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Justin Brady: Ones real talk. No drama. I’m Justin Brady in the jetro Barbecue Studio, and it seems like, no, no, it doesn’t seem like every company is now an AI company. That’s where we’re going. I don’t know if y’all know that is where we’re going, but we absolutely are. And if upholstery and reupholstery, I think that might be the term, is going into the tech sphere. Maybe you should be thinking about AI and going into tech as well. That’s what we’re talking about. The collision of a very old school. Very, very old trade and new. Tech, ai, futuristic stuff. Today with Rihanna Lajeune, the owner of Renewable Furniture Incorporated and the re-pinned workroom. Thanks for coming on the Iowa Podcast. Thank you.

Riana LeJeune: you for having me everybody.

Justin Brady: before we get started. Jet Row’s barbecue. Of course, we love them. They have a great deal for you. If you go to Iowa podcast.com, scroll to the top way up there. There’s a little banner of Jet Row. He is holding a gift card. If you click that and you buy a hundred dollars gift card through that portal system, it does look a little weird. But if you buy a hundred dollars gift card, I promise you they will send you a $30 gift card. And if you have any problems, email me at justin@iowapodcast.com. You’re not going to ’cause it works, but just do it. Alright. So this is, this is really interesting, the the collision of upholstery, which everyone would consider this really old school thing and you don’t look like a 90-year-old person to me. And then of course, AI and futuristic, techy stuff. So that’s what the topic’s going to be today. But first, can we really start broadly? ’cause you’re going into ai, you have an app. That stuff’s really, really cool. I think IDEA just gave you like a technology grant to develop this technology, which is bonkers, but. Let’s start back a little bit if we can, and talk about re-pinned. We’re, I don’t know if you know this, but we’re kind of in the era of like Ikea and Wayfair and cheap plywood

Riana LeJeune: tough. Mm-hmm.

Justin Brady: So why is re-pinned a thing and why is re-pinned? Because you’re seeing some pretty objective metric growth stuff. So why is this a thing? Why are people excited about this?

Riana LeJeune: well, upholstery is a centuries old skilled trade. It’s just that we lack visibility. Because what is a room without furniture?

Justin Brady: mm-hmm. So.

Riana LeJeune: people like to think upholstery is a, you know, quote unquote dying art or a niche industry, but it’s really not. We are the craftsmen that make the rooms that we sit in, we enjoy. Even the cars you drive in have an upholstery aspect to them. It’s just that for the push for the four year. degree, for so many decades, the skilled trade schools have closed. So the pathways into this field are less accessible.

Justin Brady: Oh, it’s the pathways. It’s not necessarily the trade itself, it’s the, it’s that people don’t know how to get into them. Correct. And you’ve actually solved that problem. We’re gonna talk about that as well. But, uh, this is interesting because, have you seen this? The company’s not super old. Have you seen. Uh, like a, almost a surge of interest because of technology and because of all these companies, um, cheapening products and making these really cheap, cheap, flimsy things like are people coming back to old school and like craftsmanship because as like a response to that.

Riana LeJeune: No, I think, you know, we’ve always been here. It’s just, uh, who has access to it. You know, we are one of the few upholstery workrooms left in Iowa, so demand for us is, is always Really high. So standardly and. Past years, we’ve booked about nine months in advance. And Even even during the pandemic, when people were trapped in their. homes and thinking about home renovations and, you know, upgrades, we became even busier. And so, you know, in 2020, that’s when I started thinking about apprenticeship and moving past our, you know. Lifestyle business. A lot of upholstery shops stay one or two people, typically family owned or very small, uh, because, uh, again, the education and pathways aren’t there to scale these businesses. And so that’s where I really, you know, think outside of the box and wanted to create that apprenticeship here in Des Moines to meet that demand.

Justin Brady: Who is the client typically, because I think that I would normally, years ago would’ve thought it’s probably an older, like baby boomer and up generation. But these days, um, after redesigning our house and watching remodeling shows, it’s probably younger people too.

Riana LeJeune: I say we help everyone, uh, From. heirlooms to people who love the thrill of the hunt and finding the perfect vintage or antique piece to, uh, older couples who have had, you know, expendable income, that have already invested in really Well made furniture. that they love the shape of it, it fits in their home well, and it just needs an upgrade. Sure.

