Entrepreneurs often know established companies in London, Johannesburg, Toronto or Houston. One well-placed, honest introduction can matter more than a thousand cold leads.

Entrepreneurs tend to undervalue their own networks.

A former employer now running a 300-person firm in London. A long-standing customer in Johannesburg. A university friend who became chief operating officer of a logistics company in Toronto. Any one of them can be a more valuable connection than the newest name in a startup group chat.

That matters because established companies’ operating records may be relevant to AI developers, and programs now exist that reward the people who make the right introduction. For internationally connected professionals, the opportunity can reach well beyond the country where they live.

Illustration: a globe linking an entrepreneur’s network to companies in London, Johannesburg, Toronto and Houston. Conceptual artwork for this sponsored article.

Check the company and the partner separately

Before submitting introductions, obtain an approved partner account and sign the SourceX Channel Partner Agreement. Keep a dated introduction record and the decision-maker’s permission.

The SourceX referral program pays rewards when an introduced company completes a qualifying paid data licensing transaction. Company fit and partner eligibility are separate checks. SourceX says partners can join from most countries, subject to approval and restrictions on sanctioned countries, regions and parties. An eligible company does not automatically make every proposed referrer eligible.

SourceX prioritizes companies in the United States and also supports Canada and the European Union. It lists additional markets, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where at least 90% of the company’s data is in English.

For readers with African networks, South Africa is specifically included. A company elsewhere on the continent should not be assumed to qualify. Check the current supported regions before making any promises.

Know which company you are introducing

The first question is practical. Can you reach an owner or authorized executive who understands the business and could seriously consider an external data license?

Then think about the company itself. Roughly how many full-time employees did it have at its peak? How long has it operated? Which systems hold its support, sales, engineering or internal work history? SourceX’s standard fit centers on at least 50 full-time employees at peak and several years of history.

Approximate answers are enough for a first conversation. They are never a reason to ask for customer files or to encourage employees to share company records without authority.

How a cross-border introduction pays. A conceptual framework drawn from the article, not measured performance or a completed transaction.

Understand the reward before you mention it

The standard reward is 25% of the Actual Supplier Payout, excluding separately itemized taxes and expense reimbursements, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company.

The base is compensation actually paid for selected data that reaches Closing and a qualifying completed handoff. It is not the buyer’s full transaction price or SourceX’s fees; installments count only as they are paid, and the company cap does not reset for later deals.

On a hypothetical $200,000 qualifying supplier payment, that works out to a $50,000 reward. This is arithmetic, not a completed deal or a typical earning.

Nothing is paid for a submitted lead, a meeting or even a signed agreement. A qualifying paid transaction must complete and the program’s conditions must be met: buyer acceptance, cleared buyer payment to SourceX, SourceX paying the supplier, finance approval, your completed tax and payment details and a payment that is lawful to make. The reward is paid separately and never reduces the company’s own payout.

The reward deadline is 60 calendar days after the later of the Acquisition Partner’s final written acceptance of the complete, validated dataset and its completed handoff. All payment conditions still apply. If one is outstanding at that deadline, payment follows promptly when it is satisfied, without a new 60-day period. This is separate from the supplier’s invoice timetable.

Check before you introduce. Four review points from the article; the full text supplies the context and conditions.

Make your role and your interest clear

Tell the owner you may receive compensation before you ask permission to introduce them. Relationships survive commercial conversations far better when the financial interest is visible from the start. If you are a licensed professional, such as an accountant or lawyer, check your own professional rules on referral fees.

Then keep your role narrow. The company assesses SourceX, decides what to discuss and reviews its own terms. You are connecting people, not negotiating rights you do not own.

Keep a dated record of the introduction. The first valid introduction of a new company within the 90-day attribution window can receive credit when the company submits a verified application. SourceX checks earlier applications, introductions and relationships; a tracked click alone does not establish credit.

Can you take part without ever touching a dataset?

Yes. Your contribution is a permitted introduction to the right decision-maker. The company decides whether to participate and which rights to offer. SourceX separately decides whether the records qualify and whether to propose a deal.

Where should an entrepreneur start?

Pick one established company whose owner would welcome a relevant opportunity. Check its market and broad fit, disclose your incentive and ask whether an introduction would help. A careful connection can travel across borders without anyone surrendering control of their records in the first message.

Key takeaway: Check the company’s market and your own partner eligibility before making an introduction.

Have an established business in mind? Check the company criteria and your own partner eligibility at SourceX, complete account approval and the agreement, then ask for a disclosed introduction. Keep company files out of it.

About the founder

Noah Loul is a four-time founder and the founder and CEO of SourceX, which licenses business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation. He previously founded B2B Rocket, acquired by Blackpearl Group. His work focuses on building permission-based data infrastructure for AI.