Kyle Dreifus, founder of ShredHook, LLC, to Receive the Salt Lake Small Business Development Center’s 2024 Client of the Year Award
For innovation, they say to strike when the iron’s hot. For Kyle Dreifus, founder and CEO of ShredHook, the time to strike was actually when the iron was cold, blanketed in snow, and at altitude.
Dreifus was at the Mammoth Mountain ski resort in California with his father when the concept for ShredHook first came to him. The two were traversing between lifts, and, since Dreifus was on a snowboard and his father was on skis, Dreifus was struggling to keep up.
“After getting off the lift, we had about 200 yards of downhill to traverse to another lift. And you know, we’re trying to kind of boogie up there to get the fresh tracks,” Dreifus explained. As a snowboarder, those scant 200 yards involved skating off to the side and strapping his back foot in – all for a 10-second traverse. But for his father, who was on skis?
“He just kind of skied off the lift and rode that 200 yards of downhill immediately, and I was like, man, there’s got to be a better way that I can get over to that other chairlift as fast as a skier, without having to strap in.”
Skiers have poles to help traverse, Dreifus said, but “snowboarders kind of ride their board like a skateboard.” He realized that, if he could anchor his back foot to his board without having to strap in, then he “could just jam off this lift and cover the downhill one-footed.” The concept of the Shredhook – which lets riders push with their back foot when needed or anchor it on the board for control – was born.
Since the ShredHook benefits lift dismounts as much as traversing, the product is best suited for beginning or casual riders, which is a deep pool. “73% of snowboarders here in the US ride one to six times a year,” Dreifus said, citing figures from Snow Sports Industries of America (SIA), an organization that eventually led him to Salt Lake’s Small Business Development Center at SLCC’s The Mill.
While developing the idea for the ShredHook, Dreifus reached out to SIA, and his contact recommended a relocation to Salt Lake City for two reasons. The first was access to high-quality manufacturing and snow sport industry expertise. The second was connecting with resources like the SBDC, where he met The Mill’s Bryce Hansen and learned how to build a solid business foundation, including arranging manufacturing, finding his business partner and COO, fundraising, getting legal support, and securing all the licensing, copyrighting, and trademarking that go into building and protecting a brand.
“These are really, really big key components to starting a partnership and just making sure the foundation is laid from day one,” Dreifus said. “Having somebody that you trust that is always gonna just, you know, take the time, talk through things with me – that's really what the SBDC's provided me. Just, you know, peace of mind that I'm doing the right thing.”
“It couldn't have gone better,” he concluded.
Having built ShredHook’s foundation, Dreifus has mapped an ambitious plan for expansion. Starting in 2026, he’ll be targeting the Australian and New Zealand markets, and eventually moving into Europe and Asia. “That takes my six-month-a-year business to a nine-month-a year-business, which, there’s no losing there,” he said.
He’s also focused on expanding others’ businesses, seeing his success as a blueprint that can be developed into an incubator to help other aspiring entrepreneurs go from concept to product to sustained scalability by following the path of learning and logistics that he’s already plowed.
You’re invited to learn more about Dreifus’ journey and ShredHook’s future plans while celebrating with the Salt Lake SBDC as we honor the Client of the Year. Light refreshments will be served. For tickets, RSVP online.
Event Details
The Salt Lake SBDC’s 2024 Client of the Year Award
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
The Mill (Bldg. 5), Floor 1, Room 101
SLCC Miller Campus
9690 South 300 West, Sandy, UT 84070
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