Patrick Ambron
Patrick Ambron | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Syracuse University |
| Occupation | CEO |
Patrick Ambron is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder of BrandYourself. He studied at Syracuse University.
After completing his studies, he and two fellow co-founders launched BrandYourself as a way of allowing everyday people to improve their Google search results. The idea for the company was inspired by a fellow student who had trouble landing an internship after being mistaken online for a criminal with the same name. Ambron was recognized by the White House as one of the Empact 100 Top CEOs under 30, was included in Inc's 35 Under 35 in 2014, and was featured on Shark Tank in 2015.
Ambron is currently the CEO of BrandYourself.
Early life & education
Ambron grew up in Fishkill, New York and attended John Jay High School. He earned his B.A. at Syracuse University.
Career
After finishing his studies, Ambron co-founded the startup BrandYourself along with two fellow students from Syracuse University. The company operates in the Online Reputation Management (ORM) industry, and is based in New York City.[1]
The company was launched after co-founder Pete Kistler struggled to land an internship due to Google results showing a criminal with the same name. The co-founders were also influenced by the amount of money Kistler was quoted to deal with the problem by the company Reputation.com. During an interview, Ambron stated, "he did what many do and sought out the experts at Reputation.com, who said they'd be happy to help—for $5,000."[2]
Ambron, therefore, introduced a much more affordable pricing model at BrandYourself, by launching a do-it-yourself product that would allow anyone to take control of their online presence, even if they couldn't afford the pricier options within the reputation management market.[2]
After launching the company, Ambron and BrandYourself were named New York's #1 Emerging Technology Business, making his team the youngest company ever to win the $200k prize. He was later recognized at the White House as one of Empact 100 Top CEOs under 30 and also the Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the SBA.[3]
Ambron's achievements led him to comment regularly in the media on branding issues and also the growth of BrandYourself throughout 2013 and 2014.[4][5][6] In early 2015, he appeared on the TV show, Shark Tank, pitching for investment in BrandYourself. Following Ambron's pitch, Robert Herjavec offered $2 million for a 20% stake in the business. The offer would have made the investment one of the largest in the history of Shark Tank.[7]
Negotiations broke down however as Ambron didn't want to go beyond the 13.5% that he originally offered.[8][9]
References
- ^ "About Us - BrandYourself.com". Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- ^ a b Holmes, David (March 8, 2012). "Brandyourself And The Billion-Dollar SEO And Reputation Management Industry". Fast Company.
- ^ "BrandYourself on Empact Showcase". Empact.
- ^ Henn, Steve. "Fixing Your Online Reputation: There's An Industry For That". NPR: All Tech Considered. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ^ Weber, Lauren. "Colleges Pay to Protect Students from Toxic Google Results". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ^ Ha, Anthony. "BrandYourself Upgrades Its Online Reputation Tools With A Full-Service Concierge Feature". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ^ Winfrey, Graham. "Why Robert Herjavec of 'Shark Tank' Offered $2 Million for BrandYourself". Inc (magazine).
- ^ Barbuti, Angela (July 31, 2015). "BrandYourself After 'Shark Tank': Interview With Their CEO". Heavy (magazine).
- ^ Kessler, Sarah. "Who Googled You? This Website Knows". Mashable. Retrieved 8 July 2013.