Brand-Yourself.com received special recognition at the 10th Annual SmartStart UNYTECH Venture Forum held May 18 in Syracuse. The company, which provides an online reputation management platform that helps individuals tap the web to maximize job opportunities, earned the Best Presentation Award.

Brand-Yourself.com was one of 21 participating emerging technology companies who were featured at the forum, which is Upstate New York’s premier venture capital event. This year, the forum attracted more than 140 investors, service providers, and other community members.

Brand-Yourself.com was founded and run by Syracuse University students:

  • Pete Kistler ’11, a senior in the School of Information Studies (iSchool), who serves as CEO;
  • Robert Sherman ’09, G’11, an iSchool/Whitman School of Management alumnus, iSchool graduate student, and an Engagement Fellow, who serves as CTO/CFO;
  • Evan Watson ’12, a Whitman School of Management and Arts and Sciences student, who is VP of Sales/Chief Evangelist; and
  • Patrick Ambron ’09, an alumnus of the Newhouse School of Public Communications, who serves as CMO.

Syracuse University recently entered into an agreement with Brand-Yourself.com that provides a six-month free subscription to all its students graduating in December 2009, May 2010, and August 2010. SU’s graduating students will now be able to create their own web site that showcases their professional qualifications; improve the professionalism of their Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles; and grow their professional network based on their field and location. They will also be able to measure the relevance of Google search results for their name and bury unwanted search results with professional content to make sure they’re being accurately represented online.

The company also signed its first business-to-business (B2B) deal with Digital Vertical, a Syracuse-based marketing firm specializing in search, social media, and high-end branding for B2B companies in the bioscience, clean tech, green building products, embedded systems, industrial distribution, health care, medical devices, professional services, and software industries.

Brand-Yourself.com, currently based in the Syracuse (N.Y.) Technology Garden, also secured $275,000 in venture capital from a mix of private investors, including a managing director at the equity firm Black Rock, and a small portion from friends and family. The company reports it is right on pace with its first year revenue projections.

Among its other recent honors, Brand-Yourself.com was a 2010 Top Five Finalist in the $200k New York’s Creative Core® Emerging Business Competition and a finalist in the 2009 student version of the Creative Core competition. It was a top five finalist in Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2009 College Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The company was named one of the Top 100 Most Innovative Student Startups two years in a row by the Kairos Society, and won second place and $10,000 in the Whitman School of Management’s Panasci Business Plan Competition in spring 2009.

For more information, please visit the web site, www.brand-yourself.com, or contact Pete Kistler at pkistler@brand-youself.com.