A founder hearing about data licensing from their own investor is not hearing it from a neutral party. The briefing's job is to turn a favor into a decision. For a general introducer writing to an owner, the warm introduction brief covers the basics; this page is written for the investor-founder relationship and ends in a consent box rather than a pitch.
The founder's real question is what a yes commits them to
Before a founder accepts, they want to know three things: what they are agreeing to, who else gets told, and what happens if they say no. Answer all three on paper so they can decide without a call.
What a yes commits the company to is small, and SourceX's how-it-works page says so plainly. The company controls whether to proceed, what scope to offer and the terms it accepts for its data, and nothing is shared without its approval. The company applies itself at /apply, or the partner submits an introduction the company has agreed to. A first conversation is not a license.
The next step you request is one reply, chosen from three lines at the bottom of the page. Send the briefing in writing and leave time to think. A yes given across the table at a board meeting, with investors watching, is the yes least likely to mean what it says.
The one-page founder briefing template
Seven blocks, in this order. Each one answers a question the founder would otherwise have to ask you, and each has a matching list of things that never go on the page.
| Block | What it says | What stays off the page |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Why you | One fact the founder told you or the company announced, at metadata level | Anything from board packs, information rights or a data room |
| 2. What SourceX does | It licenses business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, as the company's counterparty | Names of AI developers, claims about who buys |
| 3. What a yes means | A first conversation; the company decides scope and terms; nothing shared without approval | "You qualify", timelines SourceX has not published |
| 4. Who decides | The CEO opens a licensing discussion; anyone else forwards or declines | Board or investor pressure |
| 5. My interest | Your referral reward, its conditions, and the fund's shareholding | The reward framed as a reason to say yes |
| 6. What I would pass on | The consent box, left for the founder to tick | Anything not ticked |
| 7. Your reply | Three lines; a no needs no reason | Follow-up chasers |
Method note. The seven blocks are built from the program terms (version 2026-10-22.2, since replaced by version 2026-11-04), the how-it-works page and the qualification page, all checked 2026-10-26. They have not been tested on founders, and nobody has published reply rates for briefings like this one.
The filled-in page reads like this. Bracketed text is completed for each founder.
Why I thought of you. You mentioned [one fact, such as eleven years of dispatch exceptions in one system]. It made me think of a program I take part in.
What SourceX does. SourceX licenses business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, and acts as the company's counterparty through the agreement, rights review, preparation, delivery and payment.
What a yes means. A first conversation. Your company decides whether to go further, what scope to offer and what terms to accept, and nothing is shared without its approval.
Who decides. In this program the CEO opens the discussion. If that is not you, please forward this to the CEO or tell me to drop it.
My interest. If your company licenses data through SourceX, SourceX pays me a reward of the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of the compensation it actually pays your company, with no cap, paid separately and never taken from your payout. The fund also owns shares in your company, so it would benefit from licensing income too.
What I would pass on. Only the items you tick below, and only after a yes.
Your reply. "Yes, introduce me" or "Yes, I'll apply myself"; "Not now"; or "No". A no changes nothing between us, and I will follow up at most once.
Add one line of published fit facts so the founder can screen themselves: 50 or more full-time employees at peak, contractors excluded; several years of records the company created itself; and the rights to license them. 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. Link the company fit checker for a preliminary, non-binding screen.
The consent box decides what travels
The box turns "hand off only the approved context" into something the founder controls line by line. Leave every item unticked by default.
| Item | Example entry (Illustrative) | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Company legal name | A 180-person freight audit firm, as registered | Unticked |
| CEO's name, title and email | As the CEO wants it given | Unticked |
| Other people to copy | The COO, if the CEO names them | Unticked |
| Headcount band at peak | 150 to 200 full-time | Unticked |
| Record families and span | Audit exceptions and carrier disputes, about eleven years | Unticked |
| Systems | Names of the systems that hold them | Unticked |
| Anything else | Written in by the founder | Blank |
Two rules keep the box honest. First, metadata only: names, bands, record descriptions and system names, never files, samples, screenshots or logins. Second, minimum necessary. Where the GDPR applies, its data minimisation principle limits personal data to what is adequate, relevant and necessary for the purpose, and its data protection by default article applies the same idea to how much is collected and who can see it. Whatever law governs, the box gives the founder that say over their own details.
Separate three interests on the page: yours, the fund's and the company's
Yours. Disclose the reward and its conditions in the same paragraph. It is payable only after the Acquisition Partner accepts the dataset, SourceX receives cleared payment, SourceX pays the company, finance approves, and your payment and tax details are in place. A lead, meeting or signed agreement alone earns nothing.
The fund's. As a shareholder, the fund gains if the company earns licensing income. Saying so costs nothing and removes the suspicion that you hid it.
The company's. A founder's personal enthusiasm is not the company's decision. SourceX's qualification page says the CEO authorizes a licensing discussion, and that what a fund learns through board materials or information rights usually stays confidential. Block 4 routes the briefing to the person who decides; block 1 keeps board knowledge out of it.
Three replies and the step each one triggers
| Reply | What you do next | What you record |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, from the CEO | Submit the introduction with ticked items only, or send your partner link if they will apply themselves | The date, the reply and the ticked items |
| Not now | Stop; diary any revisit date the founder chose | The date and the founder's own trigger, if any |
| No | Stop; send one line of thanks | A minimal decline entry with a delete-by date |
Silence after one follow-up counts as no. The decline log guide shows what to keep and when to delete it.
One briefing before and after (Illustrative)
Illustrative: a draft written to the founder-CEO of an invented 180-person freight audit firm, and the rewrite.
| Draft line | What is wrong | Rewritten line |
|---|---|---|
| "Several of our portfolio companies qualify, and I think you do too." | Implies an acceptance nobody has given | "SourceX decides fit in its own review; the published starting point is below." |
| "From the last board pack, your audit system goes back to 2014." | Uses information the fund holds in confidence | "You mentioned your audit records go back years." |
| "This could be worth six figures to you." | An estimate nobody can make | Deleted; payouts are not published |
| "The board is keen." | Pressure dressed as information | "Whether to explore it is entirely your call." |
| "I'll pass your details to SourceX so they can reach out." | Shares before consent | "I'll pass on only what you tick, and only after a yes." |
Where a briefing still falls short
- The power gap stays. A page can lower the cost of a no; it cannot change who sent it. Where possible, let the person with the closest working relationship send it, not the partner who leads the next round.
- It will be forwarded. Write every line as if the CFO and the whole board will read it, because the who-decides block invites forwarding.
- Terms change. Stamp the briefing with the terms version it describes, 2026-10-22.2, and the date you checked. Resend nothing that no longer matches.
- No odds to offer. SourceX has not published acceptance rates or typical payouts. The honest answer to "what are my chances?" is that the review decides.
- Rights are not settled by a yes. Material that belongs to the company's clients is usually not a fit, whatever the founder ticks.
To learn whether the template works for your fund, count briefings sent, replies by type and days to reply over one quarter. No benchmark figures have been published; your own first quarter becomes the baseline. For the conversation itself, see explaining company data licensing to a founder and the founder explainer one-pager; for a longer written case, the founder note guide. The portfolio-wide view sits in the overview for venture platform teams.
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.
Once a CEO replies yes and ticks the box, register for a partner link if you have not, check the company against who qualifies and confirm the program terms still match the version stamped on your briefing.
A briefing to a founder is a referral matter; anyone weighing SourceX as an investment can request investor materials separately 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.