Justin Brady: Sure. So now, is it often then that younger people are darkening your door for this kind of thing?

Riana LeJeune: Well, there’s there’s kind of a misconception. that upholstery is a less expensive alternative to buying new when it’s actually our craftsmanship and quality is, is higher quality and lasts longer than mass manufactured furniture. So it is an Investment. and so that’s where we sit down and we really take the opportunity to reeducate the consumer about, you know, you may invest. more, upfront, but it lasts longer. So you’re saving, because you’re not replacing every four years, like mass manufacturers want

Justin Brady: wait. People think this is a cheaper route. People actually think that.

Riana LeJeune: Yes.

Justin Brady: That’s

Riana LeJeune: Okay. Yes. I, I spend a lot of time on social media just reeducating

Justin Brady: really, because that’s, that’s actually shocking to me. I would think the cheap route is going to Walmart or Wayfair and no, nothing, no knocks against Walmart or Wayfair. I’ve used Walmart and Wayfair for some, you know, furniture that I need for staging purposes. But, um, wouldn’t sit on it

Riana LeJeune: Well, it’s, I like to, I like to compare it to cars. There’s varying price points on cars. So like Ikea, you know. Ikea could be like your Kia car versus like. Ethan Allen. Restoration Hardware is more like, you know, Lamborghini, like the higher end. It’s just like what you willing to pay, uh, for longevity.

Justin Brady: Yeah, it’s it’s always funny to me when like, we’re kind of in the mindset that buy once. Mm-hmm. You know, I don’t, I don’t wanna rebuy things again. I wanna buy something that’s gonna last a long time. And I have these debates with some bargain hunter people and, you know, let’s come on, let’s, let’s compare some receipts here. Like, you know, let’s compare receipts. You think you’re the bargain hunter and you’re like, oh, why would you buy that more expensive thing? I was like, How many times are you gonna replace that thing? You know, you’re gonna replace it a lot and your back’s gonna hurt ’cause it’s crappy and it, you know, that foam breaks down. The reason they’re making it super cheap. The reason they can do that is ’cause they cheapen everything in it. They’re not doing double or triple stitching. They’re doing is just a single stitch. It’s gonna pop in a few months and people don’t do the

Riana LeJeune: Yeah. Well, uh, 60% of furniture is made over. So that’s one thing. It’s, you know, um, it’s not quality. They want you to replace often. So they’re not going, like you said, they’re not gonna use the high grade foam. They’re not gonna do a eight way hand spring tie suspension system. Like

Justin Brady: that means. I don’t know. That’s

Riana LeJeune: the high quality suspension system. And that can’t be replicated by a machine or talk quickly. what? That kid No, no.

Justin Brady: Not yet.

Riana LeJeune: Well that’s, you know, our apprenticeship is three years. So if you think about it, we have to be able to work on any piece of furniture that’s ever been made. Mm-hmm. So that that knowledge is not, again. the pathways are hard because it is an investment in time and training and, you know, nobody wants a baby upholster working on grandma’s heirloom. That’s true. So I, you know, demand, is high. I, I can’t just run out and hire someone. I have. To Dedicate that time. to, you know, nurturing them and teaching them the skills and being patient. And a lot of businesses, you know, don’t wanna slow down because it affects, affects their bottom line. But in order to scale these businesses, we have to step into those leadership roles and be patient.

Justin Brady: I wanna talk about the apprenticeship program a little bit more. Um, but it does sound like there’s this interesting aspect you’ve tapped into, which is people preserving heritage and history and they, they come to you wanting a more expensive, more handcrafted, more thought through. Um, uh, reupholster job because they want you preserving the history that has value. Is this a common trend?

