I'm not sure what you mean. I never applied to any companies when I was in college. I was courted by a few tech startups and almost joined them because they looked interesting and fun - but at the beginning of my senior year I decided I should make money on my own and just started laying the groundwork for that. I basically spent the end of my senior year blowing off classes and iterating through ideas I thought might be profitable. After I graduated, I continued doing that. 2 years later, I have successfully bootstrapped a profitable company.

I don't think your solution will work. The people who should join startups don't prioritize brand value or the alleged security of working for a big company. They may prioritize compensation - but the startup world already answers that problem by allowing you to choose where on the risk scale you want to be (you can always start your own company if you're like me and very interested in compensation).