Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/518838
w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m J u n e 2 0 15 • I NSIGH T | 15 I G R EW U P I N ST. LOU I S A N D worked in the advertising/marketing/ public relations industry in Chicago, where I met my wife Paula (a native of the Fox Valley). I decided I'd take a sales job in Wisconsin, and I was working for FedEx for five years when I had the idea for Fix It Sticks. Cycling is the passion in my life. It's pretty much the number one thing I think about, all day long: How I'm going to get my bike ride in, about my bikes, or buying a bike. Now, I think about the bike industry, but it still hasn't gotten old. In the winter, I was training on my bike in my office and a part broke. I fixed it with a very popular tool called a three-way wrench. I got back on the bike and was just sitting there in the middle of winter in Wisconsin figuring out why this ubiquitous tool could not be carried with you on the ride. So I thought of the two sticks with the intersecting hole in the middle. ere's a guy at Specialized Repair in Appleton who prototyped my first set. First time I had them in my hands, I was like, 'Oh yeah, this is really cool.' en we started perfecting, perfecting, perfecting, and I got in touch with an engineer through Fox Valley Brian Davis on successful crowdfunding U P F R O N T FACE TIME P H O T O G R A P H B Y B I L L K A P I N S K I / I M A G E S T U D I O S , F O R I N S I G H T Appleton resident Brian Davis, founder of the bicycle repair tool company Fix It Sticks, has launched three successful Kickstarter.com campaigns and now distributes worldwide. He sat down with contributing writer Nikki Kallio to talk about his passion for cycling and the benefits of putting your product to the public test. [continued ] »