OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair has revealed that the content platform functions with just 42 full-time employees, despite generating billions in revenue and serving hundreds of millions of users worldwide. Blair made the remarks during an appearance at the Web Summit in Lisbon, in a conversation with Masters of Scale podcast host Jeff Berman.
Founded in 2016 and best known for its subscription-based adult content ecosystem, OnlyFans has built a lean operational model by design. Blair told Berman that the company intentionally removed all middle-management layers, allowing a small team to run a platform used by 400 million registered users and 4 million creators.
Also Read | Bonnie Blue faces detention in Bali amid ongoing tour — Here’s what local media says
Berman noted that it was “very powerful” for a platform with annual revenue estimated at around USD 7 billion to function with such a small staff. Blair responded that the team is “a pretty efficient bunch,” crediting that efficiency to a flat organisational structure with no conventional managerial hierarchy.
A two-tier hiring model
According to Blair, OnlyFans hires in two very specific categories:
Highly experienced senior talent
Ambitious junior talent
“We hire incredibly senior talent, and then we hire incredibly hungry junior talent,” she said during the session. She added that the company prioritises “attitude and aptitude” over long resumes and avoids what she described as “a squidgy layer of middle management.”
“In my experience, nobody’s ever had a really good middle manager,” she said, explaining why OnlyFans eliminated the traditional corporate hierarchy entirely.
Also Read | Global sensation ‘Labubu’ set for film adaptation; Sony secures rights
Blair also rejected the idea that leadership should be judged by the number of people a manager oversees. “You can be a team of one and deliver exceptional results, and that will be so valued,” she said. Employees at the company work entirely as individual contributors, with no managerial track.
Reflecting broader tech-industry trends
Blair, who became CEO in 2023 after a career in law, said OnlyFans’ structure aligns with a growing trend in the tech sector, where major companies are reducing middle-management roles to increase efficiency. The platform’s ability to operate at massive scale with a very small workforce, she suggested, demonstrates the strength of this organisational model.
