Jackson startup scores $160K with second Kickstarter product launch

The teeth also seem to be helping take a bite into a healthy launch. With about 1,050 backers—or people who preorder the shovel at a discount—DMOS has raised more than $160,000 out of its stated $15,000 goal.

Crowdfunded launch campaigns through outlets like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been gaining in momentum in recent years, and Jackson startups have performed far better than average with their launches.

Pieper, a graduate of Harvard Business School, founded DMOS partly to provide a lightweight and portable backcountry shovel that her son could carry with him into the Teton backcountry or build jumps with in the backyard. 

In the past year, she said in an interview with the Business Report, the company has evolved to become more inclusive of those who may not use shovels to build backflip jumps.

For that reason, Pieper said that she and her staff of six designed the Alpha shovel to appeal to both driveway shovelers and those who may pack it to Denali’s base camp.

“We thought, maybe naively, that our shovel was only good for building backcountry jumps,” she said. “We didn’t understand that moms and dads wanted it for their car or their front deck, too.”

But in Jackson, where 388 inches of snow have fallen so far this year, even the company’s new Alpha shovel designed for the task of shoveling a driveway can’t quite convince Pieper to keep up with the snowfall.

“I contract with my neighbor to snow-blow the driveway,” she said.  

Pieper added that the company has a shovel intended for use in dirt aimed as their next product launch. In the meantime, she said she’s just having fun.

“We’re sharing the stoke!” she said.