PIN-UP Partners diaries:The Dark Knight of Affiliate-marketing

It’s time for another exciting edition of “PIN-UP Partners diaries“. This time, our charming interviewer, Daria Komenda, had a chat with Alexander Starovoitov, co-owner of “Marsa Team”. We’re sure Alex’s personality will captivate everyone. Let’s go!

Daria Komenda: Hello, dear readers! Finally, I’m fulfilling the long-promised interview with our wonderful friend and fantastic partner – Alexander. How are you? What’s new?

Alexander Starovoitov: Work, home, and workouts.

D: The gym?

A: The gym and the pool are my long-time passions. I’ve been keeping myself in shape for a long time.

D: How did you get into affiliate-marketing?

A: It was in 2015. I was developing Instagram public pages. We had a large network with a multimillion audience. The main income came from selling advertising in these pages. At some point, I noticed that affiliates were promoting certain products. It sparked my interest, but at that time, I didn’t understand anything about it. There wasn’t much information available, just like now. So, I started researching on my own: chats, groups, places where everyone discussed these things.

I learned about affiliate programs and that they had referral links. So, I took some links, uploaded certain offers – the classic approach. But I still had zero experience, and then one of the owners of a public page happened to be selling courses. A guide on working with partnerships costs 6,000 rubles. I even managed to negotiate with him and got it for 5,000.

That’s how I started my journey through public pages, Instagram, and sales. From there, I learned about affiliate marketing, spam, and so on – that was my first experience.

D: What was the most challenging part in the beginning? What problems did you face?

A: Everything was standard: what are proxies? How does everything work? What are these complex terms? There was no foundation. I gathered information bit by bit and assembled it into comprehensive knowledge: anti-detects, proxies, I gained experience, which I then transformed, developed, and passed on further down the chain.

D: When did you start feeling comfortable, like a fish in water?

A: That was a long time ago… but by 2019, I was already an established, so to speak, seasoned professional. The period from 2015 to 2017 was all about realizing my career path. At that time, I had parallel online and offline businesses.

As for how I got into advertising – my business needed advertising, and there were few good specialists in the market. I honed my skills and delved into targeting. Through my mini-projects, I learned about crafting appealing content to engage the audience. The knowledge I gained was then applied to affiliate-marketing. I already knew how to engage and convert the audience.

D: That’s an impressive experience. I must admit, I don’t think there was as much information available back then as there is now.

A: There was absolutely nothing at that time. Now, there is so much information that you can just take it and get started. The question is, do you want to?

D: …and are you willing to invest the time.

A: Exactly, there’s a lot of information. Why some people succeed while others don’t – it’s because some know how to process information, and others don’t. But there’s plenty of information available. Taking courses now probably isn’t necessary.

D: You used to work with physical products, but now you’re in iGaming. Why this vertical, and why did you change it in the first place?

A: Well, I personally enjoy placing sports bets. I noticed that there was a market where some bookmakers were being promoted. I realized that players spend a lot of time analyzing matches and waiting for specific events. All of this interested me, and I also understood what partnerships, referral links, promo codes, etc., were. It was easy to test betting, so I gave it a try.

In the beginning, it was RevShare. It was back in 2017, but we still maintain this working model. I gradually evolved: shifting from one traffic source to another, trying different combinations and approaches. That’s how we eventually arrived at the current state.

D: Did you have any pivotal moments? Moments when you wanted to leave affiliate-marketing and start an offline business, for example? Or did you ever think about disappearing into the woods like a hermit?

A: There were moments like that. Every person sooner or later analyzes what they would like to do. At the beginning of my journey, I didn’t consider it as my main activity. Offline clients, calls, and sales were running parallel to my tests. It was a hobby for me, where I practiced my skill of attracting clients directly from paid advertising.

Then I started asking myself specific questions, particularly about what I wanted to do and in which field I wanted to grow. Affiliate-marketing interested me. At some point, I decided to focus on this direction because I found joy in it.

D: I admire people dedicated to their work. But let’s go back to your past life. You had other businesses. If affiliate-marketing didn’t suit you, what would you have pursued instead?

A: Considering my current knowledge, I would have only considered online fields – maybe IT and related products, like mobile applications. Perhaps, I will eventually come to that. But for now, I don’t want to spread myself too thin, nor do I want to rush ahead, as it could be risky.

I concentrate on what brings results. You can run after anything, but there’s no guarantee it will take off. By the way, I didn’t realize this earlier, but with experience comes an understanding of what needs to be done.

D: Now you’re a co-owner of Marsa Team. Could you tell us how the team was formed?

A: Yes, it all started with my own journey. I achieved certain results, but I needed to move forward.

I attended an event in Minsk around 2020. There, I met Victor, a partner and a long-time acquaintance. I saw that he had great skills, so I proposed that we develop together: rent an office and embark on a more serious path. Victor supported the idea, we joined forces, and the team was formed.

D: By the way, Victor is here too, just off-camera, sending greetings. Tell me, did you have any adjustments to make or did you immediately get along well?

A: There were no major adjustments needed; we were comfortable working together from the start, and there were no disagreements. If either of us is wrong, we always discuss it and come to a mutual decision. We understood what we were striving for, shared common values and views, which made us even stronger as a team.

