$0 to $9M ARR: Co-Founder of Trackier Udit Verma Opens Up: Success, Sacrifices & Regrets

How do a few college students turn an affiliate tracking tool into a global SaaS company? 🚀

For this episode of Inside A Hustler’s Brain, I visited the Trackier office to sit down with Udit Verma, co-founder and CMO of Trackier, one of the best-known affiliate tracking platforms in the market. 🔥

We’ve met at Affiliate World Asia, Affiliate World Dubai and many other events, and this was a candid conversation about growth, AI and life as a founder. 💼

📊 In this episode, we unpacked:

• 🐢 Growing gradually since 2016
• 🇷🇺 The Russian first client who taught them postbacks
• 💸 Why they skipped freemium and broke even in six months
• 🤝 How four co-founders handle conflict
• 🌍 Scaling globally from India
• 🤖 How Trackier uses AI without layoffs
• 🔐 Compliance, data privacy and customer expectations
• 🎯 Udit’s personal lessons and money advice

🎥 Watch the full episode:

🐢 Growing Gradually Since 2016

Every conference I attend, Trackier has a booth. But Udit says they didn’t grow fast: “We grew very gradually.” They started in 2016, slowly winning clients in India. 🌱

Their first client was Russian, a market veteran who taught them about postbacks and pushed them to their limits. 🇷🇺

The early hiccups: they were college students who didn’t know corporate culture, how to pitch, or how to present to clients. They learned all of it, including how events work. “There were some hiccups, but it was not unsolvable.” 🎓

💸 Why They Skipped Freemium and Broke Even in Six Months

Trackier never used a freemium model. “Freebies will attract freebies,” Udit says. A free product builds a community of people who just want free things. 🚫

Instead, they charged at least a small amount from the start, and with an in-house tech team, they broke even within six months. 💰

For another affiliate tracking story, read Parul Bhargava on vCommission. 🔗

🤝 How Four Co-Founders Handle Conflict

How do co-founders with different thinking balance things? Each runs a separate department: operations, marketing, sales and tech. 🧩

And conflict isn’t a bad thing. “It’s good to have conflict, because it brings a lot of different ideas to the table.” If one person goes along the x-axis, someone will go along the y-axis. ⚖️

Udit and Faizan started while in college, working on an internship portal. They brought on Hemant as an intern, and later Mukul joined and became a director. That’s how they built a strong board of directors. 👥

🌍 Scaling Globally From India

The hardest part early on: India wasn’t a big SaaS market, so people didn’t recognize them as a SaaS company. What worked was meeting people consistently, again and again, which built trust. 🤝

They expanded step by step, first into Europe and then the US. Being at nearly every conference is part of the strategy to win top-tier clients in a very competitive market. 🌐

I’ve used Trackier with my team for tracking multiple affiliate offers, and its support stood out: when we had a tracking issue, they told us exactly what to do and it worked. Udit credits his customer success team. 🙌

Trackier’s USP is customization, because every brand has different requirements. If a feature request aligns with their vision of becoming the best partner marketing platform in the world, they build it. 🎯

🤖 How Trackier Uses AI Without Layoffs

Udit sees companies hiring less and using AI instead. Landing pages that once needed a dedicated person can now be built with tools like Lovable. “With one or two people in the team, you can scale to $1 million.” 🚀

Trackier uses AI across the business:

• 📣 Marketing: AI-generated videos, content ideas and GTM plans
• 🤝 Customer success: analyzing how users interact with the platform and how to help them scale
• 💼 Sales: automating lead handling and first interactions

The team is close to 145 people, and Udit expects about 200 in two years. They aren’t laying people off; they’re helping the team adopt AI, because there’s a lot to build, including a second product, a complete mobile marketing platform where brands integrate an SDK and get analytics on app user acquisition via affiliates and partners. 📱

His favourite AI tool: “I’m in love with Claude.” It’s easy for non-technical people too, but Trackier never processes personal data through it, and he only gives it limited access to email. For more, read my take on making money online with AI. 🤖

🔐 Compliance, Data Privacy and Customer Expectations

Compliance is a growing topic, with India’s DPDP alongside GDPR and CCPA. As a platform owner, Udit doesn’t find it hard, since Trackier already dealt with GDPR and CCPA and DPDP is similar. 🛡️

For affiliate marketers in India, though, it’s a shift: people who worked freely before are now concerned about personal user data. 📋

Customer expectations are tough too, because it’s a different generation and you have to understand the psychology of leads. “But it’s not unsolved. With AI, it’s easier to solve.” 🧠

🎯 Udit’s Personal Lessons and Money Advice

The Trackier office also hosts startup events. Udit and his co-founders run a syndicate with investors, partners and friends who make angel investments in worthy startups, from astrology apps to hospitality logistics, as a way to learn about other industries with small amounts of money. 💡

• 📚 One person to bring back: a teacher who passed away before his 12th-grade exams
• 💻 Last 24 hours: solving platform challenges and onboarding partners
• 📅 Best year: 2016, when he dropped the idea of an MBA after the CAT and committed to the company
• 🙏 Best advice: have hope in the process, even through ups and downs
• 🚫 Worst advice: someone told them not to build Trackier because competitors existed, which only motivated them
• 🦸 Hero: anyone following their dream (he even named me, since we met in 2016 when he was in college)
• 💰 His number: $10 million to live well in the mountains, $25 million to advance further
• 📈 Biggest financial mistake: ignoring the power of compounding early on
• 📒 Money advice for Gen Z: track every expense
• 🏔️ Favourite vacation: Iceland, “the land of fire and ice”

He’d spend a day with Warren Buffett over Elon Musk because of his investing mastery. Will AI replace humans? “Humans will evolve with AI. AI cannot replace humans because humans are the ones who build the AI.” 🧠

📝 Key Takeaways From the Udit Verma Interview

• 🐢 Trackier grew gradually from 2016, not overnight
• 💸 Skipping freemium helped them break even in six months
• 🤝 Clear department ownership keeps co-founder conflict productive
• 🌍 Showing up consistently builds trust for global expansion
• 🤖 Use AI to evolve your team, not just to cut costs
• 🔐 DPDP, GDPR and CCPA make data privacy a priority
• 📈 Start investing early and let compounding work

❓ FAQs About Udit Verma

Who is Udit Verma?

Udit Verma is a co-founder and CMO of Trackier, an affiliate and partner marketing tracking platform started in 2016.

Why doesn’t Trackier offer a freemium plan?

Udit says freebies attract freebies. Charging even a small amount from day one helped Trackier break even within six months.

How does Trackier use AI?

For video and content ideas and GTM plans in marketing, user-behaviour analysis in customer success, and lead automation in sales.

Is Trackier laying off staff because of AI?

No. Udit says they’re helping team members adopt AI, with about 145 people now and a goal of around 200 in two years.

🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love

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• 15 Best Affiliate Marketing Podcasts to Follow in 2026

If you’re building a SaaS company or scaling an affiliate business, share Udit’s story with your co-founders. 💬

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