In 2001, the bursting dotcom bubble left many investors empty handed. Nevertheless, three old school friends found themselves planning to start an online business. Despite "bad timing", the trio were convinced that internet video advertising was going to be "massive", recalls Telemetry co-founder Anthony Rushton, now 39. Rushton was so convinced that he quit his job at an advertising agency and joined up with Russell Irwin and Beau Chesluk software developers who had worked on the classic Nintendo hit, Golden Eye.
At the agency, Rushton had noticed how difficult it was to measure the success of online advertising. So the trio decided to develop a tool that could do this analysis. But they lacked money. The partners only had £10,000 each to invest, which was "nowhere near enough". To raise more they began making online games that companies could use to draw attention to their brands. The project combined "my advertising experience and their skill in making games". The firm, The JD Project, "acted like vultures, bidding for any job no matter how small" and eked out sales of £70,000 in the first year. Living on "subsistence wages", they pumped any spare money back into the business. "Technically the stuff we were doing was very good but it just wasn't making lots of money." But gradually the firm gained traction and raised its profile when it won a contract to build a 3D snowboard simulator for skin products firm Clearasil.
The extra revenue meant the team could start working on "Patron Saint" the codename for their online video analysis platform. A big breakthrough came in the summer of 2003 when they won a contract to make a broadband version of the hit quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? "A lot of bigger firms bid for it so we were delighted to win." The win allowed them to hire more staff and gave them more experience working with online video. That in turn helped them develop Patron Saint. By now, timing was firmly on their side. Broadband internet connections were rapidly replacing slower dial-up, making it easier for people to watch TV online. They won contracts for more shows, such as Deal Or No Deal. Eventually they decided to set up an online TV channel, WeDigTV. It broadcast online versions of shows with interactive functions that allowed viewers to alter the course of the show. That won them an Emmy Award for innovation.
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It also proved a hit with advertisers. Household cleaning giant Reckitt Benckiser snapped up nearly all the slots. This was the perfect opportunity for Patron Saint to be tested. The firm, now called Telemetry, began using the platform to analyse how different advertisements were performing. Benckiser were so impressed Rushton offered to run the analysis on all of Benckiser's online advertising campaigns. "They loved it because it gave them an independent way to check up on the efficiency of their online advertisements." The contract pushed Telemetry's sales up to £19m last year. Deloitte values the firm at £175m and the trio are considering a stockmarket launch in 2015.
With other advertisers circling, Rushton says his firm "is only at the beginning of the growth cycle". Next up are online versions of feature films.
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