Glidescale
Photo Courtesy of: Glidescale

Victor Boechat de Carvalho didn't plan to build an affiliate marketing platform. At first, he just wanted to improve a system he saw as broken.

As a university student dabbling in digital marketing, he noticed how much time and money were wasted—campaigns lost to spam, small creators priced out by high fees, and potential clients who never replied.

That disconnect became the seed of Glidescale, a platform born not in a boardroom or incubator, but in frustration. Glidescale is a universal affiliate marketing system that allows users to promote any link—not just products in online stores—through a secure, low-cost pay-per-click model. Working out of Lisbon with limited funds and no team, Boechat began developing what he thought was missing: an affiliate platform that worked for campaigners, creators, educators, and traditional sellers alike—fraud-resistant from the ground up, and not just a niche solution, but one designed to work better for everyone—from e-commerce stores to grassroots movements running digital causes.

'I didn't know why no one else had built it,' he admits. 'Then I found out how hard it was.'

One Platform, Many Campaigns

Affiliate marketing, at its best, should be a win-win: companies grow their reach, marketers earn money for driving traffic, and consumers are introduced to things they actually want. But in practice, the model has rarely lived up to the promise.

The biggest platforms cater primarily to online retailers. They demand tight product integrations, take steep commission cuts, and enforce structures that tend to hoard value for themselves rather than distribute it equitably to users.

Boechat wanted to change that. 'If it's a link,' he says, 'it can be promoted. That was the starting principle. No storefront required.'

At the core of Glidescale is a pay-per-click model that doesn't rely on sales or conversions. Instead, users—called Manager Users—set a budget to promote any URL. Marketers—called Marketer Users—select campaigns and earn money by sending verified traffic.

But this idea isn't just about enabling new types of users. Glidescale is making the case that it's a superior system even for traditional ones. E-commerce stores can use it too—and, according to Boechat, they'll spend less doing it.

'We're cheaper, safer, and faster,' he says. 'It's not just that we work for more people. We work better.'

The Cost of a Click

To understand what Glidescale is pushing against, you have to understand the economics of affiliate platforms. Traditional models take a slice of every sale—a high commission fee is common, plus transaction fees. That works for high-margin goods, but for small merchants or digital campaigns, it's a killer.

Then there's the problem of fraud. Pay-per-click systems, where users earn for driving traffic rather than completing purchases, have been heavily restricted by major platforms due to bots, click farms, and abuse. While some still run PPC campaigns, they rely on extensive infrastructure and tightly controlled environments to limit exposure. Open PPC models have largely fallen out of favor because of the risk.

Glidescale flips that narrative. By embedding fraud detection at the architectural level—using behavioral analytics, device fingerprinting, and real-time verification—it makes secure, open PPC not just possible, but scalable. The system is also designed with human incentives in mind, eliminating loopholes that would otherwise allow users to game the system for marginal gain. By ensuring that only genuine, value-creating actions are rewarded, Glidescale avoids the traps that have historically made open PPC models vulnerable.

'We designed it backwards,' Boechat says. 'Start with the hardest part—make the fraud impossible—then build everything else around that.'

This security-first approach allows Glidescale to run an open system with minimal risk. And because the platform charges only a small withdrawal fee—rather than commission cuts—it passes nearly all value to the users.

From Lisbon to Everywhere

The company itself is still small, with no splashy launch or VC funding blitz. Boechat bootstrapped the platform through its early build, reaching a $250,000 valuation on limited funds.

His growth plan is strategic. Campaign managers are targeted in high-spending regions—the U.S. and U.K.—where advertisers are looking for more cost-efficient ways to grow. Meanwhile, Glidescale is onboarding affiliate marketers in countries like India and Eastern Europe, where digital talent is high but stable, and remote income opportunities are scarce.

That two-sided model—low-cost demand on one end, distributed supply on the other—could give Glidescale an edge over legacy platforms bogged down by overhead and rigid integrations.

And there's timing. Affiliate marketing is projected to grow from $17 billion in 2023 to over $30 billion by 2030. Much of that growth is expected to come from creator-driven media, digital communities, and value-driven micro-campaigns—exactly the kinds of initiatives Glidescale is built to serve.

Default, Not Disruption

Boechat bristles at the idea that Glidescale is a 'niche' solution. It's not a fallback for non-traditional users. It's a platform that redefines what affiliate marketing should be in the first place.

'The existing systems are legacy systems,' he says. 'They weren't designed for today's internet. We are.'

What Boechat envisions is a world where anyone can grow visibility without needing to navigate gatekeepers or lose money trying. Where the cost of reaching people doesn't punish small creators. Where affiliate marketing isn't an industry secret but a public tool.

And while Glidescale still has to prove itself, and grow its user base beyond early adopters—the logic behind it is clear: if attention has value, why limit who can earn it?

What Comes Next

From a solo build to a working platform, from a frustration to a functioning product, Glidescale is still early—but its foundation is already challenging some of the biggest assumptions in digital advertising. That affiliate marketing must be tied to sales. That high fees are inevitable. That smaller voices don't belong in big systems.

It's not just trying to expand who can use affiliate marketing—it's trying to redefine why we use it in the first place.

'There's no reason this can't be the default,' Boechat says. 'It works better, for more people.'

If he's right, then Glidescale won't just be a tool for the overlooked. It will be the system that finally caught up with the internet it was meant to serve.