OnlyFans CEO says platform’s success comes from eliminating middle management

OnlyFans chief executive Keily Blair has revealed that the company’s lean organisational structure, built on avoiding middle-management roles, is central to how the platform operates. Speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Blair said the strategy allows the company to remain highly efficient despite its massive global footprint.

The subscription-based platform, founded in 2016 and best known for its adult creators, runs with just 42 full-time employees. During her conversation with Masters of Scale host Jeff Berman, Blair acknowledged that the team size often surprises people, especially given that the platform generates around USD 7 billion in annual revenue. She credited the company’s productivity to a flat hierarchy and an intentional approach to hiring.

Blair said OnlyFans brings in “incredibly senior talent” alongside “hungry junior talent,” prioritising mindset and capability over years of experience. She added that removing the “squidgy layer” of middle management had helped the organisation stay agile. “Nobody’s ever had a really good middle manager in my experience,” she remarked.

A ‘team of one’ culture

The CEO noted that employees at OnlyFans are not evaluated by the size of the teams they manage, a common practice in corporate environments. Instead, every staff member works as an individual contributor. Blair emphasised that even a “team of one” can deliver impactful results, a philosophy that shapes internal expectations.

Blair, who took over as CEO in 2023 after a career in law, said the platform now serves around 400 million users and hosts about 4 million creators worldwide. She also pointed out that OnlyFans’ structure reflects a growing trend among major technology companies, many of which have trimmed middle-management layers in recent years to streamline operations.