Subject: Exciting update on the future of MintStars
Dear MintStars Creators,
I co-founded MintStars in 2021 because I had seen the financial discrimination and exploitation that online sex workers faced on existing platforms and believed there ought to be an alternative. As many of you know, fighting for sex workers’ rights is a cause close to my heart - I am a PhD student studying the sex workers’ rights movement in Latin America, and I also co-founded the Boston Sex Workers and Allies Collective three years ago.
Founding a business was never something I imagined myself doing, but when Dan and I began talking about our idea for MintStars, I realized we had the opportunity to make a material difference in many people’s lives. I envisioned that MintStars should be an ethical, feminist platform that did things differently from other platforms. But it never sat quite right with me to call ourselves ethical while we remained a for-profit company with the same economic model as every other company. In my ideal world, we would be a co-op, owned and operated by our creators.
Yet as we built MintStars, I saw how our current economic system creates barriers that make it extremely difficult for alternative models to survive and thrive. Building a large-scale platform is extremely expensive, and the established players have millions and billions of dollars to out-compete indie platforms. Traditional investors often have restrictions against investing in the adult industry, and most startups in the industry fail due to lack of capital. I began to envision a hybrid model that would enable us to share ownership with our creators while still attracting the investment we need to continue to grow the company.
Two years ago, we promised you that MintStars would one day be 10% owned by its creators. Today, I’m excited to share we are doubling this promise. I am donating my shares in the company to create a 20% co-ownership pool for our creators. The other 3% of my current 23% ownership stake is being donated to SWOP Behind Bars, a non-profit that supports incarcerated sex workers and sex trafficking survivors in the U.S. and fights for the full decriminalization of sex work.
The ownership will be allocated to our creators in proportion to their contributions to the platform — we will be launching a points system that enables you to earn ownership for helping MintStars grow. In the future, if the company is sold or begins to pay out dividends to shareholders, creators will be paid out in proportion to how many points they hold. This will be allocated via “phantom shares,” which give you the right to the financial benefits associated with the shares, without having to pay taxes on them until you receive a payout. Upon launch, creators will earn points for three activities: revenue earned, referrals made, and number of months actively using the platform. This means that you will share in the profits of the company’s success, in a fair proportion to how much you’ve contributed.
We’ll be rolling this system out in the next few weeks. Points will be awarded retroactively, so you’ll see that you’ve already earned points based on how long you’ve been active on the platform and your past revenue and referrals. You’ll also need to opt in to become a co-owner by paying $1 from your platform balance. The co-ownership system will launch in July.
Alongside these financial benefits we’ll also be ensuring sex workers’ voices are prioritized in our decision-making. I am transferring all the voting rights associated with my shares to SWOP Behind Bars, who will vote on company decisions based on their mission to advance sex workers’ rights. We will also be creating a Creator Advisory Board consisting of four creators: two who will be elected democratically by our creators, and two creators with the most points on the platform. They will serve a one year term and advise our leadership on future platform decisions. We welcome your feedback on these new initiatives and would love to hear how you’d like to see them develop in the future.
The adult industry has always been at the forefront of innovations in the economy, and I hope that by launching this model, we can serve as a pioneer for other companies to follow suit. I envision a world where one day, all workers have ownership in the products they help build.
With this step, which completes my personal mission to launch a company for and by adult content creators, I will also be officially moving on from my position as a Director at MintStars. In the past year, my PhD research has faced attacks from anti-sex work organizations that have attempted to use my affiliation with MintStars to undermine the credibility of my research. I would never want my work with the company to prevent my research and activism from benefiting sex worker communities, so it is time for me to pass the baton. I am thrilled to share that Allie Eve Knox is joining MintStars as our new Team Lead — you may know her from her work at SpankChain and her advocacy with the Free Speech Coalition.
We are also welcoming a new Social Media Manager, longtime MintStars creator Kiara Skye. I am so grateful to them and to Dan, Corii, MJ, Emi, Moe, Alistair, Fabio, and all our team members current and past who have enabled MintStars to thrive against all odds.
Thank you to all of you who have believed in us and put your trust in us. It’s been an immense honor to work with you, and I can’t wait to watch how you all continue to grow MintStars together.
Best,
Jessica Van Meir