How Dust Moto is Using Ekho to Build America’s Next Great Moto Brand

“Ekho’s platform gives us more than just compliance—we’re using it to map demand, streamline preorders, and stay laser-focused on product and brand. They’ve been instrumental in helping us scale intelligently and compliantly from day one, and will play a central role in our distribution model.”

Colin Godby, Co-Founder & CEO, Dust Moto

About Dust Moto

Dust is on a mission to usher in a new golden age of powered two-wheel recreation. Backed by a team with deep experience across UBCO, Hydro Flask, Glowforge, Allbirds, and Skullcandy, the Dust team is building performance electric vehicles that are affordable, design-forward, and built to maximize the connection between rider, machine, and environment. Their first product—the Dust Moto Hightail—has already captured significant attention across the U.S. for its refined design and performance engineering.

Dust’s Goals

Dust wanted to hit the ground running: collecting real demand signals, capturing early deposits, and building credibility with prospective dealers. But they also needed to do it right—navigating a complex regulatory landscape, protecting their early customers, and setting the foundation for a long-term online and offline sales strategy.

Problem — How to Collect Orders Without a Dealer Network

At launch, Dust wasn’t ready to build out a full retail network. But they needed a way to compliantly take preorders and begin identifying their highest-opportunity markets. Key challenges included:

• Regulatory hurdles: Taking deposits for motor vehicles is considered a “dealer-like” activity in most U.S. states, and OEMs aren’t legally allowed to act as their own dealers—meaning OEMs like Dust can quickly run into legal issues when doing this incorrectly.
  
  
• Dealer development blind spots: Without data, Dust couldn’t confidently decide where to focus early retail partnerships.
  
  
• Focus and resources: The Dust team needed to prioritize product and brand development—not get bogged down in regulatory complexity and retailer development pre-product.
  
  
• Early credibility: They needed to demonstrate real demand to skeptical retailers who might otherwise hesitate to partner with a new brand.
  
  

Solution — Ekho Access for Preorder-Driven Growth

Ekho’s Access product enabled Dust to compliantly accept preorders and deposits from customers nationwide. As a licensed reseller in all 50 states, Ekho allowed Dust to navigate dealer laws, structure variable pricing for multi-unit orders, and prepare for full sales without spinning up a dealer network too early.

Challenges solved by Ekho:

• Compliant preorder collection: Ekho’s licensure portfolio and dynamic dealer assignment infrastructure allowed Dust to compliantly accept deposits on their Hightail, without needing an immediate retail footprint.
  
  
• Focus preserved: Ekho handled all the regulatory nuance—allowing Dust to concentrate on building a world-class bike and a brand that lasts.
  
  
• Demand heatmap: With every preorder, Dust gains visibility into where their customer base is concentrated—helping them prioritize dealer development efforts and regional marketing spend.
  
  
• Retailer buy-in: Dust now approaches potential dealers with hard data and cash-backed commitments from local buyers—turning what might’ve been a cold outreach into a compelling opportunity.
  
  
• Attribution and intelligence: With Ekho, Dust knows who’s buying, where they’re buying from, and what brand development efforts are working—unlocking smarter iteration.
  
  
• Seamless full-sale conversion: As production ramps up, the Dust team can use Ekho’s Admin Portal to convert preorders into full sale conversion invitations—financing, DMV registration, titling, and all—with the click of a button.
  
  

The Future — From Preorders to Omnichannel

As Dust scales, they plan to evolve from using just Ekho Access to doing so in unison with Ekho Omni—bringing dealers into the fold without sacrificing the seamless online checkout experience their early customers love. With Omni, Dust will allow dealers to plug in their inventory so that shoppers on dustmoto.com can browse nearby stock, while Ekho standardizes the buyer experience across both online and in-person dealer-enabled channels.

This hybrid approach allows Dust to:

• Help dealers move inventory and acquire customers online
  
  
• Maintain a consistent purchase experience
  
  
• Drive digital sales while keeping retailers at the center
  
  

“We’re not just trying to launch a bike—we’re building a brand that lasts. Ekho helps us do that by powering the back-end, so we can stay focused on what really matters: the rider, the machine, and the experience.”

Colin Godby, Co-Founder & CEO, Dust Moto