Riana LeJeune: Yes. Uh, I love hearing the stories that people come in with, why it’s special to them. You know, the, the stories that generations have sat in this chair, or Grandma rocked me here, or this is where I had My first. kiss. Or, you know, we had this in college when we had nothing and now we wanna restore it. So. I love the history aspect of it and I love becoming part of the story. And so we sign the inside of every frame, like a time capsule That’s cool. so that you know, Future years. when someone opens it up, you know, hopefully decades from now, then they can find out about who we are and our legacy lives

Justin Brady: So I do want to talk about your foray into tech and ai, but before we do that, the apprenticeship program, you mentioned that it’s difficult to get into this because no schools, or not no schools, but few schools, few trade school. There are few options for people to get into it, and so naturally, if someone wants to get into it, it’s very complicated. I would imagine. Uh, I. Seen, uh, reupholstered projects and I can’t, I’m like, I, I’ve tried doing simple patching things and when I fold fabric, it just crinkles. So I can’t imagine like trying to do an entire frigging chair that has all these complicated shapes. So I imagine it’s very, very complicated. So it’s not really something that people can teach themselves quickly. I would imagine if they have maybe a decade to figure it out, they could, or YouTube, but, um. Talk about the apprenticeship program. How many students are you typically working with? How, like who, who are you training and, and are they going off and doing their own little businesses across the state? What’s going on there?

Riana LeJeune: Well, funny that you say that. ’cause I’m actually self-taught. So, uh, when I wanted to go into this in 2013, again, there’s no schools and, uh, no one wanted to teach me because, uh, they were afraid of training their competition. So there’s a lot of hoarding of knowledge.

Justin Brady: Uh,

Riana LeJeune: so. I, I, there was a lot of trying and crying on my part, but I, have this, you know, once I set my mind to something, I don’t give up. you

Justin Brady: gr like grit your teeth and bear it.

Riana LeJeune: Just keep going. And so eventually, I found Upholsters in other states that were willing to teach me. So I would travel and No one will give you everything. Yeah. At that point. Um, so I would get, I’d learn something, I’d bring it back. I’d teach my, uh, former spouse Justin. So I guess technically he was my first apprentice. So we were learning together. And so. You know, years and years past where I was finally able to provide this service to our community with confidence and Quality and you know, I, and I think that’s where a lot of business owners get trapped. They think they are the business and they can’t replicate their skills, so they just grind 24 7 and they get Burnout. So, um, really to grow, you have to learn to delegate. And so that’s a skill that also has to be worked on. So I, I wanted to create the apprenticeship program because I wanted it to be easier for others. I I didn’t want them trying and crying. I wanted them to come in and I want them to learn a skill. and have confidence and they can mess up and they’re not gonna get reprimanded. You know, I just want them to enjoy the process of learning and, you know, it’s an art form. They should love their art form and

Justin Brady: it was, it was almost more of like a self-led curriculum and like a self-motivated, rather than self-taught because you did go out there and find, you travel all over the place to find people that would do this, which most people are gonna not do that. Most people aren’t gonna exert that type of energy and focus. Um, you know, people who really are focused on a vision or goal do that, but few people do. And so you’re, you’re saying. For the rest of the people who are interested in it but don’t know how to get the resources. That’s what the apprenticeship program is, is focused

Riana LeJeune: This is where we’re gonna get a little technical. So, uh, The apprenticeship is, registered with the United States Department of Labor.

Justin Brady: saw

Riana LeJeune: So, Yes. So, I, uh. In the pandemic. I hired two people. I had no structure. I just, I was like, oh, let’s get some bodies in here and let’s do some stuff. And it was a bit of chaos, you know, as the pandemic. was for a lot of people. Um, so. when I contacted the US Department of Labor, they were like, yes, we recognize upholstery as a skilled trade, uh, but there’s no curriculum. Can you write it? At that time. At that time, it just seemed too daunting, I was like, oh, That’s why. this doesn’t exist, is because you know, you have to take time out to do all this stuff. So a few more years passed and then I was like. This needs to happen looking at the industry. ’cause it’s not just a problem in Iowa. It’s a national, if not international problem. Um, you know, the devaluing of skilled trades and generations not. going into it. And now, you know, we have the skill gap. Um, so I took two years, off from networking, from socializing. I focused on my mental and physical wellbeing so that I could structure this apprenticeship. And it was a lot of advocating back and forth because. The US Department of Labor, they wanted it to be structured like a college course. And I said, you know, a lot of the people that go into this field didn’t wanna go to college. right? So we, can’t structure it that way. you. know, we have a lot of neurodiverse individuals who, you know, they don’t think the standard way, you know, So we have to structure this for them. And so it was a lot of back and forth, and eventually we got it pushed through as a hybrid, um, course. So we have the on-the-job training, which is three years or 6,000 hours. And then we have 432 hours of related technical instruction. So then that’s like, uh, textbooks, uh, videos, webinars, things that we could pull. And so we are the first one in the nation to have it. But my goal, my goal is to. share it nationally so others can implement it.

