Three inputs feed this decision and deserve different weight. The program terms are published and certain. Your client book is knowable this week. Outcomes stay unknown until SourceX reviews a company and a license closes. The canvas below uses the first two and refuses to guess the third.
What client problem does the program solve, and what is the firm's part?
The client problem is narrow and real: an owner-run company may hold a decade of tickets, work orders, claim files or project histories without knowing those records can be licensed for AI training and evaluation, or who would handle the rights and delivery work. SourceX licenses approved business data directly from companies and manages the agreement, rights review, data preparation, delivery and payout. The company starts by answering a short set of questions; nobody uploads anything at that stage.
The firm's part is smaller than most channel programs ask for:
- Recognize a client that may fit, from what you already know.
- Ask the CEO whether they want the conversation. If the decision maker never knew about an introduction, SourceX usually finds it is not a fit.
- Introduce through your partner link, then step back.
What the firm never does: request exports or samples, hold credentials, negotiate the license or promise an outcome. The questions describe records without touching them: the system, the record type, approximate volume, the years covered and the administrator. If the general idea of a referral program is new to your partners, start there.
The client-fit and effort decision canvas
Score two things, each out of 10, using five items worth 0, 1 or 2 points.
Client fit. How useful the program could be to the clients you actually have.
| Item | 0 points | 1 point | 2 points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clients with 50+ full-time employees at peak | None you can name | One to four | Five or more |
| Years of their own records in named systems | Unknown for most | Known for some | Known for most of those clients |
| Rights picture | Records mostly belong to their customers | Mixed or unknown | Records are the client's own |
| Line to the CEO | Through staff only | Through one intermediary | You advise the CEO directly |
| A reason to talk now | None | General curiosity about AI | A dated trigger, such as a planned system switch or an archive purge |
Effort and risk. What the work costs the firm. Higher means costlier.
| Item | 0 points | 1 point | 2 points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screening the client book | Under a day of partner time | One to three days | More than three days |
| Professional-rule work | Disclosure only | Disclosure plus written consent | Rules restrict the fee for many of these clients |
| Agreement review | Internal review of the partner agreement | Needs outside counsel | Conflicts with an existing commitment |
| Client conversations | Fit inside existing meetings | Need a separate meeting | Need a campaign |
| Tracking | A shared sheet | A CRM field with an owner | A new process |
Decision rule.
| Client fit | Effort 0 to 4 | Effort 5 to 10 |
|---|---|---|
| 7 to 10 | Pilot, then expand if the pilot holds | Pilot narrowly with the strongest fits |
| 4 to 6 | Stay small: introduce when a client raises it | Stay small, and only on client request |
| 0 to 3 | Stay small or decline | Decline |
Assumptions, published so you can change them. The five-client threshold, the point bands and the cut lines are our judgment, not SourceX data. A firm that values one strong introduction more than a program can lower the fit threshold; a firm with thin partner capacity can lower the effort cut to 3.
| Term on this canvas | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Actual Supplier Payout | What SourceX actually pays the referred company for its qualifying, completed data handoff, excluding separately itemized taxes and expense reimbursements |
| Consented introduction | The CEO agreed to the conversation before you submitted it |
| Attribution window | 90 days; credit goes to the first valid introduction, and only when the company files a verified application |
| Stay small | No outreach program; introduce only when a client's situation calls for it |
Two ways to take part, and the third option
| Question | Reactive introductions | Annual book screen | Decline |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the firm does | Introduces when a client mentions AI, a system change or old archives | Partners score every client once a year on the fit items | Nothing; may still introduce unpaid |
| Partner time (Illustrative assumption) | One to two hours per conversation | One to three days a year, plus conversations | None |
| Client experience risk | Low: the client raised it | Moderate: unprompted asks can feel like selling | None |
| Disclosure moments | At each introduction | In the screen letter and at each introduction | None |
| Fits a firm whose | Clients rarely fit, or capacity is thin | Book holds many 50+ employee clients with long histories | Promise or rules rule out third-party compensation |
Effort, terms, trust and uncertain economics
Terms. The default reward on a company's first qualifying transaction is the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap; each further qualifying transaction first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing pays 15% of its Actual Supplier Payout, and the USD 50,000 floor applies once per referred company, never again on a repeat, renewal or amendment. A transaction qualifies only if its Actual Supplier Payout is at least USD 100,000 unless SourceX agrees in writing. A parent company and its subsidiaries count as one company. The reward is never calculated on SourceX's fees or revenue and never deducted from the client's payout. It becomes payable only after the buyer's final acceptance and cleared payment to SourceX, payment of the client's compensation, finance approval and your tax and payment details; the deadline is 60 days after the later of final acceptance and completed handoff. If the client's payout is later reduced or reversed, the reward is recalculated on the reduced total. Only one partner is credited per company, and a firm cannot submit anything until it has signed the SourceX Channel Partner Agreement (the document formerly titled the Channel Partner Non-Circumvention and Non-Disclosure Agreement).
