From Shark Tank to Success: How BrandYourself is Helping People Take Control of Their Own Reputation

Google your name. What shows up? Your Facebook profile? Twitter? An article written about your academic or athletic achievements? Or maybe there is someone who shares your name, and their results come up. Maybe they are a scientist, or a college athlete or possibly even a convicted drug dealer. That is what happened to Pete Kistler. Pete was applying for jobs but wasn’t having much luck. This was because when companies would google Pete, they would find links to articles about a criminal with the same name. Pete wanted to find a way to change this. He wanted to find a solution that would allow people to choose what shows up when you search their name. Pete then partnered with college friend, Patrick Ambron, and thus BrandYourself was born. BrandYourself’s goal is to put reputation management in everybody’s hand. Their mission is to help people take control of their own lives online. We had the opportunity to talk with Patrick Ambron, CEO and Cofounder of BrandYourself:

TechDay: How did you get involved?

Patrick Ambron: "Pete and I knew each other in school and I had a background in web design and SEO (search engine optimization). When Pete was dealing with his job troubles because of the criminal with his name, he realized that all reputation companies charged way too much money. That’s when we had our “aha” moment. A lot of people needed this type of tool. There are a lot of people like Pete that we can help."

T: Was there ever a time when you thought that the business would fail?

P:  "Yes. several, several times. You know, it ebbs and flows. It took a bit for us to grow. We had three years of business but we have nothing to show for it. We almost failed before we got off the ground. We built four or five versions of software before we had the final product. There was a time where we couldn’t figure anything out, we didn’t have funding to skate through the cost. Then there was a time where suddenly we were burning a lot more cash than we planned on. We were worried that we would have to lay people off. It’s funny how at every stage you find something that doesn’t quite work."

T: What did you feel like on the best day of your company's existence and why?

P: "That’s a tough question. You know, there have been a lot of really good days. One day that comes to mind is the day our Shark Tank episode aired. It took us years and years to be competitive with our competitors who would personally go after us. Shark Tank was great because more and more people started to know that we existed. It was such a success because of the business we got from that. We were all just really excited, it felt good from an organizational standpoint."

T: What’s your differentiator?

P: "Our main differentiator is that we’ve been trying to bring these tools and services to regular people, not just the wealthy population. This is something everyday people struggle with and they should have somewhere to turn. There are a lot more people that can pay for our services compared to what our competitors charge."

T: What’s the level of growth you’d be satisfied seeing in the next year?

P: "We have never not at least doubled. Over the next year I would love to triple in size."

BrandYourself has five core values: complete transparency, absolute quality, doing right by you, communication and collaboration, and never settling. With these core values BrandYourself is continuing to grow and continuing to help users represent themselves on the internet.

Special thanks to BrandYourself CEO and Cofounder, Patrick Ambron.