Revenue sharing offers a very different kind of partnership — one where both sides share the risk and split the rewards. From a client’s perspective, it makes perfect sense. And when the business performs well, the agency actually earns more than it would with traditional KPI-based or hourly pricing.

It sounds great on paper, but in reality, very few agencies — in Vietnam or globally — are actually doing it.

The reason is simple: this model requires you to bet big.

1. High risk, low control

Unlike hourly or KPI-based models, Revenue Sharing doesn’t offer guaranteed income. If no sales come through, all the resources the agency poured into the project are gone. And these projects tend to be resource-heavy — you could need a team of 3 to 10+ people, not to mention office costs, hiring, training, and more.

Each revenue-sharing deal is like running a mini business. And like any business, nothing is guaranteed. All it takes is one weak link whether that’s the product, the partner, or the market and the whole thing falls apart.

Because the risk is so high, agencies need to be extremely confident, not just in their marketing skills, but in their ability to assess the product, the business model, the market… even the CEO on the other side. I’ve shared more about that screening process in earlier posts.

2. All-In or Nothing

Revenue sharing isn’t for agencies who want to “test the waters.” Once you commit, you’re putting in real time, real money, and your core team. If you’re not fully invested, you’re almost guaranteed to lose.

And the commitment isn’t just about resources, it’s about mindset. You need to treat the success or failure of the project as if it were your own business. That means constantly testing, failing fast, learning cheap, and staying relentlessly persistent. More importantly, everyone on the team needs to adopt this mindset, not just the founder.

3. Hard to scale

With revenue sharing, every project is a brand-new case. There’s no copy-paste strategy. Every industry, product, and team is different, and the agency has to dig in like an insider to truly understand it.

Solving new problems every day isn’t the exception, it’s the default. Which makes it nearly impossible to build a repeatable, scalable process.

The only path to growth isn’t taking on more clients, it’s going deeper with a select few, and pushing hard to scale their results.

4. High level of trust

Especially trust in the CEO. That the numbers they share, especially revenue and order volume are accurate. That they understand their market, their product, their customers. And that they’re capable of building something meaningful.

And most importantly, that when the project succeeds, they won’t cut you out just to protect their bottom line.

In short, Revenue Sharing is more than just a business model — it’s a test of skill and commitment for both sides.

If this model interests you, I hope you’ve got the belief, the skills, and the fire to really go for it.

Oh, and you’ll need a bit of luck, too.