Justin Brady: Yeah. That, that’s incredible because some people learn hands-on, they, they’re not gonna sit in a chair and look at a blackboard or a whiteboard

Riana LeJeune: you can, you can learn some things from watching a video, but this is a very HandsOn trade. You have to

Justin Brady: makes a lot of

Riana LeJeune: be doing it.

Justin Brady: Yeah, I, I mean, I’m one of those people, like, I, I was having, actually, this is super funny you bring this up. ’cause I was having the conversation with my wife yesterday. I’m like. The subjects I hated in school were history, science, like physics, all these things, research, writing. The things I do for my job today are science, history, physics, research and writing. And I love my job. And I’m just like, what? You know that, that’s, that’s so sad that like I completely felt left outta school and like, uh, the subjects I hated, most of the subjects I love most today, which is just crazy to me. And so. It, there need to be more options like this for people to actually apply their God-given brain and their, their technical skill and their knowledge into a, a field. So I’ll stop my diatribe there, but, but I appreciate people like you, uh, seeing these opportunities and bringing knowledge to people because this does take a lot of grit to pull something like this together. Uh, so the other thing you’re pulling together though, is. Again, in a, in a traditional business like this upholstery, uh, I would naturally assume that people would be very technology averse. Like technology’s the devil. Uh, it’s going to ruin everything. The ais are gonna take over and it’s a bad thing. You’re doing the opposite, which is you’re saying, no, no, no. There’s, there’s room here. We can use this to further the mission. What was the catalyst to you wanting to use? Well, I guess maybe we should back up and say, what does the app you’re developing do? And then I’ll ask you about why you developed it.

Riana LeJeune: Well, uh, so renewable is a global SaaS software, so software as a sale. Uh, so as soon as I published it, it went global and we actually have, uh, upholsters and, uh, home furnishing professionals in 20 different countries utilizing it currently. But,

Justin Brady: You have, how many people use it? What,

Riana LeJeune: so we have. upholsterers around the globe using it in 20 right now. 20 different countries?

Justin Brady: Wow, that’s awesome.

Riana LeJeune: I launched it last, July. I started building it last April. So, uh, but I’ve wanted, tech for our industry for a long time, uh, just because it started out me thinking about, CRMs and just more efficient ways to run our work

Justin Brady: mm-hmm.

Riana LeJeune: But then. I also was trying to learn CAD and, you know, sketch up and all those things. And so my thought process there was that, um, adjacent industries like interior designers and architects, you know, they spend semesters in school learning, CAD and sketch up and they’re able to give a very professional, polished presentation. Presentation and close projects at higher price points, and I was like, man, I really want something like that for Upholsterers, because right now what we’re doing is we’re having fabric consultations and we’re laying, you know, a. Like a three inch by three inch fabric swatch on a chair and say, use your imagination. So, uh, I was like, you know, if people could just see what I see in my head, because as an artisan, like I know what the outcome is gonna

Justin Brady: Mm-hmm.

Riana LeJeune: but the general person does not have that imagination and so I wanna be able to show them. And so. I wanted it for several years and I wanted something that was intuitive and easy to use, and every time I would approach an an engineer or a code writer, they would say The minimum investment you’re looking at is 35,000 to a hundred thousand dollars,

Justin Brady: exactly what they say.

Riana LeJeune: And you have to be, okay if you’re the only person that ever uses it, because who knows if it’ll take off or not. And so for a small business who is, you know, operating and, and, and, and working hard on a skill, it’s hard to imagine like going out and doing crowdfunding or pitch competitions, angel investors. So it was just too daunting at the time. And then, you know, I finished the apprenticeship program structure and then I’m like, what’s my next challenge? So, Uh, With all the advancements in AI last year, I was like, well, maybe I could build a prototype. Hmm. And so I started building and then. That was April of 2025, and by July I had not just a prototype, but an MVP and minimum

