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founderpath.com · newsletter
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It's Nathan.
What if you could have a sales team that didn't cost you a salary?
Michał Suski has 3,000+ people selling Surfer (SEO tool) for him.
None of them is on his payroll
None of them has a base salary
They only get paid when they close
He generates $3.5m/year from affiliates.
Today, I want to dive deeper into Affiliates (one of the 31 repeatable ways to grow a SaaS).
Group 1018
The 6-part playbook for a high-converting Affiliate Program (backed by 40+ real founder case studies):
1/ Define a Compelling Commission Structure.
One-time payouts get you one-time partners. Recurring commissions get you career advocates.
Michał Suski at Surfer SEO pays 30% recurring to 3,000+ affiliates.
Result: $3.5m/year (over 30% of their total revenue) from a single structural decision.
Learn more about his playbook.
2/ Choose Your Affiliate Management Software.
You can't track more than 50 affiliates in a spreadsheet.
Stefan Smolders from Expandi (LinkedIn outreach tool) runs on Reditus (B2B SaaS partner management platform).
I've shared this with several CEOs who got funded through Founderpath:
Pick your tool before you recruit your first affiliate, not after you're drowning in manual payouts.
3/ Treat an affiliate like a customer.
Many programs send a welcome email and go quiet.
You need high-touch onboarding.
Expandi works across email and social, gives targeted support, and treats every new partner like a customer.
The result: 50% free-to-paid conversion rate from affiliate traffic.
4/ Recruit the Right Affiliates.
Don't post on LinkedIn and stop there.
Evo Draganov at Batch attended real estate events, shook hands with coaches and influencers, and built relationships before asking for anything.
Nearly 500 affiliates
$16m revenue
Your best affiliate already serves your customer.
5/ Leverage a "Launch" Model for Massive Initial Traction.
Many founders treat affiliates as a passive drip:
Post a link, watch signups trickle in over months.
The launch model is different:
Pick a window
Set a commission aggressive enough to activate your network all at once
Treat it like a product launch
Everyone promotes to the same deadline.
Andy Fletcher (Convertri, funnel builder) offered a 50% lifetime deal through JVZoo.
Result: $750,000 and 2,300 customers in 6 days.
Affiliates have audiences you can borrow. A launch window gives them a reason to use them now.
6/ Explore Integration & "Powered By" Partnerships.
The most valuable affiliate is a complementary product with 10,000 users.
Ryan Allis at iContact (messaging tool) paid the API development costs so partners would build integrations.
Those integrations became referral machines.
Result: He sold iContact for $169m.
Learn from 20 Powered By case studies
The math for affiliate programs works. But sometimes, your cash flow doesn't.
You pay for software and commissions before a single affiliate dollar hits your account.
I built Founderpath to help SaaS founders like you execute tactics like this without giving up equity.
To date, we have: 554 companies funded, $220m+ wired, 0 equity taken.
I'd love to invest in your SaaS: get a term sheet in 2 minutes
Three funding options:
Revenue Financing: must have $1-3m revenue. Capital in 24 hours. No equity, no warrants.
Term Loans: $3m+ revenue. Interest-only periods. No warrants. 4-year paybacks.
Merchant Cash Advance: Seasonal revenue. Pay back as a percentage of monthly sales.
Apply here
Or send me your questions. I'll try to reply in the next 3-5 hours.
Nathan Latka
CEO, Founderpath
PS: Some businesses that have trusted my fund: https://founderpath.com/blog/category/case-study
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Founderpath, 815A Brazos Street, , Austin,TX,78701,USA,(210) 718-8920
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