Page 43 - AVN March 2016

by SHARANSTREET
GayVN Lights Up Internext CockyBoys CEO Jake Jaxson delivers keynote
of being an “accidental pornographer,”
talking about how he fell into the
business, what inspires him about his
work, and his difficulty in being open
about his career. Throughout, he put
several questions to the audience,
including whether they shared his
“accidental” status or had ever lied
about their jobs.
For Jaxson, his “outing” as a
pornographer was very public: His
name was unearthed in a lawsuit
involving reporter Glenn Greenwald,
and when mainstream reporters came
calling, he had not yet told his parents
what he actually did for a living. “They
thought I was in marketing,” he said
wryly.
In the end, the experience was
liberating. “The moment I said, ‘This
is what I do and this is who I am,’ my
business shot up like a rocket.” Once he
realized the benefits of living “without
fear,” Jaxson said, he instituted some
changes when he signs performers. “My
first rule is they have to tell their family
what they do. ... I don’t want anyone
working with me who lives in fear
about what they’re doing and what they
should be celebrating.”
“The moment I said,
‘This is what I do and
this is who I am,’ my
business shot up
like a rocket.”
—Jake Jaxson, CEO,
CockyBoys
Jaxson also talked about what is
important to him as a company owner.
“I’m the worst business person in the
word. I do not look at the analytics, I do
not look at the charts.”
When he first bought CockyBoys
several years ago, he said, “I had never
run a website, I had never produced
porn.” And that freshness led him
to question everything about the gay
adult industry, he explained, including
attitudes about the performers and the
fans. While it can be easy to feel like
“all they do is bitch ... and opinions
are like assholes,” he put his own spin
on the old adage: “Everybody has an
within-a-show held during
GayVN@Internext, the show-
the Internext Expo, turned
out to be a true coming
together of the biggest brands in gay
adult entertainment.
Representatives from CockyBoys,
Cybersocket, Falcon, Helix Studios,
Lucas Entertainment, Manhunt, Naked
Sword, Next Door Studios, Oh Man
Studios, Rascal, Titan Media and other
companies congregated in the halls
and meeting rooms of the Hard Rock
Jan. 17-18 for a program of seminars,
socializing and soirees that adeptly
mixed business and pleasure.
Setting the tone for the show
was a new feature: the first-ever
GayVN@Internext Welcome Brunch,
sponsored by Flirt4Free and Mr. Man,
and featuring a keynote address by
CockyBoys chief Jake Jaxson. As guests
filed in to hit the buffet and take their
seats, they found plenty of goodies
for their swag bags, including a cozy
Flirt4Free scarf and flashy Mr. Man
socks.
After brief introductions from Jeff
and Jamie of Flirt4Free and Mr. Skin’s
Sam Rakowski, Jaxson took the stage.
As eloquent as he was entertaining,
the CockyBoys entrepreneur gave an
insightful address that would have felt
right at home at a TED Conference,
staying true to that non-profit
organization’s mission statement to
promote “ideas worth spreading.”
In a passionate call for his industry
peers to take more joy in the work
they do, Jaxson shared his own story
asshole—and they want it tickled.”
He also spoke about porn fans’
ambivalence toward the product they
consume, because of prevailing negative
attitudes about sex. “I’m still fucked up
sexually. I’m fucked up about sex and
I’m a pornographer. Imagine the people
on the other end.”
Part of the process of making
people less “fucked up sexually” is to
expose them to porn, Jaxson said. “I
was realizing there was a disconnect
between our companies and our
customers. ... we’re not doing enough
to connect with our customers to
tell them [porn is] part of sexual
celebration and sexual health.”
In his final question to the audience,
Jaxson asked whether they believed
“what we’re creating has meaning,
power and purpose.”
He answered his own question: “I
believe it does. I believe strongly that it
does.”
Fortified by brunch, attendees headed
for speed networking with a wide array
of companies, among them AEBN,
Adult Empire, BuddyProfits, CCBill,
Data One, JuicyAds, Mobius, Netbilling,
Oh Man, OrbitalPay, PornKing.com,
Traffic Shop, Vendo and Verotel.
After that it was off to Pink Taco
for an open-bar happy hour sponsored
by Manhunt and Verotel—and for the
night owls, a trip to Share nightclub for
the HustlaBall Las Vegas closing party.
GayVN@Internext events continued
the next day with seminars sponsored
by Supermen.com, speed networking
sponsored by Mr. Man and Flirt4Free,
and the GayVN Lounge, sponsored by
Cybersocket.
Out at GayVN Among the major players were
CockyBoys CEO Jake Jaxson (top left), Cybersocket’s
Morgan Sommer, HustlaBall’s Fabrice Marino,
TitanMen Diesel Washington and Dallas Steele,
Channel 1’s Chi Chi La Rue, BuddyProfits’ Ewan French,
and Falcon Studios’ Tim Valenti and Toby Morris.
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