Started in 1996, when the brother-sister duo Stephen Messer and Heidi Messer first started LinkShare, the term affiliate marketing DID NOT even exist, A business that relied on convincing companies to sell their products through network, after a yearlong hard work, direct marketing and planning ended up in just 15 businesses signing up, Currently, Stephen Messer and Heidi Messer run New York City based Collective, a Business Intelligence company which they founded in 2007.