Both FanFix Founders Have Now Left the Company. Here’s What It Means for Creators.

Harry Gestetner and Simon Pompan built FanFix from nothing. Gestetner started it at his kitchen table. Pompan joined as a sophomore working out of his dorm room at Vanderbilt University. Together they grew the platform to over 5 million active paying users, $100 million in annual recurring revenue, $10 million in EBITDA, and paid out over $250 million to creators. They sold the company to SuperOrdinary in 2022 for an eight-figure sum and both made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. By every measure, a startup success story.

Now both of them are gone.

Gestetner left FanFix and SuperOrdinary back in April 2025. In a LinkedIn post announcing his departure, he wrote that Dylan Harari would be taking over as Co-CEO alongside Pompan, and that he was “very proud to hand over the torch.” He’s since moved on to launch a new company called Orion, where he’s now Founder and CEO.

Then this week, Pompan followed. In a LinkedIn post just hours ago, he announced he’s stepping away as CEO of FanFix and CPO of SuperOrdinary after 5 years. He said he’ll continue to advise leadership going forward and expressed “full faith in Dylan Harari to lead Fanfix into its next chapter.” Pompan has already moved on too. He quietly joined Erebor, a fintech startup, several weeks before his public departure announcement.

Two founders. Both gone. Both already building something new. And FanFix is now being run entirely by people who didn’t create it, under a parent company whose core business has nothing to do with creator tools. For the platform’s creators, many of whom are already exploring alternatives like Passes (which charges half the fees and offers significantly more features), the timing raises uncomfortable questions about what comes next.

The Problems FanFix Has Been Stacking Up

Even before the founders left, FanFix was losing ground to competitors like Passes that offer lower fees and deeper creator tools. The platform positioned itself as the “clean” alternative to OnlyFans. No explicit content, no nudity, just creators connecting with fans through subscription content. That PG-only positioning helped land mainstream press coverage and attract Gen Z creators who didn’t want to be associated with adult content platforms.

But the cracks have been showing for a while.

The fee structure never got competitive. FanFix takes 20% of creator earnings, the same rate as OnlyFans. When the platform launched, 20% was standard. In 2025, it’s not. Platforms like Passes now charge just 10%, meaning creators keep 90% of their earnings compared to 80% on FanFix. For a creator making $5,000 a month, that’s $500 in extra fees every month, $6,000 a year, going to a platform that hasn’t shipped a major new feature in ages.

Better Business Bureau complaints paint a rough picture. Multiple BBB complaints describe situations where users were charged for subscriptions even after creators stopped posting or deleted their content entirely. Some reports describe the experience as “scam-like.” When your platform has billing complaints at the BBB, that’s not a PR problem. That’s a trust problem.

The PG-only restriction became a ceiling. What initially seemed like smart positioning ended up limiting creator earnings. Creators who wanted to monetize more aggressively through exclusive content couldn’t. Fans who were willing to pay premium prices for more personal content had no reason to stay when every other platform offered more flexibility. The “clean” brand attracted mainstream attention but trapped creators in a low-monetization box.

The tools stayed basic while competitors shipped. While platforms like Passes were building out paid DMs, pay-per-minute video calls, digital marketplaces, CRM systems for fan management, and anti-screenshot content protection, FanFix’s feature set remained largely unchanged. Subscriptions. Content posts. That’s about it. At 20% fees with a fraction of the tools that Passes offers at 10%, creators started asking what exactly they were paying for.

Why the Founder Departures Matter More Than They Look

When one founder leaves a company they’ve sold, it’s a transition. When both founders leave within months of each other, both with new ventures already lined up, that tells a different story.

Gestetner didn’t stick around to see what came next. He left in April 2025, launched Orion, and moved on. Pompan stayed a few months longer as CEO but was already involved with Erebor before he publicly announced his departure. Neither founder left and took a break. They left and immediately started building something else. That’s the behavior of people who’ve decided the best version of their future isn’t at FanFix.

What’s worth noting is that both departures came during a period when FanFix was accumulating real problems and losing ground to better-tooled competitors. SuperOrdinary, the parent company, is a global brand accelerator focused on marketplace operations and brand partnerships. Not creator tools. With both founders gone, the question isn’t just who’s running FanFix. It’s whether anyone left at SuperOrdinary has the creator economy expertise and conviction to build what the platform desperately needs.

Dylan Harari taking over might be exactly the fresh energy FanFix needs. Or it might be a holding pattern while the parent company figures out what to do with an asset that’s getting outcompeted on every front. Creators don’t have the luxury of waiting around to find out.

Where FanFix Creators Are Going

The creator economy doesn’t wait for platforms to sort themselves out. When the value proposition stops making sense, creators move. And right now, the math on FanFix is getting hard to justify.

The biggest beneficiary of FanFix’s struggles has been Passes. The overlap between what FanFix promised creators and what Passes actually delivers is almost one to one, except Passes does more for less.

Here’s how the two stack up:

That table is pretty damning for FanFix. You’re paying double the fees for roughly half the features, on a platform that just lost its founders and has an uncertain product roadmap.

The 10% fee difference alone is significant. A FanFix creator earning $8,000/month loses $1,600 to the platform. That same creator on Passes loses $800. Over a year, that’s $9,600 back in the creator’s pocket. But the feature gap matters even more than the fees.

