Affiliate Program — Optional (Vendor-Built)¶

The call center has the autonomy to build an affiliate program if they see ROI. Airwai is not requiring it, but will underwrite the commission costs if the program is set up well.

This file is a scaffold the call center can use, not a mandate.

What an affiliate program is (vs. a referral program)¶

Referral program: existing customers recommend the product to peers. Reward is typically $50–$100 credit. Low-volume, organic. See referral-program.md.
Affiliate program: influencers, content creators, trade-publication editors, AEC consultants who actively promote products to their audience in exchange for commission. Higher-volume, more transactional.

Affiliates are a marketing channel, not a customer channel.

Why this might be worth building¶

The AEC and field-engineering audience has a small but high-influence ecosystem of YouTubers, LinkedIn thought leaders, trade-publication editors, and conference-circuit speakers
A single trade-publication featuring LAIRA can produce 100+ Pro trials in a week
Commission-based structure means Airwai only pays for results
Builds brand credibility through third-party endorsement

Why it might not be worth it¶

Operational overhead: managing relationships, tracking attribution, paying commissions
Risk of low-quality affiliates spamming the product
Influencer fit is narrower than referrer fit; might not be worth the curation cost

Recommendation: start small — recruit 5–10 high-fit affiliates manually, validate the economics, then decide whether to scale or stop.

Suggested mechanic (call center can modify)¶

Structure¶

Component	Suggestion
Commission rate	25% of first-year revenue from any referred customer
Commission term	First 12 months of customer lifetime
Cookie window	60 days from affiliate-link click
Payment cadence	Quarterly, in arrears
Minimum payout	$100 (rolls over if below)
Affiliate eligibility	By application + Airwai approval (curated, not open)

Math¶

Affiliate-driven customer converts to Pro annual at $288
Affiliate earns 25% × $288 = $72 (year 1)
Airwai net: $216 (year 1, before COGS)
Margin: $216 / $288 = 75% — still above the 70% floor

For Team-tier conversion (3 seats × $504 = $1,512): - Affiliate earns 25% × $1,512 = $378 - Airwai net: $1,134 (year 1)

For Rig conversion (originated by app + escalated to Airwai): - Affiliates do NOT participate in Rig commission. Rig commission is reserved for the call-center origination (+5%).

Target affiliate types¶

Tier 1 — High-leverage individuals¶

Type	Why high-leverage
Civil engineering YouTubers (e.g., "Practical Engineering," "Real Engineering"-adjacent)	Large engineer audience; high product-tool affinity
LinkedIn thought leaders in AEC	High persona density; LinkedIn click-through quality
Conference-circuit speakers	High in-person credibility
Industry-publication editorial (ENR, AAAE Update, ASCE News)	Direct reach to persona
ADA / PROWAG specialty consultants with public profiles	High specialty fit

Tier 2 — Mid-leverage individuals¶

Type	Why mid-leverage
Engineering professors (intro programs, civil engineering, transportation)	Student audience converts later
Trade-association staff (APWA, AAAE, AAE, AASHTO)	Embedded in target community
Boutique consulting firms with strong client networks	Implicit endorsement value

Tier 3 — Lower-leverage but easy¶

Type	Why
Random LinkedIn creators with AEC-adjacent followings	Volume play
Coupon-code aggregators	Limited fit but trivial setup

Recommendation: focus on Tier 1 first (3–5 manual relationships); add Tier 2 as the program matures; ignore Tier 3 unless specifically needed for volume.

What the call center owns¶

Identifying and recruiting affiliates
Negotiating per-affiliate terms within the standard 25% structure
Tracking attribution (UTM, promo codes)
Paying affiliates quarterly
Curating the affiliate roster (deactivating low-quality affiliates)

What Airwai owns¶

Underwriting the commission cost
Approving the standard structure
Approving any affiliate that wants to vary terms beyond the standard
Auditing for fraud
Approving brand-asset use (every affiliate signs a brand-use license)

Affiliate onboarding template¶

Every approved affiliate should receive:

Welcome packet — same as this Call Center Care Package, abridged to the orientation + brand sections
Unique tracking link — UTM-tagged, Stripe-coupon-equivalent
Brand assets — logo, screenshots, demo video, key messaging
Approved talking points — what they can say; what they cannot
Commission terms — clear, signed agreement
Reporting dashboard — their own view into how their referrals are converting

Anti-fraud rules for affiliates¶

Rule	Why
Affiliate cannot self-refer	Obvious
Same person cannot be both customer and affiliate of their own purchases	Obvious
Affiliate links may not appear on Airwai's own paid-ad channels	Don't pay commission on Airwai-driven traffic
No misleading creative (no "exclusive deal," no false-urgency)	Brand integrity
No bidding on Airwai-trademark keywords in paid search	Channel hygiene

Violation = affiliate termination + clawback of unearned commissions.

Top-of-funnel affiliate use cases¶

The most effective affiliate program is one that puts LAIRA in front of qualified field engineers in moments of high intent. Examples:

Conference keynote endorsement: a Tier 1 affiliate mentions LAIRA on a TRB panel
YouTube tutorial: a civil-engineering YouTuber demos LAIRA in a "tools every field engineer should know" video
Trade-publication review: ENR or AAAE publishes a review with affiliate-tagged links
LinkedIn post series: a thought leader does a 3-part post series on inspection workflows that mentions LAIRA

Each of these can produce 20–200 trial sign-ups. Track which ones convert at the highest rate; double down.

If you decide NOT to build an affiliate program¶

That's fine. Many small-volume SaaS companies don't bother because: - Outbound + paid channels are working - Affiliate management is operationally heavy at small scale - The brand isn't yet known enough for top-tier affiliates to want to partner

Revisit the decision quarterly.