Was this $1.5bn company “affiliate rug pull” really a rug pull? 

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Or was it a painful but necessary decision to save the company after raising $131M?

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Let me break down exactly what happened, why it's happening to other SaaS companies right now, and most importantly... 

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How to protect yourself from getting absolutely steamrolled by the next wave of "strategic pivots."

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The Rise and Fall of AI's Golden Child

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It's 2021, AI writing tools are exploding everywhere, and Jasper AI (then called "Jarvis") drops what might be the best SaaS affiliate offer ever created.

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30% recurring commissions. FOR LIFE.

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Their affiliate program literally promised that affiliates would "earn 30% every month for the life of the customer." The math was absolutely insane - a single $120/month customer meant $432 annually in passive income. 

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Convert just one customer per day and you'd be earning $157,680 in year one alone.

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Naturally, Jasper rocketed to the top of every "best affiliate program" list faster than you could say "ChatGPT."

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According to Reddit threads I've seen, some creators were pulling in "multiple five figures monthly" by summer 2022. 

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For two solid years, affiliates got RICH promoting Jasper.

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Then the music stopped.

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August 2023: The Commission Massacre Begins

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August 15, 2023. 

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Affiliates opened their inboxes to find an email titled "Important Update to Commission Terms."

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The contents were brutal:

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• "Lifetime" commissions slashed to 12 months
• Commission rate cut from 30% to 25% on new plans
• You now needed to send 100+ customers per year just to stay in the program

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The BlackHatWorld forums exploded:

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"Guess they will be reducing the price via lowering commissions paid to affiliates. Lifetime earnings are no longer possible with these new changes. Such a pity."

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Medium reviewer Malcolm Ivinson summed up the community mood:

But it gets worse.

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2024: Radio Silence and Broken Promises

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By 2024, the situation became even more toxic. Affiliates started reporting:

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• Late payments (used to pay by the 5th, now crickets)
• Affiliate managers going completely silent
• Zero communication about program changes

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One Reddit user perfectly captured the frustration: 

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"It's mid-month and still no payment. They used to pay by the 5th; now? Crickets. No explanation, no timeline, nothing. It's like they forgot we exist."

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Behind the scenes, Jasper's priorities were shifting dramatically. 

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CEO Dave Rogenmoser's July 2023 internal memo laid it out clearly:

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"We will be discounting a number of roles so that we may sharpen our focus... to become the best possible AI copilot for marketing teams."

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Translation: We're going enterprise, and you small-fish affiliates don't fit our new ICP.

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The Final Sunset Email

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In December 2024, partners received an email containing the following updates:

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• January 26, 2025: Last day to earn new referrals
• February 25, 2025: One-month tail period ends
• April 15, 2025: Final commission payment (Net-60)

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Game over.

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But WHY would they blow up their best growth channel? Affiliates literally BUILT Jasper…

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After digging through interviews and financial filings, here's what actually happened:

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1 - They desperately needed cash for their enterprise pivot

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Jasper shifted to become an enterprise AI copilot - way beyond just AI writing. By 2024, enterprise customers were their fastest-growing segment, quadrupling ARR according to Contrary Research.

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But enterprise sales teams are expensive AF to build. And where did they get the money? By cutting off affiliate commissions.

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It's brilliant, if you're a sociopath. They used affiliate revenue to fund their pivot, then ditched the affiliates once they no longer needed them.

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2 - New partner model

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Jasper launched a Solutions Partner Program targeting agencies and system integrators. 

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Instead of broad affiliate rev-share, they wanted high-touch partnerships tied to closed enterprise deals.

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Simply put: They didn't want the "standard AI writer customers" anymore. 

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They wanted big enterprises - and their affiliates were sending the wrong type of customer.

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Was It Really THAT Bad?

The consensus from affiliates? "Soft rug pull."

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Legally, Jasper was covered - their T&Cs allowed termination with just 7 days' notice. 

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But ethically? 

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They built their entire affiliate recruitment on "lifetime" language, then yanked it when the business model shifted.

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The Pattern Is Spreading

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Jasper isn't alone. 

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The SaaS world is littered with "recurring" programs that suddenly stopped being recurring:

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• Teachable: Quietly downgraded "lifetime" to 12-month caps, then paused new applications entirely in 2024
  
  
• GrooveFunnels: Multiple G2 reviews claim they stopped paying commissions altogether
  
  
• Semrush (2023): Killed their legendary 40% lifetime recurring, replacing it with a flat $200 bounty
  
  
• Evernote, Basecamp, Calendly: All three completely eliminated their cash affiliate programs

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How NOT To Be the Next Jasper (Protect Yourself)

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It looks like Jasper was stuck between having lots of lower-ticket “consumers”, yet wanting to go enterprise.

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But, they were drowning under the weight of paying out 30% lifetime commissions on all the consumer revenue…

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…And they DESPERATELY needed that revenue to fund their enterprise pivot.

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It’s a tough situation to be in. 

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However, the best way to deal with this, is to ensure you never get into this position in the first place.

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And Jasper shouldn’t have promised what they couldn’t deliver.

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Here’s how you can avoid this happening to you:

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1. DON’T promise if you can’t deliver it forever

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"Lifetime" creates a liability that compounds forever. 

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Affiliates love recurring commission programs for a reason… they can earn forever.

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BUT, you should NOT offer this if you do not intend to keep your word. 

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If you don’t think you’ll have the margins to offer this forever, you shouldn’t offer “forever” commissions.

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It’s dishonest to change the terms, and you’ll destroy trust with your affiliates if you do. 

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So, from the very beginning, put a commission structure in place you know you can maintain.

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2. Change the program structure to HELP affiliates, not to save you money

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Yes. There are absolutely times where you SHOULD change your affiliate program terms.

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But they should NOT be motivated by saving you more money.

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(Especially if you’ve made promises to your affiliates for future payouts, for sales they’ve already delivered.)

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The main reason you SHOULD change the program structure is to better align the incentives with your business goals.

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Increasing commissions to specific products you want them to focus on, or giving bonuses if they bring you a specific type of customer that hits your exact ICP if you’re pivoting.

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For example, with Answer Socrates, our SEO keyword research SaaS, we have a very generous free plan - as part of our goal to help 1 million SEOs.

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But, a generous free plan means fewer paid upgrades, which affects the EPC and profitability for affiliates.

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So, we altered the program structure to align incentives and motivate affiliates.

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We added a fixed guaranteed payout for all free signups, even if they didn’t upgrade to a paid plan.

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And if they upgraded to a paid plan, they got 30% recurring commissions.

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The small earnings per free signup also shortened the feedback loop for affiliates, motivating them to keep sending traffic.

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Bottom line: whether you think it’s a “rug pull” or not, Jasper's story is a masterclass in how NOT to manage partner relationships.

And with this info, you can make sure you’re building a stable, reliable affiliate program.

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