The broker's problem after closing is simple to state. Every relationship built during the sale was with people who decided things then, and most of them decide nothing now. A sold company can still be a candidate, because SourceX says operating, acquired or wound-down companies can all qualify, though not every company does. What changes is the path to the person who can say yes.
Closing moves the decision, not the relationships
SourceX's screening guidance is direct about authority: once a company is acquired, the acquirer's CEO decides for it, and the former board does not. Its guide for sellers adds the other half: a former owner can still introduce the company but can no longer authorize a license.
The structure of the deal decides where the records went with that authority:
- Stock sale. The company is the same entity with new owners, and its records stay with it.
- Asset sale. The buyer usually owns the books and records the purchase agreement lists as purchased assets, and the selling entity keeps the excluded ones; SourceX's guide to records after an asset sale also flags records left in a software account still in the seller's name.
- Merger. Under Delaware's corporation law, for one, the property, rights and franchises of each merging corporation pass to the surviving or resulting corporation when the merger takes effect.
In each case the question "who decides?" now has the same answer, the acquirer's CEO, and the only open question is who carries the idea to that person.
The closing-stage owner contact map
List everyone you dealt with in the sale who still has a relationship on the acquirer's side, then give each one a role. Introducer: registers as a SourceX partner, has signed the Channel Partner Agreement, and sends the link or submits the introduction; credited if first and valid. Relay: raises the idea with the acquirer's CEO, or with whoever that CEO names, and then hands over to the introducer or lets the company apply directly. Out: no role in this introduction.
| Contact at closing | What they hold now | Role they can play | Before they act | Leave them out when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Former owner on a transition or consulting arrangement | Knowledge of the systems and a working line to the acquirer's CEO; no decision | Relay, or introducer | Reads their own sale documents, as SourceX's former-owner guide lists, and checks the acquirer's view of outside pay | An earnout dispute is open or the relationship has soured |
| Former owner who has left | Memory of the systems, no access and usually no line | Relay at most | The acquirer's CEO asks for their view | There is no live relationship to use |
| Manager retained to run the acquired business | Day-to-day knowledge of the records and the teams that keep them | Relay, as an internal sponsor | The acquirer's CEO knows the idea is coming | Asking would mean going around the acquirer's CEO |
| The acquirer's deal lead | A direct line to the acquirer's CEO and the integration plan | Relay | The acquirer's CEO has agreed to hear it | Integration is in a sensitive week the deal lead names |
| You, the sell-side broker | Deal knowledge gathered for your former client, and perhaps a line to the acquirer's CEO built during the deal | Introducer, if that line is direct; otherwise relay through the former owner | Your path does not depend on anything from the sell-side engagement | Your only way in runs through confidential deal material |
| Buy-side advisor | A standing relationship with the acquirer's CEO | Introducer | You and they agree who submits | You are the agreed introducer; if they raised it first, any valid credit is theirs and you step back |
Method note. The roles apply SourceX's published rules (the terms, version 2026-10-22.2, since replaced by version 2026-11-04, and its screening guidance, both checked 2026-10-27) and its former-owner guide to the contacts a sell-side broker typically has at closing. The map ranks no one by likely reward, and it does not judge whether the company fits or what its records are worth; only SourceX's review does. Its one hard rule is that a single introducer is named before anyone contacts the acquirer's CEO.
Where the records went at closing
Before naming an introducer, find out what moved. A broker can usually answer three questions without opening a document: was it a stock sale, an asset sale or a merger; are the old systems still running, and under whose account; and is there a transition period in which the seller still helps run them. The answers decide who can describe the records honestly. During a transition, the former owner often knows the systems best; the seller transition period guide covers what new owners capture in those months, and the transition services agreement page explains who hosts systems after closing.
If the records stayed with a selling entity that is winding down, the question changes again: that entity's own CEO decides for the records it kept, and the acquirer's CEO has nothing to authorize.
What you knew as the seller's advisor stays behind
Your file from the sale is full of things an introduction does not need: the data-room index, the quality-of-earnings work, the systems diligence, the customer list. Treat all of it as your former client's, not as raw material for a new conversation. After closing, the only facts that travel are those the acquirer's CEO, or a manager that CEO points you to, confirms for this purpose: peak full-time headcount, record types and year spans, the systems that hold them, and a contact.
