Brian Littleton

Brian Littleton’s journey and business endeavours include the following:

• Early Career and Inspiration: Brian Littleton worked as a freelance web developer which exposed him to various people with innovative ideas. This experience inspired him to develop his own software business. He identified a gap in the market for affiliate network software, noticing that existing products primarily targeted businesses with large budgets. Littleton believed that smaller businesses could also succeed in performance marketing if they had access to high-quality, affordable software. This led him to create ShareASale.
  
• ShareASale Founding and Role: Littleton founded ShareASale in 2000. He originally wrote and built all the core software for the company. As President/CEO, his current role involves providing long-term vision and strategy, and leading the company through various projects. The primary goal has remained to offer the highest quality software and network to customers at reasonable prices.
  
• Company Growth and Acquisition: ShareASale was acquired by Affiliate Window (part of the zanox Group) in early January 2017. Littleton was “very excited” to announce the acquisition and grow the companies together.
  
• Keynote Speaker: Littleton was a keynote speaker at Affiliate Summit East in 2015. He delivered a keynote speech on August 3, 2015, at the New York Marriott Marquis. The conference marked ShareASale’s 15th year in business.
  
• Industry Involvement: ShareASale is a Charter Member of the Performance Marketing Association (PMA). Littleton and ShareASale have been involved in addressing legal issues impacting the affiliate marketing industry, such as the Illinois Nexus Tax Law, which the Illinois Supreme Court ruled void and unenforceable.
  
• Other Experiences: Before ShareASale, Littleton worked at a bakery where he rounded up cheese danishes. Littleton mentioned that he would have liked to have been a musician or professional snowboarder, but he did not have the required level of talent. Littleton also delivered burritos to the ShareASale team in what he described as a Spiderman suit.
  
• Education: Littleton went to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and earned degrees in Economics and Computer Science. He had also considered degrees in Secondary Education and Math.
  
• Personal: Littleton was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He spent most of his youth in Michigan before moving to California and then to Chicago, Illinois. He described himself as “trial and error”. ShareASale yellow is his favourite colour.
  
• Company Culture: Littleton’s comments about delivering burritos in a Spiderman suit suggest a fun, team oriented culture at ShareASale.