SU students take home top prize in business competition

A company started by a group of Syracuse University students took home the $200,000 grand prize in the New York’s Creative Core Emerging Business Competition, according to The Post-Standard.

Brand-Yourself LLC is a website designed to help people manage their online reputations. The site shows customers how to create and convey positive references of themselves on the internet and minimize negative ones.

The company was chosen from among five finalists for the award. The award was presented at the CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity’s annual meeting on Tuesday at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

ZetrOZ LLC, of Ithaca, won the runner-up prize of $50,000. The company makes portable ultrasound therapy devices.

Company CEO Pete Kistler, who studied information management and technology at SU, says he created the company after potential employers confused him with a criminal of the same name and age.

The company’s chief marketing officer Patrick Ambron says Brand-Yourself has 10,000 customers. The customers are charged between $2 and $10 a month based on the level of service they require. The company generates $20,000 in revenue per month.

Ambron says the prize money will go toward increasing marketing and expanding the company’s development staff. The company currently employs 10 people at its Syracuse Technology Garden offices.

The $200,000 prize will be given as a convertible note — a zero-percent interest investment in the company, which can be converted to an ownership share.