Vahag Karayan
Vahag Karayan is the Co-Founder and CEO of BrandLens, where he leads strategy, product, technology, and go-to-market execution. Under his leadership, BrandLens has served companies, universities, and nonprofits, including Hershey’s, UNICEF, UCLA, and Dartmouth. He has guided the development of capabilities spanning guided mobile video capture, content rights management, moderation, intelligent tagging, AI-assisted discovery, content libraries, and scalable campaign workflows. His recent work focuses on applying AI to video and content operations without losing the human authenticity that makes stories meaningful.
Before founding BrandLens, Vahag led product, technology, portfolio, and Professional Services organizations across entertainment, defense, space and regulated medical devices. At Entertainment Partners, he led enterprise PMO and Professional Services functions, managed P&L and distributed teams, and created a new B2B SaaS and API offering. At Boston Scientific, he managed the Deep Brain Stimulation portfolio spanning more than 20 programs and led large cross-functional teams through development, regulatory approval, and market launch.
His technical background includes machine learning algorithms, optimization, pattern recognition, embedded systems, and real-time software. Earlier in his career, he served as Principal Investigator on DARPA-funded research at Techfinity and contributed to scientific and mission-critical systems at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and HRL Laboratories.
Vahag likes to joke that he may be the only person whose career has included both “rocket science” through JPL, HRL, and Techfinity and “brain surgery” through his work in Deep Brain Stimulation at Boston Scientific.
A triple UCLA Bruin, Vahag holds a BS in Electrical Engineering with Computer Science, an MS in Computer Science focused on embedded computing systems, and an MBA from UCLA Anderson.
Outside of work, Vahag is a sports and off-roading enthusiast and a meticulous global road-trip planner. He also has a deep interest in the human brain and behavioral psychology, which shapes how he thinks about products, leadership, and human decision-making.
Favorite quote: “The future is already here—it’s just not evenly distributed.”