Brand Yourself, a Student Sandbox Company, receives White House recognition

Brand Yourself, the Syracuse Student Sandbox business started by School of Information Studies (iSchool) students Pete Kistler ’10 and RJ Sherman ’09, G’11, is being honored at the White House for their placement on the Empact 100 list.

The Empact 100 list is a compilation of top companies run by young entrepreneurs. The list recognizes the top 100 companies run by young entrepreneurs, who must be age 30 or younger.  In addition, the companies must show over $100,000 in revenue for 2010 overall or for 2011 year-to-date.

Brand Yourself was one of five startups selected to participate in the Student Sandbox at the Syracuse Technology Garden in the summer of 2009. Throughout the summer, the students received technical, legal, web development and business support to prepare their ideas for the marketplace while maintaining ties with the University’s faculty expertise and the local business community. The company matured out of the Sandbox area, and is now a regular tenant in the Technology Garden. In August, Brand Yourself sponsored the prize for the 2011 Student Sandbox Demo Days award.

The company provides an online reputation management platform that allows clients to establish, maintain and monitor a professional web presence and improve the standing of their name in Google search results.

“The Syracuse community has been an incredibly important part of our success and more than anything else, I think it shows that Syracuse is ahead of the curve in reshaping the nation’s economy,” said Patrick Ambron, Brand Yourself’s CEO and a 2009 graduate of SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

In addition to Kistler, Sherman and Ambron, Whitman School of Management alumnus Evan Watson ’11, was also a founding member of the company.

Honorees were invited to take part in a recognition ceremony on the afternoon of Nov. 17 at the White House with senior administration officials. The event is broadcast live at whitehouse.gov.