YouTuber Stefan Michalak is pushing the boundaries of influence with affiliate startup Wantfeed

“When I was working for Heat we’d have big celebs coming in, we’d interview them live and what we’d notice is it wouldn’t do much for our audience,” he explained. “No-one really cared. But when we worked with kids chatting away at the end of their bed, it would blow up. All these people we’d never heard of were bringing us so many new visitors.”

Michalak ­– along with his wife Hannah Maggs – is now one of these nouveau celebrities. He’s also well-versed in the workings of influencer marketing, boasting spots on the YouTube Top Creatives network and raking in more than 100,000 views per upload. His success in the influencer space has impacted the Wantfeed project twofold: it’s created a free marketing platform and empirically proved to Michalak the power of affiliate revenue streams.

Wantfeed lets online shoppers create Pinterest-style wish lists that they can personally monetise. If a user lists something to the site and someone ­– including themselves – purchases via the platform, revenues are split 50/50 between the user and Wantfeed.

“I asked my developers if it’s possible to give 50% of affiliate money back to users,” he said. “They went away and found that it was. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

When the user hits a minimum of £50 in cleared commission, Wantfeed get in touch and ask them how they would like to be paid. The revenues paid to users are currently earmarked at 5% of product cost, however Michalak hopes to up that percentage when a new iteration of the platform launches in the spring.

Alongside the main affiliate revenue stream, Wantfeed also brings in cash through branded deals; the company has already worked with the likes of Notonthehighstreet, Quinny Longboard Buggies and Sage. Smaller retailers without big budgets can set up a partner store page, which will allow their brand to be marketed across the site and social pages.

In-platform banner ads could also be a possibility, but for the time being Michalak is adamant that the page stays clean with native deals instead. As the site grows, comprehensive customer purchasing data will also be a big asset for Wantfeed, and signing up fellow vloggers to use and promote the platform will play a key part in growing the brand.

Michalak and his business partner Richard Philips are both invested in the project, and recently closed a Seedrs round to raise an extra £153,000. It was a funding milestone relatively easy to reach thanks to the support of his YouTube fans, who have also helped get the platform trending on the App Store and have crashed the site with high traffic levels on several occasions.

This level of backing has meant Wantfeed has not had to overcome the marketing challenges most startups have to battle through, Michalak explained: “Normally you’d have to spend thousands on marketing – we don’t have to do that."

The numbers so far appear to back up this strategy, or lack thereof. More than 60,000 users have signed up so far and almost 500,000 products have been uploaded to the site. The stats are also on an upward trajectory, with the site experiencing 69.5% page view growth between November 2015 and and June 2016.

“We have a really intimate relationship with our viewers. People have been able to watch me on this journey, going being from a guy not able to make ends meet, to one day maybe selling a business and buying my dream house.

“This story has unfolded online.”