Lion’s Lair: Winner takes home $65,000 in prizes

News Sep 30, 2016 The Hamilton Spectator

A pocket-sized tool for measuring colour has earned its inventor top prize in the 2016 Lion's Lair business competition Thursday.

Matthew Sheridan, of Hamilton-based Nix Sensor Ltd., created the "tape measure for colour" tool after watching his mother, a designer, struggle to carry around heavy and expensive sample books.

The company's prizes total $65,000 in cash and services. The top prize package includes $15,000 from: Cogeco, Mohawk College, McMaster University, RBC, McMaster Innovation Park and Meridian Financial Credit Union. Services worth $40,000 were offered by VA Partners for sales/lead generation consulting; Marketing CoPilot for SEO/content marketing assistance; Fresh Insights for market research; Biz Clip for photography and video development; and an additional $10,000 from Communica for business coaching.

Second place was awarded to Margaret Coons, founder of Nuts for Cheese, a London, Ont. company that makes dairy-free, cashew-based cheeses targeted at vegans, people who can't process dairy and environmentally conscious consumers.

She took home $50,750 in prizes including $10,000 cash, and services worth more than $40,000 such as accounting and tax advice from KPMG, legal advice from Gowling WLG, marketing advice from Albanese Branding and two all-access passes for CoMotion Working Space.

Third-place winner, Laifa Baby of Oakville, was awarded a package worth $45,750. Founder Nicole Mortimer created an innovative baby sleeper with two zippers — the second one along the inseam making nighttime diaper changes easier for parents and more comfortable for babies.

A new prize category, the Hamilton Award, was added this year. It's a $2,000 cash prize provided by Meridian Financial Credit Union to honour the local company the Lions felt is already exemplifying "a spirit of growth and renewal in the city."

The award went to 180 Drums co-founder Jake Nicolle. Through his Hamilton company, he hopes to revolutionize music lessons, allowing more people to access professional drum instructors online.

Winners were selected by a panel of business leaders including Cheri Chevalier (Microsoft Canada), Tonia Jahshan (Steeped Tea), Michael Macaluso (Carstar Canada), Julie Ellis (Mabel's Labels co-founder), and Mario Paron (KPMG).

Nix Sensor also earned the 2016 People's Choice Award. It was presented based on live voting at the gala dinner, held at Carmen's Banquet Centre. The company took home $1,500 in cash provided by Meridian Financial Credit Union.

The gala will be available on Cable 14's new Cable14NOW video on demand platform through Oct. 29.

Lion’s Lair: Winner takes home $65,000 in prizes

News Sep 30, 2016 The Hamilton Spectator

A pocket-sized tool for measuring colour has earned its inventor top prize in the 2016 Lion's Lair business competition Thursday.

Matthew Sheridan, of Hamilton-based Nix Sensor Ltd., created the "tape measure for colour" tool after watching his mother, a designer, struggle to carry around heavy and expensive sample books.

The company's prizes total $65,000 in cash and services. The top prize package includes $15,000 from: Cogeco, Mohawk College, McMaster University, RBC, McMaster Innovation Park and Meridian Financial Credit Union. Services worth $40,000 were offered by VA Partners for sales/lead generation consulting; Marketing CoPilot for SEO/content marketing assistance; Fresh Insights for market research; Biz Clip for photography and video development; and an additional $10,000 from Communica for business coaching.

Second place was awarded to Margaret Coons, founder of Nuts for Cheese, a London, Ont. company that makes dairy-free, cashew-based cheeses targeted at vegans, people who can't process dairy and environmentally conscious consumers.

She took home $50,750 in prizes including $10,000 cash, and services worth more than $40,000 such as accounting and tax advice from KPMG, legal advice from Gowling WLG, marketing advice from Albanese Branding and two all-access passes for CoMotion Working Space.

Third-place winner, Laifa Baby of Oakville, was awarded a package worth $45,750. Founder Nicole Mortimer created an innovative baby sleeper with two zippers — the second one along the inseam making nighttime diaper changes easier for parents and more comfortable for babies.

A new prize category, the Hamilton Award, was added this year. It's a $2,000 cash prize provided by Meridian Financial Credit Union to honour the local company the Lions felt is already exemplifying "a spirit of growth and renewal in the city."

The award went to 180 Drums co-founder Jake Nicolle. Through his Hamilton company, he hopes to revolutionize music lessons, allowing more people to access professional drum instructors online.

Winners were selected by a panel of business leaders including Cheri Chevalier (Microsoft Canada), Tonia Jahshan (Steeped Tea), Michael Macaluso (Carstar Canada), Julie Ellis (Mabel's Labels co-founder), and Mario Paron (KPMG).

Nix Sensor also earned the 2016 People's Choice Award. It was presented based on live voting at the gala dinner, held at Carmen's Banquet Centre. The company took home $1,500 in cash provided by Meridian Financial Credit Union.

The gala will be available on Cable 14's new Cable14NOW video on demand platform through Oct. 29.

Lion’s Lair: Winner takes home $65,000 in prizes

News Sep 30, 2016 The Hamilton Spectator

A pocket-sized tool for measuring colour has earned its inventor top prize in the 2016 Lion's Lair business competition Thursday.

Matthew Sheridan, of Hamilton-based Nix Sensor Ltd., created the "tape measure for colour" tool after watching his mother, a designer, struggle to carry around heavy and expensive sample books.

The company's prizes total $65,000 in cash and services. The top prize package includes $15,000 from: Cogeco, Mohawk College, McMaster University, RBC, McMaster Innovation Park and Meridian Financial Credit Union. Services worth $40,000 were offered by VA Partners for sales/lead generation consulting; Marketing CoPilot for SEO/content marketing assistance; Fresh Insights for market research; Biz Clip for photography and video development; and an additional $10,000 from Communica for business coaching.

Second place was awarded to Margaret Coons, founder of Nuts for Cheese, a London, Ont. company that makes dairy-free, cashew-based cheeses targeted at vegans, people who can't process dairy and environmentally conscious consumers.

She took home $50,750 in prizes including $10,000 cash, and services worth more than $40,000 such as accounting and tax advice from KPMG, legal advice from Gowling WLG, marketing advice from Albanese Branding and two all-access passes for CoMotion Working Space.

Third-place winner, Laifa Baby of Oakville, was awarded a package worth $45,750. Founder Nicole Mortimer created an innovative baby sleeper with two zippers — the second one along the inseam making nighttime diaper changes easier for parents and more comfortable for babies.

A new prize category, the Hamilton Award, was added this year. It's a $2,000 cash prize provided by Meridian Financial Credit Union to honour the local company the Lions felt is already exemplifying "a spirit of growth and renewal in the city."

The award went to 180 Drums co-founder Jake Nicolle. Through his Hamilton company, he hopes to revolutionize music lessons, allowing more people to access professional drum instructors online.

Winners were selected by a panel of business leaders including Cheri Chevalier (Microsoft Canada), Tonia Jahshan (Steeped Tea), Michael Macaluso (Carstar Canada), Julie Ellis (Mabel's Labels co-founder), and Mario Paron (KPMG).

Nix Sensor also earned the 2016 People's Choice Award. It was presented based on live voting at the gala dinner, held at Carmen's Banquet Centre. The company took home $1,500 in cash provided by Meridian Financial Credit Union.

The gala will be available on Cable 14's new Cable14NOW video on demand platform through Oct. 29.