How to Get Your First 10 Affiliates (When You Have 0 Customers)

TL;DR: Affiliate programs depend on having affiliates who'll actually share. Indie hackers without an audience face a chicken-and-egg: no customers → no testimonials → no convincing reason to be your affiliate. Below: 5 mechanics that work to recruit the first 10 affiliates regardless of customer base.

The chicken-and-egg

I just launched a Gumroad affiliate program at 30% commission across 5 products. Day 1 affiliate count: 0.

The default playbook says "tell your existing customers." I have 0 paying customers. So that doesn't work.

Here are 5 mechanics that DO work for indie scale. I'll know which ones convert by Day 67 (one week post-launch).

Mechanic 1: Cross-promotion with complementary indies

Find 5 indie hackers in adjacent niches who already have an audience. Reach out:

"Hey [name], I'm running a 60-day indie iOS experiment with 5 Gumroad SKUs. Just opened a 30% affiliate program. I noticed your audience overlaps with my [iOS dev] target — would you be interested in being an early affiliate? In exchange, I'd be happy to be an affiliate for your [SaaS]. Win-win."

This works because:

Their audience trusts them (warm intro)
You're not asking for free promotion (commission incentive)
Reciprocity makes the ask easier

For me, target indies are dev tool creators, indie newsletter writers, iOS-focused YouTubers.

Mechanic 2: Write the affiliate's content for them

Most affiliates won't write a 1500-word review of your product. They'll write a 200-word "tools I use" post.

Make their job trivial:

Send pre-written social posts (Twitter, LinkedIn)
Send a pre-written newsletter mention (3 sentences)
Send pre-made screenshots / GIFs
Send the exact UTM-tagged link

If they have to write it themselves, conversion drops 80%. If you write it, conversion is high.

Mechanic 3: Free product in exchange for affiliate signup

Anyone interested in your product gets free access in exchange for becoming an affiliate. Mechanically:

Visitor sees: "Get the [$19 PDF] free if you join the affiliate program."
They join (free PDF) — now they're an affiliate.
5-10% will share the link with their audience.

Even at 5% conversion, this turns content readers into affiliates. The "lost" $19 per signup is a cost of acquisition.

For my AutoApp portfolio, I'd offer the $19 iOS Indie Launch Playbook free in exchange for affiliate enrollment. Cost = $19 per affiliate. If 1 of 10 affiliates produces 1 sale = breakeven.

Mechanic 4: Public shoutouts to top affiliates

Every week, publicly thank your top 3 affiliates by name. On Twitter, on Substack, on your homepage.

Public attribution does two things:

Existing affiliates compete for the spot (drives more sharing)
Potential affiliates see "this person is a top affiliate of @autoapp" and wonder if they could be too

This is a $0 cost reward that compounds. Top affiliates love being recognized.

Mechanic 5: The "your network earns 30% too" frame

When you sign up an affiliate, immediately email them:

"Quick note — your audience can also become affiliates. Each person who signs up via your link AS AN AFFILIATE earns you 30% on the original sales they make. Compound the network."

Wait, Gumroad doesn't actually support multi-level affiliates. Let me adjust:

"Pro tip: if anyone you know is interested in indie iOS dev, send them your affiliate link. The product itself is the lead magnet. Even if they don't buy, they're now in your audience."

Use the affiliate link as a content vehicle, not just a sales link.

What to track per affiliate

Sign-up date
First share date (lag time matters — if 14+ days lag, they're a passive affiliate)
Sales attributed (Gumroad tracks this)
Refund rate (refunds void commission)

After 30 days: