Keep up with local business news and trends<\/p>\n
Subscribe to the St. Louis Business newsletter to get the latest insights sent to your inbox every morning.<\/p>\n
We will never send spam or annoying emails. Unsubscribe anytime.<\/p>\n
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n In going down that road, they\u2019ve gotten a crash course in how hard business can be. <\/p>\n Photography Courtesy of Ryan and Audrey BrownPhotography Courtesy of Ryan and Audrey Brown They\u2019ve now not only purchased and modernized an existing business, but experienced a roller coaster of emotions amid attempts to establish a new revenue line, only to push through and develop something totally new. The result of their struggle is an app that they hope will have utility for many other businesses and DIY makers alike. They\u2019ve also learned a lot<\/a>\u2014even if it hasn\u2019t always been fun or easy.<\/p>\n The Browns were attracted to the idea of becoming their own bosses after each stringing successful careers in their own right\u2014Ryan in marketing, brand strategy, and customer experience with high level roles at FleishmanHillard and New Honor Society, and Audrey with experience in operations and finance, with stints at Thomson Reuters and more recently at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School and The Journey church in Tower Grove.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have these skill sets, they\u2019re complementary,\u201d Audrey explains. Which made them wonder: \u201cWhy not take what we have, do something on our own and actually just be working for ourselves? Then we\u2019re in control.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n With that direction set, the two began searching for businesses to purchase. Ryan explains they were \u201clooking literally for a dusty shop\u201d with more than a decade in business, where most of the operations had yet to be digitized, but which had solid revenue growth and an existing client base.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe were looking for a business that didn\u2019t have a succession plan, so that the owner was the operator, but the operator wanted out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n They eventually landed on Rock Creek Granite<\/a>, a countertop fabricator and installer located in Imperial, and spent close to a year \u201ccourting\u201d the business and performing due diligence before officially purchasing it for about $1.5 million in the middle of 2022. They pulled together enough funds and collateral to qualify for a loan from the Small Business Administration.<\/p>\n Photo Courtesy of Rock Creek GranitePhoto Courtesy of Rock Creek Granite While the Brown\u2019s story features some of the hallmarks of entrepreneurship through acquisition<\/a>, such as digitizing operations that had previously only been on paper, their story diverges from more rosy tales of success that often get relayed. Their path, they freely acknowledge, was not easy.<\/p>\n \u201cEnds up we didn\u2019t do enough due diligence,\u201d quips Audrey of the research they performed before acquisition.<\/p>\n Part of what they found intriguing about the business was the prospect of making use of the excess material left over from previous countertop jobs. They had visions of saving the scraps from the landfill, which is where some leftovers from construction projects often go.<\/p>\n And there was a whole lot of it at Rock Creek Granite\u2014some $500,000 worth, according to a report they reviewed before finalizing the purchase. \u201cIt talked in detail about how much of that material was of a certain grade, a certain size, and then the estimated total value of it, and how that estimated total value basically went towards the business valuation,\u201d says Ryan.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photo Courtesy of Rock Creek GranitePhoto Courtesy of Rock Creek Granite It was only after they purchased the business that they realized all that excess material was practically worthless, because the leftover shapes weren\u2019t what most countertop projects require.<\/p>\n \u201cTo hear that all of that\u2014and to feel it in real time\u2014is worth nothing, it was like, \u2018Oh my god, that was snake oil. I just bought a whole bunch of snake oil,\u2019\u201d says Ryan. \u201cI think it\u2019s the first time we felt like the rug was pulled out from us a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than accept the leftover countertop material would always be destined to gather dust or wind up in the trash, the two began exploring ways to make use of it, especially after realizing many other fabricators face similar challenges with excess material.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s that saying of \u2018it just takes the right buyer,\u2019 but in our case, we sit up on a bluff down on the edge of Arnold and Imperial, in an industrial park, so the right buyer is not driving by us to find these pieces. How do we bring these pieces to the buyer, the DIY-er?\u201d Audrey says.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Browns figured a LiDAR-based application could gather the dimensions of leftover countertop material and form an inventory they could then manage and sell from. They decided to build an app, and enlisted the help of an outside developer. When that relationship soured, they found a new developer and pulled together enough money to commission a prototype.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was irresponsible,\u201d admits Ryan of continuing to pursue an app. \u201cBut we were like, \u2018We got to do it. This is why we got into this business.\u2019 Like, \u2018Go all in, even more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After they received a prototype application for an iPhone that could scan countertop dimensions, they realized they didn\u2019t have enough funds to continue working with that developer. But Ryan says he held onto the projects\u2019 files and, with the help of Claude Code a few years later, eventually found a way to build a consumer-facing app.