Syracuse iSchool students’ company named to Top 100 Most Innovative Student Startups
4/2/2009
Brand-Yourself.com, a web platform created to help students build personal professional websites and establish their personal brands online, has been chosen by the Kairos Society as one of the top 100 most innovative student startup companies in the country. Brand-Yourself.com founders Pete Kistler ’10, Robert Sherman ’09, and Trace Cohen ’10 (Whitman), all students at Syracuse University, were honored with this distinction at the First Annual Kairos Summit on April 3-4, 2009, on the Intrepid Air, Sea, and Space Museum in New York City.
During the summit, Brand-Yourself.com also won the best marketing award and connected with several potential investors. One of the investors intends to invest between $75,000 to $100,000 in the company, according to Sherman. "IT was an amazing experience," he said.
Kairos Society, founded in May 2008 with the partnering of thirteen of the nation’s top university entrepreneurship organizations, brings together the most passionate, professionally minded students from across the country in the spirit of entrepreneurship. The summit united 500 of the nation’s brightest students and world leaders to celebrate and inspire the growth of young entrepreneurship. It was a two-part event consisting of an unveiling of the top 100 student ventures on Friday night, and a summit dinner on Saturday night, featuring keynote addresses via video from former President William J. Clinton and William Gates Sr., chairman of the Gates Foundation.
The summit is designed to give the chosen entrepreneurial students an opportunity to connect and share ideas with other bright, young minds, provide selected investors with a first look at the companies of tomorrow, and foster relationships between these young entrepreneurs and select professional firms and industry influencers.
Sherman, a senior triple major in the information management and technology program at the iSchool and in the finance and entrepreneurship programs at the Whitman School of Management, was recently named a 2009 Syracuse University Engagement Fellow. As a fellow, Sherman will be set up with paid employment locally and receive remitted tuition for courses at SU. Sherman will participate in local projects, including Brand-Yourself.com, that incorporate the principles of SU’s Scholarship in Action vision, allowing them to explore innovative ways to help create sustainable development in Central New York.
About Brand-Yourself.com Brand-Yourself.com’s mission is to provide the opportunity for students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best light possible and articulates their unique value to employers. It provides tools and resources for users to effectively communicate and develop a branded web presence that builds their credibility and visibility. It allows users to stand out from the competition, unify their portfolio in one place, control first impressions, and be found when Googled.
About Kairos Society The Kairos Society is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose goal is to inspire students to become more entrepreneurial by bringing together the best undergraduates from across the country, the greatest entrepreneurial firms, and the most passionate mentors. Kairos consists of the most professionally minded students from all backgrounds to be part of one society, and fosters an entrepreneurial culture among college students based on three guiding principles: Inspiration, Experience, and Innovation.
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