Arjun Gupta & Vyana: "Homes Should Breathe On Their Own" (EXCLUSIVE)

Arjun Gupta has built products in scrappy startups and at Fortune-500 scale. At Dell, he’s led data-driven programs projected into the billions; as a founder, he’s shipped essential goods to millions. Now Arjun’s focus is closer to home: Vyana, a smart ventilation system born from a personal mission to make indoor air healthier and more sustainable.

Fresh off a well-received Antler presentation, he joined us to talk about the moment indoor air became his obsession, how his Dell and startup experiences shaped Vyana, and why the future of clean air at home is automatic.

ARJUN GUPTA: It started as a simple frustration: the house air felt “stale,” especially after we got a dog and started going on daily walks, come rain or shine. I love crisp outdoor air, but keeping windows timed to weather, pollen, and energy use is a full-time job. I realized the healthiest thing we do—breathe—wasn’t designed into the home. That was the spark.

AG: Systems thinking and resilience. At Arjuna Edible Oils, we scaled to roughly 3 million consumers through 1,200 stores and stabilized a volatile business by building a hedging algorithm that improved margins. That experience—turning chaos into a controllable system—maps almost 1:1 to indoor air: measure what matters, automate the right actions, and design for scale.

AG: Rigor at scale. I’ve worked on product strategy projected to multi-billion-dollar impact and led cross-functional teams to turn data into operational wins. A lot of my projects now involve ML/AI initiatives that unlocked large savings, while others re-architect processes to meet ambitious service levels.

The common thread: start with the real-world job to be done, then design the simplest system that reliably does it at scale. That mindset shaped Vyana’s architecture and deployment plan.

AG: Think of Vyana as a smart “inhale/exhale” for your home. Sensors read indoor and outdoor conditions; the system decides when to exhaust stale air and pull in filtered fresh air, then seals shut when not needed so you don’t throw away conditioned air. It’s replace, not just dilute. The intake runs through a high-efficiency filter to catch pollen, dust, and smoke particles—so fresh air feels good even during allergy season.

AG: Timing and targeting. Vyana ventilates only when conditions make sense—think cool evenings with low outdoor particulates, or brief bursts to knock down indoor CO₂ and VOCs after cooking or gatherings. Early modeling suggested meaningful energy savings utilizing smart ventilation — and a prior iteration estimated $150 a year or 15% for a typical U.S. home under conservative assumptions.

AG: Two practical paths: a 6-inch through-wall kit for permanent install, or a window-mounted version if you rent or don’t want to cut a hole. Both integrate with the central HVAC fan to distribute fresh air across rooms when that’s the better move. We designed for quiet operation, washable filters, and simple maintenance because sustainability that annoys you doesn’t last.

AG: I started with structured interviews—asking people what’s hard about getting fresh air at home, what they’d pay, and what they’ve already tried. About 70% of early respondents cared deeply about fresh air; the top pain points were knowing when to ventilate, remembering to do it, and allergies. That led to “replace not dilute,” better timing, and robust filtration as core design choices.

AG: Two big ones: adoption friction and proof. We doubled down on installer-friendly hardware (clean cut, easy seal, safe wiring) and a pilot framework for schools, hospitality, and model homes to show measured improvements in air quality and energy use. It made the product crisper.

AG: I build systems that serve people. Whether we were projecting billions in platform revenue or analyzing 14 million sales transactions to fix a compensation leak, the job was the same: find the signal, design the loop, and ship solutions that last. Vyana is that ethos applied to health and climate at home.

AG: Three simple steps:

1. Measure—a basic CO₂/PM monitor teaches you when your air actually goes bad.
2. Source-control—ventilate or filter during cooking, cleaning, and gatherings.
3. Time your fresh air—use outdoor windows of low heat and low particulates.

If that rhythm helps, Vyana automates it.

AG: “…automatic, efficient, and personal to each home—so the healthiest choice is the easiest.”