New York (CNN Business) Jamie Dimon had recently been fired from Citigroup and had visions of living on a houseboat when he flew to Seattle after receiving a call from an Amazon headhunter in 1997.

Amazon AMZN On that trip, Dimon had lunch withfounder and CEO Jeff Bezos. That meeting became the start to a decades-long friendship that has spurred new ventures and inspired the leadership style of the JPMorgan Chase CEO.

"We just hit it off and we've been friends ever since," Dimon told Poppy Harlow in an interview for the CNN documentary "The Age of Amazon."

Bezos wanted Dimon to join Amazon, which at the time was a three-year-old, money-losing company with fewer than 300 employees. But Dimon, who had spent his life in financial services, felt he'd be a "fish out of water" at the e-retailer. He told Bezos a job at Amazon wasn't for him, though he now wishes he'd bought the stock when the company made its public listing that same year, at $18 per share. Now it trades above $1,700.

"Most of my money was always involved in my companies," Dimon said. "But in this particular case I should have said, 'You know what, this is different. I'm going to make an investment in that guy.'"

Read More