Affiliate Program Management Question! (experienced marketers only plz)

Hey

I need an opinion on something and you guys have always helped out.
Now this question does not apply to newbies for obvious reasons. It only applies to online marketers with solid experience in regards with affiliate program launches and affiliate program management.

Question:
If you had an existing database of past customers of a previous product, would it be better to launch an independent affiliate program platform from the start and then only moving to an established affiliate network afterwards?

Or start straight with an affiliate network?

I'm asking this from a launch point of view.

My seeing of this is that if I want to "launch" an affiliate program...it HAS to start from ones own platform, otherwise if it's in an affiliate network and you 'announce' the affiliate program to your subscribers...they might end being distracted to other offers.

The benefit of starting straight off with a network is that I will be cutting on costs (money isn't really a problem here) and utilizing their experienced affiliate base from the start. However...I won't be able to build up a "launch" since it will be openly available to the public.

The problem with using my own independent platform is the PAYOUTS since I won't be paying via paypal. This is where the network looks favorable since payouts happen via them.

Both options have their pros and cons. Choosing the best option from the start is what I'm after here.

What is better?

Start with own platform, launch, gather data then move to network.
or

Start on network and do mailout to subscribers.


Let me know please?


Cheers!
Reinhardt