The question matters more in a corporate than in a fund, because more colleagues can honestly say they know the company. SourceX's program sees one partner per company and talks to the company directly. Inside the corporate, four people may each believe the relationship is theirs, and the CEO should hear from one of them.
Four colleagues who can each call the company theirs
Each of these people holds a real tie. None of them holds the company's records or its decision; under the program, opening a licensing discussion and signing for the company fall to its CEO, and SourceX's screening page adds that a board seat does not let an investor start that discussion.
| Colleague | Their tie to the company | Why they feel it is theirs | What the tie cannot do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venture partner on the board | The investment and a board or observer seat | They talk to the CEO every quarter | Decide for the company, or carry board information to anyone |
| Business-unit executive | The company sells to or buys from the corporate | The commercial relationship is older than the investment | Ask without the account coloring the answer |
| Innovation or scouting lead | A pilot, a demo day or a first meeting with the founder | They found the company | Reach the CEO if the founder is not the CEO |
| Platform manager | Runs the unit's partner programs | They manage the process | Replace a relationship they do not hold |
Separating the relationship from the data is the first step. The business unit's account manager may know the company's systems better than anyone in the corporate, and still be the wrong person to raise licensing those records.
The internal relationship-owner RACI
Four letters, one rule each. R does the task. A answers for it being done properly, and every row has exactly one. C is asked before the task happens. I is told after.
| Task | Relationship owner | Platform manager | Business unit or procurement | Legal and compliance | Company CEO | SourceX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Log the company and the fit facts that are public | C | R, A | I | No role | No role | No role |
| 2. Settle whether the corporate takes part, and who registers | C | C | No role | R, A | No role | No role |
| 3. Confirm no sale, purchase, tender or dispute is open | I | A | R | C | No role | No role |
| 4. Ask the CEO, and note the answer and its date | R, A | C | I | No role | C | No role |
| 5. Decide whether the company talks to SourceX | I | I | No role | No role | R, A | No role |
| 6. Sign the partner agreement and record the introduction | R | A | No role | C | I | I |
| 7. Settle a claim from another introducer | C | C | No role | I | No role | R, A |
| 8. Hand the relationship over when the owner moves on | C | R | No role | A | I | I |
Read the CEO's column first. It holds a single R, on row 5. Nobody else in the table decides for the company, and nothing in rows 6 to 8 happens before that row is done.
Row 6 follows the registration choice. The R sits with whoever is the registered partner: the owner if they sign in their own name, or the entity's authorized signer if the corporate registers. The sample Channel Partner Agreement names the partner as "[an individual, or entity type and jurisdiction]", and section 7.1 says each signatory represents that it has authority to bind its party. Section 3.3 asks every introduction record to name the company, its domain, the partner, the opportunity, the method and timestamps, so the record itself fixes who the owner is in SourceX's eyes.
Row 7 belongs to SourceX. The program credits one introduction per company, and when several introducers claim the same company, SourceX works through the overlap in its duplicate review from dated records. Your owner's part is to keep those records clean, not to argue for the corporate. The guide to preventing duplicate claims covers what to keep.
Approvals sit in rows 2, 3 and 5. The corporate's permission and the CEO's decision never substitute for each other; the two-path approval map lays out each sign-off in full.
Method note. The RACI applies SourceX's program terms and screening page, both read on 2026-10-27, and the sample agreement's clauses on partners, records and updates. The letters are a way to assign work, not terms SourceX has published, and the table has not been tested on a completed introduction; no outcome data exists for it.
When two colleagues both claim the company
Large referral programs name a person per opportunity for this reason. In Microsoft's co-sell program, in our paraphrase of its Partner Center guidance, accepting a joint planning lead requires naming the partner seller responsible for it, and Microsoft suggests a few administrators to pick up leads nobody owns. Inside a corporate venture unit, settle a tie in this order:
- The CEO's own preference, if they have said whom they would rather hear from.
- No open deal on the owner's side. A colleague in the middle of a sale, renewal or tender with the company steps back.
- The older relationship, especially one that predates the investment or the supply contract.
