Fanfix's Cofounder On Selling His Company At 22

Forbes

Harry Gestetner is the Cofounder of Fanfix, a monetization platform for content creators extremely popular with millennial and Gen-Z audiences. Fanfix allows creators to earn revenue by posting exclusive content to paying subscribers. Its business model functions similarly to Patreon, but the app targets Gen Z influencers and fans.  Fanfix was founded by Harry Gestetner and Simon Pompan. The two are high school friends and stayed in touch during college. They launched Fanfix in August of 2021 and the app generated revenue its first day.   Harry sat down with Forbes Reporter Alex York at the Founder's Forum North America to talk about selling it at 22 and where they're hoping to go in the future.

Transcript

00:00 Hi everyone, I'm Alex York.

00:04 We're at Founders Forum.

00:05 I am here with Harry Gestetner of FanFix.

00:07 He is the co-founder and co-CEO.

00:10 Thank you so much for joining us today.

00:12 Thanks for having me.

00:13 So I want to talk about FanFix and the creator economy in general.

00:17 Walk me through your decision to enter this space in the first place.

00:21 What led you to found this company?

00:22 Yeah, it was very much by accident.

00:24 I had zero background in creator economy.

00:27 We saw my cousin blowing up on TikTok and he got tens of millions of views.

00:31 He got tons of followers.

00:32 He had a comment section full of fans, but he couldn't make any money.

00:36 And my partner and I were quite shocked.

00:38 And we did some research, saw that creators were really struggling to monetize.

00:43 The top, top, top tier of creators had access to brand deals, but the vast majority of the

00:48 long tail couldn't monetize.

00:50 So we thought there had to be a better way to connect creators directly with their most

00:54 loyal fans to monetize.

00:55 And, you know, did some research and saw there were two big platforms in the space, but none

01:00 were kind of serving Gen Z.

01:02 And so we saw a big gap in the market and launched FanFix.

01:05 And how exactly does FanFix function today?

01:07 What are the services and offerings that you provide users?

01:10 Yeah, so FanFix is a monetization platform for Gen Z content creators.

01:14 I think, you know, we see being a creator as a two part problem.

01:18 The first part is, you know, distribution and TikTok did an amazing job of TikTok democratized

01:24 celebrity, gave a lot of creators a lot of distribution.

01:27 And then, you know, the second part is monetization.

01:30 So FanFix is the platform for monetization.

01:32 So we are a clean, brand friendly, mainstream Gen Z first, mobile first, TikTok first exclusive

01:40 content platform.

01:41 So creators can make membership clubs for their fans.

01:45 Fans can pay to DM directly with their favorite creator.

01:48 Fans can buy follow backs from their favorite creator.

01:51 So really, you know, we see ourselves as the monetization layer for the greater economy.

01:55 Totally.

01:56 You are a Gen Zer yourself, as am I.

01:58 What about our generation made you interested in having them as your customer and ecosystem

02:05 base?

02:06 Yeah, I think there are a lot of misconceptions about Gen Z.

02:08 I think, you know, Gen Z are digital natives who actually really see through ads and really

02:14 value authenticity.

02:16 I think there are a lot of misnomers about how we're sort of, you know, screen ages in

02:20 our iPads.

02:21 I think the main thing that Gen Z really values is authenticity.

02:26 And I think, you know, there's a huge proportion of Gen Z that aspires to be a creator when

02:32 they grow up.

02:33 So, you know, we think being a creator in 10 years will be just as valid, lucrative

02:37 and viable a career path as being a lawyer or a banker or a doctor.

02:43 Definitely.

02:44 What are some of the biggest differences when it comes to both social media users and consumers

02:48 in general between the Gen Z audience and other generations?

02:52 Yeah, I think the main thing is, number one, authenticity.

02:56 So, you know, Gen Z, we sort of, you know, our sixth sense is kind of clicking X off

03:01 an ad.

03:02 We can sniff out inauthenticity from a mile away.

03:05 I think, number two, data.

03:06 You know, there's, I think Gen Z is a lot more cautious about data and privacy than

03:11 previous generations.

03:13 And then I think, you know, number three, just kind of awareness.

03:16 We've grown up with this awareness of everything that's going on in the world, complete unfiltered

03:21 access through various social media platforms.

03:24 So I think we're a much more aware generation than any of the ones before.

03:28 What are the most popular either content types or forms or types of content creators on FanFics?

03:34 Who is doing the best?

03:35 What types of industries or kind of niches?

03:37 Yeah, so TikTok first creators with a kind of cross channel following.

03:43 So, you know, good signs of big community, kind of big Snapchats, big, big Instagram

03:49 following as well as just the TikTok as well.

03:51 So generally TikTokers with vast communities.

03:56 And does it matter what type of content they create when it comes to their usage of FanFics?

04:00 No, no, very, very agnostic.

04:03 And I think for us, it's just about, it's not about the type of content, it's not about

04:06 the size of following, it's about the depth of the following.

04:08 Totally.

04:09 FanFics was also recently acquired.

04:11 What led you to those conversations?

04:14 Was this something that you anticipated from the moment that you started the company or

04:18 how did that really come about?

04:19 Yeah, I think we built the company knowing that at some point we would want to sell it.

04:23 And I think that as an entrepreneur, that's your end goal.

04:26 Didn't think it would happen so quickly.

04:28 It was 10 months from launch to exit.

04:31 And we were in fundraising talks and one of the parties we were talking to was a big strategic

04:36 super ordinary and then they gave us an acquisition offer.

04:38 And my partner and I were 21 year old college students who were like, why not?

04:42 We'll take it.

04:43 Yeah.

04:44 And why did you think that was the right decision both for you as a co-founder and the company

04:48 itself?

