Based in Shoreditch, Makeshift is a new kind of company that sits somewhere between a startup accelerator and a product design studio that invents, incubates, invests in and launches digital products that ‘give a leg up to the little guy’. Structured in a triangle of business, technology and design, the founders Paul Birch, Stef Lewandowski and Nick Marsh have collectively helped to make lots of things previously, including Aframe, Bebo and Sidekick Studios.

The four founders of Makeshift have been joined by upstarts Jon Gold and Nathan Miller. Employees of Makeshift spend 100% time on projects they are interested in as long as they are collaborating, while holidays and office hours aren’t counted. Their first couple of products include Bitsy, which allows individuals to sell digital things they’ve made directly to the people in their networks, and Help Me Write which helps writers decide what to write about by asking their networks what they’d like to read about. They’re developing many other new ideas rapidly and are currently looking for a Design Director amongst other roles.