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Hey, affiliates!

The Great AdVenture Challenge is about to come! It starts on 01.05, so we continue to recall and share the stories of the past years’ winners.

Today we’re going to tell you the incredible story of Nikita from the swiperetail team. A month before the end of the Ferrari AdСhallenge they managed to go all the way from the start to the Top-1!

Read the interview to know the deets!

This year is the anniversary of the Ferrari AdChallenge Party. You’ve become the first winners in the grand AdCombo’s challenges. Did you expect to win?

Nikita: Before the Challenge, we hadn’t ever worked with Nutra offers, only with e-commerce in Russia. Once I decided to test new approaches and came across AdCombo. It was my first introduction. In two days I found an incredibly profitable creative pair. I told my team (there were about 20 of us), “That’s it, we’re going to work with this affiliate network and with this offer. We’ll have really impressive results and get rich”

We didn’t know anything about the Challenge then, we just found the offer that was working for us well. We were launching campaigns, getting  results, and didn’t pay any attention to the Challenge.

And when did you find out that you were participating in the Сhallenge?

Nikita: We saw that our place in the Challenge rating was rising. We started from the beginning. And we joined the Challenge about 30 days before the end. The first time I wrote to my manager, Anna, I told her that I wanted to get into the Top-5. It was daring and unexpected, but in the end, everything turned out the way I’d written.

How did you get into affiliate marketing? What did you start with? Remember your first lead and the joy of your first payout withdrawal? What are your plans for the future?

Nikita: When I was 20, we launched our first startup. I was the CEO and ran advertising. We were creating VK posts and receiving installs for 50 kopecks each (like cents). I got an idea at some point: if we paid 50 kopecks for an ad, maybe we could also did the same for someone else for that price, but would have much more. Perhaps these were our first steps.

In 2013 or 2014, my friend and I went to Thailand, to Koh Phangan. Our first stop was in Bangkok. At that time, an affiliate marketing conference was taking place there, but we didn’t know about it cause we didn’t work with Russian affiliate networks.

We decided to stroll over the night streets and to local clubs. There are party streets in Bangkok. So, we went there, and at the entrance of a club, we met the guys who said that they had affiliate networks –  CTR and AdCombo. We talked a bit, and then they suggest working with them. At that time, we declined and continued working with mobile apps.

About six months after that, I joined AdCombo. And already at the prize draw during the Ferrari Party, I realized that I’d met Konstantin and his teammates that night in Bangkok.

When did you realize that you’d got into the Top-50? What was it like to rush into the Top-50 at the end of the challenge? Did it seem unreal, or did you hope for the best?

Nikita: Motivation and confidence appeared when we started making our rapid way to the top. At the beginning, it wasn’t clear what place we would take in the overall rating. When we began to have nice results, every time we moved up one place, the whole office stood up and applauded. All the guys in the team were young, and the Challenge filled them up with energy.

Two days before the end of the competition, we were at the third place. At night, we became second. My friend texted me and recommended finding out who was first. We got the answer that some crazy guys were there, no chances for us.

At that moment, I had already accepted that there was no chance to become first. In the morning, I updated the statistics and saw that we’d taken the first place! Those crazy guys were us!

You showed explosive growth in a short time. Such a traffic volume was mind blowing. After the host had drawn  the chip with the name of your team from a lottery drum, did you realize that it was your lucky day? What was the first thing that came to mind?

Nikita: I remember that day quite well. When I saw the car for the first time, I went up to it, touched it, and said, “All right, we’ll go back together.” Finally it happened that way 🙂

When the host pronounced our name during the major prize drawing, it was a moment of insane happiness. That month was crazy, there were so many emotions, energy, positive vibes, so many events, and our victory became the culmination of them all! It was a serotonin explosion! I woke up the next day with the thought that this all was true.

Did you manage to participate in other AdCombo challenges? Maybe won anything again? 

Nikita: We also participated in Posh’n’Porsche Challenge. We got to the top, I don’t remember the exact place. At that time we were concentrating on other verticals. The Party was held in Dubai, it was soo cool. We didn’t win any prizes there, but our good friends did, and we were very happy for them.

Now you are developing financial services. Is karta.io your service?

Nikita: Yes, it’s mine. At the end of May, we’ll roll out a completely new product. We’ll still have cards, but it will be more like a bank.

We set insanely ambitious goals for ourselves, this is always some kind of challenge. When we were affiliates, we were challenging ourselves all the time, never stopped at some average results, and went to the top. We also set ambitious goals in the banking niche. I’m fully confident that we’ll succeed here too.

You proved that your success with Ferrari was deserved. You did a great job. 

Nikita: We can say that we’ve gone through affiliate marketing from the first to the last level, collected all the achievements, and at some point decided to move beyond it. Some guys from my team have stayed in affiliate marketing and keep on showing good results.

You have had an impact on the development of the CPA niche. It’s great.

Nikita: I think so, yeah. We motivated many people when they knew that we had won the Ferrari. They texted us, congratulated us, and asked for advice.

By the way, AdCombo created the highest standard. That event is probably the Top-1! And so far, no one has surpassed it.

The Party in Turkey was incredible: prizes, organization, and the whole concept! It was the first such a great event. I believe after that Party, the whole niche started looking towards AdCombo and trying to do something similar. A very strong boost to develop. That’s amazing!

What is your advice for first-time participants of new AdCombo’s challenges?

Nikita: Believe in yourself, believe in your strength, and surely believe in your victory. Set yourself rather ambitious goals since when the goal is set, you (or your team) are already halfway to it. You know where you are going, and your brain starts working on realization.

You should always set yourself more ambitious goals because, according to statistics, people achieve 70% of the expected result. And of course thrill, courage, and teamwork with a focus on this single aim will bring fine results.

Should guys use your applause method after every gained challenge point?

Nikita: I’d rather say yes. One needs to do anything to unite the team and motivate it. You can come up with something of your own, but for us, it worked, it allowed the whole team to focus on the common aim. We were celebrating every gained point, and, I think, it was quite effective.

We also made speeches at the beginning of a working day, it was like a charge for  my  team. It is crucial to work in the atmosphere in which a team gives better results and does believe in what it’s doing at the moment. We took that seriously. An energized team can work all day and show great results.

The secret of success of a team is feeling unity and look only forward.

Nikita: Yes, yes, yes!

It was Nikita from swiperetail and his story of a dizzying rise to the top of AdCombo affiliates.

The new challenge is coming very soon, and it can become a story of your success! We hope that the inspiring example of Nikita and his team will help you achieve successful results in your new adventure!