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Ruth Young-Loaeza spent decades as a housekeeper making beds. Now as an entrepreneur, she is looking to reinvent them.
While working at hotels near her home in San Diego, Young-Loaeza wrestled with thousands of fitted sheets and linens in guest rooms (plus, of course, all the beds inside her own home). A car accident in 2013 left her in a neck brace and unable to work. But it got her thinking about just how inefficient and outdated the traditional bed sheet set really is.
She started prototyping out a better way to make a bed, ultimately earning 10 patents and forming the company Neet Sheets. Now with the help of state entrepreneurial programs, Young-Loaeza is building a bed sheet empire from her new home in Huntsville, Alabama.
Innovating On A Household Staple
As Young-Loaeza says, Neet Sheets is a “bed linen system that addresses the stressful and challenging task of bed making,” making it “easier, faster, and safer” to make beds.
The patented design, a hybrid sheet with stretchable corners and without the cumbersome elastic bottom, reduces the time it takes to make a bed by 47% and reduces mattress lifting efforts by 75% (numbers validated through university studies). The improved design is particularly important in hospitality and healthcare. Individuals in these industries are at higher risk of musculoskeletal damage from the repeated action of lifting mattresses to put on fitted sheets, putting their companies at risk for more workers compensation claims.
“We know that we’re creating something that has not been created before,” she told Hypepotamus. “We know that Neet Sheets is going to solve physical problems for people who work in these industries, while saving money for these companies in these huge industries.”
Building In Alabama
Young-Loaeza wants Neet Sheets to become a household name, something she is working on from her new home in Alabama.
The state has taken in Young-Loaeza and has boosted up her entrepreneurial efforts. She first moved from California to Alabama through the Sweet Home Alabama Grant, a program that provides entrepreneurs free rent for a year while working on their company in Huntsville. She also participated in the local gener8tor accelerator gBETA Huntsville as she started to grow the company.
Signs Of Growth
Now, investors are taking note.
Neet Sheets won first place and $750,000 in the “Meet the Drapers” Halobama Pitch Competition. This was triple the amount of the original top prize (with local organization Innovate Alabama contributing $250k). Young-Loaeza will now pitch on live TV next year for a shot at a $1 million investment.
“[Building my business in Alabama] has been the most amazing experience of my life,” she added in a press statement. “I was going to go back to San Diego, but I realized what I really needed was here in Alabama. I’m surrounded by an incredible ecosystem where everything – connections to industry, innovation and legal guidance – is within reach. Because of the advice and support I’ve received here in Huntsville, I’ve been able to move so much faster.”
As Neet Sheet grows, Young-Loaeza sees a lot of potential in bringing her innovations inside healthcare facilities, more hotels, and even into the homes of busy families.
While she doesn’t have a traditional tech or business background, Young-Loaeza’s decades of hands-on experience gave her something more valuable: an intimate understanding of a problem that affects millions of workers daily.
Her advice to budding entrepreneurs and inventors looking to innovate ? “Surround yourself with people. Don’t spend time watching TV. Watch YouTube videos. Schedule appointments with all these programs that can help you learn and understand how you can clear a path. It’s not gonna be easy…but it’s not impossible.”
