This was a project that I started in April 2022 with Rishabh Garg, my tech cofounder. I am talking about "Affiliate Corner". We sold it for a 5-figure exit in July 2024.
With Affiliate Corner, you can browse, filter affiliate programs, and get a lot of insights on hundreds of affiliate niches like SEO, competition, audience & more. So it was a complete research solution for affiliate marketers.
Initially, we started with a pre-sell offer while building the product.
Watch my full video here:
And we got off to a superb start. We raked $6000 in 2-3 days with our pre-sell offer.
We knew there, that our product has a lot of potential and we will keep growing this until we can.
That was our pre-validation moment. I recommend doing this for any of your big products.
- Create a pre-sell offer
- Sell it for a lifetime deal or a discounted monthly pricing locked in
- Watch out for the customers
- Limit the quantity of orders (Maybe 50-60)
- Release the product to them
- Take good feedback and re-iterate again
This is a highly effective blueprint that you can follow.
We did that.
Revenue + Exit
In 2 years of Affiliate Corner, from April 2022 to July 2024, we generated over $90,000. Got customers from almost 100+ countries.
We sold it for a 5-figure exit. That constitutes a 2x valuation of the yearly revenue we got.
Since it was a lifetime deal product (One-time price and not a subscription product), the valuation multiple was 2x and we were okay with that since we know that subscription products hold a better valuation.
Marketing & Scaling Affiliate Corner
Rishabh handled all the tech and I handled all the marketing stuff for Affiliate Corner.
We did every marketing strategy that we could to make sales.
Initial Phase
- Initially, we started off on Twitter (X). I have a good following, so we started really well. We used to get some consistent sales from Twitter (X).
- For pre-orders or pre-sell, we launched the offer in 2 niche Facebook groups related to lifetime deals. That is where we got the majority of our sales in our pre-sell period.
- Then, I had an email list that I already had, with a marketing-related audience. They were interested too.
Second Phase
- Product Hunt Launch:
Ofcourse, we did what every founder does. Launched on Product Hunt. I don't recommend this strategy for long term, but yes, getting some eyeballs is good to have. So we did launch on PH. - Ofcourse, we did what every founder does. Launched on Product Hunt. I don't recommend this strategy for long term, but yes, getting some eyeballs is good to have. So we did launch on PH.
- The Micro-Influencer Strategy:
We onboarded micro-influencers on a commission basis on YouTube. They did a phenomenal job. We told them to promote our product for a nice hefty commission. They agreed. Those YouTube videos got us consistent sales over a long period. - We onboarded micro-influencers on a commission basis on YouTube. They did a phenomenal job. We told them to promote our product for a nice hefty commission. They agreed. Those YouTube videos got us consistent sales over a long period.
- The Sub-Reddit Strategy:
I analyzed Reddit and found some niche sub-reddits, where I thought if I could promote here, it would be awesome. So I contacted the Sub-Reddit owners, and they agreed to have a listing of our product in the Sub-Reddit info menu. Many people go through the resources/info menu of the Sub-Reddit to know more about it.
There we listed our product for a fixed price for a fixed amount of time. Got good sales from there. - I analyzed Reddit and found some niche sub-reddits, where I thought if I could promote here, it would be awesome. So I contacted the Sub-Reddit owners, and they agreed to have a listing of our product in the Sub-Reddit info menu. Many people go through the resources/info menu of the Sub-Reddit to know more about it.
There we listed our product for a fixed price for a fixed amount of time. Got good sales from there. - There we listed our product for a fixed price for a fixed amount of time. Got good sales from there.
- Paid Advertising:
We ran Facebook Ads (Meta Ads) and were able to get 3x ROAS for it. We ran that for almost 2 months but later realized that scaling FB Ads is not for the faint-hearted. It's a complex strategy that involves a good amount of funds, patience, and skill.
We thought that we should not do something that we are not an expert in. But for whatever period we did run, it was quite profitable given that we got ~3x ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) - We ran Facebook Ads (Meta Ads) and were able to get 3x ROAS for it. We ran that for almost 2 months but later realized that scaling FB Ads is not for the faint-hearted. It's a complex strategy that involves a good amount of funds, patience, and skill.
We thought that we should not do something that we are not an expert in. But for whatever period we did run, it was quite profitable given that we got ~3x ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) - We thought that we should not do something that we are not an expert in. But for whatever period we did run, it was quite profitable given that we got ~3x ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Last Phase
- LTD Marketplaces
In our final phase of marketing and sales, we launched our product in various LTD marketplaces like Appsumo, Deal Fuel, Deal Mirror, and more.
We got a nice amount of sales from there and it was constant. Not sustainable enough but constant. - In our final phase of marketing and sales, we launched our product in various LTD marketplaces like Appsumo, Deal Fuel, Deal Mirror, and more.
- We got a nice amount of sales from there and it was constant. Not sustainable enough but constant.
Learnings & Final Thoughts
This was my first major online product that generated almost close to a 6-figure revenue. Learnt a lot of marketing hacks, selling online, and especially launch strategies.
The biggest learning in this journey was: If you build something really useful and can market it to the right person, there is no way you cannot make money.
You can make money. Just build a useful solution.
The reason I sold Affiliate Corner was 2 things: First, we needed some upfront cash to have some peace of mind and Second, I wanted to build more products and focus on them.
With this, I was able to free up my time to focus on other things and simultaneously get some good cash in my hands.
As an entrepreneur, I follow a simple rule for money: Cash now is always better than cash later.
Ofcourse, it depends person to person and the situation you are in. But I try to align with this principle, as you can do a lot of things once you have some cash in your hands.
What's next?
I currently run 2 products and I am building some more products with AI coding platforms like Lovable.Dev
- LTD Ideas (Get product ideas that you can sell for lifetime deals)
- RaaP Course (Learn to Build Directory Products with No-code & AI)
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