Lancer · B2B · AI agent that bids on Upwork jobs
Sign up Upwork coaches as affiliates for 20-30% of each client's payments, for life
$10K MRR in 3-4 months with zero ads; most growth from just two coaches
Workedaffiliatepartnerships
What they did
Instead of reaching buyers directly with ads or cold email, find 'connectors' one level up: people with a big network of your ideal customers, a strong reputation and trust with them, ideally good at sales. For Lancer these were Upwork coaches, who each sign 5-20 new coaching clients a month at $600-$1,000+ and have strong Upwork profiles, so upselling Lancer to their clients is easy. Terms: 30% lifetime commission if the coach signs, onboards and sets up the client on Lancer; 20% lifetime if they only refer. Playbook: 20-30% lifetime is standard; add upfront payments case by case based on network size, social following or existing deals with competitors. Track affiliates and pay monthly, automated, with Tolt; sales then arrive as inbound Stripe purchases or booked calls. Pitching one connector is a single high-ticket sales call instead of hundreds of calls for a $300/month product.
What happened
Reached $10K MRR in 3-4 months with zero paid ads; most growth came from two coaches.
- Stage
- Launch (From launch)
- Effort
- Two main affiliates
“instead of like going out to them directly using paid ads or cold email at at scale, I identified a layer above them. Basically, a profile of user who has access to them. So basically I call them connectors, and essentially convince them to be affiliates.”
“So in Lancer's case, I identified Upwork coaches as those connectors.”
“If they completely sign a a client, they onboard them, and they set them up on on Lancer, they get 30% commission for a lifetime. And if they just refer them, then that's 20%.”
“Most of our growth came from actually just two Upwork coaches.”
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- Lancer: Cold message a coach on LinkedIn and offer $1,000 to take a callLanded the second of two coaches behind most growth
- Lancer: Build the tool for your own agency first, then let a few agency friends try itBeta friends closed three five-figure clients in 2 weeks; then launched
- Lancer: Charge $79-$500 a month by proposals sent, with fees for extras