Worth

Who are you, what do you do and why do you do it?

I wanted to work for myself so I started John Worth Media Limited. That was ten years ago and the very first person I employed is still with us. These days we prefer to simply be called WORTH. First it was multimedia, then it was new media, now we call ourselves a digital media agency. Digital media is exciting, things don't stand still, there's always something new to be invented. I have always liked thinking creatively and looking at what is possible and this industry has given me the perfect opportunity to explore that.

Did you really want to become a founder member or were Nick's skills of persuasion too hard to resist?

I'm delighted that we have become founder members. Our company owes a great deal of its success to Wired Sussex and all the brilliant people who have worked for it over the years. I've been on the Wired Sussex board for five or six years so it's great to see the efforts of all the team come to fruition.

What's going to happen to Wired Sussex in the next five years?

Move over Silicon Valley. Wired Sussex is going to be the driving force behind making our region internationally recognised as a centre for creativity, productivity and enterprise in the digital industries.

What was your most unpleasant job (factory work included) and how did it help you to get where you are today?

For a short while in 1980 (when calculators were still a rarity) I was a waiter in a well-known restaurant in Sydney where they tried out a new, and rather dumb, scheme. You took the orders from the table but then, rather than go and present it to the kitchen you first had to ask for the money to be paid - up front. Customers were flabbergasted, indignant and most often rude, particularly when I totted up the bill incorrectly and had to go back and ask for more. It didn't really help me get where I am today, but ensured I never had any aspirations of a career in catering.

Everyone's got a book in them, what's yours?

Reminds me of the old acquaintances who meet up and one says to the other 'I'm writing a novel' and the other replies 'What a coincidence, neither am I'. Mine's a bit like that.

If you could pinch anyone's genius idea (myspace, youtube, the wheel) and claim it as your own, what would it be?

'Beam me up' technology has got to be the way to go. WiFi travel to anywhere you want on the planet. It has the double bonus of a being low emissions solution and cancelling out the misery of Terminal 2.

When you're not being a big cheese and making important decisions, what do you do for fun?

I try to convince my daughters that they don't need to go shopping.