Intro: My first Post on Indie Hackers

From Startup to Affiliate Success: My Indie Hacker Journey

Hey Indie Hackers!

I’ve been a paying subscriber for a few months now, and the stories here have inspired me to “Do More.” Today, I want to share my journey and what I’m working on next.

my bio:
I’m Canadian, and my entrepreneurial journey started after I left university in my second year (2005) to take a startup job in Los Angeles. In 2015, when that job ended, I had to leave the U.S., finding myself back home in Canada.

As my career was winding down, I realized my raison d'etre at work was starting new products and launching them and after countless product launches under my belt, I felt that my own startup was my destiny.

Getting back to Toronto, to keep the lights on, I took on contracts and projects, including an unexpected opportunity to manage a construction project. It was unlike anything I’d done before and seeing ideas turn take physical form, was rewarding. Building reps outside of the tech bubble gave me space to get creative.

Building Adbloom

In 2017, I co-founded Adbloom with a clear goal: help startups grow through affiliate partnerships. Back then, startups were focused on Facebook and Google ads for growth, leaving affiliate marketing relatively untapped. The idea struck me while consulting for an app frustrated with rising ad costs. When I suggested affiliate partners, CMO said, “Nobody does that anymore.” That’s when I realized there was an opportunity.

Fast forward to 2024, Adbloom is a recognized brand in affiliate. We’ve helped launch major brands like Fetch, Pogo, Acorns, and Uber with wildly successful, long term affiliate partnerships. We’ve also empowered publishers and influencers—from industry giants like Buzzfeed to countless smaller creators—to earn great money promoting affiliate campaigns.

Over the years, we’ve:
• Twice ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in Canada
• Opened U.S. offices and operations (2023)
• Continued growing through a challenging market

In 2024, we refined our mission: help Creators generate better earnings through affiliate programs.

What’s Next?

This year, inspired by Indie Hackers, I’m building two new products:
1. Affiliate Landing Page Generator
A tool for influencers that works like a “Link in Bio,” but optimized for affiliate deals. Think of it as a digital coupon book tailored for their fans, featuring customizable themes, social links, and exclusive offers powered by Adbloom. This helps influencers by alleviating the need to paste individual links/codes on their content , they just point direct to their deal in bio, where they host a list of their favorite apps and rewards.
Link Here -> https://offers.adbloom.co/dealinbio
2. Birthday Freebies Directory
A comprehensive index of restaurants, chains, and brands offering free rewards on birthdays. Create a "saved" freebie wallet, stack up all your bday freebies, get notifications and special offers. For influencers; this gives them a dedicated page to share with fans, bday freebies are very popular, will also build a wordpress embed/plugin for websites.
Link Here -> https://kzmltxvn8f13iut9du25.lite.vusercontent.net/

Both products aim to bring value to creators and their audiences, while supporting our mission of enabling better earnings for influencers.

I built both with a mix of Claude + V0. After toying around I recognized I either had to learn how to dev properly or find some help... I've gone the help route, and I'm going to find out if thats viable. Either way, my goal is to push push push and keep using all these amazing AI tools to build more and more and ship ship ship.

Wrapping Up

The past few years have been a wild ride, and I’m excited for what’s ahead. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these new projects and connect with others building new products! I appreciate any and all feedback and am excited to engage with fellow entrepreneurs.

What’s next on your journey? Let’s chat in the comments!

This version keeps your personality and story while making it more concise and easier to read. Let me know if you’d like further tweaks!