Outreach ages differently from a network map. A map row is rechecked whenever someone opens the spreadsheet; a newsletter paragraph sits in fifty inboxes, gets forwarded to a CFO and resurfaces months later as "the fund said we qualify". The person who wrote it no longer controls it, which is why the fix is a distribution process rather than a reminder to stay current. Re-ranking map rows after a change is covered in revisiting a network map when buyer criteria change; this page is about the sentences that have already left the building.
What changed in October 2026, sentence by sentence
The terms carry their own change log in section 11. Read against it, ordinary outreach sentences written in early October would now be wrong in five places. The stale sentences below are Illustrative, written for this page; the current wording and version dates come from the terms (Version 2026-10-22.2, since replaced by version 2026-11-04) and the qualification page (updated 2026-10-20), both checked 2026-10-26.
| Topic | Illustrative stale sentence | What the published pages say now | Changed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partner agreement | "You'll sign the Channel Partner Non-Circumvention and Non-Disclosure Agreement" | Partners sign the SourceX Channel Partner Agreement; agreements signed under the earlier title remain in force as signed | Version 2026-10-19 |
| Who counts as new | "If SourceX hasn't signed them, they're a new company" | Any earlier lead, account or email correspondence between SourceX and the company is a relationship, and such a company is not credited | Version 2026-10-21 |
| When rewards are paid | "Paid 60 days after the buyer approves the data" | Due within 60 calendar days, counting from whichever lands later: completed handoff of the complete, validated dataset or the Acquisition Partner's final written acceptance of it | Version 2026-10-22 |
| What the reward is based on | "A share of what the deal is worth" | Actual Supplier Payout: compensation actually paid to the supplier for selected data that reaches Closing, excluding taxes, expense reimbursements, the partner reward, SourceX's fees and the Acquisition Partner's full transaction price | Version 2026-10-22.2, since replaced by version 2026-11-04 |
| Company size | "Any company with 50+ employees qualifies" | 50 or more full-time employees at peak is one screening test; some programs set higher thresholds, and smaller specialists can still be considered | Qualification page, updated 2026-10-20 |
The last row is the one most likely to be read as a promise. Size is a screen, not a verdict; SourceX applies the criteria of the specific program, and relevance to current data needs is checked only in review.
Which company the criteria are tested against
Outreach goes to founders, but the criteria apply to an operating company: the legal entity whose employees created the records, controlled by whoever directs it today. A founder who runs a holding company, a spinout or a recently acquired business may answer for the wrong entity unless the email says which one counts. Put one line in every criteria card: "These tests apply to the operating company that holds the records, and its CEO decides whether it discusses licensing." When a reply comes in, confirm the entity, its controller as of a stated date and its CEO before anyone describes a fit. The pre-email portfolio screen sets out those fields.
The versioned criteria distribution process
Seven steps. Each one leaves a record you can show a founder, a colleague or SourceX later.
| Step | What you do | Record it leaves |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Keep one master card | Hold every criteria sentence the team may send in one internal document, stamped "Terms Version 2026-10-22.2, since replaced by version 2026-11-04; who qualifies updated 2026-10-20; checked 2026-10-26" | The card and its stamp |
| 2. Sort sentences into three classes | Quote verbatim: the reward offer and the geography rule. Summarize and link: the size, history and rights screen. Leave out and link: payment conditions, attribution and reward arithmetic | A class label beside each sentence |
| 3. Check before every send | Reopen the terms and the qualification page; if the version line or updated date differs from the stamp, stop and reissue the card | A dated check line in the send log |
| 4. Never edit a card that has gone out | Issue a new card version instead, so every recipient's copy can be traced to one fixed text | Numbered card versions, none altered after release |
| 5. Log the distribution | Record card version, channel (newsletter issue, founder email, deck, chat post), recipients and date | One row per send |
| 6. Correct what was superseded | When a change alters a founder's decision, send each recipient of the old version a dated correction naming what changed | Correction notices tied to the log |
| 7. Expire stale cards | Recheck any card older than 30 days before reuse, even if nothing seems to have changed | The recheck date on the card |
Step 4 borrows a rule software teams already rely on. The Semantic Versioning specification says that once a versioned release is out, its contents must not be modified, and any change must ship as a new version; its FAQ adds that a faulty release should be documented and its users told. A criteria card works the same way: if version 3 said something wrong, version 4 fixes it and version 3 stays on file as sent, so you can prove what each founder actually read.
