Duties that come with the seat
A board seat, whether corporate, non-profit or advisory, carries obligations that ordinary referral programs never mention. Directors of corporations generally owe duties of care and loyalty to the company. Loyalty means putting the company's interests ahead of your own, which is why boards adopt conflict-of-interest policies and why related-party transactions draw scrutiny from auditors, regulators and shareholders. Many companies also have a corporate opportunity doctrine or policy: if a business opportunity falls within the company's line of business, you may need to offer it to the company first.
Advisory boards are usually less formal, but your advisor agreement will often contain confidentiality, non-compete or non-solicitation terms that matter just as much. Public company directors face additional rules on disclosure and independence.
None of this rules out board member side income. It does mean the arrangement has to be designed around your seat, not the other way round. This is general information, not legal advice; your company counsel or board chair is the right person to confirm how the rules apply to you.
Refer outside the boardroom, never into it
The cleanest rule is also the simplest. Do not refer products to a company you govern, advise or oversee for compensation unless the board has approved it with full disclosure. Even when a product would genuinely help, being paid for selling to your own company creates exactly the conflict your duty of loyalty is meant to prevent.
That still leaves a large network. Directors and advisors know founders who pitched them, former colleagues now running other companies, peers on other boards, operators they met through investors and the executives they sit next to at governance programs. Those are the introductions a referral program is built for.
- Never refer to a company where you hold a board or advisory seat without board approval and disclosure.
- Never use confidential board information to identify or approach a referral.
- Avoid referring to direct competitors of a company you govern.
- Disclose the relationship in writing in every introduction.
- Keep a simple log of introductions you make, in case a board ever asks.
Board advisor compensation and where commission fits
Board advisor compensation usually takes familiar forms: cash retainers and meeting fees for corporate boards, equity grants for startup advisory boards, and often nothing at all for non-profit service. Each is tied to one organization and to an expectation of ongoing time.
Commission is different. It is paid only when an introduction becomes a paying client, it spreads across many companies rather than concentrating in one, and it asks nothing of your calendar beyond the introductions themselves. For people holding advisory board or fractional executive roles, that makes it a complement to the work, not a competitor for it. Fractional executive advisors in particular see several companies at once and are often asked who they trust; commission lets them be paid for that judgment in the companies they do not serve directly.
What directors are asked about, and what we offer
Directors hear the same strategic questions repeatedly. How do we grow faster without doubling acquisition spend? Should we build or buy this technology? Why are competitors showing up in AI recommendations and we are not? Random Income connects the dots between brand partners, the businesses with offers, and the people who already know their buyers. For directors and advisors, the strongest fits are:
- Consulting with Jeff Cline: executive strategy on technology, predictive analytics and AI, often useful to a leadership team preparing a strategic plan for its board.
- Fast Start and the Joint Venture tech stack build: for founders and companies that need a product or platform built.
- Predictive Data: who is in-market, identity append and visitor identification, delivered into the CRM.
- Quuik · Trusted GPT: gets a company cited when people ask AI and answer engines for recommendations.
- The Big Idea at jeff-cline.com/idea: an application for owners to see whether they qualify for a larger technology investment.
A two-hour rhythm for a director's calendar
Board work arrives in waves around meetings, audits and annual planning. Referral work should fit around it, not compete with it. Most directors who partner with us plan on about two focused hours a week, and some weeks none at all.
A workable rhythm: after any meeting or call outside your boards, note problems that map to the stack. Once a week, send one or two disclosed introductions where the fit is genuine. Then spend a few minutes in your back office, which shows every click, form and quote request on your referrals. Your free contacts.plus upgrade keeps the relationship history in one place, so nothing depends on memory.
Questions to settle with counsel before the first introduction
A short conversation with your company counsel or board chair usually settles everything. Bring these questions, and keep the answers on file.
- Does our conflict-of-interest policy require me to disclose outside business interests, including referral commissions?
- Does the corporate opportunity policy cover any of the products or companies I might introduce?
- Are there companies, such as competitors, customers or suppliers of ours, that I should avoid introducing altogether?
- Do my advisor or director agreements contain non-solicitation or confidentiality terms that affect who I can approach?
- For a public company seat, does any of this touch independence standards or disclosure obligations?
- Would the board prefer a periodic note listing the introductions I have made?
Terms for directors and advisors
Strategic Partners are 1099 independent contractors, never employees. Stack products pay 20% of retail on redline when the client buys fully online untouched, or 12% when an in-house Random Income rep works the deal, adjusted pro-rata to redline if we negotiate. Fast Start ($32,500 a month) and Joint Venture ($18,200 a month) pay your percentage of the monthly fee collected only, with no equity or success fee, which keeps it distinct from any equity you hold as a director. Investor-funded deals pay a one-time $5,000 referral fee, and business offers pay 50% of what the business pays us. Payouts run on the 21st of the month after we are paid, once your balance reaches $500, with an ID and a W-9 on file. Become a Strategic Partner when your counsel is comfortable.