In this week’s episode of the Niche Pursuits podcast, Jamie IF and I discuss what happened when a once-trusted SEO business model collapsed overnight, and how Jamie rebuilt it by transitioning to a new type of SaaS growth.
It is honesty that turns this conversation around. Jamie doesn’t cover the damage of a Helpful Content Update (HCU), the emotional blow of a deal falling apart in the middle of the process, or the uncomfortable self-examination required to move forward. Then he takes us to a rebuild: fewer projects, a sharper focus, and a development engine fueled by cold promotion and paid ads instead of SEO.
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HCU Gut Punch and the Lost Contract
Jamie’s story begins in a place many site owners are familiar with: the “this could go on forever” phase. He and his team had expanded their portfolio of affiliate content sites and at their peak were making less than $100,000 a month.
He listed the two major sites together (they made the bulk of the revenue) and received an offer of $1.55 million. The numbers were strong, the process was moving forward, and mentally he had already stepped into the post-exit version of himself.
Then the Helpful Content Update was hit during the sales process.
Traffic and revenue dropped by about 40% while the buyer was preparing to acquire the business. While there is still meaningful traffic from Bing, this kind of sudden drop is not something most buyers will tolerate with average efforts.
Instead of a life-changing performance, the contract fell apart.
- Offer on the table: $1.55 million for two prime sites.
- Income at that time: About $75,000 per month.
- Instant shock: About 40% revenue and traffic loss during HCU.
- What happened afterwards: Checks were still coming in, but later it was closer to $3,000 a month.
Emotional arc: Anger, denial, and then a hard turn
Jamie is candid about the emotional turmoil that followed. He describes the months he spent “fixing” the sites, fueled by a mixture of anger and disbelief.
This is one of the most poignant parts of the episode: not just the technical impact of HCU, but how it messes with your personality when the game changes and your old skills stop paying the same way. At some point, Jamie accepted that he couldn’t “vigilantly” change Google’s incentives and had to move on to what he could control.
His suggestion is clear: he wishes he could turn around faster. In retrospect, the months spent rebuilding were largely wasted as the business model itself changed under his feet.
- The “math of denial” that many founders do: “If I fix this, the evaluation comes back”.
- Why math breaks down: Decline can be structural, not just a matter of quality.
- The mindset is changing: Stop attempts to modify the system, rebuild within the new rules.
Very Thin Spread: Momentary Focus turned into a Growth Lever
After HCU, Jamie experimented with many tools and projects, some successful and some dead ends. He cites Answer Socrates as having worked, in part because he already had organic speed and low overhead.
But the bigger lesson came later: real growth showed when he focused 90% of his time on one main task. Before that, the company was burning serious cash as it split its focus between multiple initiatives.
Jamie shares a key figure here: he’s invested more than £400,000 (about $550,000) in building a new suite of products, while burning about $40,000 a month due to a large team and ongoing costs. This financial pressure forced a sharper operating stance.
What is interesting is how it frames attention. This is not motivational advice. It’s more like this: if you don’t pick a lane, you’ll never build the level of enjoyment and execution needed to be meaningfully different when everyone else can post AI fast.
- Burning reality: About $40,000 a month at one point.
- Force function: Stop treating multi-project chaos as a personality trait.
- An inconvenient truth: Going all-in eliminates your excuses if you fail.
From Affiliate Sites to SaaS: The “Function Becomes a Company” Story
Jamie is currently in the spotlight AffiliateFinder.aiand the origin story is a classic SaaS example. He originally founded Endorsely, an affiliate tracking platform (connected to Stripe, focused on SaaS tracking).
Inside Endorsely was a feature called “affiliate finder” designed to help you discover affiliates and influencers by breaking down sources like Google, YouTube, backlinks and referral code traces.
Then came the high-value customer signal.
At a publicly traded e-commerce brand, an affiliate VP messaged her about this specific feature, not the broader tracking platform. Jamie made two Loom videos, one for $99/month and another that openly asks how much the feature is worth. The answer was decisive: the VP said he would pay $2,500 a month.
This single price moment re-embraced the entire business.
Jamie turned this feature into his own company: AffiliateFinder.ai. Over time, it evolved from discovery to a more complete platform, including outreach, recruiting, and CRM functionality.
- A lesson in assessment: “What will you pay?” may be more valuable than anchoring too early.
- Positioning lesson: “One feature” may have a clearer enterprise story than the whole set.
- Change in product direction: From SaaS-only tracking to affiliate and influencer discovery across channels.
Growth without SEO: Cold Experience as an Early Engine
One of the most practical twists for long-time Niche Pursuits listeners is that Jamie doesn’t rely on SEO as his primary acquisition channel. It is clear that SEO in this niche is slow and crowded, with high authority players already owning many keywords.
