Which questions about a company's systems can you ask without seeing any files?
Ask about systems, years, owners and authority. Those four topics tell you whether a company could qualify for a data licensing introduction, and none requires a document, export or screenshot. The list below is built for a first conversation with a CEO, CFO or COO at a portfolio company or a business you already know.
Keep the tone of an operator checking the stack, not a diligence request. If an answer is vague, record it as unknown and move on.
What are the ten questions?
Work through them in order. Stop when two answers are clear nos.
Scope and age of the stack
- Which tools does the team use every day for communication, customer work, finance, support and engineering?
- Roughly how many systems hold records of work, counting old ones that are still readable?
- What is the oldest system you still have access to, and about how many years of activity does it hold?
- Which tools have you replaced in the last five years, and did anyone keep the old data?
Ownership and access
- Who administers each major system, and can that person run a full export today?
- Do any records live with an outside vendor, an outsourcer or a client rather than with the company?
Authority and appetite
- Who in the company could authorize licensing business records: the owner, CEO, CFO or another authorized representative?
- Has the company ever licensed any data, including for AI training?
- Would the owner consider a one-time payment for an exclusive license of operational records for an agreed term?
- Are any sale, merger, migration or shutdown plans in motion that change which systems stay live?
How do the answers map to the company fit checker?
The company fit checker gives a preliminary, non-binding screen and needs no contact details. Use your notes to answer it with the company's sponsor present.
| Your note | What it signals | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Ten or more systems, several with five or more years | Strong breadth and depth | Run the fit checker, then introduce |
| Four to nine systems, three to five years | Possible; depth may be thin | Ask about archived or retired tools |
| Mostly one platform with a short history | Weak on breadth | Park it; revisit after a migration or merger |
| Records sit with a client or outsourcer | Rights risk | Read the system ownership checklist before going further |
| Nobody can run an export | Readiness risk | Ask the owner to assign an administrator first |
| Already licensed for AI training | Likely ineligible | Stop |
These bands are a rule of thumb for sorting your own notes, not SourceX qualification criteria. SourceX decides fit on size, history, data breadth and rights.
Which answers are red flags?
- The company has under 50 full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded).
- Most records are consumer personal data with no licensing basis, or protected health information without authorization or de-identification.
- Old archives were deleted or tools were closed without exports.
- A court, trustee or assignee controls assets and has not been involved.
- The owner will not consider an exclusive license.
- Nobody can explain who owns the data.
Any one of these can end the conversation or call for a pause. A company that fails today can still qualify later, for example after an export is preserved.
Which questions go with which type of records?
Add one follow-up when a specific system comes up.
- Recorded calls: ask whether callers are notified and where recordings are stored; see recorded sales calls and AI training.
- Renewal-driven changes: ask which contracts are up for cancellation this year, as in SaaS renewals as data checkpoints.
- Finance systems: ask how many entities and how many years; see Sage Intacct records.
- Sale preparation: ask whether a data room index lists the systems, per the sell-side data room guide.
- Closed or merged companies: see keeping Xero records after a business closes.
What do you say after the questions?
Do not mention any amount or promise of payment. Partner rewards come from SourceX's fee, and no reward is guaranteed.
What happens after a good first conversation?
From here the sequence is short. You register and share your referral link or use the referral form, SourceX qualifies the company, and the company completes a data inventory with the data inventory builder. Price and terms are then agreed, buyers review the opportunity, and the deal closes with the company paid. Your reward is paid only after SourceX receives payment.
Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 cumulative per referred company. The reward becomes payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee; a lead, meeting or signed agreement alone does not trigger payment, and no reward is guaranteed. It is a share of SourceX's fee and is never deducted from what the company receives. Read the program terms and check your firm's own policies on fees tied to portfolio companies. The operating partner page gives the wider context.
Next step
Use the ten questions with one company this week. If the answers hold, register as a partner and make the introduction, or ask the sponsor to apply at sourcex.si/apply.