Learn
Running an affiliate program: the honest manual for SaaS founders
For the founder running their first affiliate program. A live product, paying customers, a Stripe account, and no partnerships team. Nine modules, open and indexed. No email address, ever.
Nine modules
The modules
Most writing on this is for an affiliate manager with hundreds of partners. You have about 40 customers and 90 minutes on a Sunday. So the manual is staged: whether to start at all, then the money, then the rest, in the order the problems arrive.
Module 0 · About a 5 minute read
Do not start an affiliate program yet
The disqualifier. Four questions to answer before you invite a single partner, what to do instead when the answer is no, and when to come back. This module is allowed to tell you no. For a lot of readers it will.
Module 1 · About a 6 minute read
The commission number, worked out rather than copied
Work the rate from your own margin, churn and payback. Not from an average with an eight-point spread. Recurring or one-time, the cookie window, and why trials pay on money.
Module 2 · About a 5 minute read
The six rules you write before the first affiliate arrives
Six clauses that earn their place: brand bidding, coupon sites, incentivised traffic, self-referral, attribution, refunds. Plain wording included. And how to prove a partner accepted them.
Module 3 · About a 15 minute read
Payout methods: how you actually pay a person in another country
The part every guide skips. Who is legally paying your affiliates, what PayPal and Wise really cost, the tax forms, the reporting threshold that changed in 2026, invoices and VAT. And why a $50 minimum payout quietly kills small programs.
Module 4 · About a 5 minute read
Your first ten affiliates are people you already know
Five places your first partners are already hiding. Two outreach messages that sound like a person. And why most of the ten doing nothing is the median, not a failure.
Module 5 · About a 5 minute read
One first action, and the four assets you make in an afternoon
Partners go quiet. Nobody named the first move. One clear first action, the four assets you can build in an afternoon, and a 30-day rhythm sized for a founder.
Module 6 · About a 5 minute read
Reading the numbers without lying to yourself
Why a conversion rate on eleven clicks is an anecdote. The published benchmarks that show what normal looks like. And the incrementality question the category avoids.
Module 7 · About a 5 minute read
Fraud, leakage, and the polite way to say no
The signature of each abuse in data you already have. The defences to switch on day one. And the three awkward messages, written out, for saying no without burning the relationship.
Module 8 · About a 4 minute read
When to stop paying attention to it
Most programs settle. That's fine. What autopilot really means, the ten-minute monthly check, and how to tell a plateau from a ceiling.
Read them in order the first time. After that, each module stands on its own.
The byline
Who writes this
Who writes this
Jimi Barkway, the founder of AffiliateRail
Before building affiliate software I spent years on the other side of it, as an affiliate, an email marketer and a paid-ads operator. So the manual keeps coming back to what the person holding the link actually experiences. Where a module touches tax or law it says so, and tells you when an accountant is the right next call. Corrections go to support@affiliaterail.com. Every figure carries the date it was last checked.
Questions
Who is the manual for?
Who is the manual for?
The founder running their first affiliate program: a live product, paying customers, a Stripe account, and no partnerships team. About 40 customers and 90 minutes on a Sunday.
Do I need to give an email address?
No. Nine modules, open and indexed. No gate, no email address, ever.
Which module should I read first?
Module 0, Do not start an affiliate program yet. Four questions before you invite a single partner, in about five minutes. It is allowed to tell you no.
In what order are the modules?
Whether to start at all, then the money, then the rest, in the order the problems arrive. Read them in order the first time. After that, each module stands on its own.
Start here
Module 0 is allowed to tell you no
Four questions before you invite a single partner. Five minutes.
Published 1 September 2026, updated 3 September 2026