This is a different job from the forwardable blurb for owners, where an owner who already wants to look passes two paragraphs to a CFO or co-owner. Here the person asking is your contact, not the decision-maker, and the reader at the end of the chain has never met you. The broader sequence of an introduction is in how to introduce a company.
Why a forward strips the context you are counting on
When your contact forwards your message, four things fall away. Your relationship with the contact, which made the message sound trustworthy. Your tone, which made a direct sentence sound friendly. The conversation in which the contact told you about the company, which made your facts sound informed rather than presumptuous. And the cover email, which is where most people put the line about being paid.
The last loss is the serious one. The FTC's endorsement guidance treats a financial relationship with the brand as a material connection that should be disclosed unless the context already makes it clear, and expects the disclosure to sit with the endorsement itself, not somewhere a reader can easily miss. In a forward, the cover email is exactly that easily missed place. A note that discloses only in the cover email arrives at the CEO's desk as an unpaid recommendation, which it is not.
There is also a program reason for writing to the CEO directly. The CEO authorizes a licensing discussion, and under SourceX's screening guidance, an introduction made before the decision maker knows about it is usually not a fit. The note's job is to inform the CEO so that the CEO can choose. Nothing is submitted until the CEO says yes.
Start from facts the CEO would recognize as their own
The "why this company" block carries the note. Fill it with two or three facts, chosen from three kinds:
- Size. Roughly how many people, and whether the company has had 50 or more full-time employees at some point, contractors excluded.
- History in a named system. Years of the company's own records, such as work orders, quotes, case notes or procedures, and where they sit.
- A dated reason now, only if one exists and is public or cleared: a platform migration with a date, an archive the company has said it will retire.
Each fact must pass two filters. The CEO should recognize it as true of their own company, so nothing reads as guesswork about their business. And your contact should be comfortable with the CEO knowing it came from them. "They are about to cut staff", told to you over dinner, fails the second filter however relevant it seems. When in doubt, ask your contact which facts they are happy to see written down.
The forwardable one-page note, block by block
Seven blocks, about 250 words in all. If it runs onto a second page, cut.
| Block | What it says | Word budget | What to leave out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Header | Who it is for and who wrote it | 15 | Any hint that the CEO asked for it |
| 2. Disclosure | You are a SourceX referral partner and SourceX would pay you a reward, separately from anything the company receives | 40 | Coy phrasing, or a figure used as a hook |
| 3. Why this company | Two or three facts from the section above | 60 | Private remarks, guesses stated as facts |
| 4. What SourceX does | One sentence on direct licensing | 40 | Buyer names, payout ranges, adjectives |
| 5. What is undecided | Fit is screened; not every company fits; nothing is shared without approval | 50 | "You will qualify" or any timeline |
| 6. One step | Reply if you want an introduction; silence is a fine answer | 30 | Deadlines, scarcity, a second ask |
| 7. Footer | Your name, how to reach you, the date | 15 | Extra links |
A template, ready to fill:
For {CEO first name} at {Company}, from {Your name} at {Your firm}
{Contact first name} suggested I write this so you could read it directly. I am a referral partner of SourceX. If {Company} licensed data through SourceX, SourceX would pay me a referral reward, separately; it never comes out of what {Company} receives.
Why {Company}. {Fact on size}. {Fact on years of records and the system they sit in}. {Dated reason, only if public or cleared}.
What SourceX does. SourceX licenses approved business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, pays the company for it, and manages the agreement, rights review, data preparation and delivery.
What is not decided. Whether {Company} fits is decided by SourceX after a short assessment that needs no uploads: size, history, rights to the records and your authorization as CEO. Not every company fits, and nothing is shared without your approval.
If you want to look. Reply to {Contact first name} or to me and I will introduce you. If not, no reply is needed and nobody will chase you.
{Your name} · {email} · {date}
The subject line meets a stranger too; the subject line options are written for that.
