17 years deep in affiliate marketing. I've recruited partners in conference hallways, hotel lobbies, and at least one kickboxing gym in Bangkok. I've managed 68,000 affiliates and $16M/month in spend — and I still get excited when a postback fires on the first try.
Affiliate marketing has been my career since before I had one.
For almost twenty years, affiliate marketing has been the only industry I've ever known.
It started when I was 15, in my parents' basement, on a dial-up connection. I taught myself HTML by viewing the source on other people's websites, reverse-engineering how they were built, and breaking things until they did what I wanted. Soon I had a site of my own — and not long after, my first affiliate commission check showed up in the mail. I wasn't old enough to cash it. (Thanks, Mom and Dad.)
Curiosity turned into obsession. Obsession turned into a career. Since that first check, I've never held a job that wasn't affiliate marketing — across ecommerce, fintech, SaaS, legal tech, lead generation, consumer finance, and retail. Along the way: 68,000+ affiliates managed, budgets north of $16 million a month, and teams ranging from three-person startups to publicly traded companies.
Affiliate marketing strategist, operator, and builder — with experience scaling partnership programs from startup launches to publicly traded companies.
"Affiliate isn't part of what I do. It's all I've ever done."
A lot of people misunderstand this channel. Some think it's coupon sites and cashback. Others think it starts and ends with influencers posting discount codes. The truth: modern affiliate touches partnerships, technology, analytics, media buying, brand, and flat-out business strategy. Built right, it becomes one of the most efficient acquisition channels a company has — and some quarters, it outperforms paid and organic both.
I've launched programs from zero and built entire affiliate networks from the ground up. Onboarding flows, communication workflows, newsletters partners actually open, network migrations, tracking implementations, insertion orders negotiated alongside legal and compliance, and reporting that executives actually use to make decisions — I've built all of it, usually more than once.
I've sat with finance on forecasting and budget planning, helped accounting reconcile disputed transactions and missing sales, written fraud-prevention playbooks, cleaned up reseller abuse, and designed commission structures that keep partners motivated and the P&L happy. I've negotiated payout increases with publishers, redesigned conversion funnels to improve partner economics, and helped more than one leadership team finally understand how attribution, margin, and incrementality fit together.
Where the spreadsheets live
Where the deals live
Some of my best partnerships started with a cold email, an unexpected intro, a conference conversation, or a chance meeting that turned into years of business.
Twenty years in, my rolodex is deep — but I've never coasted on it. Activating proven partners or recruiting brand-new ones from scratch, I genuinely still love this part.
The platforms change. The attribution models change. The fundamentals don't:
Build trust. Understand the data. Create partnerships that pay everyone.
I earned my first commission check from banner ads on a dial-up modem — before I was old enough to cash it. So here's my career the only way it should be displayed: as banner ads.
The job description says "manage affiliate partnerships." Anyone who's actually done this job knows better. Click every square you've lived through — five in a row wins. If you're industry, I fully expect a blackout.
SQUARES CLEARED: 1/25 · BINGOS: 0
(And occasionally have. Q4 is no joke.)
> If you've ever had to explain why three reports show four different numbers, we've probably used the same tools.
Usually at conference bars, around drink number two.
Full-time role, program audit, or a consult from someone who's seen every trick in the book — and invented a couple. First conversation's free, and I promise it'll be the most fun call on your calendar.
jayvis@gmail.com