When we said more updates to come next week, what we really meant was more updates to come this week! Check out this info on what REPP, Crowdhall and OffTrack Planet have been up to:

REPP (Co-founders Michael Bergman, Breeanna Bergman, David Volker, Stephen Hartz and Adam Daniel) is growing a strong Beta list (sign up now at www.myrepp.com). They plan on an open Beta release in late January/early February. They are overhauling their current site with a new design and updating features to include ID verification, picture verification and a comprehensive criminal background check at different levels of service. Beta version is free, so sign up now to reserve a spot!

Crowdhall (Co-founders Austin Hackett, Jordan Menzel and Nick Weintge) will launch a targeted site in late January to highlight elected official at the federal, state and local level who use the tool to engage citizens. The team is excited to count Speaker Boehner and House Majority Leader Cantor amongst future users. Similar to REPP, they are expanding site applications, improving the Q&A experience and allowing for better user customization.

OffTrack Planet (Co-Founders Freddie Pivosky and Anna Starostinetskaya) hired a Cincinnati based CTO who is rebuilding their web site to allow for a stronger user experience. They plan to launch their private Beta in February 2013. The team secured bridge funding and is waiting for their Beta release to continue discussions with investors about next round financing.

BUT, that’s not all. Stay tuned for more updates on the other Brandery 2012 grads as the year comes to a close!

Since Demo Day in October, Brandery grads have been moving and shaking the startup world. Here’s a few tidbits on what Ontract, Social Threader and Andtix have been up to:

Ontract (Co-founders Julian Miller and Matt Duch) CHANGED IT’S NAME to “Learnmetrics.” After being highlighted in TechCrunch, the team launched their private beta to over 200 applicants and the founders were named Entrepreneurship Teaching Fellows at Miami University.

Social Threader (Co-founders Vinay Murthy and Vikram Venkataraghavan) launched it’s first major national brand customization with Bush Beans and will soon be seen on others. Social Threader expanded their team to include 3 Advisors and 2 Sales Representatives after receiving funding from Angels.

Andtix (Co-founders Kurt Pettit and Caroline Barni) finalized its MVP/Beta and, according to Kurt, a detail perfectionist, ”the app looks sick!”. They did Useability/QA testing with 20+ random testers and plan to do an open Beta test starting on January 15th. They have secured multiple partnerships and are excited to see where their relationship with the Clevland Cavaliers group sales office takes their product.

More company updates to come next week. Stay tuned!

from The Brandery and Brutus

Or if you don’t like sports… Startup Grind Cincinnati welcomes TAREK KAMIL, founder of WhatIfSports.com to The Brandery on Thursday, January 10^th.

Tarek Kamil is an entrepreneurial sports enthusiast who built WhatIfsports.com, recognized as the Internet’s leader in sposrts simulation technology, games and content. Tarek took the idea of WhatIf Sports and grew it to over 500,000 members in five years. He developed partnerships with a handful of the largest names in sposrts like ESPN, Fox Sports, MLB, NHL and the NBA. In 2005, WhatIfSports was acquired by Fox Interactive Media.

Tarek is currently the Executive Director of Online Strategies for InfoMotion Sports Technologies, building interactive online communities around sports. He is also a partner with Oakmont Holding, a seed and early stage Internet-based venture capital firm that actively participates in mentoring early stage entrepreneurs in software, social media and e-commerce.

Please join us for the second ever, Cincinnati Startup Grind!

Reserve your ticket now: http://startupgrindtarek.eventbrite.com

Check out these clips from Tatiana Parents, “How to… social media for startups”. Tatiana gave an hour long presentation FULL of great tips, real examples and practical take-aways.

If you want to learn more, COME TO OUR CLASSES! Next up: “Choosing the right technology for your company”, presented by Charlie Key, CEO/Co-founder of Modulus (1/7).

Brandery companies were moving and shaking NYC on Tuesday night- where 8 of our recent graduates pitched to over 35 investors. We hosted our pitch event in Softbank Capital’s fantastic, new building and got to see great presentations, garner strong interest.

Tons of conversations. Lots of great traction. We love to see our companies making moves forward and setting up second conversations with people who can help them dig into their product, analyze it’s worth and respond accordingly—whether through capital, mentorship, advice, a partnership or something else.

Huge THANKS to Joe Medved of Softbank Capital (also a Brandery mentor!) for letting us use Softbank’s space and helping with the event logistics.

…AND nobody went hungry thanks to the generous sponsorship of Datapipe. We appreciate you!!!

How do you learn social media techniques? How can you project a uniform brand image to the community? How can social media help you grow your business, expand your constituency and establish yourself as an expert in your field?

Be Authentic. Let that company culture shine through and share things that you find interesting, informative and linked to your company message.

Tatiana Parent, co-founder of Roadtrippers, learned social media through trial-and-error. She didn’t have experience, but she practiced, analyzed results, made changes where necessary and strove to be authentic in all her communications.

Roadtrippers is now the fastest growing newly launched travel startup in the country. They count over 100,000 trips planned, released an iphone app in November and total thousands of followers on twitter and facebook.

Roadtrippers: “Discover your America”

Come learn more about Tatiana’s strategies at her talk about “Social Media for Startups” on Wednesday, December 5^th at 5:30pm.

Register NOW or forever lose followers.