D: It’s great when people find like-minded partners, especially when they are co-owners. What’s more important for you in an employee: soft or hard skills?

A: Hard skills. In our industry, basic hard skills are necessary: being a proficient PC and internet user, understanding how things work. Yes, some skills can be learned during the training process. But I believe that an employee should have a certain mindset – a “techno-informational-mathematical” mindset. They should be able to analyze their work and actions. Unfortunately, not everyone possesses this.

D: What skills should an owner have to build their dream team?
A: An owner should be decisive, willing to take risks, and not afraid, at least when it comes to creating a team.

D: What would be a trigger for you to part ways with someone on your team? Did you face any challenges in the early stages of building the team? Or are there any current issues?

A: I cannot tolerate betrayal and theft. I instill the idea of family within the team. If misunderstandings occur, I always welcome open conversations with direct questions: what doesn’t satisfy you, what do you want to improve? I am open to my team and value each individual.

I also make mistakes at times, and I encourage feedback, which allows me to reconsider my opinions. The most important thing is – no leaks of budget or breaches of trust.

D: Do you organize team-building, training, and corporate events?

A: Even though we can only gather some of the guys, we do it whenever possible — entertainment for New Year, specific dates, just a desire to drive a buggy.

D: Are most of the team international?

A: Yes, different CIS countries.

D: What kind of traffic does your team work with?

A: Mostly Google and FB. We try other directions too, but the focus is on the primary Google sources

D: Why these? FB, for example, storms 24/7.

A: Any source is stormy: everywhere you look for new approaches and struggle. Google and FB are global sources, presented in big amount of countries.

D: When you went into gambling, which affiliate did you immediately look at?

A: We try to work with direct advertisers. If we take a partner, it is crucial to have a systematic approach, fast support, and quick payouts. It is also important to strive for “win-win” conditions so that the affiliate is satisfied with the traffic and we are happy with the requirements. We also work with resale when there are no direct offers. The main thing is fast support, so the offer stays fresh for three days while they bring it to you.

D: Have long responses and unsatisfactory rates burned you?

A: The market has tightened up, but I have many stories. We would need one more interview to list them all.

D: Why do you work with PIN-UP Partners? What attracted you to the program?

A: Systematic. Everything works clearly. They explain KPIs right away. They deliver quality traffic to the advertiser, but they don’t forget about affiliates. It’s great, we even had calls with managers. “PIN-UP Partners is top, by many of the criteria I outlined earlier.

It sets a certain pace that other advertisers are pulling up behind. Competition that works to the benefit of the market.

D: You’re a father of two and a wonderful husband. You broadcast it all very well on social media. How do you balance work and personal life?

A: My family is very important to me, so I try to devote time to it. I only sometimes get full-time, but I have weekends. I also give time to my wife and children after work. These people are always with me in any situation. I love, appreciate, and respect them very much.

D: “PIN-UP Partners!” Apart from the pool and sports, how else do you relax? What are your hobbies? What is your ideal day off?

A: I love activities: wake surfing, snowboarding. I love going out with my family, even on short trips: the countryside, a small house in the woods. I like gaining energy from nature and returning with new strength on Monday. When you get tired of everything, you can watch a TV series.

D: Are you more in favor of your family or your career?

A: Probably more for work. An average man is more in favor of his career. A woman, on the other hand, is more for her family and family heart.

D: Dasha has left the chat

A: It’s clear that everything is individual, but in my worldview, it is. I have time to myself.

D: Do you have aspects of your life you’d like to change? Or is everything going the way it’s supposed to go?

A: Right now, everything is fine. I have a straightforward daily routine: get up, train, have breakfast, go to work. After training, I am energized, full of energy to work.

D: I don’t understand how you go to the gym in the morning! Everyone I ask says they go in the morning.

A: There is a moment my whole life has always been like that. I was a professional swimmer, and the first training session started at 6:30. I would get up at 5:30 to put something in my mouth and go for some kilometers.

On top of that, I have four years of “barracks position,” where I also get up at 6:30. Sometimes, I get up without an alarm clock.

D: That explains a lot. I used to train the other way around in the evening.

A: I stick to what energizes me. I catch that state, analyze it, and never escape it again. Everyone has to find what they get high from. I get high from constant movement. I can’t lie down.

Rarely, once in two years, I can sleep during the day when I am exhausted, but burnout is not peculiar to me probably because I love what I do.

D: Have you thought about moving somewhere else? Thailand or Dubai?

A: Sometimes. When I go somewhere, I ask myself, am I ready to live here? Thailand, Bali – I relax in warm places and it makes it hard to concentrate on work. I’ll move there when I find a city where I can see myself and my life.

D: Can you give any advice to both beginners and pros?

A: Never stop. Once you’ve chosen a path, follow it, whether hard or easy. Everything will work. The question is, how much do you want to? Our sphere is full of tests.

D: Alex, thank you very much.

A: I liked everything too, thank you!

What an exciting interview! Once again, we thank Alex for taking the time and engaging in such an interesting conversation. We always love chatting with our loyal partners and are ready to offer the best terms. Get in touch with our manager to discuss favorable conditions