Tracking202 acquired by Bloosky - WickedFire - Affiliate Marketing Forum

Garrett · 11-21-2009, 02:07 PM

Quote:

We have some BIG news to announce today. As of a little over a week ago, Tracking202 has been acquired by Bloosky, another company within our space. We wanted to give you details about everything that has been going on that has lead up to this point as we've always been 100% transparent with our users and would want to remain so. We felt this acquisition was beneficial for everyone and there are a lot of things we wanted to disclose in this blog post to clarify why this deal makes a lot of sense for all of our users.

Tracking202 was founded a little over 2 years ago and have grown tremendously in the short time span we've been around. Many may not realize this but we're still very much a bootstrapped startup operating out of our house! Literally we have desks in the living room, bedrooms, kitchen, etc... Its not what you would have probably have imagined for the growth we've seen and support shown from all of our users around the world. We appreciate everything and all the love you've given us. But as you may have realized, we were perhaps growing too fast.

As some of you may have noticed in recent months, its been getting harder and harder to answer support around the clock the way we use to in the early days. The number of users grow larger every day and unfortunately we didn't have enough resources, staff, or funding to keep on doing support and everything else without infringing on time spent innovating on the technology everyone has grown to love. Above all else, we only have two full time programmers on board, one of them being Wes himself who's pretty much coded 98% of everything we have today!

Having said that, we were limited on growth in several areas and with the launch of our new network, had a hard time keeping up with the sheer volume of affiliates that were getting on board with our software and network. Lately, its felt like we were in a catch-22 situation, working hard just to maintain things, even when we gave our best efforts its been difficult to continue to grow the company and help the community the way we have wanted to.

Several months back, we had the privledge of meeting with the founders of Bloosky. At the time, we were thinking of strategic ways the two companies could work together to help each other out. Wes and I were also debating about bringing outside funding to continue growing the company. Although we were affiliates early on and for the most part, have self funded Tracking202 with all the campaigns we've built in our early days, it got to a point very early on where we no longer had time to run any campaigns and went full steam into Tracking202. With that, the company grew based on what it was able to bring in itself for revenue in terms of software subscriptions, advertising, and of course now network revenues. However its difficult to scale when you have limited resources, time, staff, and funding to continue to grow.

After debating long and hard about bringing on venture capital (VC) to grow the company who probably wouldn't understand our business, we decided we didn't like that option. We felt it was in Tracking202's best interest as well as the interest of our users and the community we created to keep VCs out of this. What started as just a discussion on a simple business partnership ended up becoming talks of a potential buyout. This made a lot of sense to us because Bloosky was already involved in the space and more than just funding, they had extensive knowledge and ideals that complemented Tracking202 VERY WELL. After long talks, the deal made a lot of sense.

Before I dive into why I think this partnership is great, I wanted to give you guys a background on what Bloosky does for those unfamiliar with the name. Many companies in the space know who they are but they don't have such a strong presence among the affiliate community. The reason for this is because most affiliates don't deal with Bloosky directly or run Bloosky's offers. Over the last couple years they have focused on working with other types of publishers, emailers. The other thing they are known for is their advertising relationships and focus on providing advertiser services. They have call centers, creative services and a strong ad sales team. They pull in an average of 60-100 new offers per week!

Tracking202 on the other hand as many of you know, is a publisher focused company with a strong affiliate base and technology that control several traffic sources such as search, social, contextual, media buys, etc... basically other than email. Like two halves of the same coin, the combination of the two companies made perfect sense. So what does this mean to our users?

Wes and I are staying on board to continue our vision of what we believe Tracking202 should have been since day 1. This deal gives us an equity stake in Bloosky and allows us to gain valuable resources necessary to continue doing what we do best. Above all else, Bloosky shares the same passion, values, and vision we have, which is one of the key reasons we were excited to do this. We would never compromise our values or visions for anyone, hence why we didn't want to go the VC route when we could of. With this deal moving forward, this allows us to put more emphasis on support where it is needed. We now have more resources and funding to accelerate on the growth of the technology side building faster and bringing more tools, and to help the community as a whole to help our affiliates better. We saw several positives in this and Bloosky have been very supportive of everything we've done and wants to see our goals achieved. We hope with this, you're able to get a glimpse of things to come and see why this is so beneficial on so many levels. We hope to make Tracking202 an even greater company in the near future. Thanks for everything to every one of you guys out there! We couldn't have done it without the support and love you guys have shown us. The ride had been wild and it'll only get wilder from here on out =]

Kindly,
Steven and Wes

Pretty interesting I say. Hopefully T202 continues to grow.

eVandals · 11-21-2009, 02:21 PM

Bloosky are good peoples, wish them much success and congrats to wes and crew.

Stanley · 11-21-2009, 02:58 PM

Congratulations to Steven and Wes and the rest of the team.

rileypool · 11-21-2009, 03:08 PM

I have no clue who Bloosky is, but I'm confident that Wes and Steven have our best interests at the forefront.

JoshTodd · 11-21-2009, 03:50 PM

I have nothing but love for Wes & Steve, I hope they make some money for their work.