That rule is also what keeps the broker's credibility intact. An acquirer that hears its new company's systems described by the seller's advisor, before it has asked, will reasonably wonder what else travels.
One credit, one floor per company
However many contacts on the map could make the introduction, the company is credited to one partner; section 2 of the terms puts it plainly: "Only one partner is credited per company." Credit attaches only when the company submits a verified application, and only to the first valid introduction inside the 90-day attribution window.
Two facts can end the question before it starts. If the company applied to SourceX, corresponded with it or was validly introduced before closing, it is a duplicate under section 3 and no one introducing it afterwards is credited. And the company now sits inside the acquirer's group; the terms set no reward cap for the company or the group, and the USD 50,000 floor applies once per referred company, to its first qualifying transaction. If the acquirer or a sister company already had dealings with SourceX, SourceX settles any effect on credit when it reviews duplicates; the published terms contain no rule for that situation.
The floor stays with the company across later deals: it is paid once, and repeats within the 12-month Repeat Window pay 15%. Illustrative arithmetic for one acquired company:
| Event (Illustrative) | Actual Supplier Payout on that transaction | Partner reward on that transaction |
|---|---|---|
| First license paid by SourceX | $300,000 | $65,000 |
| Renewal paid the following year, first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing | $200,000 | $30,000 |
| A further license under a new agreement, also first agreed inside the Repeat Window | $150,000 | $22,500 |
The first qualifying transaction pays the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap; each further qualifying transaction first agreed within the Repeat Window pays 15% of its own payout, and the USD 50,000 floor is not paid again on a renewal or a new agreement. Across the three, USD 117,500 on USD 650,000 paid. SourceX funds the reward itself, so the compensation in the company's signed agreement carries no deduction for the partner.
Two closings, two introducers (Illustrative)
Illustrative. Invented companies and invented facts; no outcome implied.
A 230-person commercial cleaning company, asset sale to a regional facilities group. The founder stays on for six months as a paid consultant. The broker met the facilities group's CEO twice during the deal. The founder knows the scheduling and inspection systems best but is now paid by the acquirer, and decides not to take part beyond a word to the CEO. So the founder relays: one conversation with the acquirer's CEO, who agrees to hear about it. The broker, already a registered partner, becomes the introducer, sends the link and describes nothing from the sale file. The company applies; the decision is the acquirer's CEO's from there.
A 400-person managed print services company, stock sale to a private equity platform. Four months before closing, the company's own operations director filled in SourceX's application and then let it drop. After closing, the broker and the platform's buy-side advisor both want to raise it with the platform CEO. Neither should expect credit: the earlier application makes the company a duplicate. The broker records that, tells the buy-side advisor once, and closes the file.
A route that leaves the integration alone
An acquirer in the middle of integration has a full agenda, so the least visible route usually works best. Ask the relay to find out from the acquirer's CEO whether, and when, the topic is welcome; send one short note; let the company apply itself through the introducer's link. Do not ask the retained manager for system access, exports or samples, and do not join the company's calls with SourceX. If the acquirer's CEO says no or not now, record the date and the answer, and stop. If you advised the seller before closing, the written instruction from the seller's permission template lapsed at closing; nothing in it carries over to the acquirer.
Where the contact map is wrong
- The documents say otherwise. Confidentiality, non-solicitation or consulting terms in the sale documents can keep a former owner or a broker out entirely; their own counsel reads them.
- Records disappear in integration. SourceX's former-owner guide lists archives deleted during integration among the reasons not to proceed. A map drawn months after closing can describe systems that no longer exist.
- Large acquirers route differently. A large acquirer's CEO may want an outside proposal to arrive through a named executive. Authorization still rests with the CEO, but your relay may sit further away.
- Formal processes. If the acquired business later enters an insolvency process, the CEO alone may not be enough, and the map no longer applies.
The buyer's side of these introductions is covered for buy-side M&A advisors, and the seller's for M&A advisors.
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 your contact map names one introducer and the acquirer's CEO wants to hear about it, set up a partner account if the introducer is you, check the acquired company against who qualifies and read the program terms before the link goes out. More transaction guides are collected in the guides library.