Cam community leader Spotlight Alex Gheorghe

Alex Gheorghe Founder and Director of AW Summit

As a young man, Alex Gheorghe had a dream of working with and being surrounded by beautiful women. Little did he know, not only would he spend his entire career working with some of the most beautiful women in the world, he would end up helping them, and countless others, to create the lives they always dreamed of living in the process.

Growing up in Romania, as part of NATO, he had two choices after high school –go to college or enlist to serve in the army. Alex admits it was this choice that sent him to the hallways of higher learning, in Bucharest, more so than a burning desire to read the classics. While he was there, he would stumble upon his entire future one morning over breakfast.

Every morning he would have coffee and read the newspaper, dreaming of escaping to start the life he truly wanted to live. The papers were filled with ads looking for girls interested in becoming webcam models. Site after site promised big money to pretty girls not afraid to get naked in front of strangers online. A single, burning question arose in Alex’s young, caffeinated mind, clearing away the fog of confusion of what he should do with his life-if demand is this high, how can he get in?

A few hours later, he found himself at an internet café. Alex spent hours looking up cam sites. Back then, the internet was different in many ways, and Alex had little luck finding what he was looking for. After scouring the web, he finally managed to locate iFriends.net, the first cam site ever. Alex was fascinated. A plan began to form. Alex realized he could easily make a whole lot of money. Less than two years later he would go on to start the first cam studio in his hometown, inspired by that very moment.

That first studio didn’t last too long, just over two years. That didn’t slow Alex down. Always curious and eager to learn, the bright young Romanian began to soak up everything he could learn about the industry like a sponge. He fell in love with affiliate marketing. He honed his skills over the next five years. He leveled up his skills for design programming coding. In 2011, he came back with a new project and new studio–Night Prowl.

It was the Golden Age of the live cam business, back when they were able to do nearly anything and still make amazing money. It was during this time Alex grew, learning humility from his mistakes and pressing on with a clear passion and zeal that inspired those around him, lifting them up as well. Later he would go on to admit he cherished these salad days, and how his perceived missteps would ultimately bring him success and teach him to appreciate it.

For a while, he had another studio in Constanta where the AW Summit is now annually held. It did well above the industry, making plenty of money, but Alex found it to be too much of a distraction. He quickly realized it was impossible to focus on them both at the same time, that he would never be able to give them both the attention they needed to thrive. 

He’d discovered that the recipe for success was paying a lot of attention to the girls and their training. The best way to do that was to keep a small stable of talent and have them working hands-on with a tight crew. By his own admission, Alex never had more than twenty girls working at a studio at any given time working with a staff of eight or nine.

Alex firmly believed that girls that are well trained tend to stick around. He knew they would make good money, the kind that might change their lives. If he could help them see the possibilities, they would both win, and he’d get to keep working with a loyal group of happy workers. After all, there literally were no other options to make this kind of cash in Romania at the time. It wasn’t just that girls couldn’t find very high paying jobs, many had trouble getting ones that paid minimum wage. Live camming wasn’t just the easy way out. It was one of the only ways out.

The plan worked well. In fact, some of the original girls are still working at the studio today. Then two years ago he shifted his attention away from Night ProwlStudios to his newest passion, an online forum AWNews.com. It became his flagship, with articles and interviews and forums. Once again Alex brought together a skilled bunch of professionals from his team. Together they focused on consulting for the car industry with some products oriented towards existing cam sites that also know companies that want to go into the business, advising for them in business-to-business capacity. He also began designing an app for Studios to track payments and traffic stats all in one place.

The first Summit he held happened in February 2014 in the mountains of Romania with almost 200 people. All the attendants were studio owners, but no cam sites attended. The event turned out to be a huge success, creating new enthusiasm within the live cam community. It was a first for the Romanian market, which was at that time divided by fierce competition and embroiled in drama. Four months later in June Alex started the first show with campsites in Romania’s most popular resort destination, Mamaia, located on the Romanian Black Sea shore. He credits the success of the AW Summit to that first mountain meeting, noting that others who attempted to start shows ended up struggling while AW was a massive success from the start with hundreds of people registering and attending. The next year it was over a thousand. It continues to grow.

The focus of the show is on the core of the live cam business-Studios, models, and campsite owners, all making the connections they need to take their brand to the next level. But the chemistry has other companies interested as well, from basic hosting programmes to traffic pushers to mobile and more. Many come as attendees to see if AW Summit can help their business then return as sponsors after having great exposure. The idea for AW Summit came at the end of 2013. Alex was traveling a lot, exchanging thoughts, experiences and promoting one of his projects with other studio owners from Romania. During these travels, it became clear that a gathering of studios could be possible. Although the idea had been floated in live-cam forums for years, no one had taken the risk. 

Alex buckled down and fought through the inevitable obstacles, investing in the event itself and traveling all around the world to promote it. The effort took its toll on his existing businesses, but Alex toughed it out, seeing the bigger picture and all the good it could do. He’s An optimistic guy, who always likes to see the bright side of the story. Instead of revenue lost, he prefers to think of the investment made, as well as the wealth of new friends he has made all over the world as he continues to help the international live-cam business. Alex continues to grow what AW Summit can be, which takes time and requires a lot of traveling. He insists on being present at all international events, to keep in touch and gather ideas. For him, it’s a full-time job, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.

AW Summit offers endless opportunities for cam-oriented businesses, traffic companies, and more. The show is all about creating connections, evolving, and taking things to the next level. Hot new brands, including traffic companies, developer showcase the idea of a new product or feature for their website or app during the AWSummit.By connecting with other professionals, experts or consumers of their products, whether they’re another company, a studio, a model, or an affiliate, they are able to go further than they ever would in isolation. Models discover new revenue sources and ways to double and triple their income. Start-up companies can pitch to investors or other companies during the Business Incubator. There is even an Affiliates Meetup.

The AWAwards, known as the live cam communities most glamorous awards ceremony, happens during the summit. The show is broadcast live over the internet, the first one to be, and every year has hundreds of viewers watching live as well as thousands later watching the recording. Alex spends a lot of time and energy on the awards gala, adding fun, and artistic elements to have something special for the industry. He’s proud not only of his show but also of how it has inspired others as well.

This year, for the first time ever, the AWAwards featured two ceremonies. The first executives, such as Business Man or Business Woman of the Year, Creative Services, Marketing Services and so on. The second, which is set to take place the following day, will be the traditional Awards gala as it has been in years past. The EXECutives awards will be hosted by Stefano. The AW Awards will be hosted by Stefan Muhlbauer and Mia Saldarriaga.

  For more information visit https://www.awsummit.com/.