James Norman

James Norman is a serial entrepreneur who at the age of 16 built his first online company, an aftermarket automotive e-commerce site called MJH Sound.com. While previously he may have been known as a visionary in automotive product planning, over the past 10 years in the media and entertainment industry he has become a thought leader in over-the-top media and consumer video consumption behaviors.

In 2008, James founded Ubi Video, one of the first aggregators of all things streaming video. After a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) offered to acquire Ubi’s technology, he moved on to develop GroupFlix, an a-la-carte streaming service. By cleverly bundling electronic sell-through (EST) content, allowing users to select the shows they love in a low monthly subscription, GroupFlix was the first viable a-la-carte TV model. His latest venture, Pilotly, is a consumer insights platform that enables content creators to get feedback from audiences at scale. Today, the platform provides insights to the NBCUniversal family, Snapchat, Doner agency, and others.

James earned his BSE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan and is a proud member of the 500 Startups family. He was given the OTT Genius Award by the OTT Executive Summit in 2014. He has also been recognized for excellence in special automotive projects by Mazda Design North America and Sony Gran Turismo.