reduced or reversed after paymentThe formula recomputed on the reduced total; no cap to absorb the changeAny excess already paid is adjustedSection 6
RepeatA further qualifying transaction is first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing15% of its payout, with no second floor and no capWith that transaction's own installmentsSection 4

One introduction, four outcomes (Illustrative)

Illustrative. One generic company, four alternative histories, invented amounts. None is a forecast, a quote or a completed deal.

A partner at an accounting firm introduces the CEO of a 300-person freight broker, and the introduction plays out four different ways.

Zero. The company's verified application shows that it exchanged emails with SourceX a year earlier. Under section 3 it is not a new company, so no partner is credited. The plan showed $0 throughout, so there is nothing to reverse, which is the point of keeping it there.

Delayed. The company is paid an Actual Supplier Payout of $250,000, giving a reward of $62,500 (USD 50,000 plus 5%, which beats 15% at this size). Acceptance and handoff are complete, but the partner's tax form is still missing when the 60-day deadline passes. The reward is paid promptly once the form arrives, and no new 60-day period starts. The plan moves $62,500 into income in the month the condition clears, not the month of acceptance.

Reduced. The company is paid in two installments, $160,000 and then $240,000, under one first qualifying transaction. The first installment carries $58,000 (the USD 50,000 element plus 5% of $160,000) and the second $12,000 (5% of $240,000), for a cumulative $70,000 on a cumulative payout of $400,000; the 15% alternative, $60,000, is lower. Later, $80,000 of the second installment is reversed, so the payout falls to $320,000. The formula on $320,000 gives $66,000, below the $70,000 already paid, so the reward is recalculated to $66,000 and the $4,000 excess is adjusted. A buyer refund on its own, with no reduction of the supplier payout, would have changed nothing.

Repeat. The company is paid $800,000 on its first qualifying transaction, and the reward is $120,000: above $500,000 of payout, 15% beats USD 50,000 plus 5% ($90,000 here). A renewal first agreed ten months after the first Closing adds a $120,000 payment to the company; it meets the Minimum Transaction and falls inside the 12-month Repeat Window, so it pays 15%, $18,000, with no second USD 50,000 element, for $138,000 in all. Had the renewal been agreed after the window closed, it would have paid nothing. Had a later reduction cut the first payout to $500,000, the reward on it would fall to $75,000, because there is no cap to absorb the change.

StepPaid to the companyCumulative Actual Supplier PayoutCumulative reward
Zero: existing relationship$0$0$0
Delayed: one payment$250,000$250,000$62,500
Reduced: first installment$160,000$160,000$58,000
Reduced: second installment$240,000$400,000$70,000
Reduced: after the reversal$80,000 reversed$320,000$66,000
Repeat: first transaction$800,000$800,000$120,000
Repeat: after the renewal$120,000 added$920,000$138,000

Two parts of the table carry the planning lesson: the first row, because every company in a pipeline can end there, and the last four, because they show that a large outcome has no ceiling, can grow with a repeat inside the window and can still move after payment. The renewal scenarios and the payout calculation examples work more arithmetic, and the earnings calculator returns the formula amount for a single payout.

Reconcile what is payable, and label what is not yet earned

Once a month, take every company at ledger state 6 or later through five steps:

  1. Base. Match the reward to the payment basis SourceX states for it: what the company was actually paid, without separately itemized taxes or expense reimbursements.
  2. Formula. Recompute each transaction: the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap, on the first qualifying transaction, with the USD 50,000 element once per company, treating a parent and its subsidiaries as one, and 15% on repeats first agreed inside the Repeat Window.
  3. Reductions. Apply any reduction or reversal to the transaction's payout and note any adjustment.
  4. Conditions. Confirm cleared Acquisition Partner funds, finance approval and your own payment and tax details; an open item on your side is the one delay you control.
  5. Dates. Record the later of acceptance and handoff, and the 60-day deadline that follows it.

Then present two lines that never merge: income (states 7 and 8) and possible amounts (states 3 to 6), the second with its scenario label. For a cash-method taxpayer, IRS Publication 538 says gross income includes items actually or constructively received during the tax year, and that income is not constructively received when control of its receipt is subject to substantial restrictions or limitations. A reward still waiting on payment conditions has not been paid or made available, which is why a cash-basis plan leaves it out. This is general information, not tax advice; your adviser decides how the rules apply to you, and the estimated taxes question covers setting money aside once rewards arrive.

Partners who already live with lumpy income will recognize the shape: the business broker income page describes success fees that vanish when a listing dies.

Which introductions earn a row in the planner

A row starts only when an introduction exists: a company whose CEO wants the conversation, submitted by a partner who has signed the SourceX Channel Partner Agreement (a copy signed while the agreement was titled Channel Partner Non-Circumvention and Non-Disclosure Agreement still holds as signed). The CEO authorizes a licensing discussion and signs for the company.

The published fit facts decide whether the row has any non-zero scenario at all: the company needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors do not count toward it), an operating history it has documented, rights to license the records and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 70% of the data is in English. Partners discover fit at metadata level and never handle records or credentials. What stays unknown until SourceX reviews the company, whether its records match a current program, what rights it holds and what any license would pay, is exactly why the planner keeps the possible column separate. More planning guides sit in the guides hub, and the rewards page sets out the formula and statuses.

Next step

Refer a company. No cap on rewards. Default reward on a company's first qualifying transaction: the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap; further qualifying transactions first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing pay 15%. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, including the USD 100,000 Minimum Transaction, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.

If your plan can carry a zero in every row and you still have a company worth introducing, request a partner link, set the company beside who qualifies and read the program terms in full before the first ledger row exists.

  1. Step 1Share your linkSend your personal link to a company you know.
  2. Step 2Company appliesThe company applies itself at /apply.
  3. Step 3Company signs and is paidThe company signs, delivers its data and is paid by SourceX under its agreement.
  4. Step 4You get your rewardthe greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of the actual supplier payout, with no cap. A reward becomes payable after SourceX has paid the referred company under its signed agreement and the payout conditions in the program terms are met, including finance approval and your tax and payment details.

Common questions

When does a referral reward stop being a scenario and become income in the plan?

When it is payable: SourceX has paid the referred company and the remaining conditions in the terms have cleared, including the Acquisition Partner's payment in cleared funds, finance approval and your payment and tax details. Before that, show the amount as possible and keep it off the income line.

Why not weight each company by the chance it closes?

Because no conversion rate or typical payout has been published, so any percentage is a guess, and a guess multiplied by a payout guess reads like a forecast. The planner uses events and terms you can point to, and leaves odds to anyone who wants to add their own.

Does a reward ever shrink after it has been paid?

It can. The reward is the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap, on a first qualifying transaction and 15% on a repeat inside the Repeat Window. If that payout is later lawfully reduced by a cancellation, refund or chargeback, the reward is reduced proportionately: the formula is recomputed on the new total and any excess already paid is adjusted. With no cap, there is no ceiling that leaves a reduction without effect.

Sources

  1. refer.sourcex.si/terms
  2. refer.sourcex.si/rewards
  3. refer.sourcex.si/who-qualifies
  4. irs.gov/publications/p538

Free resources

Know a company with valuable proprietary data?

Become a referral partner, get your link and introduce the company’s CEO (in an owner-run company, usually the owner). Referral partners can join from most countries. We can't work with partners in countries or regions under U.S. sanctions or on U.S. restricted-party lists. The companies you introduce should be based in the U.S., Canada and the EU, or in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia with at least 70% of their data in English.

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