Paid DMs on Passes let creators monetize conversations that they’re currently having for free on FanFix. Pay-per-minute calls add a premium revenue stream that FanFix doesn’t even attempt. The marketplace lets creators sell merch, digital downloads, and memorabilia alongside their subscription content. And the CRM gives creators visibility into who their best fans are, who’s about to churn, and what content drives the most revenue.

That last piece is worth emphasizing. Most creator platforms, FanFix included, give you a subscriber count and some basic revenue numbers. Passes gives you actual business intelligence. The kind of data that lets you make smarter decisions about pricing, content strategy, and fan engagement. For creators who take their business seriously, that’s a competitive advantage that compounds over time.

Then there’s content protection. FanFix offers essentially nothing on this front. Passes built anti-screenshot technology that prevents users from capturing locked content, unique watermarks that trace leaks back to specific users, and a dedicated DMCA team that actively pursues takedowns. For creators whose income depends on exclusivity, the difference between “nothing” and “active protection” is real money.

The Bigger Pattern: What Happens When Platforms Stop Innovating

FanFix isn’t the first creator platform to hit this wall, and it won’t be the last. The pattern repeats: a platform launches with a good idea, gains traction, gets acquired or stops investing in product development, and gradually falls behind while newer platforms eat their lunch. The platforms that survive are the ones that keep shipping. Passes, for example, has been adding features aggressively (paid DMs, pay-per-minute calls, a full marketplace, CRM, anti-screenshot tech) while FanFix’s product has stayed largely static since its acquisition.

Vine did it. Vine dominated short-form video and then failed to evolve while competitors caught up. Musical.ly did it. Tumblr did it with its creator community. Each time, the creators who moved early to better platforms thrived, and the ones who stayed loyal to a declining platform watched their income stagnate.

The smart move for FanFix creators right now isn’t to panic. It’s to evaluate their options while they still have leverage. Moving to a platform like Passes when you’re choosing to leave is very different from scrambling to migrate when the platform is in crisis mode.

Is FanFix Shutting Down?

FanFix is not shutting down as of 2026, but both co-founders have departed the company and creators are increasingly migrating to lower-fee platforms like Passes. The platform is still operational, still has millions of users, and Dylan Harari has taken over leadership. Founders leaving a company they sold isn’t inherently a death sentence.

But both founders leaving within months of each other, both with new companies already in motion, is more than a standard transition. It’s a signal that the people who knew the creator economy best, who built the product and understood what creators needed, have decided their futures are elsewhere. Combined with FanFix’s 20% fee (double what Passes charges at 10%), limited feature set, BBB complaints about persistent billing, and PG-only content restrictions, many creators are choosing not to wait and see what happens under new leadership.

The creator platform market has gotten dramatically better since FanFix launched. Platforms like Passes now offer half the fees, significantly more monetization tools (paid DMs, 1-on-1 calls, a marketplace, a CRM), and actual content protection with anti-screenshot technology. FanFix earned its place in the creator economy story. Whether it earns a spot in the next chapter depends entirely on what new leadership does with a platform that’s overdue for a serious upgrade.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did the FanFix founders leave? Both FanFix co-founders have now departed the company. Harry Gestetner left FanFix and parent company SuperOrdinary in April 2025 after 4.5 years, and has since launched a new company called Orion. Simon Pompan stepped down as CEO of FanFix and CPO of SuperOrdinary in March 2026 after 5 years, and had already joined fintech startup Erebor prior to his public announcement. Dylan Harari has taken over leadership. Both founders left during a period of growing creator complaints about fees, limited features, and billing issues, and both immediately moved on to new ventures.

Is FanFix similar to OnlyFans? FanFix operates on a similar subscription model to OnlyFans but restricts content to PG-only (no nudity or explicit material). Both platforms charge creators a 20% fee. However, FanFix lacks many features that competitors offer. Passes, for example, charges only 10%, includes paid DMs, pay-per-minute calls, a digital marketplace, a CRM, and content protection, while supporting all types of creators without content restrictions.

How much was FanFix sold for? FanFix was sold to SuperOrdinary in 2022 for an eight-figure sum. The exact price was not publicly disclosed. At the time of sale, the founders Harry Gestetner and Simon Pompan had built the platform shortly after graduating college.

How much do people make on FanFix? FanFix creator earnings vary widely, but the platform’s 20% fee means creators keep only 80% of their revenue. Creators exploring higher-earning alternatives are increasingly switching to platforms like Passes, which charges 10% (keeping 90% of revenue) and offers additional monetization tools like paid DMs, pay-per-minute calls, and a digital marketplace that FanFix doesn’t provide.

What is the best FanFix alternative? The best FanFix alternative for creators in 2026 is Passes. It offers a 10% platform fee (half of FanFix’s 20%), significantly more features (paid DMs, 1-on-1 calls, group chats, a marketplace, a CRM, and content protection), and supports all types of creators without PG-only content restrictions. For FanFix creators earning $5,000/month, switching to Passes means keeping an extra $500/month ($6,000/year) from fee savings alone.

Does FanFix have explicit content? No. FanFix has a strict PG-only content policy that prohibits nudity and explicit material. This limits what creators can offer and how much they can charge. Platforms like Passes and OnlyFans allow broader content types, giving creators more flexibility in their monetization strategy.