04:49 Yeah, I think for the company itself, having a very large conglomerate, especially one

04:56 with such an expertise in e-commerce and such an expertise on the Asian social commerce

05:03 market is extremely powerful and gives us resources that no other platform can have.

05:08 And we're able to offer our creators an ecosystem that no other company, no other competitor

05:13 can offer.

05:14 I think as a founder, obviously it's kind of the end goal of starting a business is

05:19 getting acquired.

05:20 And I think it was a representation that we were creating value for our creators.

05:24 So it was very rewarding.

05:25 Definitely.

05:26 How has your role then changed pre acquisition to where you guys are, how you're working

05:31 with the super ordinary now?

05:33 Yeah, my role has largely stayed the same.

05:35 I think the main thing that has changed is gone from being young, 20 year old, 21 year

05:41 old kids sort of creating fun stuff with our friends to now we're operating a proper company

05:46 and have a lot of employees to kind of take care of.

05:50 So I think there's a lot more of, we really feel a sense of responsibility now.

05:55 Yeah.

05:56 Who are your biggest competitors and what are you doing to really differentiate yourself?

05:59 Yeah, the two biggest competitors as such would be Patreon and OnlyFans.

06:04 I think, let's start with the latter.

06:07 OnlyFans is quite dirty connotations of the platform.

06:11 There's a huge amount of explicit content and obviously they allow nudity, et cetera.

06:17 And then Patreon is really a much older generation of creator.

06:24 It's a desktop first platform, sort of for the millennial type creator.

06:29 FanFix is, it's brand friendly, it's clean, it's mainstream.

06:33 And then also it's mobile first, it's TikTok first and Gen Z first as well.

06:39 What has the growth looked like in terms of bringing creators onto the platform?

06:43 Has it been a hard sell to them?

06:44 Are they eager to join the ecosystem that you're creating?

06:49 Yeah, so we've grown to thousands of creators and $60 million in revenue very, very quickly

06:54 and entirely organically.

06:57 The network effects of creators, it's unbelievable.

07:01 We see this market as, we call it C2C, there was B2B, B2C and then this new market of C2C

07:07 created customer is incredible because with creators, you don't have the cold start problem,

07:13 you don't have the chicken and egg problem.

07:15 They almost are the chicken and the egg at the same time.

07:19 So growing entirely organically very quickly and for the vast majority of our creators,

07:25 it's their number one form of revenue.

07:26 Okay, wow.

07:27 That's very exciting.

07:28 What would be, in your opinion, the biggest challenge that you have faced or the biggest

07:32 risk that you're looking out for in the creator economy right now?

07:36 Yeah, I think the major problem with the creator economy, the existential threat of the creator

07:41 economy, the thing that whether they admit it or not, keeps every creator economy found

07:45 up at night is the fact that you're operating in a space where there are trillion dollar

07:50 players who aren't here to mess around.

07:53 They want to crush startups and they're not pro competition.

07:56 So I think the biggest worry is having players like Meta, players like ByteDance, try and

08:04 end small creators economy startups like ours.

08:06 How have you gone about navigating those concerns?

08:09 Yeah, I think we focus on our own business and I think we focus on putting creators first.

08:13 So my thesis has been for a long time that the last generation of $100 billion company

08:20 was companies that put creators last and they were distribution platforms.

08:26 I think the next $100 billion companies are going to be monetization platforms that put

08:30 creators first.

08:31 So we just focus on providing as much value as we can for our creators and putting creators

08:36 first.

08:37 Definitely.

08:38 So you're from London, you live in LA now, we're in New York currently.

08:42 What would you say are the biggest differences when it comes to the creator market, both

08:45 from the creator side of things and the viewer side of things?

08:49 From the UK to the US?

08:51 I'd say just first of all the scale.

08:52 The scale in the US is just so much bigger.

08:54 I mean you're talking about 330 million plus people versus 70 million people.

08:59 I think there's also a level of cynicism in the UK.

09:03 In the US it's all about optimism and the American dream and I think that reflects with

09:08 the creators here and I think creators are a lot more likely and a lot more willing to

09:12 kind of try new things and so are fans and so are kind of investors.

09:16 So I think America is the place for the creator economy and I'm a strong believer in the American

09:22 dream.

09:23 What are some of your expectations or goals for FanFix moving forward the next five, ten

09:27 years?

09:28 Yeah, we want to be the biggest platform in the world.

09:29 I think our immediate target is we want to pay a billion dollars out to creators by 2027

09:35 and then past that, 10 billion plus.

09:38 So I think as I said earlier, I think that the last generation of companies got away

09:42 with putting creators last.

09:44 I think the next generation of really massive companies in the space are going to be putting

09:49 creators first.

09:50 Yeah, and where are you in that goal right now?

09:51 How much have you put out to creators today?

09:53 Be at 100 million dollars by kind of beginning of next year.

09:56 Okay, super exciting.

09:57 The last question I have for you is as a young founder and as a member of Gen Z, what do

10:02 you think is the biggest misconception that the world has about our generation or young

10:06 people today?

10:07 About our generation?

10:08 I think with our generation, we've grown up completely aware of everything that's going

10:17 on.

10:18 I think our parents' generation really was able to grow up quite sheltered.

10:23 We haven't had that luxury.

10:24 So I think that's made us, it's hardened us as a generation for better or for worse and

10:30 it's made us kind of much more aware and really sort of much more passionate about social

10:36 issues.

10:37 So I'm very bullish on Gen Z.

10:39 I think I'm very excited to see what our generation has to come.

10:42 Cool, so am I.

10:43 Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk today.

10:44 We appreciate it.

10:45 Thank you.

10:46 Thank you for having me.

10:46 Thank you.

10:46 [END]

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