Ashley Davidson

At the tender age of 23 Ashley is already a serial entrepreneur having invented a hoodie cover for ipods, described by personal-players.com like this:

“Entrepreneur Ashley Davison first came up with the idea at the age of 21 after his search for a cool case came to no avail. Miniaturizing an item of clothing and dressing up his iPod was the idea. So he enlisted the help of his mum to make the first prototype hoodie. Before long he had to quite his part time jobs to handle the demand of his success.

The hoodie is a youth icon, they bring terror into the eyes of old people, and some shopping arcades have even banned shoppers from wearing them. So why not turn your iPod into a bad ass teen! Your oldies might not approve but your mates will love it.”

Ashley has since sold the rights to this business so he can concentrate on the next venture.

The first thing you should know about this site is that it was designed, developed, produced and made by Ashley after he taught himself how to code and design.

The next thing you should know is its purpose. The site has two main audiences in mind:

• Individuals who’ve come up with an idea/concept/innovation and want feedback
• Large corporates who want to put their own ideas out there and test the market

This is what Ashley has to say about the site:

“Everyone has ideas about what they want from the everyday objects they surround themselves with and many have general views about the sorts of product improvements they would like to see. But few have the mind of an inventor and even fewer have the technology through which to express their ideas.

At the same time, manufacturers and marketing departments increasingly respect the wishes and ideas of their customers but can’t always find a way to let customers express what they mean without looking foolish.

Fixdit is a pioneering open source platform that lets people express their product ideas and issues in a structured way through an in-browser 3D interface that allows everyone to get as close to the objects as possible and interact, making user-led innovation not only practical but also easy and fun. New or better ideas do not always emerge from formal research and development and users need to play an increasingly active part in identifying needs and finding solutions. A ‘user’ can, of course, be an individual, a school class, a community or a business.”

The site was only recently launched but already it looks good and inviting! Definitely one to watch in 2009!