Justin Brady: viable product for people that don’t know. Yes,

Riana LeJeune: And so I don’t wanna minimize what I’ve done. I leveraged 13 years of expertise in upholstery and home design to program this, to know us, to be an industry specific tool, not a generalized ai. So, uh. What renewable does is you can upload an image of your exact piece of furniture. You can select any swatch from any designer fabric company, and you can apply it to that piece of furniture in under sec, like under 60 seconds and have an accurate visualization of what the outcome will be. It doesn’t hallucinate the background. It doesn’t change any detail of the actual piece of furniture. It just shows you what this fabric or paint or trim, what it will look like. So it’s really a design tool to help us. Uh, in our quoting process, in our sales process, so that upholstery and home furnishing businesses are more profitable. And so therefore, if you’re more profitable, you can justify hiring and training and growing.

Justin Brady: And so this is a bottleneck you identified is, and it’s a, and it’s an accurate bottleneck. ’cause I have a graphic design degree. And so I also know the problem very well of being able to visualize. And there, there are two aspects to this, by the way. There is the artist visualizing and seeing the vision. There’s also the customer, they do have a vision. It’s not accurate, but they do have one. And so the tension is usually the collision of those two visions. Or they’re, you know. cause they are trying to imagine something. And so that is difficult. And so you identified that as a bottleneck and you also identified that like an AI app was the solution that possibly fixes this. And so this app is for Upholsters like yourself, right? This is a not a customer facing app. It’s a

Riana LeJeune: a, So actually oh,

Justin Brady: oh,

Riana LeJeune: it is a uh, it’s a two-sided market, so, uh, it’s, it’s more than just an app. So my goal is that it will be a platform dedicated to promoting sustainability and supporting artisans globally. And that. When people Think about furniture, they’ll be like, oh, I need to go to renewable and see, you know, what we can do here. So we launched to Professionals first, and it’s not just for upholsterers, it’s for woodworkers, window treatment, drapery professionals, interior designers. So we are marketing to the whole home furnishing profession. And so we launched to the professionals first to populate a directory. So then when we eventually start launch to the general public, the general public can use it while they’re out at a thrift store, an estate sale, their mom’s house. We’re not anti new furniture, so they can use it in new furniture stores too. They can do a quick visualization, get excited about the project, and then connect with the local professional to do the work. Interesting.

Justin Brady: That’s super cool. So, um, you created. I mean, yeah, obviously Upholsters can use it, but it looks like you’re tapping into a wider market than that. Are are, are you using the app to connect people then to local upholsters? I would assume because they’re like trying to visualize a furniture and it’s like, here’s what it would look like, and they’re like, great, I’m not gonna sew it myself. So is there like a local directory near you of people who can, that’s

Riana LeJeune: where is, you’ll go through the visualization flow. If the general public is using it, it’ll go through the visualization flow and then at the very end of it, when you are like excited, like, oh, this fabric looks. amazing. I love this paint finish, and these decorative tech trim. And then you click find pro and it will take you to your city and it will find someone in your area. You can extend the radius if you want to go larger. And I mean. I have built in a lot of features into that, not only to help support the artisans, so it also has an estimator because that is another issue in our, Our industry. is that, uh, a lot of people are pricing off emotion and not business math. And it’s hard to be profitable if you’re just like throwing out a number. So, um, so what I did was I did an international study of averages on labor and cost of goods and, and the actual business math. And so the estimator will, um, scan the piece of furniture and it will populate the, the cost of goods sold, the labor, the hourly rate, the profit margin, the fabric, all of that, and it will populate with the industry average. And then it customizes to the individual shop.

Justin Brady: Now here’s what’s crazy, um, is well, it, it sounds like there’s also a, uh, avenue for you to ’cause unless you, you probably don’t wanna work for free, would be my guess. So I’m sure there’s an avenue here that people would pay a fee or you’d get some type of commission to connect them to certain upholsters, So

Riana LeJeune: So it is a, as I said, as a a SaaS program, so software as a sale. So it’s a subscription-based platform. Got it. So like, the general public,

Justin Brady: the artisans would pay like a monthly fee or something to be a part

Riana LeJeune: Correct. So the general public, uh, is they have like the freemium, which is just a few visualizations. you know, ’cause They’re not gonna be doing a ton just to get excited about their project. And then we have the pro, semi-pro, so like maybe enthusiasts who are like avid DIYers that maybe would wanna go into this profession but haven’t yet.

