# Qualified introduction growth metrics | SourceX

Canonical: https://refer.sourcex.si/guides/measure-growth-in-qualified-introductions-not-logo-counts
Last updated: 2026-11-05

Growth in a referral channel means more companies that pass the fit facts and are introduced with their CEO's knowledge, not more logos on a slide. A logo count rises whenever someone pastes a portfolio list into a CRM. Count each company once, in the quarter its introduction was recorded, and report three numbers per quarter: companies introduced with the CEO's knowledge, companies passing every known fit fact, and verified applications. Growth is the change in the second number, read beside the third.

A growing list is a discovery signal, not evidence that any company on it can license records. A mature or shrinking business added once can matter more than forty new names.

## Logo counts versus qualified introductions: what each number records

A logo count is the number of company names on a list: a portfolio page, a CRM view, a partner deck. It measures how much the list knows about, and it grows with every import, event and newsletter. Nothing in it says whether a company was asked, whether its CEO knows, or whether it passes a single fit fact.

No standard definition protects you here. The SEC's 2020 guidance on key performance indicators in management's discussion and analysis notes that metrics vary significantly from company to company and industry to industry. Referral metrics vary even more, so the definition has to travel with the number.

| Count | What it records | What inflates it | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logos on the list | Names the team has written down | Imports, events, duplicate entries | Research inventory only |
| Introductions sent | Messages that mention SourceX | Repeat sends, cold sends without the CEO's knowledge | Effort, not growth |
| Permissioned introductions | Unique companies introduced with the CEO's knowledge | Little, if deduplicated | The top of the qualified count |
| Qualified introductions | Permissioned introductions passing every known fit fact | Optimistic fit calls | The growth metric |
| Verified applications | Companies whose application starts attribution | Nothing; it is recorded by SourceX | Confirmation, a quarter late |

Under SourceX's screening guidance, an introduction made behind the decision maker's back is usually not a fit, which is why a cold send never enters the qualified count, however many there are. The difference between a qualified introduction and a lead list is laid out in [qualified data introductions versus B2B lead generation](/compare/b2b-lead-generation).

## The qualified-cohort growth calculation

Write the definitions down once, date them and keep them for every quarter you compare.

1. **Cohort.** The unique companies whose first recorded, permissioned introduction falls inside the quarter. A company re-introduced later stays in its first cohort.
2. **Qualified.** At the quarter's cutoff date, every fit fact known for the company passes: 50+ full-time employees at peak, contractors excluded; documented operating history; records the company created itself; and location. A row with an unknown fit fact is "open", not qualified and not failed.
3. **Deduplicated.** One row per company, matched on legal entity and web domain. A parent and its subsidiaries form one row, the same way they share one reward cap. A company your team learns SourceX already knew is removed and noted.
4. **Growth.** Compare the qualified count with the previous quarter's. When the earlier count is under 10, report the two counts and the multiple, not a percentage.
5. **Confirmation.** For each cohort, record verified applications to date and cases still open. The newest cohort will always look weakest on this line, because attribution needs a verified application within 90 days of the introduction.

| Column | Definition | Recorded from |
|---|---|---|
| Logos on list | Names on the research list at quarter end, cumulative | CRM or spreadsheet |
| Permissioned introductions | Unique companies first introduced in the quarter with the CEO's knowledge | Relationship owner's note, dated |
| Qualified introductions | Permissioned introductions with every known fit fact passing at cutoff | Metadata answers, dated |
| Verified applications to date | Qualified companies whose verified application is recorded | Partner portal status |
| Still open | Qualified companies with no application yet and inside 90 days | Partner portal status |

**Methods note.** The definitions restate the program terms (version 2026-10-22.2, since replaced by version 2026-11-04) and the who-qualifies screening profile, both checked 2026-10-26. The calculation measures a network's own introduction work. It does not measure demand for any company's records, acceptance or rewards, and it uses no SourceX figures; SourceX has not published conversion rates. For how a conversion study fixes its denominator, see the [conversion benchmark method](/guides/data-referral-conversion-benchmark).

## Network A and Network B over four quarters (Illustrative)

Illustrative: two invented platform teams, run through the same definitions.

