2015 Finalist Update
Breakdown of 2015 Applications:
- 37 applicants in 18 ventures
- Industries included agriculture, IT, literacy and construction
- Candidates ranged in age from 16-24 years old
- Applicants were judged by a panel of local entrepreneurs, and were rated on viability, impact on the province and scalability
- Ideas came all the way from Yarmouth to Cape Breton
We checked in with our top applicants, to see how their year went and what they have learned about starting and growing their own business.
Canada Cold Press Juice (Winner)
John Ward and Jessica Comeau
What was your highlight for the year? Winning the silver award for Best New Business of Year. Simply just to be nominated in the top 5 was a blessing for us, but to actually be one of the top 3 felt amazing. It was moment where we both realized our hard work did get recognized and appreciated by our community.
Biggest learning this year. Through Dalhousie's Productivity & Innovation Voucher Program, we were awarded with a grant for research and development towards our juice products. With this grant, we were able to work closely with Dr. Vasantha, as a team, we chose to do testing on Nova Scotia's largest by-product stream available to us. With this new research and information, it opened our minds into looking at various other products we're able to create with this specific by-product stream, apart from solely just focusing on juice products.
Advice to young entrepreneurs. Don’t strain your mind to understand every single aspect to owning a business, this comes with time.
Related Article: Halifax Chamber of Commerce- Business Voice (September 2015)
Site 20/20
Mitchell Hollohan and Cole Campbell
Highlight for the year. Definitely getting our product outside for initial testing.
Upcoming Opportunity. We're getting closer to sales - once we finish our testing phase we will have units on the road across the province.
Advice for young entrepreneurs. My advice to new entrepreneurs is to find a problem, find customers and hustle 10X what you think you need to. Keep focused.
Unify
Callum Mayer
Highlight for the year. Securing an opportunity to work at a local start-up, which really wouldn’t have been possible without the experience and exposure I got through participating in 100 Seed$. I now work full time at Kinduct Technologies, which was on my list of 3 companies in Halifax that I would've dropped whatever I was doing to work for given the opportunity.
Takeaway from 100 Seeds experience. Realizing how much the community really cares about young entrepreneurs, their journey, and their potential impact on our city. Before 100 Seed$ I participated in numerous pitch competitions and attended many conference/events where the crowd was always so family. 100 Seed$ was a totally different crowd which was extremely refreshing and helpful.
Advice to young entrepreneurs. Say yes, say yes, say yes. Always look for new experiences, even if they are outside of ‘being the CEO of your own start-up’. Running your own company may seem like the pinnacle of what you should be doing so you should focus on that- but I disagree. You can only learn so much from that perspective and sometimes you have to step back from that to become part of something that gives you a new perspective and new experiences.