Instead, he started with cold promotion. His first test case was about 1,000 cold emails sent to several inboxes. The key was not volume. It found high-intent signals and made the message specific enough that it didn’t feel like generic spam that everyone ignored.
Jamie’s advice is to avoid scraping the same stale databases that everyone else is using. A better play is to find a new source of information or signal that someone is actively experiencing the problem you’re solving.
- An example of a high-intent signal he uses: Language referring to job postings and “affiliate manager” positions.
- A tactic that helps you respond: Providing a valuable “give first” report instead of cold asking.
- Why does template help fail now?: Most niches are already “washed” with the same tools.
Paid Ads: Rebuilding the “Contact Loop” in a Faster Channel
Paid advertising became the second major growth engine. Jamie compares learning ads to learning SEO from scratch, but with a faster feedback loop and more algorithm-driven reality than many founders expect.
An important point: it highlights how modern advertising platforms take you away from micromanaging your breathing audience. Instead, the creative, hook and funnel structure matters most because platform targeting has been extremely good at finding the right people when you give it strong inputs.
He also shares a clean way to think about funnel diagnostics. They track four key conversion points: landing page view to sign up, sign up to start a trial, trial to paid conversion, and churn. Then they focus on the weakest link first.
It’s this kind of operator thinking that becomes mandatory when you front-load acquisition costs and need cohorts to pay back over time.
- A practical benchmark mentality: When you have enough weekly events, your test becomes more reliable.
- Dependency part of payment: One creative change can dramatically reduce testing costs.
- Business reality: You need enough runway to survive late repayment in trials.
B2B is Changing the Customer, the Sales Movement, and the Stress Level
Jamie draws a sharp line between B2C-style selling and B2B selling. According to him, B2B is better suited to the type of business that is simply based on his personality and the relationships he loves.
He also argues that higher price points often mean easier customers. Once you get above about $100 a month, you’re dealing with buyers who value more rationally, especially if the problem you’re solving is meaningful revenue or time savings.
There is also an ad placement concept that will surprise people who say “B2B equals LinkedIn”. According to Jamie, LinkedIn can work, but it’s expensive. It prefers to reach the same people on platforms like Instagram at a lower cost, as long as the creative and targeting signals are stacked.
- B2B positioning advantage: Value is not only related to convenience but also to income.
- Platform concept: Target professionals who roam outside of work, not just at work.
- Founder eligibility is important: If you like calls and connections, the higher touch may be the better band.
Where Your Business Is Now: Volume, Channels, and the Growing Partner Layer
Jamie shares a current number that gives a sense of momentum. In a good week, AffiliateFinder.ai sees about 150 brand signups per week (often in the 135-155 range), with a goal of 250-300 weekly signups.
He’s careful to clarify that not every signup turns into a long-term paying customer, but notes that trial conversion is strong.
In terms of channel, paid and cold advertising are currently the biggest drivers of customers. Affiliates are growing as a revenue contributor, and he estimates that about 15% of revenue now comes from affiliates.
He also makes a point worth repeating for anyone looking to use affiliates as a shortcut: affiliates do not create product-market fit for you. First you need proven sales traffic, then affiliates can reinforce it with third party trust and distribution.
- Current registration speed: About 150 marks per week in strong weeks.
- Revenue mix note: About 15% of revenue and growing affiliates.
- Affiliate program warning: “Affiliates not working” is often a business problem, not a channel problem.
Prices and Packaging: Why “$99” Might Be Too Low?
The episode ends with a price discussion that will resonate with the founders saying it’s “cheap and cheerful.” Jamie says their introductory price of $99 a month is too low, and he expects prices to increase.
His reasoning is simple: some customers will never get $99 worth of value, while the right customers can get thousands of dollars in value per month.
He also shares a tactical approach to annual plans, especially in the early days when crop losses can be higher as the crop is still evolving. The team used call-based offer stacks and meaningful annual discounts to encourage early commitment.
- The psychology of assessment: Low entry prices can attract false expectations.
- Early stage strategy: Annual commitments take time to improve the product within the same cohort.
- A real proof point from an early buyer: One case study talked about recruiting 50 affiliates in 68 days.
Final Thoughts
Jamie’s story is difficult because it is real. The seven-figure exit evaporated in midstream, and the recovery wasn’t a pure “do these five SEO fixes” checklist.
Rebuilding is real, too: pay more attention than you think you should, choose the channels that give you momentum, and stop waiting for the old world to come back. If the algorithm change shook you up, this episode is a reminder that the goal isn’t to win yesterday’s game. The next rule is to build something that survives the change.
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