Marcum was trying to start his own wood industry business, but didn’t have the resources to get it up and running. They also found out Marcum had recently been laid off from a wood industry job he’d held for many years. It would be a lot less risk for them, too.”Īmmerman and Ditsch identified John Marcum of Somerset, who’d taken some wood industry classes and workshops at the center. We knew we could train them at the wood center and allow them to build the first few items here. “We thought it would be neat if we could find a Kentucky entrepreneur trying to start their own business and brought them into the mix. “We knew there needed to be a second step what happens when he sells the product and he needs someone to build it?” Ammerman said. With the technology and display case ideas in place, it was time to take the project to a new level. Briggs said the folks at RCARS, especially Doran Howard in the Wood Utilization Center, easily finished the product, and the funeral industry representative was impressed enough to become Brigg’s first official client. He told Briggs his ideas and then asked Briggs to build a prototype in four weeks. UK really came through, and they took over building the prototype, and that allowed us to invest our limited resources in making the product marketable.”īriggs said he and Templeton had some interest from a funeral industry representative in England. “We had limited resources and really wanted to put our money into the technology and selling our product. And with wood as part of the display case, we got that,” Briggs said. “We came to UK because we have a techie product, but we wanted it to have some warmth. Visitors may add their own memories via a keyboard leave their email address so they get memorial updates and even instantly donate to the family’s chosen charities. There, family and friends can interact with the display case that houses mementos, a slideshow or video and other items related to the deceased. Currently, Briggs is testing the technology in a funeral home in Pennsylvania. It’s basically an interactive glass box with far-reaching potential in museums, funeral homes, churches and other places. The lights sort of came on in our heads, and we thought, ‘yes, we can help him do this.’”īriggs, who followed family roots to call Eastern Kentucky home, wanted help building a prototype to house his invention he calls a clarifier. “Then Cary Briggs showed up with ideas for incorporating some interesting technology in a product idea, but needed a way to hide some of the electronic components of his design, and he felt wood would be a good way to do that. “Several months ago I sat down with David (Ditsch, RCARS director), and we talked about expanding what we’re doing at RCARS to help create jobs by helping entrepreneurs reduce a lot of the upfront risk that goes along with starting a business,” said Bobby Ammerman, extension specialist at RCARS for the UK Department of Forestry. He visited with faculty and staff at the University of Kentucky’s Robinson Center for Appalachian Resource Sustainability (RCARS) and started a chain of events that could have benefits beyond his own company, Envelop Media. Entrepreneur Cary Briggs and his business partner Scott Templeton had some great ideas using interactive glass, but they could only go so far because of the financial constraints and debt pitfalls of starting a company in today’s economy.īut Briggs wasn’t deterred.
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