XBIZ World is pleased to present “Execs of 2016: The Year in Review” — a special showcase of the thoughts and strategies of 2016’s most influential and motivational leaders as they offer their take on the year’s top trends.
Each of the executives we spoke to is among the finalist nominees for the Online Industry edition of the 2017 XBIZ Exec Awards.
We’re thrilled to see double-digit growth month after month, allowing us to hit and surpass every goal we’ve set. We plan to stay focused on our existing sites, while adding some rather significant new projects in 2017. -Jack Avalanche, Cherry Pimps
The following question about the year in review was asked to those running for the Businessmen of the Year Award:
XBIZ: What factors motivated you the most this year?
Michael Reul
CEO, TrafficPartner.com Group
“The year 2016 was really trendsetting for the whole TrafficPartner Group. We have diversified our service by expanding to new countries and launching our traffic network SGMPro (desktop and mobile) as well as our venture capital unit AdultVentures. By investing into the VR live cam service AliceX we made the next step into the future. Webbilling, our European payment service provider, has introduced more payment methods and now offers local payment methods in more than 50 European countries. Last but not least, we have improved monetization for the dating industry. Our cam/community product Amateur Community does also benefit from it. Very important for our core business is that we started building some really cool marketing technology that will help us scale our marketing activities to new levels. On top of this, we have started the development of the biggest project for the next year — so prepare for something big. I have to thank all of our 400+ staff members for their great work this year. Without them it wouldn´t have happened! You can see, my motivation for 2017 is still granted.”
Mitch Farber
CEO, NETbilling
“Money! Seriously though, the speed of innovation in the area of e-commerce has been fascinating. Mobile continues to be a primary focus in our business and will be a driving factor for many years to come. It’s a very exciting time to be involved in the payments industry.”
Anthony Rivera
Co-Founder, AJ Studios/LALEXPO
“What has motivated us the most is being part of a webcam industry that is always evolving and doing our part to perpetuate that evolution. We could not have accomplished so much without the partnerships that we have forged in the industry and it is an integral part of our success. We believe strongly in partnerships, sponsoring and supporting the industry that has supported our business over the years. We are proud to say that we have helped many new up-and-coming studios get a running start at attaining success in the industry and assisted in their growth. Colombian studios and models have grown a lot in the last few years, not only in quantity but also in quality. We believe that we are a major contributor to this, and it keeps us striving to continue this rise in quality entertainment. In an industry where so many people focus on singular issues or events, AJ Studios understands that seeing the big picture is the only way to operate a successful adult business and to help the webcam industry continue to evolve. That’s one of the main reasons we came up with our industry event LALEXPO, which grows more successful with each passing year.”
Gian Carlo
Managing Partner, PORNDOE
“It’s easy, innovation. Innovation has always been and still is my driver in all the businesses that I have endeavored in. I am happy and grateful that I had the opportunity and that I was able, together with my team, to make a difference in a stuck market, and bring to life a project that is based on self-made content, produced at the highest level in a professional environment. It was no easy feat. We have heavily invested in research and development and we are still doing it, but think about it: If you are not offering something fundamentally new, then how do you plan to get the user’s attention?”
Jack Avalanche
CEO, Cherry Pimps
“Expansion and growth were our driving factors and theme for all of 2016. We’ve grown our team with incredible additions, Nancy Moore and Kellie, plus the addition of new sites for incredible stars such as the stunning and new Adria Rae to seasoned pros such as Dana Vespoli, Cherie DeVille, and Brandy Aniston. We’re thrilled to see double-digit growth month after month, allowing us to hit and surpass every goal we’ve set. We plan to stay focused on our existing sites, while adding some rather significant new projects in 2017.”
Mugur Frunzetti
CEO, Studio 20
“Last year was crazy and incredible for us. In 2016, we opened four new studios, including the first studio in the U.S., in Los Angeles, and the first Studio 20 Men in Bucharest. Also our new Studio 20 Bucharest Unirii is the largest studio in the world, at more than 15,000 square meters and with a new generation of video (1080p 60 fps) and audio equipment. Our motivation was in helping so many new models grow and become successful, our team growing stronger and our brand value — excellence — being more and more deeply understood and assumed by all our team. I feel a brand value should not be just a nice statement for consumers, it should really reflect what is different about that particular company, and what makes it better than others. And for Studio 20, our most important value and brand differentiator is excellence. We are ready for 2017 with an extremely ambitious target: to open at least eight new studios and run a 15 studio network by the end of this year, with a focus on the U.S. (Miami, Honolulu, New Jersey), Spain (Valencia, Madrid), Bulgaria (Sofia), Czech Republic (Prague) and Hungary (Budapest).”
Gregory L. Clayman
CEO, VS Media, Inc.
“One of the factors that motivated me most this year was staying on top and ahead of our competitors. There are many more cam companies in the industry today than ever before and therefore in 2016 we were highly motivated to continually scale and innovate in attempt to keep us in the front of the pack. Staying a leader in the industry requires hard work given there is no such thing as standing still in this industry as you are either spiraling up or spiraling down and there is no doubt that we were motivated by our competition to spiral up as much as possible this year!”
Steven Grooby
President, Grooby Productions
“This has been yet another interesting year for the transgender community and especially in the adult sector with political issues both in our home state of California and internationally having potential effects on how we do business, and how we can support our models and customers, so we’ve again been working on community building and advocacy as an adult company. Any nominee for ‘Businessman of the Year’ is only possible by the support team that they work with on a daily basis, and we’ve been motivated this year to try some different management styles, communication techniques and greater transparency within the company and with our customers. This has allowed us to try new projects faster and to take a larger role in the adult industry community. We’ve been able this year to reach out to more international producers and develop sites with them. We’re motivated to continue to lead our field and build on it.”