Justin Brady: interesting. Um.

Riana LeJeune: So it’s Pro, Semi-Pro package, and then we have the Pro Plus. And the Pro Plus is the one with the more robust offerings to run the businesses and that estimator. That’s

Justin Brady: Okay, so here’s what’s cool about this is I, I’ll just ask the direct question. It sounds like you don’t know how to do development in coding.

Riana LeJeune: know. Uh, no, I vibe coded the whole thing. Or prompt engineering. so people

Justin Brady: people probably don’t know what Vibe Coding is, so can you explain to people what Vibe Coding is? And then I’m gonna ask you how you made this thing

Riana LeJeune: so. uh, it starts as a blank page and you give it a concept and then you start building upon it. Uh, so again, I started last April, And, uh, I would just give it a few prompts. And obviously I’ve been thinking about this for several years.

Justin Brady: you’re saying an ai? of Yeah.

Riana LeJeune: Yes, the AI program. And so I’ve been thinking about this. for many years and, you know, I’m very passionate about my industry, so. And I’m neurodiverse, so I notice like the smallest details. And so as I’m building, I’m like, okay, this, this is hallucinated or has changed And. this needs to be better. Or, I don’t like this format, I want this changed. Okay, this isn’t as intuitive as I would need it to be. So let’s change that. And as you go, you start learning the terminology, like troubleshoot, or I needed more. A more aggressive fix or just different terms that are common in coding. And so I am able to see the actual code. So as we grow and develop and I bring on engineers onto our team, they can look at the code that’s changed and or needs to be changed and they, they address that. Mm-hmm.

Justin Brady: and so this is interesting because as you said minutes ago that normally the process to do an app like this involves hiring a gra, like hiring a web developer or, or a software developer, and it usually starts around $35,000. By the way, that’s not where it stops. It just keeps going up and. Also what’s, what’s kind of tragic in the coding space is that there are a lot of people who say they know how to code but only know one little sliver and then they have to subcontract out more components. ’cause you want your app to do this and oh, well, earlier when you said that, I didn’t quite know what that meant, but now I do and that’s gonna be another $10,000. There’s scope creep is really common, is what they call it. But um, and. Not even just scope creep, but people not quite understanding what the vision is. And what you’re saying is with almost no to little coding experience, you have now developed an app that people are using in 20 different countries. And this is really, really interesting because this is a, a trend a lot of companies are gonna go to, like, um, and I think a lot of larger entities. The, like in, in software right now in tech, a lot of people are freaking out about the end of software as a service. Um, because small companies can just spin up custom solutions so quickly. And so a lot of larger companies that kind of rely on the bulk and the cost and the huge teams you need to do this, that’s where like Adobe is one of them, um, that people are saying it’s the end of Adobe because they rely on the fact that they’re an enormous organization that has invested a lot of money into building this software. And you can’t touch us. Well, now people can just vibe, code an app. Now I, you know, there’s a whole thing here. I don’t, Adobe’s not going anywhere. That’s not actually, as you know, the coding is a, is a small aspect of a business. That’s a very small part. Vision design and connecting to customer the whole, you know, thing. But. What was the, did you, so in designing this, how did you teach yourself this stuff? Because there is a little bit of a learning curve. It’s less than development, but what tools did you use and how did you teach yourself this stuff? Because we have a lot of non-technical listeners that have small businesses that would probably like to do something like this. They’re like, oh my gosh, I would love to have, uh, some software or app to help my customers. I have no idea where to start.

Riana LeJeune: Well, I think, uh, one. Of my strengths in business. is constant curiosity and, uh, I, I speak often on it, but I am a late di di diagnosed A DHD, so autistic A DHD person. And so my energy goes into my special interest was, is furniture and now tech. So, uh, once I started building the app, you know, I just did more research on the internet and then I connected with Venture Net and other

Justin Brady: Connect with Venture net. Venture net. Okay. Got it.

Riana LeJeune: So that’s who I went through. to get the technology funding. Uh, so the Des Moines area and Central Iowa is very entrepreneur friendly, so when you have an idea or wanna build a business, everyone is very eager to help

Justin Brady: Mm.