**Network A** launched a founder community and imported its members. Its list quadrupled.

| Quarter | Logos on list | Permissioned introductions | Qualified introductions | Verified applications to date | Still open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 40 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Q2 | 85 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Q3 | 130 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Q4 | 160 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 |

**Network B** added few names. Its platform lead spent the year asking LPs and co-investors about the companies they own or chair.

| Quarter | Logos on list | Permissioned introductions | Qualified introductions | Verified applications to date | Still open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 22 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Q2 | 24 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Q3 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| Q4 | 27 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 5 |

On logos, Network A grew 300% and Network B about 23%. On qualified introductions, Network A went from 3 to 4 and Network B from 2 to 8, four times its first quarter. Rows that never reached an application within 90 days lapsed: Network A's Q1 cohort shows two.

The same suitability questions explain the gap. Most of Network A's new members run seed and Series A companies that peaked below 50 full-time employees, and many keep their operating records inside customers' accounts. Network B's additions are older: a 280-person freight brokerage owned by an LP, a 30-year-old engineering firm whose chair co-invests with the fund. Both answers come from the same four fit facts, not from either company's growth rate.

## Do more qualified introductions mean more operating history in view?

Yes, because the qualified count only rises when someone has asked about operating history and heard an answer. A logo count never asks.

Keep every question at metadata level, through the person who owns the relationship: full-time employees at peak and the year of the peak; the earliest year of company-created records; the system that holds the daily work and who administers it; and whether any records belong to clients. Nobody asks for files, samples or logins. Who authorizes is settled: the CEO authorizes a licensing discussion and signs for the company. What stays unknown until SourceX reviews a company is whether its records match a current program, whether customer contracts limit reuse and what a license would cover.

Location belongs in the fit facts too. 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. For how a strong introduction is put together once a row qualifies, see [how to prepare a qualified company introduction](/guides/how-to-prepare-a-qualified-company-introduction).

## Ranking next quarter's asks within ownership and capacity limits

A growth target can push a team toward volume. Rank instead, and cap the queue at what your relationship owners can carry.

1. **Ownership settled.** You know which entity holds the records and who controls it today.
2. **Relationship owner agreed.** One named person will ask the CEO, and the team has agreed in writing who submits. One partner is credited per company, so two colleagues introducing the same company add nothing.
3. **Fit facts known.** Four of four beats three of four; open rows get one metadata question before anything else.
4. **Capacity.** Set a ceiling on live asks per relationship owner, for example three, and ask about the CEO's room: a company mid-sale, mid-fundraise or mid-migration may need a later quarter.
5. **Credit status.** Check that nobody at the company has already applied or written to SourceX; under the terms, any earlier lead, account or email correspondence makes a company a duplicate, not credited to a later partner.

The person who submits signs the SourceX Channel Partner Agreement before submitting; an agreement that still carries the Channel Partner Non-Circumvention and Non-Disclosure Agreement heading from before the rename stays in force exactly as signed. The [venture platform overview](/for/venture-platform-teams) covers the program from the fund's side.

## Ways the cohort metric can mislead

- **Small numbers.** Two to eight is a real change and still a small one. Show counts beside any ratio.
- **Optimistic fit calls.** "Qualified" here means passing known fit facts, not accepted. SourceX decides fit in review against the specific program, so a row that misses one program may still match a different program later.
- **Definition drift.** If the team changes what counts as qualified mid-year, restate earlier quarters or start a new series.
- **Incentives.** A count that rewards volume invites introductions the CEO has not agreed to. Those are usually not a fit and can cost the relationship.
- **Late confirmation.** Verified applications trail introductions, and acceptance and any reward come later still. Under the terms, no lead, meeting or signed agreement earns a payable reward on its own.
- **No benchmark.** Nobody, SourceX included, has published typical qualified-introduction rates. Compare your quarters with each other.

## 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 your cohort sheet shows a qualified row with an agreed relationship owner and a CEO who wants the conversation, [register for a partner link](/register), recheck that row on [who qualifies](/who-qualifies) and give the [program terms](/terms) a full read before the CEO is introduced. More measurement methods sit in the [guides index](/guides).

Counting qualified introductions measures your network's referral work; assessing SourceX's own metrics as an investor is a separate decision, and SourceX shares company and commercial metrics with investors directly through the [SourceX investor overview](https://sourcex.si/investors).

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.

## Sources

- https://refer.sourcex.si/terms
- https://refer.sourcex.si/who-qualifies
- https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/interp/2020/33-10751.pdf
- https://sourcex.si/investors