February 2, 2021

Mårten Sidfalk from Sonabets

In this article, we are interviewing Mårten Sidfalk – the founder of Sonabets. He shares his journey of becoming an entrepreneur and affiliate from an affiliate manager. Mårten discusses the uniqueness of his approach to running an affiliate business in developing markets.

How would you describe Sonabets.in to someone who does not know what you are doing?

– We run an entertainment website focused on sports betting, lottery, and casino for emerging markets. On our website, you will be able to find sports predictions, sports news, and your normal casino reviews.

How did you end up in the casino industry?

– I started working within gambling during the poker boom in 2004. I was really into poker after watching it on TV and playing it with friends. I started working as an affiliate manager at one of the bigger Nordic companies and eventually ended up as an affiliate myself.

What made you want to start Sonabets?

– It made sense to switch from an affiliate manager to an affiliate where I could have my freedom. Ever since I was a teenager I have been very interested in programming and I felt that I would like to explore it more. I ended up running a couple of affiliate sites along with a web agency. After a couple of years, everything was struggling a bit and I and my ex-partner decided to close down the business. After a couple of years of doing freelance work, I decided to give affiliate sites another try but with another take. We are now working in emerging markets, which can be very frustrating from time to time, but overall it’s very fun and developing.

What personality traits make you a skilled founder? What have been your biggest challenges?

– I have a very positive attitude and I am not afraid to try new things or admit when things haven’t worked out as planned. The biggest challenge we are experiencing right now is building up trust in our visitors. It can be very frustrating to see that we have a lot of visitors but our revenue is much lower than well-established markets, like the Nordics.

How have you changed as a person from running the business?

– Ever since I was a kid my Dad has been running his own company and I’m kind of used to the stress of having employees. So I can’t say that I have changed much over the years. However, when you get older you also get wiser, so I guess that I have gotten wiser over the years.

What are you most proud of?

– I am very proud of our Brazilian website, which’s generating a lot of visitors every month. I am also partly proud of Sonabets that we managed to get up and running without investing a lot of money and time.

Where do you want to be in 5 years?

– I want to still be happy, doing something I enjoy, spending even more time with my lovely family, wife, friends, and my lovely daughters.

Personal and professional where can people find you online?

– II can be found on WhatsApp, Facebook and Signal.