How advisors refer clients to data licensing: fit screen and disclosure checklist

How does a referral partnership relate to data partnerships?#

Data partnership is a broad term that covers everything from public-interest data sharing to commercial licenses. A referral partnership is the lightest form: the partner holds no data, signs nothing for the client and only makes a permissioned introduction.

The data partnerships page owns the general explanation, and the comparison of data licensing and data partnerships explains how the two differ. This guide covers only the advisor's role in referring a client.

Who makes a good data licensing referral partner?#

Good referral partners already understand a client's operations and are trusted to raise new ideas: accountants and CPA firms, fractional and portfolio CFOs, M&A advisors and brokers, private equity operating partners, MSPs, RevOps consultants, and industry associations. Each group has its own obligations, covered in the ethics section below.

The MCP partner guides for M&A advisors and fractional CFOs give role-specific starting points, and the guide comparing MCP consulting with AI data referrals explains which route fits an advisor who only wants to introduce.

Which clients fit a data licensing referral?#

A client fits when it is an established company of meaningful size, holds years of consistent records in its own systems, and has owners who are open to a reviewed, approval-based process. You can check almost every signal from what you already know about the client, without opening a single system.

Use the screen below before you mention anything to a client. Two or three red flags are a reason to wait, not to push.

How does a data licensing referral work, step by step?#

A responsible referral moves in six steps, and the client controls every decision after the introduction. Your role ends at a clean, permissioned handoff plus whatever follow-up the client asks of you.

• 11. Spot fit: run the screen above using only what you already know. Do not request exports, screenshots or logins to check.
• 22. Get the client's permission to introduce: explain what the introduction is, what you share (company name, contact, a short description) and whether you may receive referral credit. Record the permission in writing.
• 33. Submit the introduction: register as a partner and introduce the company through the referral portal. Share only what the client approved.
• 44. SourceX assessment: the company completes a short company assessment; no data uploads are needed to see whether it qualifies.
• 55. Client approves everything: if the company proceeds, it sees exactly what would leave the company and approves what is released, once per deal. You are not a party to its decisions.
• 66. Partner credit under program terms: any credit follows the referral program terms you accepted, based on what SourceX actually pays the referred company.

What compensation terms should a partner see in writing before introducing anyone?#

Before you introduce a client, you should be able to point to written program terms that answer how credit is earned, when it is paid and how it will be disclosed. This guide deliberately does not state amounts or percentages; those come only from the referral program terms themselves.

Treat the list below as the minimum set of fields. If any is missing or vague, ask before you make the introduction, because you will need these answers for your own disclosure to the client.

• 1Basis of credit: what the credit is calculated on, for example a share of amounts actually paid to the referred company, rather than deal size, estimates or pipeline.
• 2Attribution rule: how an introduction is registered and dated, and what happens if the company was already in contact with the platform.
• 3Eligibility of the referred company: which companies count, so you do not refer companies that cannot qualify.
• 4Timing: when credit becomes payable relative to the referred company being paid, and whether anything is paid before then.
• 5Duration: for how long, or for which deals, credit applies after the introduction.
• 6Clawbacks and reversals: what happens if a deal is cancelled, refunded or restructured.
• 7Disclosure: whether the platform informs the referred company of your credit, and whether the terms allow or require you to disclose it yourself.
• 8Conflicts: what you may and may not do once introduced, such as negotiating for the client or advising on price.
• 9Payment and tax mechanics: how you are paid and what tax forms or details are needed.
• 10Changes and termination: how program terms change and how either side can end the arrangement.

What do professional ethics rules say about paid referrals?#

If you are a licensed professional, your own code governs whether you may accept referral compensation and how you must disclose it, and it applies before any program terms do. The most detailed rules apply to CPAs; other professions should check their own codes and regulators.

For AICPA members, the AICPA states that any commission or referral fee must be disclosed to the client. CPAs should also read the Code's commissions and referral fees rule (ET 1.520.001) in full, including any limits on referral compensation for clients who receive attest services such as audits or reviews, and any requirements on the form and timing of disclosure, before accepting a referral payment.

State boards of accountancy have their own rules, which may differ from the AICPA Code, so CPAs should check their own board's rule as well.

Confidentiality is a separate test. The AICPA tells members to consider the Confidential Client Information Rule (ET 1.700.001) before making a referral. Even naming a client as a possible fit can be a disclosure, so get the client's specific consent first, which is why step 2 comes before step 3.

Public promotion raises a different issue. If you recommend a platform publicly, for example in a newsletter, webinar or association bulletin, and you can be paid for resulting referrals, the FTC Endorsement Guides (16 CFR 255.5) call for clear and conspicuous disclosure of a connection the audience would not reasonably expect. Under the 2023 revision, a material connection needs disclosure when a significant minority of the audience does not understand or expect it.

Private equity operating partners should also check fund documents, side letters and the portfolio company's governance before taking any compensation tied to a portfolio company, and route the decision through the company's own board.

How should you raise data licensing with a client?#

Raise it as an option to evaluate, not an outcome you can promise. A good opening is a single sentence: some companies with long operating histories license de-identified records to AI developers under a reviewed process, and a short assessment shows whether yours qualifies.

Keep four separate questions in mind when the client asks what is involved: system access, privacy permission, ownership and contractual licensing rights. De-identification alone does not create a right to license, and counsel reviews the specific facts. The privacy and right-to-license article covers the full framework.

Avoid forecasting money. You do not know what a buyer will pay, and a number from you will anchor the client before anyone has looked at the records. If the client asks, say that value is assessed deal by deal and that nothing is released without their approval.

What should a referral partner never do?#

A referral partner should never handle client data, hold client credentials or speak for the client in a deal. The MCP partner guides give the general version of these rules; the list below adds the referral specifics.

• 1Never request or hold logins, API keys or exports, and never send samples or record counts pulled from client systems.
• 2Never introduce a client without written permission, or share more than the client approved.
• 3Never quote payouts, prices, timelines or buyer demand you cannot verify in writing.
• 4Never accept compensation your professional code does not allow, or leave it undisclosed.
• 5Never negotiate the client's license terms unless you are separately engaged and conflicts are resolved in writing.

How do SourceX referral partnerships work?#

SourceX is the enterprise data transaction layer for AI. Referral partners introduce suitable businesses and can earn a share of what SourceX actually pays the referred company, under the referral program terms, and never need access to a client's systems or credentials.

Program terms, credit details and standing deal terms live in the referral portal and on the data partnership terms page, not here.