Jono DiPeri is the founder and CEO of MyoStorm. Based in Utah, MyoStorm sells state of the art devices for athletes and individuals suffering from chronic pain. Its flagship product is the Meteor — a vibrating and heating massage ball that Jono appeared on Shark Tank with in 2019. The product received offers from most of the Sharks and won a handshake deal with Lori Grenier.
Today, the business has 10 employees and makes $150k each month. They plan on launching several more products this year and are aiming for $4 million in revenue for 2020 while continuing to experience close to 100% growth each year for the next few years. These numbers are ambitious, so what’s Jono’s plan for growth? Here he tells all.
Who are you and what brand did you start?
My name is Jono DiPeri. I am the founder and CEO of MyoStorm. MyoStorm is based out of Provo, Utah and develops and sells state of the art massage devices for use by athletes and individuals with chronic pain. In October of 2019, we appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank with our flagship product, the Meteor, a vibrating and heating massage ball.
How did you come up with the idea, brand name and logo for MyoStorm?
The idea for the Meteor came as a result of research I was doing as a Mechanical Engineering student at Brigham Young University. I was involved in a research group that studied how vibration affects the human body and we discovered that there was a range of specific frequencies and amplitudes of vibration that provided greater therapeutic effects.
Realizing that these levels of vibration were not being well utilized in the current market, we decided to develop a product that would. I teamed up with my friends Shaquille Walker (world record holder in the road 800m) and Jared Ward (Rio Olympian in the marathon) and we developed a device that was effective enough for professional athletes but accessible to everyone. Our vision is to become industry leaders and take the muscular recovery industry by storm.
Describe the process of launching MyoStorm?
Prototyping began with myself and a couple of other university students modeling and 3D printing in our schools prototyping lab. I went through about 6-7 3D printed prototypes of the Meteor until I got to a point where we were ready to approach manufacturers.
At the start, we weren’t really sure this would ever turn into an actual business but once we had a decent prototype, we were invited to compete in some school business model/innovation competitions where we ended up doing rather well and winning several thousand dollars in prize money. It was at that point that we started to take the idea a little bit more seriously and approached manufacturers. It took almost another year for us to come up with a product we were satisfied with once we started getting production samples.
We had to keep making changes along the way. In September of 2018, we launched a Kickstarter to fund the initial production of the product. We had a funding goal of $20k and ended up doing over $60k. Our Kickstarter was really our final form of validation. We knew if we could exceed our Kickstarter goal then we should push ahead with the product.
After completing our Kickstarter, we raised another $100k amongst the members and founders of MyoStorm and were able to start fulfilling Kickstarter orders in Feb 2019. Around the same time, we were approached by ABC’s Shark Tank and were encouraged to audition for the show. In June we flew out to California to appear in front of the Sharks where we had an amazing response, getting offers from most of the Sharks and making a handshake deal with Lori Grenier.
Our Shark Tank episode aired in October of 2019 and that premier accelerated the exposure of our brand astronomically. We could not keep up with the influx of orders and demand. The exposure accelerated us into the scale phase.
Since launch, what has worked best to attract and retain customers?
We attend a lot of events, marathons etc, where people can demo the product and we can make lasting positive experiences with people that strengthen the brand. Having relationships with athletes and them being advocates for the product is also key. We have also taken a very scientific approach to our product which is different from most of our competitors. As an FDA medical device that has been extensively researched, it gives us a slight competitive advantage.
With regards to business growth, how have things changed from a digital, revenue, customer and sales perspective?
Shark Tank created a massive spike in our sales that lasted for about a month, and we are just getting out of that big boost and sales are starting to stabilize. It is hard to tell exactly were will end up on a standard growth trajectory throughout 2020 but here is a chart to help visualize what Shark Tank did to our sales when it hit on October 27th 2019:
How is the business doing today and what does the future look like?
The business is doing well today, the growth from Shark Tank put us in a place where we now have a strong brand presence and quite a bit of cash. The future will be full of much slower steady growth as we try to continue to solidify the strength of our brand through premium educational content and strong brand interactions. We plan on launching several more products this year and we plan to do around $4 million in revenue for 2020 and continue to experience close to 100% growth each year for the next few years.
What’s been the biggest learning experience since starting your own brand?
