Madison Solutions

Madison's Matt Chambers Wins Business Person Of The Year

Digital media entrepreneur Matt Chambers is the toast of the town after scooping a top business award.

Matt, 41, founded Madison Solutions while working out of a flat in Brighton in 2010. Since then, the website building company has grown into a digital media agency of 12 members of staff operating out of a headquarters in Peacehaven. Working with everyone, from big banks to sole traders, the focus is very much on supporting his clients grow - with Madison covering all aspects from designing and building websites to creating monthly marketing packages to acting as consultants on web security.

After being named business person of the year at Seahaven Business Awards, Matt claimed the secret to his success was treating his members of staff as a family. Central to his philosophy is recruiting a mix of leading developers and those who have just left education, who all learn through a programme of in-house training. As to who he hires, well that is partly decided by an online spreadsheet in which employees can make clear which tasks they enjoy and which they do not. He explains: "If someone doesn't like an area in their remit then they can drop it into the empty column on the spreadsheet.

"Then when we next recruit somebody, we will look to bring someone in to do the jobs that no one likes doing. After all, one man's junk is another man's treasure." He goes on to explain "If people are forced to do bits of work that they hate then chances are they will do it badly. Our approach tries to eliminate that." Matt has received praise for working with Brighton-based Possibility People to hire a number of people with disabilities. This 'people before profits' approach helped his company also come second in the Seahaven Business of the Year category of the awards.

The family metaphor extends to his client base too, where he says he is constantly thinking of ways in which he can help them grow and work together. His emphasis on supporting his clients means that he inspires loyalty, something he claims saves his company in the long run as it means his staff can focus on getting results rather than sales. It also gives him more time to fulfil his passions, such as long distance running (he's run three marathons) and restoring old cars (he's just finished an old Jaguar and next is a pre-war Ford). Matt said: "The point of Madison is it to create a lifestyle for everyone who works in it. We are all a family and we look after each other. All of us are paid fairly, we have a reasonable lifestyle, we all want to be comfortable, but we also all like to have a life and interests outside of the day job. When at work, the emphasis is on working for nice customers who appreciate our skills and respect everyone working within the business."