Building the AI Operating System for Apparel Manufacturing with ThreadLabs Co-Founders Rylan Jimenez & Diora Juraboeva
with Rylan Jimenez — Founder & CEO, Diora Juraboeva — Co-Founder
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Most US apparel shops still run production on WhatsApp threads, Gmail, and the foreman’s memory — 70% of manufacturers still collect data manually, and only 16% have real-time visibility across production. Rylan Jimenez and Diora Juraboeva are building ThreadLabs to fix that, not with another ERP, but with an intelligence layer that sits on top of the tools manufacturers already use.
In this episode of the 18VC Podcast, we sit down with the ThreadLabs co-founders to unpack: how a USC Marshall finance student and a Formula-SAE composites engineer ended up building the AI operating system for apparel production; the pivot from a brand-facing AI design tool to a manufacturer-facing ops layer; what they learned from hundreds of hours on DTLA factory floors; the macro tailwinds (tariffs, reshoring, the gap between US and Chinese shop tech stacks); how Smart Timelines, Risk Flags, and Update Autopilot actually work; and what they’d tell other student founders who are still trying to find their wedge.
Featured Company
ThreadLabs
Digital infrastructure for faster, smarter manufacturing.
Guests
Rylan Jimenez
Founder & CEO
Rylan is building the AI Operating System for Apparel Manufacturing in LA.
LinkedIn
Diora Juraboeva
Co-Founder
Product x Venture x Community. Founded VC Academy + lead Spark SC at USC. Worked with Techstars, Honda, Ghost, and Fortify Ventures. Currently building in fashion tech and always up for ambitious early-stage problems.
LinkedInHosts
Timestamps
00:00 Highlight reel
00:43 Welcome & how we met Rylan and Diora
02:54 Rylan’s path: mech engineering → VC at USC
06:30 What working in VC actually teaches you about building
12:57 Why building beats investing (for now)
15:14 Diora’s building journey: F1, USC Racing, Honda, Fisher-Price
17:43 Founding VC Academy together at USC
19:53 How Rylan and Diora actually met (Formula SAE, month two)
23:08 The original ThreadLabs idea: an AI tool for fashion designers
25:48 Rylan’s freelance fashion-design years (16–19)
28:07 Where the name “ThreadLabs” came from — and the rebrand coming
29:16 Why now: tariffs, reshoring, and the manufacturing tech gap
32:43 The pivot: from “better ERP” to an intelligence layer on top
35:39 Hundreds of hours on DTLA factory floors — what manufacturers actually want
39:31 What the product does today vs. six months ago
44:21 Onboarding, ERPs, and going white-glove on day one
45:34 Smart Timelines, Risk Flags, and Update Autopilot — how they work
48:23 DTG, screen print, embroidery, cut-and-sew — printing types, not products
50:41 Traction: 5 pilot shops, $50K generated, and where the new product stands
53:27 Scaling beyond LA — international manufacturers and other verticals
56:35 The 3-person founding team (with CTO Dennis Pavlov)
01:00:22 What the Techstars Catalyst program actually taught them
01:02:20 One word other than “founder”: boring vs. people-orientated
01:05:18 The hardest part of being a founder: scope creep and narrowing down
01:08:47 How being a founder changes the way you live with uncertainty
01:11:26 Mentors, advisors, and Rylan’s closing advice for student founders
01:16:08 Outro
Show Notes
Rylan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rylan-jimenez/?skipRedirect=true
Diora on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dioraj/?skipRedirect=true
ThreadLabs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thread-labs-sc/
ThreadLabs Website: https://threadlbs.com/landing
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