It is hard to nail it down to one or two things as I feel I have had to learn EVERYTHING about business from scratch. One of the most meaningful things I feel that I have learned is to trust my instincts. I discovered it was important to get and listen to as much advice as possible, but to not necessarily take it all.
The biggest mistakes I have made have been when I have blindly trusted the advice of mentors and so-called “experts” when it didn’t always match up with what my gut was telling me. I have learned to take all the advice I can get, soak it up and then ultimately make my own decisions based on a combination of my instincts, knowledge and a range of solid advice.
What are your top 3 tips on how to setup an Ecom store for success?
It is vital to have a strong level of validation before starting an ecommerce store, or really any business idea. This includes researching the product or products you are wanting to sell, understanding what the competitive landscape is, surveying the marketplace, doing wow-factor testing, testing audiences etc. with as little resources as possible so you can have a strong entrance without burning too much cash figuring it all out after launch, or potentially saving you from launching a product or idea that just isn’t going to do well.
This initial phase of validation will most likely lead you to learn something that will cause you to pivot from your initial idea or identify a new market that wasn’t quite what you expected.
What are some of your favorite online business tools you use to run MyoStorm?
We use basic tools. This includes the standard Google and Facebook tools but we have a few apps for our website including Hotjar & Loox reviews, which have worked well for us. We also use Gorgias for customer support and chat integration which has been very helpful.
| Type | Tool Name |
|---|---|
| Platform | Shopify |
| Project Management | Asana |
| Email Marketing | Mailchimp |
| Reviews | Loox |
| Analytics | Google Analytics, Hotjar |
| Accounting | Quickbooks |
| Productivity | Asana, Google Sheets |
| Payments | Shopify, Stripe, Quickbooks |
| Customer Service | Gorgias |
| Design | Adobe Suite |
| Marketing | Loox, Mailchimp, Affiliate by Secomapp |
| CRM | Google Sheets |
See what ecommerce tools other founders are using.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts or other educational resources?
Startup Leadership by Lidow, Conquer the Chaos by Mask and Martineau, Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, Deep Work by Cal Newport, as well as amazing mentorship from John Richards of Start-up ignition, Rob Cornilles of Game-Face for sales training, and many other amazing mentors. Also, binge watching every episode of Shark tank ever.
Who have been the most influential people for you during this business journey?
The most influential people in our brand journey were actually mentors that were introduced to us through the entrepreneurial program at Brigham Young University’s Rollins Center. Through the Rollins Center’s summer incubator for student start-ups, we were introduced to amazing experts. This included John Richards from Start-up ignition, Corbin Church from Church properties, Scott Petersen of Omadi, Rob Cornilles from Game face, Ryan Smith from Qualtrics and other Shark Tank creators, including Matt Alexander from Illumibowl, the teams of Mission belt, Phone Soap, Fiber Fix.
I will say that while it was amazing to get mentorship from experienced “legends”, the most useful mentorship was from people who were just a year or two ahead of us in the process of starting their own ventures. They had the most applicable knowledge because they have just been through the exact things that we are going through.
Any other advice you’d like to share with other aspiring entrepreneurs?
You will hear a lot of scary statistics out there about how many businesses “fail” and that can be intimidating or discouraging. Ignore these. You really just have to go for it, but do so intelligently.
While vital, It is not enough to just have determination. You need to be smart about your approach to entrepreneurship. There is a scientific method to the validation process that can almost ensure your success if followed correctly.
'Be determined and don’t give up due to difficult obstacles. Use them as was to learn, adapt and improve'Click To TweetBefore you go all in on an idea, make sure you do the proper validation. 99% of the entrepreneurs that fail is because they don’t do proper validation. During the validation process, you may “unvalidate” your idea, or you may need to pivot. Or perhaps through your research you discover an idea that will be far more successful than your original idea. So, do not be afraid of roadblocks, they are simply there to help you learn and adapt, which will ultimately make you more successful.
So my three key pieces of advice are to:
- Just go for it, don’t be afraid
- Be smart — DO validation
- Be determined and don’t give up due to difficult obstacles. Use them as a way to learn, adapt and improve.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now or open to new investors?
We are currently in the market for a CMO — someone with a strong vision of the many different facets of marketing and ecommerce, retail, and event based brands that has passion for the fitness or medical fields. And we are always open to discussions with new investors.
Where can we go to learn more about your current offers/promotions/programs?
All of our offers and promotions stem through our website at MyoStorm.com
