THE BRIEF
Build Snap’s first scaled B2B affiliate and creator acquisition channel—from scratch.
Snapchat for Business needed a scalable way to reach small and midsize advertisers through people they already trusted: creators, publishers, agencies, educators, and commerce platforms. No affiliate infrastructure, operating model, partner lifecycle, incentive system, or global governance framework existed.
I was the sole program lead responsible for turning that opportunity into Snap’s first scaled B2B affiliate and creator acquisition channel.
THE CHALLENGE
Building this program extended far beyond recruiting affiliates.
Launching a global pay-for-performance program required Snap to confidently track advertiser outcomes, compensate different partner types, process international payments, prevent abuse, and comply with market-specific tax, legal, and regulatory requirements.
The hardest part was earning internal conviction. I developed the business case, modeled the economics, presented repeated leadership reviews, and worked with XFNs such as Finance, Tax, Legal, Product, Sales, Marketing, Data, and executive leadership.
In addition to business goals, my personal goal was to prove that the model could acquire valuable advertisers at scale without creating material financial, legal, or reputational risk.
INVITE-ONLY PILOT
15 partners — Test before global scale
I launched an invite-only pilot to test partner demand, advertiser quality, attribution, incentive economics, and operational risk before pursuing global scale.
The pilot recruited 15 partners and generated the evidence needed to refine partner eligibility, incentives, enablement, attribution, and payment controls before the broader launch.
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS
An end-to-end operating system
I designed the program as an end-to-end operating system connecting PartnerStack with Snapchat Ads Manager and the broader advertiser funnel.
01 RECRUIT
Identify creators, publishers, agencies, and platforms with credible access to SMB advertiser audiences.
02 QUALIFY
Evaluate audience fit, content quality, traffic sources, and estimated commercial value.
03 ONBOARD
Execute standard agreement, tracking, incentives, payouts, and program compliance.
04 ENABLE
Provide tailored product education, creative guidance, campaign materials, landing pages, offers, and lifecycle support.
05 ACTIVATE
Help partners turn trusted content and referrals into qualified Snapchat advertisers.
06 OPTIMIZE
Connect partner activity to advertiser activation, revenue, CAC, incrementality, ROI, content performance, and payouts.
RESULTS
A new channel, scaled globally
0→1
Program building
600+
Partners
40+
Markets
Strong positive
90-day ROI
WHAT I LEARNED
The strongest partner programs are always-on operating systems, not infrequent recruitment campaigns.
Consistent enablement, diversified partner testing, and clear performance signals made the channel compound. Each cohort revealed where incremental partner value and risk lived.