Vishal Urlam is Co-Founder of OpenVector, a Y Combinator-backed AI company that transforms existing security cameras into autonomous 24/7 workers using real-time computer vision. He brings a multidisciplinary background spanning IoT, product innovation, and growth strategy to redefine how physical operations are monitored and automated.

Vishal earned his ECE degree in 2020 and went on to complete his MIIPS at Carnegie Mellon University in 2023, where he also co-developed and instructed IoT design coursework alongside faculty. He previously co-founded Passionfruit, a career platform that drove 100+ sign-ups in 24 hours and achieved a 30% increase in market penetration.

Vishal won the Google Prize at the MIT Grand Hack 2025 and was a runner-up at the Kellogg Design Challenge 2023, the world's largest MBA design challenge. His expertise spans IoT, UX research, growth hacking, and AI-driven product strategy.

At OpenVector, Vishal co-built a no-hardware-required AI vision platform where users describe tasks in plain English and the system auto-builds custom models to monitor camera feeds in real time. The company integrates with legacy systems to trigger automated actions such as calls, emails, CRM updates, and webhooks the moment a physical event is detected.

OpenVector was accepted into Y Combinator's Summer 2026 batch and secured its first investment of $500,000, validating its mission to turn every camera on the planet into an active operator rather than a passive recording device.