This template is part of the subscription pause recovery guide. Use the blank version first, then compare your draft with the completed Illustrative brief further down.
The ten-field brief, ready to copy
Fill the right-hand column. "Unknown" is an acceptable answer for any field except the last.
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| 1. Company and size | Product category, full-time headcount at peak, where the records are held |
| 2. Business task | One sentence: what a pause recovery corrects, for example a pause that overlaps a prepaid renewal |
| 3. Record classes | Pause and resume events, skipped orders, refunds and voids, tickets with agent notes, written policies |
| 4. Systems | Subscription engine, billing, support desk, fulfillment, as plain-text names |
| 5. Coverage | First year of usable records, per system, and any earlier platform migrated in |
| 6. Volume | Pauses per year and how many needed a manual fix, as ranges |
| 7. Join keys | Whether tickets carry an order or subscription number in a field |
| 8. Constraints known | Privacy notice, retention schedule, customer terms, 3PL agreement: exists or not, reviewed or not |
| 9. Access deadline | Platform notice date, planned migration or support desk change, from the contract |
| 10. Decision-maker | Name and title of the executive who can open a discussion |
Fields 6 and 7 carry the most weight. Volume of manual fixes says how much decision history exists; join keys say whether each fix can be followed from the customer's message to the charge and the next renewal. The system map explains the joins.
Where each answer comes from
None of the ten fields needs an export. Each maps to a person and a document the company already has.
- Fields 1, 2 and 10 come from the retention operations head in conversation.
- Field 3 depends on platform behavior. Shopify's help center, for example, says customers can skip or pause from their account and that a pause takes effect immediately with no further charges or upcoming orders until they resume. In that setup, many pauses never touch support, and the brief should say so.
- Field 6 comes from a retention or support dashboard. If manual fixes are tagged, the tag count is the answer; if not, write a range and say it is an estimate.
- Field 7 comes from the support desk administrator: is there a required order field on the ticket form?
- Field 8 is a yes or no for each document, not a reading of it. Counsel reads it later.
- Field 9 comes from the platform contract. Use only a date the company can point to.
ShopifyTwo technical facts are worth knowing when you ask. Stripe's documentation says invoices for a paused period can be kept as drafts, marked uncollectible or voided, so ask finance which option the company used. And Zendesk's CSV ticket export leaves out comments and descriptions, which appear in the JSON and XML formats, so "we can export tickets" does not by itself mean the agent notes travel.
Stripe
ZendeskCompleted brief: a 260-person meal kit company (Illustrative)
The company and figures below are fictional and show the level of detail to aim for.
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| 1. Company and size | Meal kit company, 260 full-time staff at peak, U.S. and Canada, all records in English |
| 2. Business task | Pausing weekly and prepaid plans, and correcting conflicts with renewals and boxes already packed |
| 3. Record classes | Pause and resume events, skipped deliveries, refunds and voids, tickets with agent notes, a written pause policy since 2021 |
| 4. Systems | Subscription engine, billing platform, support desk, warehouse order system |
| 5. Coverage | About six years in the engine; support desk since 2020; one migration in 2019 kept original timestamps |
| 6. Volume | About 40,000 pauses a year; roughly 1,500 to 2,000 needed a manual fix |
| 7. Join keys | Order number is a required ticket field since 2021; earlier tickets use customer email |
| 8. Constraints known | Privacy notice and retention schedule exist; neither reviewed for licensing yet |
| 9. Access deadline | Subscription platform notice date in five months per the contract; support desk unchanged |
| 10. Decision-maker | Head of retention operations as sponsor; CEO to approve a discussion |
Read fields 5 and 7 together as a reviewer would: tickets since 2021 join on the order number, while the 2020 tickets join only by customer email, a weaker link that the brief states rather than hides. Field 9 gives one real date. Field 10 separates the sponsor from the signer, which the decision tree on who can license these records explains.
Before it leaves the partner's hands
| Check | Passes when |
|---|---|
| Size | 50 or more full-time staff at peak, contractors excluded |
| Metadata only | Every entry is a count, range, year, system name or role |
| No customer data | No names, emails, addresses, order numbers or ticket text |
| Real dates only | Field 9 cites a contract or vendor document, or says none known |
| Signer named | Field 10 names an executive, not a system administrator |
The warm introduction brief covers tone for the covering note, and the client opportunity brief generator can produce a draft from the same fields. An investor or adviser in a sale or wind-down can use this page unchanged; the special situations page covers that setting. If field 9 shows a platform change coming, the retention timeline explains what fades first.
Qualification and what stays open
The introduced company needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), documented operating history, rights to license and an authorized contact. 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 90% of the data is in English. Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting introductions; the first valid introduction within the 90-day window is credited when the company submits a verified application.
Which record classes the company may license, how customer data would be removed, whether buyers want pause recovery histories and whether an offer follows are settled only in SourceX's review with the company.
Next step
Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000. Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
When the ten fields are complete and every check passes, register as a partner, confirm the company on who qualifies and read the program terms before the retention lead forwards the brief.