My Thoughts on Jason Calacanis…
February 28th, 2008 by 
Amit
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If you didn’t attend the Affiliate Summit in Vegas this year, you can read about the HIGHLY controversial keynote by Jason Calacanis here (in his own words).
A number of my readers have been asking : “Amit, what’s your opinion on Jason’s keynote?”
Believe it or not I actually did agree with several of the points he made.
Let’s start with…
AFFILIATE SPAM
I know some of you out there were shocked when Jason attacked what most affiliates do as spam.
Well, here’s a reality check : most people outside of our industry consider what most affiliates do as SPAM.
Do I believe most affiliates are “pissing in the pool” and cluttering search engines with crap that no one wants?
No, actually I DON’T believe most affiliates are spammers. I know lots of affiliates who sincerely strive to add value through their efforts. They build real sites that provide real value to the market place.
Unfortunately, the spammers and black hatters tend to get the majority of media attention so that’s the perception of our industry.
And you know what?
The perception of our industry and our indifference to spammers and black hatters is REALLY hurting us. These “pool pissing” punks are not just giving our industry a bad rap but are asking for a serious backlash from major search engines, and also a regulatory backlash from the FTC.
Trust me, once the government starts regulating affiliate marketing, in an attempt to stamp out black hatters and spammers (CAN-SPAM is just the beginning), it’s going to end up hurting honest affiliates and the industry as a whole.
We need to step up and stop tolerating the minority of affiliates that are polluting the lake (in the words of Jason Calacanis), and show the world that we’re not just a bunch of white collar criminals trying to swindle a quick buck off people.
What really disturbs me is that I hear a number of affiliates saying that being white hat or black hat is merely a CHOICE. In other words, it doesn’t matter which tactic you use.
That’s like saying being a bank teller vs a bank robber is merely a career choice and nothing else.
The day people are ashamed to be spammer and black hatters, the perception of this industry will change for the better.
Thanks Jason for being honest about what you thought about our industry, it’s a real eye opener.
Okay, now here’s where I disagreed with Jason….
Jason attacked Shoemoney and Zac Johnson for holding up 6 figure affiliate checks on their blogs.
Here’s what he had to say about it :
- That it was pathetic holding up 6 figure checks, which was peanuts where he came from (Silicon Valley). He then suggested that people in Silicon Valley work 6-7 hrs a day/5 days a week-making 100X more money-while affiliates work 14 hrs a day/ 7 days a week are fighting for table scraps.
- Secondly, he claimed that showing the 6 figure checks was an attempt “exploit poor people,” because these checks encourage desperate poor people to click on the make money online ads ( that are on same blogs where the checks are posted). These desperate poor people would presumably click on the make money online ads and get swindled out of what little money they had.
Let me address the second point first…
Jason, are you a freaking Marxist? Or is this just a shamelessly pathetic attempt to depict internet marketers as unscrupulous greedly SOBs who would steal candy from a baby if the ROI was high enough??
Get REAL!
As for the first point, Jason, did you just make that up or what?? I don’t know ANY super affiliates that work 14 hours a day/7 days a week. All the super affiliates I know have an AMAZING lifestyle : world travel, free time, living life to the fullest.
My business partner, Tom, used to work in Silicon Valley, and from his experience people in the Valley work up to 20 hrs a day and sleep under their desks if need be. It’s anything BUT the lifestyle that most super affiliates enjoy.
Liston Jason, you can have your billion dollars business, I’m happy making several million a year while working just a few hours a day and living the Super Affiliate Lifestyle.
We’re not trying to be the next Bill Gates or Larry and Sergey, we’re NOT trying to build an empire that will consume our lives, we’re chasing lifestyle! 
Posted in Industry News | 
Amit -
Well put . . . I’ve been in Silicon Valley for over 25 years . . .and know many that have 7 and some 8 digit incomes. At the height of the .com era there were over 64,000 millionaires here . . all working longggg hours.
But, there is also a growing population here that is living day to day that would see a 6 figure check on a web site and gain the hope that they too can perhaps have an opportunity to better their lives as well…
Chris - from Silicon Valley
Amit, come on! Jason was just trying to be a snake oil salesman himself…his primary reason to show that most affiliates are spammers was to promote his site! That was the only way he can show that Mahalo is GOOD and Google is BAD. As for showing the checks…that was uncalled for. 100k is chump change for him, but that is still more than 10 times average US household income.
The gov. cant regulate porn. I dought they will even waste there time with people stuffing keywords into there websites.
Hey Amit,
What a pleasure it was to meet you and enjoy lunch with you!
I’ve got some photos AND a video of you on the Segway which I will be uploading shortly.
