The Entrepreneurs Silicon Valley Doesn't Want

Why I Built Sxgram for the Businesses Other Platforms Won't Fully Embrace

By Joseph Haecker, Founder of Sxgram

People often assume I built Sxgram because I wanted to compete with Meta, LinkedIn, or the other major social platforms. They're right about one thing: I absolutely intend to compete. Competition is healthy, and I believe entrepreneurs deserve more choices than they have today. But I didn't build Sxgram because I think those companies are evil. I built it because I believe they've left millions of entrepreneurs without a platform that truly wants them.

Let's start with something that might surprise people. I don't think Mark Zuckerberg was wrong to create Facebook around the idea of connecting friends and family. That was his vision, his company, and his dream. Likewise, Reid Hoffman built LinkedIn around professional networking, and he has every right to define the culture and direction of the platform he created. Entrepreneurs should be free to build the products they believe the world needs.

Where I begin to disagree is when those platforms become the primary infrastructure for modern business while simultaneously deciding which lawful businesses deserve visibility and which ones don't. Social media has evolved far beyond sharing family photos or updating a résumé. For millions of entrepreneurs, these platforms are now the equivalent of a storefront, a networking event, a trade show, a marketing agency, and a customer acquisition engine rolled into one. When a handful of companies control so much of that infrastructure, their policies have consequences that extend far beyond their own products.

No industry illustrates this better than the adult creator economy. Adult content creators didn't force their way onto social media platforms; they simply went where the customers already were. They built audiences, purchased advertising, drove engagement, and helped fuel the growth of some of the largest technology companies in history. Yet many creators have long described feeling like tolerated guests rather than valued customers, often navigating changing moderation policies, uncertain enforcement, and inconsistent visibility.

The debate over these issues continues today. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has publicly addressed concerns from creators about moderation and content recommendations, while explaining that the platform attempts to balance safety, advertiser expectations, and user experience. Whether one agrees with Meta's approach or not, the discussion itself demonstrates that creators in certain industries continue to experience uncertainty about how their businesses fit within the platform's long-term vision. That uncertainty is enough to motivate entrepreneurs to look elsewhere.

My disagreement isn't really about adult content. It's about entrepreneurship. I believe adult content creators, agencies, photographers, educators, and the countless businesses that support that ecosystem are exactly what they claim to be: businesses. They manage marketing campaigns, customer relationships, accounting, taxes, branding, software, production, and sales. Many employ photographers, editors, assistants, agencies, developers, and accountants. Whether someone personally approves of their industry doesn't change the fact that they are entrepreneurs.

As a conservative Christian Republican, I realize that statement may surprise some people. My faith is deeply important to me, and I don't hide it. But I also believe my relationship with God is exactly that—between me and God. The commandment I was given wasn't to police everyone else's profession or determine whose dream is worthy of success. It was to love my neighbor, and I believe that includes respecting another person's right to pursue a lawful business, even if it isn't one I would personally choose.

That's one of the reasons I consider myself both a capitalist and a strong believer in free enterprise. In a relatively free market, lawful businesses should be allowed to compete. Illegal activity should absolutely be removed, prosecuted, and prevented. Fraud, exploitation, abuse, and anything that violates the law deserve aggressive enforcement. But when a business is operating legally, I believe the marketplace—not the personal values of a technology company—should determine whether it succeeds or fails.

Some people will argue that private companies have every right to decide who can use their platforms. They're correct. Meta has that right. LinkedIn has that right. Every private company has the freedom to define its own products, establish its own policies, and pursue its own vision. My response isn't that they should be forced to change. My response is to build something different.

That's exactly why Sxgram exists. I didn't create Sxgram to convince Meta to become something it doesn't want to be. I created it because I believe millions of entrepreneurs deserve a platform that actually wants their business instead of merely tolerating it. If Facebook chooses to prioritize friends and family, I respect that. If LinkedIn chooses to define professionalism in its own way, I respect that too. I'll simply build a platform for the legal businesses those platforms either don't prioritize or don't fully embrace.

Our philosophy at Sxgram is intentionally different. We aren't interested in deciding whether an entrepreneur's lawful business fits our personal worldview. We're interested in asking a much simpler set of questions. Is the business legal? Is it honest? Is it operating ethically and within the law? If the answer is yes, then we believe that entrepreneur deserves access to tools that help them grow.

That philosophy extends well beyond the creator economy. Sxgram isn't just for adult creators. It's for restaurants, real estate agents, fitness professionals, musicians, authors, artists, startups, nonprofits, educators, coaches, photographers, and every other entrepreneur who believes they should own more of their audience and rely less on algorithms they can't control. The creator economy simply exposed a problem that affects every business owner: building a company on rented land is always risky.

Too many entrepreneurs have mistaken followers for ownership. They spend years building audiences on platforms where one policy update, one algorithm change, or one moderation decision can dramatically impact their business overnight. That's why I believe the future belongs to owned media, direct customer relationships, and platforms that see entrepreneurs as partners rather than liabilities. Social media should help people build businesses, not constantly remind them how little control they actually have.

Some people won't agree with my philosophy, and that's perfectly fine. They may believe technology companies should actively shape culture by deciding which industries deserve visibility. I take a different view. I believe technology should primarily empower entrepreneurs, while the law addresses illegal conduct and consumers decide which businesses they want to support. Those are two very different visions of the future.

In the end, this isn't really an argument against Meta, LinkedIn, or any other platform. It's an argument for competition. Every entrepreneur benefits when there are more choices, more business models, and more companies willing to serve markets that others overlook. I don't want to force anyone else to change their vision. I simply intend to build mine.

Sxgram wasn't created to be another version of Instagram or LinkedIn. It was created because I believe every lawful entrepreneur deserves the opportunity to compete, tell their story, build an audience, and grow a business without constantly wondering whether their industry is one policy update away from becoming unwelcome.

That's the future I believe in, and it's the future we're building.