2013 Hot Dozen companies

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – Innovative and successful – just two of the traits needed to be one of the region’s “2013 Hot Dozen” companies selected by Greater Louisville Inc. Monday night, those companies were honored at 21C Museum Hotel. Many of the companies started with a simple idea and with the help of family and friends, they’ve really taken off.

How to breath easier, eat your bourbon and get a great nights sleep are all lessons that can be taught by some of 2013’s Hot Dozen companies.

[CLICK TO SEE THE LIST: 12 companies recognized as region’s most innovative]

“Essentially, everything will be rapped up into this belt and you can see a sensor that measures the patients normal breathing activity,” explained Angus McLachlan as he showed off his medical stimulator belt. The Scotsman and his Liberate Medical partner figured out how to make a walk in the park just that, for people suffering from COPD. Four million people in the U.S. have the pulmonary disease and don’t want to carry around an oxygen tank. His belt that’s easily hidden under clothing gets the abdominal muscles moving when a patient breaths out.

“I have a condition actually called Idiopathic Hyperhidrosis,” said Louisvillian Alli Truttmann. Simply put Truttmann had night sweats. She wanted to create sheets that stayed dry. “I have played soccer my entire life and I was really familiar with Under Armour and Nike Dry Fit material, so I got a ream of material and had a local seamstress sew it into my first set of bed sheets for me,”she said.

Wicked Sheets now produces 200 sets a month. Buyers include the menopausal market to veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

And to a company there’s a good chance you’ve heard of. From the Travel Channel to major magazines and used by celebrity chefs like Edward Lee – Bourbon Barrel Foods boasts all local ingredients including the Woodford Reserve Bourbon Barrels the sauces are aged in. The company also has a great story that led to great PR: A blonde Kentucky boy who makes the only micro brewed soy sauce in the U.S. 

Matt Jamie, the founder and CEO of Bourbon Barrel Foods said of his products, “They’re unique, so they were embraced by a lot of food writers and people that are passionate about the products that they use.” Jamie said, “We were fortunate enough to be in the New York Times which really helped generate a lot of the attention.

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