Trust. This is where firms win or lose the decision. The AICPA Code requires members to disclose commission or referral fees to clients, and most state boards have adopted the Code or written their own; for attest clients, read the attest versus non-attest comparison and the conflicts guide first. The ABA's comment to Model Rule 1.7 says a lawyer may not let related business interests affect a representation, giving the example of referring clients to an enterprise in which the lawyer has an undisclosed financial interest. If the firm promotes the program in a newsletter or on its site, FTC staff guidance on affiliate relationships says to disclose the relationship clearly and conspicuously.
Economics, Illustrative. These rows show the arithmetic only. They are not forecasts, quotes or completed deals.
| Client's first qualifying transaction payout (Illustrative) | Reward: the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap |
|---|---|
| $40,000 | None: below the USD 100,000 Minimum Transaction unless SourceX agrees in writing |
| $250,000 | $62,500 |
| $800,000 | $120,000 |
SourceX has not published what share of introductions reach a paid license, so no expected value can be computed. The client's path to payment runs through an inventory assessment of initially up to 30 days, a deal confirmation, delivery, an acceptance review of up to 30 days, Closing, and payment due within 60 days of a valid invoice. Put zero in the pilot budget.
Pilot, stay small, expand or decline: four firms scored (Illustrative)
| Firm (Illustrative) | Client fit | Effort | Decision | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-person fractional CFO firm, 38 clients, 9 of them at 50+ full-time employees at peak | 8 | 3 | Pilot | Direct CEO access and disclosure-only rules |
| 60-person CPA firm, mostly attest clients | 7 | 6 | Pilot narrowly | Scope to advisory-only clients; ethics partner reviews each |
| 6-person marketing agency, clients of 10 to 40 people | 2 | 2 | Stay small | Few fits; introduce only if a client asks |
| Fee-only wealth advisory firm promising no third-party pay | 6 | 7 | Decline the reward, overriding the canvas | The canvas says stay small; the client promise rules out third-party pay, so it introduces unpaid when asked |
Expand only on non-revenue evidence. After a 90-day pilot, expand when at least one CEO you asked says the conversation was useful, no client complained, partner hours per consented introduction stayed inside the budget you set at the start, and disclosure worked as designed. Pause if hours ran over or a client pushed back. Return to staying small if no client fit survived the metadata questions.
Which clients count before you introduce any
A client counts only if it reached 50 or more full-time employees at its peak (contractors do not count), has a documented operating history and the rights to license its records, and has an authorized contact, meaning the CEO. 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. A staffing-firm client is measured on its internal staff alone; workers it places with customers fall outside the 50. Give SourceX both numbers, and still introduce the firm if its records are strong. Three things no partner can settle in advance: whether the records suit a current program, whether the client's own customer contracts restrict reuse, and the scope of any license. SourceX's review answers them. The company fit checker gives a quick, non-binding second opinion.
Where the canvas gives the wrong answer
- High fit, still decline. A fee-only firm that promises clients it takes no third-party compensation should decline the reward even with a perfect fit score; the guide to introducing without a fee shows how.
- Low fit, still introduce. One client with a dated archive deletion can justify a single introduction even when the canvas says stay small.
- What we do not know. No client interviews or pilot results for this decision have been published, and the hours above are assumptions. The recommendation changes if SourceX publishes stage or conversion data, if your profession's rules change, or if your client mix shifts toward larger companies.
Test the decision. Have two partners score the canvas separately this week. If their totals differ by more than two points, settle the disagreement before deciding. If the result is pilot, run 90 days and log five numbers: clients scored, CEOs asked, CEOs who agreed, verified applications and partner hours. For the wider picture of earning from relationships, see monetizing a professional network.
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 canvas lands on pilot, register the firm, check your strongest clients against who qualifies and give the program terms to whoever reviews your engagement letters before the first client conversation.