Years of company records can now be licensed for AI training. Advisers who introduce the right client to SourceX can earn a referral fee on clear terms.
Sit through an annual review with a business-owner client and the asset list is familiar: the operating company, the property, the pension, the investment portfolio, perhaps a stake in a friend's venture. The conversation moves through valuation, succession and liquidity.
One asset may be absent from that list because its potential licensing value has not been assessed. It is the company's own record of how it works: years of customer support conversations, project files, CRM histories and engineering tickets. Some AI developers license this kind of material, and an adviser who already has the owner's trust may be well placed to raise the possibility.
Why business records now have a buyer
AI developers use licensed datasets alongside publicly available material. Some seek records showing how real companies solve problems and make decisions. Such material can sit inside businesses and may never have been public, making licensing rights, confidentiality and privacy safeguards central to any proposed agreement.
SourceX licenses business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, and pays them for it.[1] The company signs with SourceX, not with an AI lab, and SourceX handles the agreement, data preparation and payout. The headline offer is up to $4M. That figure is an upper bound for the largest enterprise datasets, not a typical or guaranteed outcome. For a client, the realistic framing is a possible new revenue line whose size depends on the data, the rights and the scope.
Which clients are worth a conversation
Most of a client book will not fit, and that is fine. SourceX's published profile centers on companies with a peak headcount of 50 or more full-time employees, contractors not included, and knowledge-work businesses are the strongest fit. Operating, acquired and wound-down companies can all qualify, subject to review. As checked on 10 November 2026, the US is the priority market, with Canada and the EU also covered. SourceX also considers companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 70% of their data is in English.[2]
The moments that make the question timely are the ones advisers already plan around. A sale process, where the data room raises questions about which records go with the business. A succession, where a founder steps back and someone asks what the company actually owns. A wind-down, where systems are about to be switched off.
A clean introduction, start to finish
The adviser's role is narrow, and that is what makes it work. You do not value the archive, collect samples or speak for the company's data. You explain the idea, ask whether the owner would like an introduction, disclose that you would receive a referral fee if a deal completed and, if they agree, connect the right decision maker. SourceX's referral program is designed around exactly that kind of single, well-placed introduction.[2]
From there the company deals directly with SourceX. According to its published process, the first step is a fit check of a few quick questions, with no uploads and no commitment. If the company qualifies, it decides which systems, records and date ranges are in scope, and a rights review assesses whether it can license them. Nothing is delivered until a Master Supplier Licensing Agreement and a Dataset Deal Confirmation are both signed and SourceX gives the go-ahead. SourceX states that the client can withdraw before signing at no cost and that the original records stay with the company.
Before licensing records, companies must establish the necessary contractual and intellectual-property rights and, where personal data is involved, an appropriate lawful basis and applicable privacy safeguards. Customer, employee and third-party confidentiality obligations also require review. Possession of company records alone does not establish permission to license every item for AI training, including records held after an acquisition or wind-down.[4]
The economics, with the conditions attached
SourceX's published referral terms dated 4 November 2026 set the first-transaction reward at the greater of $50,000 plus 5% of Actual Supplier Payout and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout. There is no reward cap under those terms. A transaction must have an Actual Supplier Payout of at least $100,000 to qualify unless SourceX agrees otherwise in writing. Actual Supplier Payout means eligible compensation SourceX actually pays the referred company, excluding separately itemized taxes and expense reimbursements, the partner reward, SourceX's fees and the acquisition partner's full transaction price. SourceX funds the reward separately, so it is not deducted from the supplier's agreed compensation.[3]
For illustration, a first qualifying transaction with a $160,000 supplier payout would generate a $58,000 reward under the current standard formula. A $400,000 payout would generate $70,000. For each further qualifying transaction first agreed within twelve months after the closing of the company's first qualifying transaction, the published reward is 15% of Actual Supplier Payout. These are illustrations, not promises of a completed deal or payment.[3]
An approved partner account and a signed Channel Partner Agreement must be in place before any introduction. The attribution window is 90 days, a single partner is credited for each company, and an existing application or relationship with SourceX can rule out credit. Neither a submitted lead, nor a meeting, nor a signed agreement triggers payment alone. Payment requires SourceX to have paid the referred company, acquisition-partner acceptance and cleared payment, finance approval, the partner's tax and payment details, and lawful payment. The stated deadline is 60 calendar days after the later of final written acceptance and completed handoff of the complete, validated dataset. If a condition remains outstanding at that deadline, payment follows promptly once it is satisfied. Earlier signed agreements may retain different rates or caps: the applicable signed Schedule A and expressly agreed addenda take precedence over the public standard terms.[3]
Check your own rules first
Regulated advisers carry obligations that a general referral program cannot settle for them. Licensed professionals should check their own rules on referral fees, along with any employer or network restrictions, before participating. Disclose the interest to the client in writing where required, and keep a simple dated record of the client's permission and the introduction. Those habits protect the relationship and make attribution straightforward if a deal does follow.
Make it part of the review, not a campaign
The worst way to use this is a mass email to every business owner in the book. The best way is a single line in the planning conversation you already have: does the company hold years of records, who owns them, and would the owner like to know whether they qualify for a license? Most clients will say no, or not yet. The ones who say yes will remember who raised it.
Advisers with a client who fits can review the SourceX referral programme, get an approved partner account and sign the partner agreement before making the introduction. An introduction is the starting point; qualification, rights review, signed agreements and a completed qualifying transaction remain necessary.
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.
Sources
1. SourceX business data licensing
2. SourceX company referral program
3. SourceX referral partner program terms version 2026-11-04
4. Information Commissioner’s Office How do we ensure lawfulness in AI