Skippy McGee · 11-21-2009, 05:30 PM

Are they going to maintain Prosper202 as a free, self-hosted solution?

kyleirwin · 11-21-2009, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skippy McGee

Are they going to maintain Prosper202 as a free, self-hosted solution?

God, I hope not.

Sohan · 11-21-2009, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyleirwin

God, I hope not.

lool

EvanCPC · 11-21-2009, 11:18 PM

Congratulations to 202 and Bloosky; this is a complementary fit on both sides, and should help improve the space as a whole. 202's vision combined with Bloosky's established reach and foundation (advertisers, offline, lead gen, list management, money) should help pave the way for our industry to continue its growth, most importantly with real Agencies and branded Advertisers. I look forward to continuing my partnership with both companies.

Ev

Drake · 11-21-2009, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skippy McGee

Are they going to maintain Prosper202 as a free, self-hosted solution?

It's Open Source and already people know it enough to mod it and add functionality.

Maybe someone will take it over if Bloosky does something with it. Or is that against the Terms, as if GH/BH affs care?

erect · 11-21-2009, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rileypool

I'm confident that Wes and Steven have our best interests at the forefront.

</sarcasm>???

I'm actually glad they had their best interest at heart as they've made millions and millions for affiliates across the net and received donations in the form of beans and peanuts.

I'm happy they were able to add a few zeros to their names during this exit strategy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skippy McGee

Are they going to maintain Prosper202 as a free, self-hosted solution?

Wes is involved in the transition as I understand it. I think "maintain" would be a bit strong of a word ... the software, in it's current form, is in good shape & can be easily hacked to do whatever necessary.

justo_tx · 11-22-2009, 02:12 AM

Anybody know how much they sold for?

wickedair · 11-22-2009, 05:27 AM

image says all..

Red_Virus · 11-22-2009, 07:18 AM

Congrats Wes and Steven.

11-21-2009, 02:21 PM	#2 (permalink)
eVandals Fat Guy Stuck In Internet Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,177 iTrader: 2 / 100%	Bloosky are good peoples, wish them much success and congrats to wes and crew. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter

11-21-2009, 02:58 PM	#3 (permalink)
Stanley Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: San Diego Posts: 3,418 iTrader: 3 / 100%	Congratulations to Steven and Wes and the rest of the team. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter

11-21-2009, 03:08 PM	#4 (permalink)
rileypool paper clique fiend Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 1,303 iTrader: 5 / 100%	I have no clue who Bloosky is, but I'm confident that Wes and Steven have our best interests at the forefront. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter __________________ RileyPool.com - Ain't no shame in my PPC game! POFPrimer.com - The #1 Guide to Make Money Online by Advertising on PlentyofFish.com!

11-21-2009, 03:50 PM	#5 (permalink)
JoshTodd Insomnia = Income Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 898 iTrader: 3 / 100%	I have nothing but love for Wes & Steve, I hope they make some money for their work. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter __________________ Read InsideAffiliate.net

11-21-2009, 05:30 PM	#6 (permalink)
Skippy McGee Wannabe Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Your mom's house Posts: 372 iTrader: 0 / 0%	Are they going to maintain Prosper202 as a free, self-hosted solution? Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter

11-21-2009, 11:18 PM	#9 (permalink)
EvanCPC eMCee Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Sherman Oaks, CA Posts: 128 iTrader: 0 / 0%	Congratulations to 202 and Bloosky; this is a complementary fit on both sides, and should help improve the space as a whole. 202's vision combined with Bloosky's established reach and foundation (advertisers, offline, lead gen, list management, money) should help pave the way for our industry to continue its growth, most importantly with real Agencies and branded Advertisers. I look forward to continuing my partnership with both companies. Ev Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter __________________ "Realize I'm not new to this/ you rhyme for eight bars and I know all your influences/ by the time the web and media realize I'm the best one doing this/ I'll be making shitty music" - Blueprint, 1988 ps - Literally.

11-22-2009, 02:12 AM	#12 (permalink)
justo_tx My Member is Premium Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 3,084 iTrader: 7 / 100%	Anybody know how much they sold for? Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter __________________ With sufficient thrust, pigs can fly for a short while.

11-22-2009, 07:18 AM	#14 (permalink)
Red_Virus Support: +1(347) 417-5786 Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 2,260 iTrader: 731 / 100%	Congrats Wes and Steven. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter __________________ Over 1400 reviews posted for my 100 Dofollow Social Bookmarking Service : $19/URL (3 sites only per social bookmarking account). - PM me for discounts on BULK orders.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Should I use prosper202 or tracking202?	KtotheC112	Affiliate Marketing	7	08-23-2009 11:57 PM
Tracking202 cookies blocked by IE6 and IE7	Acidice	Newbie Questions	0	07-09-2009 03:46 AM
tracking202 + website optimizer	dewme5	Newbie Questions	0	07-02-2009 11:28 PM
Tracking202 Problem, it thinks views = clicks	trentiles	Newbie Questions	3	07-02-2009 04:13 PM
Tracking Banners on Ads4Dough with Tracking202?	HotSauzz	Affiliate Marketing	6	12-28-2008 10:40 AM