Huntsville entrepreneur nabs 3x pitch competition winnings
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A Huntsville entrepreneur so impressed judges at a recent pitch competition they tripled the winning dollar amount.
Why it matters: In Tuscaloosa last week, Ruth Young-Loaeza and her company NEET SHEETS earned the top prize at the Halogen Ventures + Meet the Drapers Pitch Competition, worth $250,000.
- Then Tim Draper, investor in unicorns like SpaceX, Coinbase and Skype, pitched in another $250,000, and Rodney Sampson with Innovate Alabama did the same, bringing the total to $750,000.
What they're saying: "I wanted to cry," Young-Loaeza told Axios Huntsville. "I had to keep myself together, but it's just like a Cinderella dream, like I had my fairy godmothers there making my dreams come true."
Catch up quick: She started NEET SHEETS, a company that makes patented fitted and flat sheets developed by Young-Loaeza.
- She started the company in San Diego, but moved to Huntsville with the Sweet Home Alabama program and gBETA Huntsville accelerator, powered by gener8tor.
- As a former housekeeper, Young-Loaeza made more than 20,000 beds and after a car accident in 2013, she turned to tinkering with designing better bedsheets primarily for the hospitality and health care industries.
How it works: With stretchable fabric around the corners on fitted sheets, and along the foot of the flat sheet, the design keeps housekeepers from having to lift the mattress as much, saving both backs and time.
Context: "Being in this startup ecosystem has been amazing," she said, of the move to Huntsville, which embraces products and not just AI, tech or services.
Zoom out: After the announcement, Young-Loaeza hired on Anthony Muñiz, who was her first customer and who left his job managing hotels to join NEET SHEETS.
- "It's going to expand our team, our operations, our distribution, our marketing," she said of the funding. "You name it, it's changing the whole NEET SHEETS team's dreams."
What we're watching: The win means NEET SHEETS is now headed to Hollywood to film on Meet the Drapers, a global pitch competition with a $1 million investment prize.