- Staying power. The company has 90 days from the recorded introduction to submit a verified application, and SourceX's review comes after that. An owner who expects to change roles inside that stretch is a weaker choice.
- Still tied: the platform manager chooses, writes the choice down, and the other colleague becomes C on row 4.
Two things never break a tie: seniority, and who found the company first. The colleague who loses the tie is consulted, not sidelined, and never sends a second message.
The partner on paper: a person or the corporate
| Question | The owner registers personally | The corporate entity registers |
|---|---|---|
| Who signs the agreement | The owner, in their own name | A signatory with authority to bind the entity |
| Who receives SourceX's updates | The owner | The entity's named contact |
| Who could receive a reward | The owner, if the corporate's policy lets an employee accept one | The entity |
| When the owner changes jobs | The agreement names the owner, not the corporate; how introductions still in review are handled when a partner leaves the program is not spelled out in the published terms, so ask SourceX in writing first | The entity keeps the agreement, and the platform manager names a new contact |
| If the corporate is reorganized | Unaffected | Section 7.6 allows assignment with notice in a merger, acquisition or sale of substantially all relevant assets, when the successor takes on the obligations |
Two published points are settled either way. Section 10 of the terms keeps rewards already earned payable once their conditions are met, unless they came from fraud or a breach. And section 4.6 of the sample agreement limits what the partner hears to what it needs to follow its own referral, in generic stages or reference codes. Which column your corporate uses is its own policy question, and a board member weighing a personal reward should also read the corporate opportunity doctrine guide and the board member conflict question.
Three ownership questions, settled on paper (Illustrative)
Illustrative. The companies and colleagues are invented, and each case shows how the RACI reads, not what SourceX would decide.
A. Two claims on a 300-person distributor. The venture partner sits on its board; a business-unit executive buys from it and has a renewal open. Step 2 of the tie-break settles it: the venture partner owns the ask, the executive is informed after the CEO answers, and procurement confirms nothing else is open.
B. A scout who met the wrong person. The innovation lead met a 140-person engineering firm's founder, who is its chief technology officer; the CEO is a co-founder nobody in the corporate knows. The scout cannot own the ask, because the ask must reach the CEO. The founder is asked whether the CEO would want the conversation, and if the answer is no, the row closes.
C. The owner leaves after the yes. A venture partner records a CEO's agreement and the introduction, then leaves the corporate 40 days later, before the company has applied. The entity had registered, so row 8 runs: the platform manager becomes the contact, tells the CEO who to call, and notifies SourceX. Had the partner registered personally, the team would put the question to SourceX in writing rather than assume either outcome.
A first trial: three companies, three named owners
Pick three companies with no open commercial event and run the RACI for each. Log the days from first mention to a named owner, every tie and how it was broken, whether any CEO heard from two colleagues, and what each CEO said about how the ask felt. After 60 days, a CEO contacted twice is a failure of the process, whatever the CEO decided. SourceX has not published conversion or response data for corporate venture units, so these counts are yours alone, and the dedicated-owner thresholds guide helps decide whether the work later justifies a standing role.
Where one owner is the wrong answer
- The best relationship is conflicted. A board member with a personal stake in the reward may be the CEO's closest contact and still the wrong messenger.
- The CEO wants the corporate out of it. A direct application to SourceX needs no partner at all, and that answer ends the row.
- Reorganizations outrun the register. Venture units are restructured; a RACI nobody updates names owners who have gone.
- Outside introducers. A co-investor or adviser may know the same CEO, and the introducer chains guide covers chains that cross organizations. Credit across them is SourceX's call in duplicate review.
- Fit is still unknown. A named owner does not make a company a fit; demand, rights and the company's own records are assessed in SourceX's review.
More corporate venture and partner guides are in the guides library.
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 a company has one named owner, a settled registration and a CEO who wants the conversation, register as a partner under the name your policy chose, set the company beside the published bar on who qualifies, and give the owner a dated copy of the program terms to keep with the record.
Deciding who in the unit owns an introduction says nothing about SourceX as an investment; colleagues assessing that question can request investor materials from 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.