Image courtesy JoBe Products

Kentucky entrepreneur JoCari Beattie is the very definition of tenacious. Since 2014, he has been working hard to turn an innovative concept into reality, and now—with a Kickstarter campaign exceeding its goal and a first-place win at Louisville’s Startup Grind Pitch Battle in late August—the project is truly coming together.

The product that Beattie has been designing, prototyping, refining, and enhancing for the past several years is BESK, a backpack that turns into a portable desk. BESK has come a long way from early prototypes (they started out with yardsticks for legs). But as the project moved forward, Beattie formed an LLC and began selling apparel so he could buy the quality materials he needed for more advanced prototypes.

Beattie said he got the idea for the BESK while he was in college. “I was watching the sunset on the beach and suddenly got the urge to do some homework.” Overachiever much?

He concedes that there aren’t too many people at the beach thinking, This would be a good place to do some work from the office. “But there are people out there who like to work outside and need a place to do it.”

Beattie also says that the increase in remote working due to the pandemic gives people an opportunity to go outside and do their work. 

Now the finish line for BESK is in sight. The company says it will be producing the product and filling orders by August 2021.