UK Business Referral Fees: 3 Things to Settle Before You Introduce

Referral fees come in dollars and with conditions. Here is how UK founders and advisers keep currency, conditions and disclosure clear.

Referral fees come in dollars and with conditions. Here is how UK founders and advisers keep currency, conditions and disclosure clear.

You are having coffee with a business owner who has spent fifteen years building a logistics firm in Leeds. Somewhere between the second flat white and the bill, you realise their company might hold the kind of operating history that companies now license for AI training: years of customer cases, account records and documented processes.

You could make an introduction. You might also earn a fee for it. Before you say a word, get three things straight: the currency, the conditions and the disclosure.

THE SHORT VERSION

• SourceX’s referral reward is 25% of the Actual Supplier Payout, quoted in US dollars and capped at US$100,000 per company.
• UK companies can qualify when at least 90% of their data is in English, alongside size, history and rights.
• Rewards follow only a qualifying deal that closes and is paid. Tell the owner about your fee before the introduction.

Spot the business that might fit

The strongest candidates are established operations rather than early-stage start-ups. Think several years of support cases, CRM histories, engineering records or internal documents, generated by a real team doing real work.

The core fit is a company that has employed at least 50 full-time staff at its peak and has traded for several years. A company’s operating status is only part of fit; the current eligibility criteria and authority to license its records still need checking. The person you introduce should be an owner, executive or authorised decision-maker.

For the first conversation, broad facts are plenty. You never need customer examples, employee messages or screenshots to explain why a company might be a fit.

The UK condition to check first

SourceX prioritises US companies and also serves Canada and the EU. UK companies can qualify when at least 90% of their data is in English.

For most British businesses that will be straightforward, but check it for groups with large non-English operations or multilingual customer service. It is the language of the records that counts.

Geography and headcount open the door; they do not guarantee anything, and qualifying is not the same as receiving an offer. The actual systems, the rights to license the data and the usefulness of the collection all still need review.

From intro to reward: Disclose, Qualify, Get paid. Concept illustration, not measured performance or a completed transaction.

Keep the reward in dollars

SourceX’s standard reward is 25% of the Actual Supplier Payout: what SourceX pays the referred company, excluding separately itemised taxes and expense reimbursements. It is capped at US$100,000 cumulatively per referred company unless different terms are signed.

Hypothetical: a qualifying supplier payout of US$200,000 would produce a US$50,000 reward under that formula. That is arithmetic, not a forecast or a completed transaction.

Notice the currency. The programme talks in US dollars. Do not tell anyone they will receive a fixed sterling figure, and do not lean on an exchange rate you looked up months ago. Any sterling value will depend on exchange rates and payment arrangements at the time.

Better still for your relationship with the owner: the reward is paid separately by SourceX and does not reduce the company’s agreed payout.

When does a referral fee become payable?

Not at the introduction, and not at the handshake. A reward is payable only after a qualifying paid transaction and the programme conditions are met. Those include qualifying acceptance, cleared buyer payment to SourceX, SourceX paying the company, finance approval, your completed tax and payment details, and lawful payment.

A lead, a meeting or a signed agreement alone does not trigger payment. So treat any early estimate as possible upside, not income to budget around. Timing follows the current programme terms and any signed agreement, which are separate from the company’s own payment schedule.

Before you make the intro. Four takeaways from the article; the text supplies the full context and conditions.

The standard reward deadline is 60 calendar days after the later of final written acceptance of the complete, validated dataset by the Acquisition Partner and completed handoff to that partner. All payment conditions still apply; an outstanding condition delays payment until it is satisfied, without starting a new 60-day period.

Make disclosure the normal part of the conversation

Here is a simple script: “I think your company might fit an AI data licensing programme. If you go ahead and a qualifying deal closes and is paid, I could receive a referral fee from SourceX. It’s paid separately and doesn’t reduce what you’d receive. No obligation at all. Would you like an introduction?”

Those few plain sentences protect the relationship whatever the owner decides. They also show the owner you are recommending the idea on its merits, with your interest declared.

A few more housekeeping points:

• Accountants, solicitors, employees and other advisers should check their professional rules, employment contracts and duties before accepting any fee.
• Register through the correct route first. Credit depends on the first valid introduction of a new company within the 90-day window and a verified application, checked against dated introduction records and prior relationships. An earlier link click alone is not enough.
• Companies with an existing SourceX application or relationship are excluded as duplicates, and only one partner can be credited per company.

Make one well-framed introduction. Pick one established company, check the broad fit, disclose your potential fee and ask the owner whether they would like an introduction.

Before your next networking coffee

Choose one established company whose owner would welcome a relevant idea, perhaps the one you thought of while reading this. Check the broad fit, disclose the potential fee and ask whether they would like to be connected. The current programme details are at SourceX.

The decision about licensing approved records under signed terms belongs to the owner. The most useful thing you can bring to an introduction is accuracy. Bring the right currency, the real conditions and your declared interest, ideally before the second flat white.

Before submitting introductions, partners need an approved account and a signed SourceX Channel Partner Agreement. Keep a dated record of the introduction and the company decision-maker’s permission.

Check SourceX‘s current UK eligibility and partner terms, sign the Channel Partner Agreement, then ask one suitable owner whether an introduction would help. Keep the potential reward in US dollars and disclose your interest.

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.