<\/p>\n Last month, the couple launched Novaclad<\/a>, which generates an estimated cost for new countertops based on the dimensions it scans.\u00a0<\/p>\n They don\u2019t see the app generating templates to cut a countertop from, at least not yet, since countertop fabrication requires precision down to 1\/16\u201d and LiDAR from a phone isn\u2019t sensitive enough. But Ryan says it offers a solution to a common friction point in the process of getting new countertops, where a consumer may balk at a bid that\u2019s thousands of dollars more expensive than they may have expected.<\/p>\n \u201cOver time, our whole competitive moat is that we are feeding it fabricator-specific information that makes it actually actionable. So that the price tag you see is a price tag that you\u2019ll pay,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Photo Courtesy of Rock Creek GranitePhoto Courtesy of Rock Creek Granite The couple sees this technology helping other fabricators in the country who face similar challenges with excess material get connected to customers looking to price out specific materials from manufacturers they live nearby. And they have visions of expanding it as a platform for other building projects that commonly experience leftover materials.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re at this point now where we\u2019d much rather shift our energy into Novaclad or what we call the fabrication cloud, where it\u2019s grabbing the right material and it\u2019s pricing it out for the customer,\u201d Ryan says. \u201cThat has the far bigger potential, and not just in some countertops. In tile, wood, drywall, paint.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Says Audrey, \u201cThink about all the reclaimed wood that\u2019s out there, or the old wood. [Someone may] try to sell it but a lot of it just gets thrown in the trash.\u201d<\/p>\n Before that lofty vision can be achieved, Ryan says they first have to get Novaclad connected to their specific live inventory at Rock Creek Granite. Both acknowledge balancing the development of Novaclad while running a fabrication business has been taxing on their relationship.<\/p>\n \u201cRock Creek has always been our test kitchen for the app,\u201d Ryan says. \u201cWhat Audrey\u2019s exhibiting is a fatigue with keeping the test kitchen running while we figure out this app.\u201d<\/p>\n But, both say, it\u2019s gratifying to reach this point all while macroeconomic shocks, such as high diesel costs, inflation, and tariffs, have thrown a wrench in purchasing decisions, even as they\u2019ve worked to modernize many aspects of their fabrication business.\u00a0<\/p>\n They\u2019ve managed to keep revenue stable at about $2.5 million a year and retain most of the existing workforce. They\u2019ve also helped develop their employees\u2019 skillsets beyond fabrication to include working with higher tech manufacturing systems and managing the digital e-commerce systems and inventory spreadsheets Rock Creek Granite now uses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just have streamlined the business so much and from day one to now, but we\u2019re still looking at a huge uphill path of things that we can still do,\u201d says Audrey.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even with the challenges they\u2019ve endured the past four years, both have found the experience to be worthwhile. When asked if it\u2019s something they\u2019d do over again, Ryan looks to Audrey. \u201cBe honest,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n She pauses a moment and answers: \u201cYeah, probably, to be honest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cReally?\u201d Ryan responds. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t.\u201d He then clarifies he would instead pick a different business to acquire. \u201cIt\u2019s been that hard,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Photography Courtesy of Ryan and Audrey BrownPhotography Courtesy of Ryan and Audrey Brown Audrey acknowledges the experience has weighed on their nearly two-decade marriage, but \u201cthe learning and the growth that we\u2019ve done over the four years is definitely worth it. I think it\u2019s been good for our kids to see us do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n They say their four children have watched as they\u2019ve responded to the different challenges in the business and have come away with the resolve to pursue their own ideas. At 10, their youngest has already built a website for custom golf gloves he aims to sell, and their oldest has gotten involved in helping gather donations<\/a> to save the Compton Hill Water Tower.<\/p>\n Reflects Audrey: \u201cThey\u2019re seeing how their ideas can actually come to life with a little bit of creativity, risk, and confidence to put themselves out there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the depths of the pandemic Audrey and Ryan Brown remember feeling the weight of a future that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[138,336,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-635615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20251022_Provided_Spinoza-Strategies-639x1024.webp\")
Ryan and Audrey Brown purchased Rock Creek Granite in 2022.<\/p>\n![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Rock-Creek-4-1024x768.webp\")
Fabricators at Rock Creek Granite working on a slab of material <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Rock-Creek-7-1024x576.webp\")
A view inside Rock Creek Granite\u2019s production facility. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Rock-Creek-10-1024x768.webp\")
A view of a completed counter top job by Rock Creek Granite.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Rock-Creek-6-1024x768.webp\")
Ryan and Audrey Brown and their four children.<\/p>\n