Riana LeJeune: So. um, obviously I’ve never built a tech startup before and so, uh, the first thing I did was talk to my mentor Christina Moffitt, who is very well connected here in Des Moines, and she helped me find a fractional CFO who has scaled. Tech startups. So I say, if you wanna do something that’s out of your wheelhouse is to, um, find a mentor or someone who has navigated that before and learn all you can. And there’s so many resources. Even Iowa State University right now, I’m going through a mentorship program and they’ve connected me, uh, with Lean Technique and, uh, nma it’s, and different organizations that are going to help me and mentor me through this process.

Justin Brady: And I will say like when you do, just reach out to entities like Venture Net or you reach out to, I know Kaylee has a show on here, the tech podcast to Aventure. You reach out to these entities. It may not be the right entity, but I guarantee you they’ll point to the right direction. ’cause it, it takes one email or one phone call usually in this state for some people to say. That’s not what we do, but here are 10 people that do it. I don’t know if you’ve had that experience, but people are very eager to share information when you’re doing a startup. And the age of the billion dollar raise and like the thir $50 million Series A is kind of over. I mean, I’m sure there are still gonna be companies in that, uh, but all these smaller vibe coded startups, I truly believe that’s, that’s the future. So what tools did you use, though? I wanna go back to that. Did you use Claude? Did you use, what did you use to actually build this? Or was it a multiple, like a bunch of tools?

Riana LeJeune: No, Uh, so it’s one platform. And I’d rather, I can’t say here

Justin Brady: just because, oh,

Riana LeJeune: just because we’re in the. process of scaling and, and some legal aspects with patents and, uh, whatnot. So I just kind of wanna keep that platform

Justin Brady: Trade Secret. Trade

Riana LeJeune: trade Secret. Yeah. Trade secret. Yes.

Justin Brady: Yeah. There are several. So there’s Claude, there’s Perplexity. I know OpenAI builds code. I know Rock is a newer tool. There’s, uh, and of course per, uh, Claude being philanthropic. So there are a lot of tools that people are using to vibe code. Uh, tool tools and apps. But what’s interesting is, um, what’s interesting about AI is people are like, AI’s gonna take jobs. I’m like, okay. Um, long discussion. I don’t believe it will. I think it’ll create more jobs and be more beneficial. However, AI’s also the first tool. That trains you where to go get information and how to do things. mm-hmm. You know, so I always tell people, they’re like, well, I don’t know where to start. I was like, you know where you could start is go to Gemini, go to Grok, go to Cha GBT and ask it where to start and it will tell you.

Riana LeJeune: Yeah. And one of the things that I got pushback with when I launched renewable was, oh, well chat, GPT and Gemini could do a visualization. so why would we pay for your service? and my. response to that is. Those are general AI tools and when something is built for everyone, it’s really built for no one. And we deserve It’s true. industry specific tools. And so again, renewable isn’t just a visualization app. Uh, it’s a platform dedicated to artisans and helping them. Uh. Gain visibility, which we need to have the next generation go into that field. It gives them support tools to help them figure out that business aspect that isn’t, uh, readily available, um, to, you know, understand return on investment and how to price and how to scale and to connect with other fabric companies and resources and people. So it is unique in that.

Justin Brady: Well, I love this story. I love the collision of upholstery and old world techniques with very new world techniques. Maybe next time we have you in here, you’ll be teaching robots how to do this. I don’t know. Well, we’ll see

Riana LeJeune: I don’t wanna lose the. human aspect, so we just wanna support them. You can, lift stuff

Justin Brady: like, you know, don’t, don’t, let’s not

Riana LeJeune: the

Justin Brady: the robots yet, because one day they we’re all gonna work for ’em. No, just kidding. I don’t actually believe that. Uh, Rihanna Lejeune, the owner of renewable furniture and re-pinned workroom. What’s the website if people wanna learn more and connect with you? Uh.

Riana LeJeune: Uh, so we have, uh, rein upholstery.com is for our local workroom where we make fabulous furniture, and then renewable app is in the cloud, so it’s downloadable. We’re on social media. You can see that how it works. We give demos all the time.

Justin Brady: Rihanna, thank you so much for coming on the Iowa Podcast.

Riana LeJeune: for having me.