Bristol Junior Chamber

Minutes Tuesday 1st August 2017 6pm TLT Offices

Members Gemma Alaway, Danielle Argent, Henry Bacon, Thomas Bacon, Andrew Beazer,
Chris Bees, Hayla Blacknell, Ceris Bradley, Jill Brown, Oliver Brown, Jack Callow, Charles
Chami, John Clamp, Lucy Costain, Emma Custance-Baker, Berian Davies, Mike Dyer, James
Forward, Roxi Foster, Louise Gilmer, Ewelina Golebiewska, Catherine Harris, Sammy Hill,
Michael Holder, Benjamin Kenny, Russ Landau, Leon Musmann, Miles Nesbitt, Robert Nye,
Patricia Patilla Sanchez, Alice Peacock, Benjamin Pean, Rebecca Purchase, Nick Roberts,
Edward Romaine, Sam Rosoman, Ashley Sandeman, Toby Saunders, Jonathan Smith, Nicole
Spurling, Kirsty Swan, Megan Turnbull, James Warburton, Ben Yarrow (44 members).
Guests Dan Akers (TLT), Scott Avent (JM Finn), Daniel Barlow (Rolls Royce), Matt Body
(Dyson), Samantha Cable (TLT), Marcus Coates-Walker (St.Johns Chambers), Matthew Colla
(TC Group), Amy Difford (TLT), Holly Evans (TLT), Federica Fuda (Apple), Keiron Gallagher
(Pol Roger), Christopher Garland (Marketing), Chris Hall (Electric Fence Systems), Joe
Harker (JM Finn), Synne Hathway (VWV), Jorge Martinez Pizarro (Rolls Royce), Ashley
Milton (Stride Treglown), Alexandra Migunova (Mott MacDonald), Josh Mitchell (ADAS), Jed
Peacock (Moorhaven), Darwin Peltan (Pilot Works), Cressida Prout (Above & Beyond), Steven
Rice (TLT), Nina Searle (TLT), Luke Thorngate-Davies (TLT), Zarah Yandell (The Bristol
Hotel) (26 guests). Total 70 Attendees.
Charlie Chami Welcome from President and introduce Col Needham. Regularly in
top 50 most visited websites in the world.
Col Needham

Combination of watching Snow White, watching and being terrified by Jaws,

watching Star Wars and prevalence of video-stores, and getting first computer all
combined for a love of film. Losing track of which films had/had-not seen. Decided
to put this on an online database.
IMDb filled the gap of 30 year old US internet users, wanting to know what films
certain attractive actresses have appeared in.
Actress list, dead people list, directors list. Database needed, not lists so we can
search. Writers, composers people got in touch to ask for new lists, and got
involved to help.
Summer 93 Cardiff University student, introducing www for database software.
One of the first 100 websites to launch. 60 hits in an hour. Doubled, doubled and
doubled again. Crazy hobby became a full time obsession. Do we close it down
because we cannot run it, as a volunteer? Incorporate, sell advertising space? In
1995 there were a maximum of 10 websites that were ad-supported, a gamble. Met
4/20 people, by email agreed on a way to divide the share capital. Incorporated 4
directors in UK and 16 further shareholders, first time 4 of us met was in the lawyers
offices to sign the incorporation papers. First piece of advertising was for the film
Independence Day starring Will Smith.
Important ran as a profitable company, every time our revenue expanded enough we
would take on a person full time. December 1997 we had 6 paid employees, Amazon
approached to discuss some business ideas. Amazon was a very limited website,
selling books. Jeff Bezos explains that Amazon will be selling VHS and DVDs, and
anything is possible/development has been very fast in recent years.
 Q Do you still have a say? I have a say, and Amazon did not want to fiddle with
the website too much! Top recommendation; due diligence and find someone to
move to work with the person buying you, direct contact and trust. Establishing trust
through the ambassador. Keep same relationship, 20 years next April as part of
Amazon.
Q How have you come from film buff to CEO? Maintained passion!
Q How do you deal with hackers? People have to be registered? We know
everything you have submitted, and how accurate it is. Everything is vetted. Using
credits via Amazon video services too, to verify/check. We can also have things
reported and being taken down.
Q What can cities/property developers do to attract people like you? Its about
the people, and the variety. People working in a space, sharing ideas/experiences
initial contact with the Watershed/Dick Penny. Being located in a great city that
attracts great people.
Q When did you tweak your algorithm? 4 million titles, any regular customer can
vote and tally up votes every 35 minutes to update the site. Compile a list of the top
250 films based on those ratings. Every now and then, there will be something about
a pattern of votes that will require a tweak. It is not overhauled, but more of a
constant tweak. Every vote can in theory affect the rating of every other title.
Behind the scenes there are lots of weights and checks. You cannot really rate art on
a scale of 1-10.
Q There was a film out last year, The Promise, that got down voted We had a
larger volume of votes than people that had seen it, which flagged us to an issue. We
have to hope people will be honest.
Q Did you feel there was any competition to what you were doing? As an Amazon
company we are customer obsessed, but not competitor obsessed. Keep an eye, but
dont worry about them theyll never send you any money. By continually
innovating and saying yes to new ideas, we have been lucky enough to grow.
Q Is there a risk of fatigue? Where are the goals? The drive and the customer
focus is key. You can always invent things on behalf of customers, people are not shy
about telling you want they want from an online service. We have an abundance of
ideas which keep us on our toes. Stay focused on your customer.
Q End on Cols 10,000th movie A Monster Calls, a film last year, wonderful
touching story with a wonderful rising star, Felicity Jones and Sigourney Weaver.

------- Move to general BJC meeting

Kirsty Swan West of England strategy paper, high-level plans for economic growth. Online
survey request.
Ashley Sandeman Networking breakfast coming up.
Russell Landau Events Summer social last week was a great success, 55+ in attendance.
Next week is the Bristol Balloon Fiesta coming up, marquee at the arena. Tickets out tomorrow
in weekly email 1 ticket per person, members only. Thursday 10th August.
Megan Turnbull Education & Skills Thank you to those who contributed in the City
Leadership Programme, really inspirational and a huge thank you. Asks & Offers looking
into this with a programme of events.
Benjamin Pean Charity & Social Economy Link Bordeaux, Hanover and Bristol.
This year, taking this forward Lord Mayor led programme, business-lead.
--Close up 20.35--