A pioneer in providing an easy way for fans to connect one-on-one with their favorite performers, SextPanther is a popular platform for porn stars, models and influencers that offers members a verified means of contacting them.
For newcomers, getting started is easy, as no credit card is required and a variety of payment options are available, like the ability to swap gift cards from Best Buy, Starbucks, Target and other brands for SextPanther credits.
Those credits then allow fans to send a text message, photo or video from their phone to a model via SextPanther, which receives the message and forwards it to the model’s real cell using a masked phone number.
Fans then receive the model’s response on their phone, while also being able to call and tip them, building connections easily with no charge for any incoming messages from the model.
To learn more about the company and the guiding vision behind it, XBIZ caught up with Alex, SextPanther’s founder and president, for his insights. Here’s what he had to say:
XBIZ: How did you venture into the adult industry and what did you do before?
Alex: I became interested in adult cam sites while I was attending college at the University of Wisconsin. At first, I would just casually view different streams when I was bored and eventually became fascinated with the business side of things and how models thought of creative ways to incentivize tips.
Fast forward through college, I was two weeks away from graduating with a business degree and did not have any job prospects lined up so I started building out the business plan for what would be SextPanther.com. My grandpa had passed away around that time and had set some money aside for all his grandchildren to help pay off student loans.
Like the noble grandson I am, instead of paying my loans off, I used the money to pay the web developers to get started on the project. I then moved to Arizona while the website was being built and lived with my parents to save money until we launched the first version of SextPanther on February 8, 2014, and the rest is history.
XBIZ: What defines your company and makes it stand out from the rest?
Alex: SextPanther is a first-of-its-kind conversation platform that enables monetized communication between adult entertainers and their fans. We are always looking for other ways for models to connect with their fanbase and have taken an incremental approach in adding features to the site.
SextPanther started as an SMS texting-only platform and we’ve since added phone calls, picture and video messaging, and webchat. We are looking to release 1-on-1 video calls (without the need for a third-party service like Skype) in the near future!
Other platforms, of course, have messaging features so fans can send messages to their favorite performers, but in most cases, those messages get buried by the hundreds of other free messages the model receives on a daily basis. On SextPanther, by charging per message, models are able to filter the noise of “time-wasters” and non-paying fans and focus on those that support them the most.
XBIZ: What’s a typical workday like and what is the most rewarding part of your job?
Alex: I start my day off with a cup of coffee and hop on Slack to talk with the web developers and UX/UI team. After the daily briefing, I try to get a workout in and then head to the office. Every day is different, which I enjoy.
The most rewarding part of it all is interacting with models from all walks of life and getting feedback from their varying perspectives. I try my best to keep an open line of communication with the models in an attempt to keep my ear to the ground regarding site issues and improvement ideas. Based on that feedback, we’re able to build out features to release on the site. I particularly enjoy the planning and design process of new features and the payoff comes when the updates go live and models utilize the new tools in ways that we never thought of.
In a more general sense, I enjoy being able to have the flexibility to morph my schedule as needed instead of a typical 9 to 5 job where you’re expected to be there exactly at 9 a.m. and can’t leave until 5 p.m., regardless of the workload. I worked in finance for a few years with that schedule and I was pretty unhappy with it.
XBIZ: SextPanther.com began with “Panthers” (porn stars) and “Kittens” (cam girls). Is this distinction still being made or has the industry evolved to where both groups share equal interest among fans?
Alex: The original thinking for SextPanther was to focus on big-name porn stars (“Panthers”) and include other popular cam models (“Kittens”). The naming convention was more creative than it was conventional, as Kittens infers that they are younger models and Panthers could be confused with cougars (older models). We switched over to more understandable Porn Stars and Cam Girls categories, and later added the Fetish category. Once we started getting traction with male and trans models, we changed “Cam Girls” to “Cam Models” to be more gender-inclusive.
XBIZ: SextPanther.com was created as a texting-only platform, but soon expanded to allow fans to call their favorite porn stars and cam girls directly. Which communication method has proven most popular?
