About

What We Do

bitTyrant is a brand identity & implementation firm. We help organizations of all sizes build their brands and build their fans. We don’t just tell our clients what they should do and then wish them safe travels—we jump in the boat and help them sail.

 

How We Started

It all started in 2009 when soon to be husband & wife, Susan (aka “bitTyrant” due to her small size and bossy ‘tude) & Aaron von Frank decided it would be fun to organize some fun public events, one of which ended up making national and international news. Even though Aaron and Susan didn’t have a marketing or event planning business at the time, several organizations took notice and reached out for help. These organizations were doing great things to make their community and the world a better place, but were having difficulty building and connecting with their fans in a “new media” world. So, bitTyrant (the company) was born.

 

Where We’re Located

bitTyrant is located in—and inspired by—Greenville, SC, a city brimming with heart, soul, history, and people that are active participants in the game of life: making themselves and the world better. We like to grow things: our minds, our company, our clients… and Tyrant Farms (the real world organic urban farm where we work and play, not just the name of our blog). There’s something indescribably magical about the process of taking a small seed and growing it into a plant whose produce nourishes the mind and body. Tyrant Farms also helps connect us to other people and to the planet we share, while providing corollary lessons about growing companies, which we try to include in the Tyrant Farms Blog.

 

About the Founders

Aaron von Frank

    

Aaron graduated from Furman University in 2000. Among other past entrepreneurial endeavors, Aaron co-founded REQuest, a residential redevelopment company that specialized in green building practices and materials, where he handled branding, marketing, and sales. As President of bitTyrant, Aaron is affectionately known as the “Cat Herder,” handling strategic planning and project management while keeping our creatives on target (the nickname has nothing to do with Charlie von Cat, who has an unblemished track record of being immune to herding). When Aaron is allowed outside, he can typically be found gardening at Tyrant Farms, foraging for wild mushrooms along upstate SC’s stunning hiking trails, or in the ocean on a surfboard.

 


Susan von Frank

    

Susan, a Greenville native, graduated from the College of Charleston in 2003. Susan is 1/3 detail-oriented scientist (Biology degree), 1/3 entrepreneur (co-founder of a boutique real estate investment firm in 2004), and 1/3 design passionista (most of the pretty things bitTyrant produces are her creation). Susan is also an avid gardener and mushroom forager, but as the de facto “social chair” at bitTyrant, she’s often required to wash the dirt off of her hands in order to strut her stuff on the dance floor and/or sip fine wine with friends at any number of downtown Greenville’s hip locales.

 

At bitTyrant, Aaron and Susan love putting their creativity and entrepreneurial experience to work helping great organizations “build their brands and build their fans.”

 

*Aaron’s photo courtesy of Ian Curcio for TEDxGreenville. Susan’s photo courtesy of Stephen Boatright Photography for the Warehouse Theatre.