Run the two-inbox test before you press send
Delete the cover email, imagine the note on the desk of the CEO's counsel two forwards from now, and answer six questions:
- Does it still say who wrote it, and that the writer may be paid?
- Could the CEO confirm every fact about the company from their own knowledge?
- Would your contact be comfortable if the CEO knew where each fact came from?
- Does any sentence promise acceptance, an amount or a date?
- Is there exactly one step, and is doing nothing an acceptable answer?
- Does every claim about SourceX appear on SourceX's own public pages?
One "no" sends the note back for a rewrite. The test takes two minutes; a forwarded mistake cannot be recalled.
One equipment rental firm, two notes (Illustrative)
Illustrative. A generic company with invented facts; no outcome is implied.
The facts: a 240-person industrial equipment rental firm, run by its owner as CEO, holds 16 years of work orders and inspection reports in one field-service system and has told customers in its newsletter that it moves to a new platform next spring. Your contact, a supplier's sales director, also mentioned over lunch that the firm is closing a depot.
Before.
Hi Sam, as promised, here's the link. SourceX pays companies big money for their data and they have AI labs lined up, so this should be a no-brainer for them. Between us, with the depot closing and the system switch, now's the time. Mention my name!
It fails five of the six tests. No disclosure travels with it. "Big money" and "AI labs lined up" are claims nobody can support, and neither appears on SourceX's public pages. The depot closure was told in confidence. "Now's the time" invents urgency. And "mention my name" makes the CEO a means to your credit rather than the person deciding.
After.
For Dana at the rental firm, from Alex at a regional advisory firm
Sam suggested I write this so you could read it directly. I am a referral partner of SourceX. If your company licensed data through SourceX, SourceX would pay me a referral reward, separately; it never comes out of what your company receives.
Why your company. You have had well over 50 full-time staff for years. You hold 16 years of work orders and inspection reports in one field-service system. Your newsletter says you move to a new platform next spring, a natural moment to decide what happens to the old records.
What SourceX does. SourceX licenses approved business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, pays the company for it, and manages the agreement, rights review, data preparation and delivery.
What is not decided. Whether the firm fits is decided by SourceX after a short assessment that needs no uploads. Not every company fits, and nothing is shared without your approval.
If you want to look. Reply to Sam or to me and I will introduce you. If not, no reply is needed.
Same company, same contact, same facts minus the confidential one. The second note is longer and asks for less.
What the note says about direct licensing, and about your reward
The licensing sentence stays narrow on purpose. SourceX licenses approved business data directly from companies and pays them for it; the company controls whether to proceed, what scope it offers and the terms it accepts. Anything beyond that, such as price ranges, buyers or timing, belongs in SourceX's own conversation with the company.
Your incentive gets one honest sentence in the note and full detail on request. The default reward is the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of the Actual Supplier Payout, the compensation SourceX actually pays the company, with no cap. SourceX pays it separately, and it is never deducted from the company's payout. A lead, a meeting or a signature alone does not trigger payment. The formula sits on the public rewards page, so the note can state the connection without a number and lose nothing; the reward disclosure guide offers other wordings. Licensed professionals, such as accountants and lawyers, should check their own rules on referral fees before sending anything.
Keep a dated copy of what you sent. Attribution is decided from dated records, including written introduction evidence, and an earlier link click alone does not decide credit. Before you submit an introduction, you sign the SourceX Channel Partner Agreement.
A single step, and permission to ignore it
The note ends with one voluntary step and says plainly that silence is a valid answer. Real urgency exists only when the company itself has made a dated event public, such as the platform move above, and even then the note names the event without turning it into a deadline. After you send it, follow up with your contact once at most, to ask whether it reached the CEO. If the CEO replies, take it from there; if not, the forward was the whole ask.
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.
When the CEO answers your forwarded note and wants the conversation, set up your partner link, check the facts in your note against who qualifies and read the program terms before you submit the introduction.