Step 2 keeps cards short on purpose. Payment conditions and the attribution rule are where paraphrase drifts furthest from the source, and a link to the program terms cannot go out of date the way a summary can.
Method note. The process is our design, built from the terms' change log (section 11), the qualification page and the agreement's rule that website updates do not amend a signed agreement, all checked 2026-10-26. The 30-day expiry in step 7 is an operating choice, not a SourceX rule. Nothing here measures how often stale outreach produced a wrong introduction; no such figures have been published.
The three criteria lines that age fastest
Three lines in any card deserve a check even when the version stamp has not moved, because the qualification page frames them as program-specific.
- Program fit. Criteria differ in company size, operating history, geography, language and data category, so a founder whose company misses today's program could still match a future one. Write it as a screening question, never as "you qualify".
- Location and English share. Quote the rule, do not shorten it: 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 one-country summary in an old email can turn away a company that fits.
- History. The page asks for several years in operation and records the company created itself, not a fixed number of years, and some programs set higher thresholds. Ask how many years of the company's own records exist; do not promise that any span is enough.
A reply that arrived under old criteria (Illustrative)
Fictional fund, companies and dates. On 9 October 2026 a portfolio newsletter told founders that "any company with 50+ employees qualifies" and that rewards are "paid 60 days after the buyer approves the data". Two founders replied after 22 October.
| Reply | Facts given | Decision under the current card | What the fund sends |
|---|---|---|---|
| A 42-person workflow software company | 42 full-time employees at peak plus 25 contractors; most product records held in customers' accounts | Rejected: contractors do not count, so it is below 50 full-time at peak, and client-held records are usually not a fit | A plain no with the two reasons, the date of the criteria used and the condition that would change it |
| An 85-person engineering consultancy, never funded by the fund | 85 full-time at peak; project files and design reviews since 2012 in its own systems; U.S. | Passes the published screen as of 26 October; SourceX decides in review | Ask the relationship owner to raise it with the CEO; link the qualification page and terms |
The rejected reply is the one the stale newsletter caused: the founder read "50+ employees", counted contractors and expected a yes. The fund owes that founder a clear explanation, as set out in explaining a mandate rejection without closing the relationship, and owes every other recipient of the 9 October issue a correction under step 6. A company that misses the size test for reasons other than rights can be raised as an exception inquiry, using the smaller-specialist route, but never as a promise.
Routing replies without implying acceptance
| Reply type | What you write | What you never write |
|---|---|---|
| Matches the current card | "This matches the published screen as of [date]; SourceX decides in its own review once the CEO applies" | "You're in" |
| Fails a current test | "Under the criteria published on [date], [test] is not met; this would change if [condition]" | "Not this time, but soon" |
| Turned away by the old wording, fits now | "Our earlier note described the criteria too narrowly; here is the current rule" | Nothing at all, leaving the old answer in place |
| One fact unknown | One metadata question, such as full-time headcount at peak or years of records | A request for files or samples |
The company fit checker gives founders a preliminary, non-binding read of their own, which saves a round of email for borderline replies.
Where versioning can still fail
- Signed terms differ from public ones. The terms say signed agreements are never silently replaced, and the agreement says a website update does not amend it, so a partner's own signed Schedule A may not match the public card.
- The qualification page has no version number. It shows an updated date; a change of substance on a day with no new date would slip past step 3.
- Forwarded copies escape the log. A correction reaches your recipients, not the colleagues they forwarded to.
- Too many corrections dull attention. No data on founder response to repeated notices has been published; batch minor changes into the next scheduled send.
- A current card still promises nothing. Relevance to SourceX's current data needs is checked in review, and the card cannot stand in for it.
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.
Before your next founder email goes out, stamp the criteria card against today's pages: register for a partner link, compare your card with who qualifies and the version line of the program terms, and only then send; related playbooks are in guides.
Keeping founder outreach current is referral work, and evaluating SourceX as a possible investment is a separate decision; investor materials are available on request through the SourceX investor overview.
This article is for information only and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities. Any offering by SourceX is made only to verified accredited investors through its offering documents.