Let’s catch up next week and continue the discussion we had over lunch. I’m happy to help you out.
Also, check out my post on Jason Calacanis’ keynote.
Joel
Jason’s reference to affiliate spam was not referring to email spamming and other black hat tactics. He was the kind of sites that many affiliate marketers may consider “white hat”, but in Jason’s view they provide no real value and are polluting the Internet. And sorry to break it to you, but even your own sites be included in that, too. (Yes, I do know some of the sites you own.)
^^ Ooops… “He was the kind” above should have been “He was talking about the kind”
You really have to try and think of it from a unbiased point of view Amit, sure affiliates and silicon valley peeps can have huge incomes, but usually they ‘relax’ somewhat to enjoy their lifestyle (that applies to both) and grow at a steady rate but to begin both sides have to work extremely hard and very long hours to build the winning foundation at the beginning, denying that is just being ignorant.
However there are some that never stop working those long hours, affiliates and SV alike, they are the ones that really transcend the normal ranks of affiliates, ’super-affiliates’ and so on.
Clearly Jason is out of touch with reality. To call a $100K payday “peanuts” is stupid and arrogant.
Clearly Mr. Calacanis has forgotten where he came from. I’m sure he was pretty pumped when he made his first $100K payday,now he chooses to poo-poo the accomplishment.
Unfortunately, there are people like Jason who choose only to view the world through their narrow view/experience.
Hi Rehan,
Point taken. I don’t agree with his definition of affiliate spam, but obviously there is real affiliate spam out there, and that’s what I’m talking about in this post.
Thanks for pointing out this distinction.
Hi Joel,
Yes, let’s definitely touch base
Sincerely,
Amit
I completely agree with you Fred. The world is full of haters. For me shoemoneys check inspired me to work even harder on my blog.
ummmmh
[…] and anticipated sessions of the event. He was right, the Super Affiliate panel with John Chow, Amit Mehta, Kris Jones and myself ended up being a full session with plenty of attendees left standing, as […]
Hi Amit, agree with the second point. People have all different reasons for what they do. Like stay at home mom affiliates aren’t looking to be the next Bill Gates or sell companies to Yahoo, they want to make some money while they watch the kids grow up.
Besides the group of people who are “chasing for a life-style”, or trying to “build an empire”, there is a group of people who do things to make a difference in the life of other people, or to make the world a better place for our future generations, or do research to contribute to the collective knowledge of our civilization. They can be anywhere in the world - not just in Silicon Valley. However, these groups are not mutually exclusive.
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Very good points, Amit. Internet marketing is still very much in its “wild west” phase of unregulated free market capitalism (not unlike America in the early part of last century or even China today). Jason does make some very valid points about not polluting the ecosystem that feeds you. However, human nature being what it is, there will always be people who are more interested in gaming the system than in adding value. I have never felt that anyone holding up large checks or black cards was ever doing it in such a way as to say “see how much better I am than you.” I live quite near Silicon Valley myself and have known more than a few millionaires and even a couple of billionaires. But I still find it impressive to see people who have done really well in affiliate marketing. I don’t know much about Jason’s history or where he worked in the valley but he is the one who is coming off as smug. Also, Santa Monica is not “the valley” unless you’re talking about the San Fernando Valley which is far cry from Silicon Valley.
oh come on people, Jason did this just to get some backlinks and put his name in all your blogs!
The controversy maybe just a PR stunt, but I think many points were valid. You can read my views here.
[…] Also Jason attacked Zac Johnson and Shoemoney, saying the following (Taken from Super Affiliate Mindset ): […]
Has anyone visited Jason’s blog at: http://www.calacanis.com/? He has a link to a video from Mary Engle, FTC associate director for advertising practices. In this video Mary Engle talks about the issue of undisclosed affiliate links and states that it is something that the FTC is now looking into.
I could not care less if Jason Calacanis rants on affiliates who post six figure checks. My concern is the future of the affiliate marketing business and the potential for government oversight.
Amit, what are your thoughts on this?
Jon
Amit, I also agree that while done with a slightly hostile tone, Jason did make some valid points and criticisms. However, I don’t think it was the best message to start the summit on. I hope next time Shawn & Missy find an opening keynote speaker that at least likes affiliate marketers.
You said:
“What really disturbs me is that I hear a number of affiliates saying that being white hat or black hat is merely a CHOICE. In other words, it doesn’t matter which tactic you use.
That’s like saying being a bank teller vs a bank robber is merely a career choice and nothing else.”
I think your analogy is a bit of a stretch. White Hat or Black Hat, most affiliate marketers are not breaking the law. Comparing a Black Hat marketer to a bank robber is ridiculous; seriously, do you even know what Black Hat is?