Starting with a VW van meeting in St. Paul, the Epilogg founding team knew that there was a better way to get the word out about a deceased loved one. Traditional obituaries lack vital information and cost an arm and a leg, and posting on social media provides insufficient space for sharing detailed life narratives. There was a gap in the market that the Epilogg team could tackle, and it led to their founding in October 2020.

"The traditional obituary is the equivalent of a classified ad. It's small and cramped and doesn't do justice to the full story of a life." Epilogg cofounder, David Peterson, told us. "We wanted to create something that honored the whole person."

Epilogg provides people with an intuitive way to create digital obituaries. From anywhere in the world, you can memorialize a loved one in a way that does justice to their life story.

Let's take a look at how Epilogg works and how you can use this tool to properly memorialize your loved ones.

How Epilogg Works

Similar to how social media platforms function, Epilogg allows family and friends to add content and share memories of the deceased. The platform centers around a timeline design, with contributors able to add memories, stories, and photos.

When you sign up for Epilogg, you can either create a memorial or contribute to an existing one. After either confirming your email (new memorial) or entering the access code (existing memorial), you're brought to a dashboard where you can make your contributions.

For new memorials, you start by entering the basic information about your loved one: their name, birth and death dates, location, and a brief life summary. The process is pretty intuitive, and the dashboard makes it easy to organize your memorial into different sections.

You can add content using the three available options:

• Memory: A story or anecdote that you want to share about the deceased. You can upload photos and choose a date to organize it in the timeline.
• Milestone: A major event from the deceased's life. This can be anything from graduations to career changes to the birth of children.
• Photos: You can upload multiple photos at once and associate them with a specific date.

As more friends and family members contribute to the memorial, you get a more complete picture of the deceased person's life. And since it exists online, people from around the world can join in.

"Our focus is on the collaborative nature of the platform," cofounder Paul Gissing noted. "It's not just one person's perspective of a life; it's the collection of memories from everyone who knew them."

The Benefits of Digital Obituaries

Digital obituaries address many of the problems with traditional newspaper obituaries. Here are some of the advantages:

• Cost-effective: Newspaper obituaries can cost hundreds of dollars. Epilogg is free to use.
• Unlimited space: Traditional obituaries are limited by space constraints. Digital obituaries can include as much content as needed.
• Interactive elements: You can include photos, videos, and other multimedia content.
• Global accessibility: Anyone with internet access can view and contribute to the memorial.
• Permanent record: Unlike newspaper obituaries, digital memorials can be accessed indefinitely.

These benefits make digital obituaries an attractive option for families looking to create a meaningful tribute to their loved ones.

Looking Ahead: Epilogg's Future Plans

Since launching, Epilogg has been working on expanding their platform's capabilities. They're currently developing features that will allow users to integrate with existing funeral home websites and provide additional customization options.

The company is also exploring partnerships with funeral homes and other death care providers to offer their platform as a service to grieving families.

"We want to be the go-to platform for digital memorialization," Peterson explained. "Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to create beautiful, lasting tributes to their loved ones."

As the death care industry continues to evolve, platforms like Epilogg are leading the way in providing modern solutions for age-old needs. By offering a collaborative, accessible, and cost-effective way to memorialize loved ones, Epilogg is helping families create more meaningful tributes that truly honor the lives of those they've lost.