Why the peer group room is different from any other network
Most networks are built on visibility. A CEO peer group is built on the opposite. Members bring the problems they cannot discuss with their own leadership team or board: the partner who is not pulling weight, the cash crunch nobody else knows about, the sale process that is quietly underway, the fear that the business is about to be uberized by a competitor with better data. Every industry is a geek away from being uberized, and peer groups are often where a chief executive first admits it out loud.
That candor only works because of two unwritten rules. What is said in the room stays in the room. And nobody uses the room to sell. Most groups, whether chair-led monthly meetings, forum-based peer organizations or industry roundtables, write versions of both into their charters, and the member who breaks either one usually does not stay long.
So a peer group member is not a referral partner in the usual sense. You are a trusted peer who occasionally answers the question every group hears at the end of an issue discussion: who did you use?
The pull, not the push
The cleanest referrals in a peer group are pulled, never pushed. A member works through an issue about a stalled pipeline, the group asks questions, and over coffee afterwards someone turns to you and asks what you did when it happened to you. That is a request. Answering it honestly, including the fact that you may be paid, is a service to the member.
Pushing is the opposite: bringing a product to the meeting, following up on another member's confidential issue with a pitch, or sending the whole group your link. Do none of those things. A useful test before any introduction is whether you would be comfortable if the chair and every other member saw the email.
- Never use a confidential issue to identify or approach a referral, inside or outside the group.
- Introduce only when asked, and only after the meeting, not during issue processing.
- Disclose in writing that you are a Random Income Strategic Partner and may be paid.
- Read your group's charter; where it forbids paid referrals between members, keep your activity entirely outside the group.
- If you are the group's chair or facilitator, ask the organization that engages you before referring any member at all.
What members ask about, and where the stack fits
Random Income connects the dots between brand partners, the businesses with offers, and the people who already know their buyers. After enough meetings, the same handful of issues come up again and again, and they map closely to the stack.
- The board wants an AI plan and nobody can write one: Consulting with Jeff Cline brings executive strategy on technology, predictive analytics and AI.
- A competitor seems to know which customers are shopping first: Predictive Data identifies who is in-market and delivers it into the CRM.
- Customers say they asked an AI assistant and we never came up: Quuik · Trusted GPT gets a business cited in answer engines.
- The new product has been a slide for a year: Fast Start takes an idea to a market-ready product, and the Joint Venture tech stack build, at $18,200 a month, provides a long-term technology partner.
- The owner is ready for something bigger: the Big Idea at jeff-cline.com/idea is an application to see whether the business qualifies for a larger technology investment.
Your company, your board and your peers' companies
Membership does not change a chief executive's duties. Never refer something to your own company for personal pay; buy through normal procurement and decline the commission. Many CEO employment agreements require board approval for outside business activities, so check yours. If you sit on another member's board or advisory board, that company is off limits for paid referrals unless its board approves with full disclosure.
The wider network that comes with membership is where most referrals should happen: former members, CEOs you meet at the organization's larger events, peers in other chapters, the executives on your own leadership team's networks once they leave. Treat the directory as a courtesy, not a list. This is general information, not legal advice; your counsel and the group's charter are the places to confirm.
A light rhythm around the monthly meeting
Peer groups run on a monthly rhythm, so referral work naturally follows it. Plan on about two focused hours a week at most, and many members spend less.
After each meeting, note any requests you received, not problems you overheard. Within a few days, send a short, disclosed introduction to anyone who asked. Then let Random Income run discovery, proposals and delivery. Your back office shows every click, form and quote request on your referrals, so you never need to raise the subject at the next meeting. Your free contacts.plus upgrade keeps a private record of who asked for what.
A line that works: You asked who helped us with this. Here is the introduction. Full disclosure, I am a Random Income Strategic Partner and may be paid if you buy, so decide on the merits and tell me honestly if it is not a fit.
Terms for peer group members
Strategic Partners are 1099 independent contractors, never employees, and accounts are held by individuals, never by a company or a peer group. Stack products pay 20% of retail on redline when a 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. Recurring commissions last as long as the client keeps paying; refunds and chargebacks are deducted. Fast Start ($32,500 a month) and the Joint Venture build pay your percentage only of the monthly SaaS fee collected. 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 smaller balances carrying forward to the next payout cycle. You upload an ID and a W-9, and we issue a 1099-NEC. If your own company has an offer peers would value, it can post an opportunity. Otherwise, take the free test and become a Strategic Partner.