We’re excited to be celebrating 15 years of providing one of the top affiliate networks in the business. AvantLink would like to thank our team, the advertisers, and publishers, that have worked with us through the years to make it happen. To celebrate the occasion, we’re sharing some AvanLink history with the help of our founder and CEO, Scott Kalbach.
While working as a Software Engineer here in Utah, Kalbach was first introduced to affiliate marketing by a friend and got the idea to create a third-party affiliate tool. The tool used web services to help publishers install an automated data feed to their websites for product catalogs, giving them more time to focus on creating actual content.
As he was trying to market his new affiliate tool, he pitched the product to the executives of an outdoor retail company, who instead ended up offering him a role in creating affiliate ad technology for them. He took the job, and the affiliate network provider the company worked with at the time caught wind of Scott’s ad tool and started pursuing the creation of a similar tool independently. “I decided that if this network was going to copy my idea, I could easily convert the functionality I had created into a network technology and compete with them,” says Scott Kalbach.
He spent 2-3 months working in his spare time developing his technology into a functional network platform that included a suite of next-generation ad tools. In October of 2005, AvantLink was born.
It initially started with two paid employees, not including Kalbach. Scott continued to work for his current role at the time for another five months while working on AvantLink after hours. “At that point, I felt like we had enough revenue and momentum to leave my job, and that’s when I became AvantLink’s third paid team member,” says Scott.
The first office was a spare bedroom in Kalbach’s house in Kamas, Utah, and after about three years working from there, the team rented a small single room office space in Park City. Five years in, AvantLink opened the official HQ offices also in Park City, Utah.
Our first partners were PawsUpPetSupply.com and GearAndTraining.com. “Unfortunately, neither one of these companies are still around but we certainly appreciated having them as our first clients to launch the platform with,” says Kalbach.
When asked about what’s in store for the company in the next 15 years, Scott replied, “I believe the future is very bright for AvantLink. Even in the troubling times the world is currently facing, AvantLink has done incredibly well and we are seeing close to 100% year over year growth”. He went on to say, “If we stay true to our core values, continue to invest in the platform, and support the best team out there, we will continue to be one of the top partnership marketing platforms in the industry”.
Happy 15 years to AvantLink, and to many more productive years ahead!