Alex: Texting is by far the most popular method of communication on SextPanther because of its simplicity and it being so accessible for both the model and the fans. In a lot of cases, fans can send messages discreetly via SMS while at work and models can do the same. It’s a little difficult to have proper phone sex while at your day job. This is not a suggestion to sext while on the job, just an observation on some that choose to do so.
XBIZ: The platform recently rolled out its interactive content feeds and “Explore” page, expanding the ways fans and talent can connect on SextPanther. What has the initial response to these new features been and are you researching other online communication methods to monetize?
Alex: The response to the Explore page and model profile feeds has been great so far! We’ve received feedback from several models on how much they are enjoying it, as well as suggestions to further improve on it.
Models are finding creative ways to engage new fans and push traffic to their SP profiles from the Explore page by posting free or discounted teaser content. By posting to their profiles, they are able to sell premium content and capture some of their more passive fans that may not want to have a conversation but would rather just unlock and view what the model is putting out there.
Oftentimes, the posts lead to conversations if the user liked a particular post or if the post was engaging in some way.
As mentioned before, we are looking at implementing 1-on-1 video calls soon! I think it would be interesting to partner with an interactive toy company once the video feature goes live to go one step further on the connection between the two parties.
XBIZ: How has the market changed over the years and where is most of your business coming from these days?
Alex: I don’t think there’s any secret to the rise in popularity of cam models and the different camming platforms. We’ve seen several porn stars come into the camming space and vice versa, where some cam models’ popularity rose to the point where they were cast with producers like Brazzers and Vixen.
Although the big producers don’t seem to be struggling financially, fans seemed to have shifted their interest and what they are willing to pay for from full production movies to live interaction with models online and self-shot, exclusive content, hence the rise of “premium social networks” like OnlyFans.
The increased number of adult platforms out there seems to have increased the pool of models willing to participate in sex work and therefore helped normalize it as a career or side hustle. This, in turn, has helped SextPanther increase the pool of models available, so fans are able to find exactly what they want and can explore some of their fantasies on a deeper level.
We’re also seeing more sex workers utilize mainstream platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Twitch to reach more fans, which also normalizes sex work and brings a different type of buyer than your typical porn fan.
It’s interesting to see models like Lisa Ann, Sasha Gray and Bree Olson cross over from porn to mainstream, and models like Maitland Ward come from a mainstream career into porn. Again, this helps make porn and sex work less taboo in my opinion, which benefits the adult industry as a whole.
XBIZ: What adult companies and/or individuals in the biz inspire you the most?
Alex: There are a few companies that I keep my eye on to see how they are doing things and adapting to the ever-changing adult market. I’ve always appreciated how Bella and Sed have scaled the ManyVids platform with their numerous different offerings and inclusivity.
I still go on MyFreeCams from time to time (old habits die hard) and have had the opportunity to meet Leo a couple of times.
Bill Fox was instrumental in helping recruit and coach models early on in the SextPanther life cycle. We became friends and talked pretty regularly up until his passing. I’ll never forget visiting his studio in the San Fernando Valley and I’ll be forever appreciative of the knowledge and support he provided me. Anyone that knew him could echo this feeling. He was truly a selfless individual.
Everyone has their eyes on OnlyFans, so we like to know what they are up to and how models are utilizing their platform. When it comes to sending and selling nudes, Snapchat crawled so OnlyFans could run. They have truly done a lot to destigmatize selling adult content and for fans to pay for porn.
XBIZ: When not thinking about business, what do you like to do?
Alex: I enjoy walking my dogs, exercising (weightlifting, biking, swimming), scrolling through Twitter for news and porn, liking memes on Instagram, and playing video games. During the quarantine for COVID-19, I’ve been playing a lot of “Call of Duty: Warzone” and watching my fair share of porn.
XBIZ: What does the future hold for you and SextPanther?
Alex: For the immediate future, we’ve enacted “Operation Corn Teen,” where we’ve shifted almost all of our operations to work from home. We don’t anticipate this having any major effects on productivity and are hoping to have new releases regularly.
In the next year or so, I’d like to focus more on the globalization of the SextPanther brand by allowing models from other countries outside of the U.S. and Canada to have model profiles, as well as adding to the inclusivity of the platform to cater to fans of all types, regardless of their location, sexual orientation or interests.
