In 2013, in the emerging mobile-first world, Michael Jaconi observed that the web economy, at least in the West, lacked the infrastructure to support transactional, commerce-focused business models that were in place in flourishing markets in the East, such as in China and India. 

“What we believed in was that commerce was going to become a much more central part of the Internet economy, and there was a lot of infrastructure that was missing to make that possible,” explains Michael.

He saw that while markets in the East had built models centered on utility and direct transactions, Western markets were still relying on less measurable advertising models. “A lot of advertising models are somewhat arguable. You could debate whether that impression was worth it. But in cases where someone’s driving a sale, driving an outcome, it’s irrefutable, that is value,” Michael notes.

When a follower clicks a creator’s affiliate link from Instagram, TikTok, or another platform, they often end up in a broken user experience, or the creator doesn’t get proper attribution for driving the sale.

To address this gap, Michael co-founded Button in September 2013, building technology that would help businesses thrive in mobile commerce. Button specifically targets creator networks, agencies, and management companies whose income depends on affiliate links and trackable sales attribution, providing them with technology that can increase revenue by 100-150% without changing their existing content strategies.

The core problem Button solves is technical: apps and the web don’t seamlessly communicate. “With thousands of different permutations of connection points, every app version, every operating system version, every browser version, there’s a lot of complexity in this mobile ecosystem.”

Today, the company’s mobile commerce technology has driven over $15 billion in transactions. “I think our mission has been relatively unchanged, which is to create a better business model for the Internet. That is essentially what we’re after,” says Michael.

How Button Works: ‘Switzerland’ for the Creator Economy

Michael explains Button’s value proposition simply: “For creators, creator networks, creator agencies, and creator management companies that publish links in their social feeds, reels, and videos to drive outcomes, Button’s linking technology will enable them to generate more revenue per engagement with their followers.”

The technology behind Button is centered on what Michael calls “Dynamic Decisioning” – an approach that uses thousands of different permutations of links at click time rather than a one-size-fits-all solution. 

“Rather than using one link to solve all problems, we essentially use a thousand different permutations of links at click time. And that dynamic decision is made at click time based on what we think will yield the highest value,” Michael explains, adding that this complex system is designed specifically to maximize value at each touchpoint.

Button positions itself as “Switzerland for the creator economy,” remaining “neutral” while working with virtually every player in the space rather than competing with them. “We’re trying to help everybody competing in this category drive more value, revenue, and insights,” Michael notes.

Michael Shares Button’s Results 

Michael notes that when implemented correctly, Button linking technology improves performance across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok.

“People often stare at the numbers in disbelief. They’re like, ‘There’s no way, this can’t be real,’” the founder shares. “Many of these marketers don’t believe it until they see it in some other third-party dashboard.”

The case studies from Button’s implementations support these claims. Michael notes they’ve “increased the value of Uber’s affiliate program by 100%” and “increased the performance of Sam’s Club’s mobile affiliate program by over 100%.” They’ve also “increased the performance of successful deep linking by around 173% for one of the largest travel companies in the world.” 

He also reveals that across social media platforms, Button commonly sees triple-digit increases in revenue for campaigns using their technology.

The Untapped Mobile App Opportunity

A key insight Michael shares from his decade of experience in mobile commerce is the vast potential of integrating mobile apps into creator marketing strategies. According to him, the conversion rate in a brand’s app is, on average, three times higher than on their website—a difference that represents millions in potential revenue.

“The biggest impact that a brand that focuses on creators can have on its program is enabling its app to be a part of its investment and marketing strategy,” Michael emphasizes.

This disparity between web and app performance represents an opportunity many brands overlook: “The app’s conversion rate is on average three times higher than the website’s. So why, if you could drive a hundred shopping trips into your site and on your website, you’ll get 10 transactions out of that hundred, and on your app, you’ll get 30 transactions out of a hundred. That’s math.”

He identifies three ways creator and affiliate marketers can improve performance: finding new traffic sources (difficult), increasing commission rates (affects margins), or enabling app integration through Button’s technology (the most efficient approach).

Expanding Value Throughout the Ecosystem

Button has been forming partnerships to extend its technology throughout the creator economy. Recent collaborations with companies like Mavely and The Shelf demonstrate how Button’s infrastructure can serve different needs within the ecosystem.

The partnership with Mavely enables Button to bring enhanced performance to Mavely’s creator community. “Mavely is a partnership allowing us to bring more value to the Mavely creators through our linking technology. It’s been great for them. They see more revenue per engagement when they’re using the Button technology,” Michael explains. “For the creator, they just get the capabilities and the benefits by using Mavely as they normally do.”

Michael speaks highly of the Mavely team, noting, “Evan [Wray, Mavely’s CEO] and I are super close. He’s a wonderful guy. Sean, their CTO, is an amazing technologist. And that’s been a really good partnership that’s straight down the center of the fairway for us and them.”

With The Shelf, the partnership takes a different direction, focusing on capturing valuable transaction data. “They’re trying to capture more bottom-of-funnel data, lower-funnel data on the transactional behavior of their shoppers and their creators’ traffic,” Michael says. “Button, as an underpinning infrastructure with a lot of commerce data running through it, can help them capture that data from customers that use Button’s technology on the retail side.”

This data capability creates new monetization opportunities for creators. “Typically, creators only make money from retailers if it’s a performance campaign. We are now allowing brands, the sellers of and the makers of goods, to run performance campaigns because of the basket-level data, the transaction-level data that Button captures,” Michael explains.

A Creator Economy Worth Hundreds of Billions More

Looking to the future, Michael sees two key changes in the creator economy that will make it vastly more valuable than it is today. 

First, the tech veteran believes the creator economy needs to expand beyond retailers to include direct participation from brands and product manufacturers. “I think that it would be a much fairer and a much more powerful industry if not only retailers but brands and the makers and sellers of goods were participating in this economy,” he predicts.

Second, he sees a shift from static commission rates to a more dynamic, auction-based compensation model. The ideal future would be one where participation from “retailer, product manufacturer, and brand was auctioned versus paid for on a linear basis, on a static basis,” Michael explains.

He claims that these changes would greatly increase the value of the entire ecosystem. “That’s where, five years from now, I predict this market will be worth hundreds of billions of dollars more in value. Because those two things will be true,” Michael states.

As creators continue to replace traditional media sources, such as magazines and newspapers, Button is positioning itself as the infrastructure for this change. 

The shift is already happening, as Michael observes: “What used to be a few years ago an unmeasured spend on an innovation budget or brand budget, you’re now seeing marketing teams, entire tech organizations, and real performance media put into this channel.” This change is enabling “more value to be created, more visibility, and natural growth.”