A contest the same person always wins is not a contest.
One thing is known for certain about sales contests: if only the top three are paid, everyone else does the arithmetic within a week and stops. That is not apathy, it is maths. So here the score is growth against your own baseline, you compete inside your own size band, and a third of every pool is a threshold prize that does not depend on anyone else.
Why it is built this way
Each of these fixes a documented mistake, not a matter of taste. The first two are design decisions; the third is a database constraint — we cannot store a contest that pays fewer than three ranks and has no threshold prize.
A bracket, not one list
A partner billing €900 a month does not compete with one billing €40k. A shared list tells the smaller one to go home. Your bracket comes from your own trailing volume and is frozen when you join — so a good week cannot bump you into a harder band mid-contest.
The delta, not the total
Points are growth against your own three-month baseline. The biggest account cannot win by standing still, and the smallest has a real route to first. The baseline is scaled to the contest length, because comparing a 30-day contest against 90 days of history is how you decide the result in advance.
Odds published at join
We say how many are in your bracket and how many ranks pay. Nine in the bracket and three prizes means we print 33%. A partner who can work it out will — and will trust the number we did not hide more than the one we did.
Which band you land in, and why
The number of bands follows the size of the field. Under ten entrants there is nothing to split and everyone competes together — a bracket of two is not a bracket, it is a coin toss with a ceremony.
The field is too small to split — everyone competes together.
The lightest quarter by volume. You compete with other starters, not the largest.
The middle of the field — this is the bracket people usually climb out of.
Established volume. Improvement is harder here, which is why it counts for more.
The largest partners. Standing still does not win here — the points come from growth.
Open contests
The rules, the pool, the prize curve and the threshold are readable before you are in it. You cannot judge a contest from inside it.
Summer Sprint
Growth against your own baseline — not against anyone else's size
Points come from how much you improve on your own three-month baseline. You compete inside your own size bracket, and the bracket is locked when you join: a good week does not move you into a harder division mid-contest. The threshold prize does not depend on anyone else at all.
4 strings are an AI-assisted translation that nobody has reviewed yet.
Prize pool
4 000 €
Prize curve per bracket. A rank pays only if you beat your own baseline.
Threshold prize
150 €
At least +15 % on your own baseline
This is not a competition. Clear the bar and it is yours regardless of how anyone else does.
Autumn Acceleration
New deals in August and September
Same structure, different metric: won deals are counted. It begins at the start of August, and you can join at any point during the contest — your baseline is measured on the day you join, so arriving late is not a penalty.
4 strings are an AI-assisted translation that nobody has reviewed yet.
Prize pool
6 000 €
Prize curve per bracket. A rank pays only if you beat your own baseline.
Threshold prize
250 €
Two won deals during the period
This is not a competition. Clear the bar and it is yours regardless of how anyone else does.
Spring Sprint
Finished — results and the prizes that were paid
The spring contest is over. The results, the brackets and the prizes paid stay visible: a contest whose results are never published is a contest not worth entering the next time.
4 strings are an AI-assisted translation that nobody has reviewed yet.
Prize pool
3 000 €
Prize curve per bracket. A rank pays only if you beat your own baseline.
Threshold prize
120 €
At least +10 % on your own baseline
This is not a competition. Clear the bar and it is yours regardless of how anyone else does.
What we do not do
- We do not change the rules mid-contest. The metric, the bracketing and the prize curve are locked at the start and stored on the row — later wording cannot quietly move the goalposts.
- We do not name you publicly without permission. Appearing on the board is off by default and can be switched on or off at any time.
- We do not pay for a rank you did not earn. Finishing second in a bracket where everyone shrank is not a result, and paying for it would teach the field that the contest is theatre.
- We do not hide the results afterwards. A finished contest keeps its brackets, its rankings and its paid prizes on display.