Emmett Smith
Partner, Northern Power & Light
Emmett Smith understands that new ideas are invaluable fuel for entrepreneurs—but they’re not easy to come by, when you’re working alone and on the road.
The Carry gives Emmett the connections, and contacts, he needs as he gets his business off the ground.
“It’s very important for me to feel like I’m part of an environment and an ecosystem,” says Emmett, a partner in Northern Power & Light, a renewable-electricity provider that began operating in 2019. “One thing that The Carry has captured is this feeling of forward-looking entrepreneurship and innovation. People are doing interesting things here—and that’s part of the vibe that brought us to Saranac Lake in the first place.”
When Emmett stops into The Carry, typically a couple of days a week, he never knows who he’ll find. Which is part of the charm.
“When I signed up, I didn’t think all that much about the conversations I would have with people, or the benefits those conversations would bring,” he says. “But people are doing interesting things. Even though we each have different businesses, it feels like a common project. We feel like we’re part of a circle of idea-generators within the community that is forward thinking and making progress.”
NP&L keeps Emmett on the road frequently: On some days, he’s at his family’s hydropower generator in St. Regis Falls; on others, he’s in Albany or New York City, navigating regulatory issues; and others, he’s in the Canton-Potsdam area, working on bringing another generator into his company’s fold. But it’s nice to know, he says, that there’s always a desk, and some co-workers, waiting for him in Saranac Lake.
“I’ve tried to set up offices before, and they end up feeling dusty and forgotten because I’m there so infrequently,” he says. “But The Carry is great because it always feels so warm and vibrant.”
Dave Henry
Owner, Riverbend Computer Services
When Dave Henry launched his first computer business more than a dozen years ago, repairing hardware, troubleshooting networks and providing other technical support, he learned early on he’d be spending most of his time on the road.
“When I first started out, I rented a location. And nobody wanted to come in,” says Henry, owner of Riverbend Computer Services. “They needed me to visit them. And then I’d have to close the store, and go to their place. Having a storefront just wasn’t working out. If you can’t keep regular hours, it’s a detriment.”
So when he moved back to Saranac Lake last year after spending a decade as a computer engineer for the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., he didn’t make the same mistake twice—instead, he hung up a shingle at The Carry.
A couple of times a week, Henry will stop into The Carry to pick up mail, run off some copies or use the laser printer. While most of his business is on the road, he still holds client meetings occasionally. But he’d rather not bring customers to a home office, as his home is currently in the middle of a top-to-bottom renovation. Nor does he want to meet in a public place.
“It’s awkward to meet a client in a coffee shop,” he says. “I want to have more of a business presence.”
Also, coffee shops tend to have slow Wi-Fi, and The Carry’s super-high-speed fiber-optic Internet connection lets him send and receive enormous files with ease. In fact, he said, technology like that makes it as easy to work here as anywhere.
“Whatever you can do in New York City, you can do just as well in Saranac Lake,” Henry says. “We have the infrastructure in place here to do everything that you need if you’re in app development, web development, whatever.”