Washington, D.C., August 26, 2026

Entrepreneur Ricardo Regalado’s story is one of resilience, dedication, hard work, family, and taking a chance. Raised by a father who worked blue-collar jobs earning no more than $15 an hour and a mother who built a career in the corporate world, he had every reason to follow a more traditional path. Instead, he charted his own path, a journey filled with twists and turns that led him to become one of the few Latino tech startup founders to raise more than $2 million in venture capital from Silicon Valley. Along the way, he joined the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, was named Small Business Person of the Year at the 46th USHCC Annual Conference, and became the youngest, and first, Latino to serve on the board of ISSA, the Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association.

That journey started with a spark, an itch to do things differently than his parents had. Like many Hispanic entrepreneurs, Regalado was raised to work hard no matter the challenge, but he also knew hard work didn’t mean he had to become just another corporate number. In 2012, with his cousin and his girlfriend (now wife) behind him, he emptied his bank account and bought his first cleaning company, betting everything on an industry he knew nothing about. He learned fast, how to buy products, how to train a team, and along the way discovered a gift he hadn’t expected: he could sell, and he could tell a story people wanted to hear. So, he sold that franchise and started his own, and Rozalado Cleaning Services was born, named for the combination of his and his cousin’s first names.

The early days tested that resolve immediately. Just two months after launching the business, Ricardo faced a serious personal setback after receiving a DUI, which prevented him from driving during the company’s first four years. With the support of his wife and cousin, who stepped in when he couldn’t, he got in the van and kept moving forward. That moment mattered so much that, to this day, the company still keeps the very first van he drove in service, a reminder of how close it came to not happening at all, and of the family that refused to let it fail. His wife pulled money from her 401(k) without hesitation. His cousin quit his job as a Cook County Correctional Officer to help build the business. Even his parents, who doubted the leap at first, were among the first to work for the company for free.

That family foundation is what let the business grow into what it is today: a BSC – Buildings Services contractor offering 22 commercial services, with employees across 30 states and more than 50 subcontractors. Rozalado now employs over 600 people, 23 of them family members, and this past year crossed $30 million in annual revenue. But for Ricardo, the numbers were never the point. The people are. Because of the business, employees have gone on to buy their first car, their first house, even save enough to send their kids to college. His father, who passed away in 2019, worked at the company, and it was the best-paying job he ever had. Cleaning technicians become supervisors, managers, directors here. The room for upward mobility is unlimited, and that, to Regalado, is the real return on the risk he and his family took back in 2012.

It’s also the lesson he keeps coming back to: you can’t buy freedom. Financial success is possible, but to him, being a true entrepreneur means continuing to build a legacy, reinvesting to create more jobs rather than sitting back on a beach. Every day brings new challenges, and he treats each one as a chance to get better, not a reason to stop.

That mindset is what pushed him past cleaning and into technology. As his business grew, Regalado got involved with Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, including the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Chicago. In 2019, at a chamber event, he was encouraged to explore an avenue he hadn’t considered. The chamber saw talent and passion in one of its members and pushed him to

act on it, and that push led him to a Capital One pitch competition, the company’s first ever, offering $40,000 in capital to the winner. To his surprise, he won. That’s how Route was born: a multi-brand technology and software ecosystem built to empower commercial cleaning and field service businesses.

The achievement was unprecedented for the industry. Cleaning rarely gets a spotlight, despite making up nearly 9% of the U.S. general labor workforce, with more than a million cleaning companies operating across the country. Launching in 2019 didn’t mean instant success, either, there were plenty of ups, downs, and hard-earned lessons before Ricardo went on to raise over $2 million in venture capital. To him, it mattered to prove that a “cleaner” could sit at the table with venture capitalists, and to show others in the industry that when the drive is there, the dream is more than achievable. With investor names such as Google, Morgan Stanley, Capital One, Slauson, Karcher, who knew a Cleaner could make an impact on some of the biggest brands in the country.

That same drive to prove the industry’s worth is what led to his next chapter: storytelling. Ricardo felt the cleaning business owners and their workforce’s skill, stories and dedication went largely unrecognized, so he launched a podcast, Cleaning and Cocktails, spotlighting cleaning companies from across the country. Now at 140 episodes, it’s the number one podcast for cleaning industry professionals in the nation, built almost entirely through organic reach, the kind of growth most brands spend heavily trying to achieve.

Ricardo believes that with a Stronger Together Mentality that all can prevail by working together toward the goals, the problems, and the solutions. Being a team is the one result that will always win.

Through it all, USHCC has been a constant. Membership has given Ricardo a voice, a platform to speak, and the chance to connect with major brands. Through USHCC’s procurement initiatives, Rozalado has won major cleaning contracts and been placed in rooms with decision-makers he might never have reached otherwise. It’s a fitting continuation of his story: a community that, like his family, believed in the value of what he was building before the rest of the industry caught up.

Join hundreds of businesses and Ricardo at this year’s National Conference coming up in Forth Worth, Texas from September 14-16! Register today.