"We built a platform that allows anyone to turn their passion into a business. It's all about giving power back to the creators"

- Tim Stokely

Tim Stokely has been referred to as "the king of homemade porn," and that happens for a reason: he founded OnlyFans, a platform that has properly cemented itself as the "hive" of amateur pornography.

While hosting pornographic content was not his original intention, but Stokely managed to pave the path towards creating a social media platform, where models can directly interact with their "fans," and get them paid through the platform's subscription-based business model.

Through OnlyFans, Stokely successfully managed to revolutionize adult content creation and monetization on the internet.

Early Life

Tim Stokely was born in 1983 in Harlow, Essex, England.

He grew up in a supportive and entrepreneurial family, which significantly influenced his path in life. His father, Guy Stokely, was a successful businessman, and because of this, he was exposure to business discussions and entrepreneurial thinking from a young age, which shaped his ambitions.

The young Stokely was an active and curious child, with an early interest in technology and business.

He attended a local school in Harlow and later pursued higher education at Anglia Ruskin University, where he studied Property and Surveying.

Although this field was different from the tech and online business world he would later dominate, his university experience helped him develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

It was through his upbringing in Essex and the influence of his entrepreneurial father, that were the key factors in shaping his entrepreneurial ambition.

Early Ventures

Before OnlyFans, Tim Stokely was no stranger to the world of online businesses.

His entrepreneurial journey began with smaller ventures, including a site called GlamGirls, which focused on glamour models. He then founded Customs4U, a website where users could request custom videos from pornographic models.

These early projects didn’t achieve the level of success Stokely wanted, but it was through this two early ventures, that gave Stokely the knowledge of the internet's adult entertainment industry.

Stokely managed to spot gaps in the market and create platforms that catered to niche audiences.

So here, instead of creating a platform where pornographic content from various agencies can be shared, or following the footsteps of Fabian Thylmann, for example, Stokely opted to create a subscription-based video on demand service and social media network.

Creating OnlyFans

With the idea of creating a platform where performers can monetize their content and interact with their audience directly.

This way, Tim Stokely sought to avoid the mistakes of his earlier ventures.

Stokely founded OnlyFans using a £10,000 loan from his father, Guy Stokely.

"Tim, this is going to be the last one," Guy Stokely said to his son, a statement that fueled his eagerness to succeed.

Tim Stokely asked his brother, Thomas Stokely to become the company's Chief Operating Officer.

And to ensure that his father has control over the expenses, the young Stokely made his father the head of finance for OnlyFans.

After two years later, in 2018, Stokely managed to secure more funding, including from businessman Leonid Radvinsky, owner of MyFreeCams, who then acquired acquired 75% ownership of OnlyFans' parent company Fenix International Limited.

With his huge investment, Radvinsky became one of its directors.

It was after this, under a new management, that OnlyFans became increasingly focused on adult content.

Soon after, the platform gained a pop culture reputation for being a hive of pornography."

The Rise of OnlyFans

OnlyFans experienced immense growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, the time when a lot of people around the world should engage in social distancing.

This practice prevented a lot of amateur and professional sex workers from providing physical contact to clients, which in turn prevented them from working the 'usual way'.

But OnlyFans, which provides the means for them to continue earning for a living, had its user and creator base on the platform grew by 75% between March and April in 2020.

Another notable thing that gave OnlyFans its instant boost of fame, was when the platform was mentioned by Beyoncé in the remix of the Megan Thee Stallion song, Savage.

At the time, traffic increased by 15%, with CEO Tim Stokely claiming that OnlyFans was seeing approximately 200,000 new users and 6,000-8,000 new creators register per day.

That year, OnlyFans also saw a lot of celebrities coming on board, including Cardi B, Rebecca Minkoff, and Tyler Posey, as well as media companies like Munchies and Barstool Sports join the platform, which further boosted interest in the site.

It's worth noting that despite being notorious for hosting porn, OnlyFans also hosts a lot of non-pornographic content.

By December 2020, OnlyFans had 85 million users and more than 1 million creators, generating more than $2 billion in sales that year.

A year later, in December 2021, Stokely announced that he would be stepping down, and that Indian-American businesswoman Amrapali Gan would be taking his place.

In 2023, Keily Blair was appointed CEO of OnlyFans, replacing Gan.

Personal Life

Tim Stokely has generally maintained a low profile and is known for being somewhat private, especially considering the high visibility of OnlyFans.

Unlike many tech entrepreneurs out there who thrive in the spotlight, Stokely has not sought out extensive publicity or media attention.

Regardless, he has participated in a number of interviews and made public appearances. But as OnlyFans grew in prominence, especially when it started to lean towards adult entertainment, Stokely tends to keep his public appearance to a minimum.

It appears that Stokely prefers letting the success of OnlyFans speak for itself rather than seeking personal fame or attention.

His approach to media and publicity seems to be pragmatic, in which he is more into engaging when necessary but not actively seeking attention.

Tim Stokely lives in a "gated mansion with a cinema and sauna" in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire.

Stokely cites the investor Warren Buffett and his book Warren Buffett on Business as one of his influences.