Is a Delaware company automatically a US company for SourceX?
No. A Delaware corporation or LLC is a US legal entity, but SourceX's program is designed for established US operating companies, and incorporation is only one signal. A company with a Delaware certificate, a US bank account and a registered agent, but with its team, customers and records in another country, may not fit. SourceX decides at qualification by looking at where the people, records and operations actually are.
The rest of the baseline applies as usual: 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), an operating track record documented over several years, clear rights to license what the company holds, and a sponsor with authority, such as the owner, CEO or CFO.
Why so many companies abroad are Delaware entities
Founders outside the US often incorporate in Delaware to raise venture capital, sell to US customers or prepare for a US acquisition or listing. Some flip an existing foreign company under a new Delaware parent, leaving the operating subsidiary and its staff where they were. Others start in the US and later move their headquarters or main operations abroad.
Partners outside the US meet these companies all the time, and anyone can join the program from a supported country. Whether you can refer from abroad is answered on the page about non-US residents joining a US referral program. The question here is whether the company you have in mind is a US company in the sense that matters for licensing.
What SourceX weighs at qualification
| Factor | Points toward a fit | Points away from a fit |
|---|---|---|
| Where full-time employees work | Most of the workforce is employed in the US | Most staff are abroad, or engaged as contractors or through an employer of record |
| Where records were created | US teams produced most of the email, tickets, code and documents | The working record sits with a foreign subsidiary |
| Which entity owns the records | The Delaware company employs the staff and owns the systems | A foreign operating subsidiary owns them, with the Delaware parent as a holding company |
| Where the business operates | US customers, US offices and US operations over several years | Customers and operations mainly in other countries |
| Who would sign | An authorized officer of the entity that owns the records | Only a parent-level officer with no control over the subsidiary's data |
| History | Years of documented US operations | A recent Delaware wrapper over an older foreign business |
No single row decides it. A US-headquartered company with an engineering center abroad can still fit, while a Delaware parent over a foreign workforce is a much weaker candidate.
Common patterns and how they tend to land
- The flip. A foreign startup creates a Delaware parent for fundraising, while staff and records stay with the foreign subsidiary. This is a weak candidate, because the records were created abroad and belong to the subsidiary.
- US company with offshore teams. Headquarters, leadership and most employees are in the US, with a development or support center elsewhere. This can fit if the baseline is met; the offshore records need their own rights and privacy review.
- Holding company over subsidiaries in several countries. The US entity may have little operating history of its own. The guide to referring a company that operates across several countries explains how to find the right US entity, if there is one.
- Company that moved its headquarters abroad. If years of US operations and records remain, those historical records may still be relevant; SourceX will look at what exists and who owns it now.
- US-operating LLC with owners abroad. Owner location is not the issue. If the business, staff and records are in the US, it is assessed like any other US company.
Counting staff when the team is spread out
The headcount line counts full-time employees at peak and leaves out contractors, and that rule bites harder for distributed companies than for most. Staff engaged as independent contractors abroad do not count. Staff engaged through an employer of record are, on paper, employed by that provider; describe the arrangement plainly and let SourceX assess it rather than adding those people to the total yourself. A fully remote US company raises related questions about where work happens and where records live.
Privacy law follows the people, not the certificate
Delaware incorporation does not take records out of other countries' privacy laws. The GDPR, which has applied since 25 May 2018, can reach organizations outside the EU that offer goods or services to, or monitor the behavior of, people in the EU, so records containing personal data of people in the EU raise GDPR questions even for a US company. Other countries have their own rules. Those questions are settled with the company before any work begins, and they are one more reason SourceX looks at where records were created.
This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel, tax adviser or professional body before acting.
A quick screen before you introduce
- At the company's peak, most full-time employees were employed in the US by the entity that owns the records.
- Several years of operating history sit in systems that entity controls.
- The records were created mainly by US teams, or are clearly owned by the US entity.
- An officer of that entity can sponsor the process.
- The business is not mainly a holding company over foreign subsidiaries.
If the answers are mixed, introduce the company with a plain description of its structure and let SourceX decide. For a first pass, try the company fit checker, a preliminary screen that commits no one to anything; the who qualifies page sets out every criterion.
Next step
Register as a partner from wherever you are, then describe the company's structure honestly in the referral: where staff are employed, which entity owns the records and who would sign. Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company, and the reward becomes payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee.