Kyle Blanchard

I build AI products that do real work.

I lead product at The Bright Hotel. Our team took BrightOS, the AI that runs our hotels, from an idea to live. Before that I led conversational AI at mPulse.

BrightOS agents answer guests by text, WhatsApp, email, and chat, following each hotel’s own policies. Guests check in online and get a room key on their phone before they arrive. Every model change is tested against real guest conversations before it ships.

I also take on one or two outside projects, helping teams put AI into real workflows.

hello@kyleblanchard.com · LinkedIn

Roles

1. VP / Head of Product, The Bright Hotel, 2025–now. Wrote the founding vision. Took BrightOS from a doc to live hotels. AI agents run guest chat on each hotel’s own rules, not settings. Guests verify ID, pay, and get a phone key before they arrive. No model change ships until it passes real guest conversations. Direct booking totals match the hotel’s own bill to the cent. Swapped the hotels’ legacy system for one AI-native product. Housekeepers get their room list by text, in English or Spanish. Promoted from Senior Director to VP.
2. Principal, AI and Voice, Kyle Blanchard Consulting, 2026–now. Sold and ran the work solo: a paid pilot, then a fixed-fee build. Cloned a trainer’s voice. The client couldn’t tell which was real. Built a process that rebuilds a whole voice library in one sitting.
3. Director of Product Management, mPulse, 2021–25. Rebuilt a product team from scratch and grew PMs into owners. Moved every customer onto one platform, then retired the old ones. Brought four acquired companies onto one product. Launched AI voice calls for health plans in members’ own languages. Used AI to turn an opt-out law from a sales blocker into a selling point.
4. Product Manager, Crowdz, 2021. Launched small-business invoice financing with Meta. Led the delivery team and shipped the Meta launch on schedule. Brought in an async way of working that sped up urgent work.
5. Senior Product Manager, Experian, 2019–20. Owned OneSearch: finds the right company from messy data. Took a pandemic lending product from zero to one with top lenders. Finished a migration that had been stalled for years. Won the Social Innovation award at Experian’s global hackathon.
6. Director, Product, then Director of Strategy and Innovation, Optima Tax Relief, 2017–21. Started as email marketing manager, then ran product and strategy. Designed Tax Shield, a subscription that watches IRS accounts. Built and ran a whole tax product on my own. Automated case updates by text, so staff saw where cases were stuck. Launched The Tax Show, a YouTube series on IRS debt. Still running.
7. Email Campaign Lead, LA Fitness, 2014–17. Started as the social media designer. Ended up leading campaigns. Ran member campaigns end to end, including the New Year push. Built the new-member Welcome Site and its welcome emails. Piloted heart-rate wearables in the clubs.

Degrees

• 2024: M.S. Analytics, Georgia Tech Earned it while working full time, with two kids at home.
• 2014: B.A. Physics, UC Berkeley Built a radio telescope from scratch. Interned at NRAO and restored a radio receiver. Taught introductory astronomy as a student instructor.
• 2014: B.A. Astrophysics, UC Berkeley Co-discovered supernova SN 2013gq. Hence the one in the headline. Co-authored a paper on SN 2009ip, an unstable giant star. Ran remote observing nights at Lick Observatory.

Side projects

• Shuffleroo. A gift exchange that starts from one link. No accounts and no app. People join from the link. AI suggests gifts from each person’s wish list. Every pairing stays private.
• Iron Vigil. A Game Boy Advance game that runs on the real hardware. The same game file runs on a real Game Boy and in your browser. Weapons fire on their own. You climb, dash, and grapple. Each run builds up one evolving gun.
• Mini Tracker. A backlog tracker for the Miyoo Mini that ranks games S to F. Runs on the handheld itself, with no dependencies. My backlog finally has a ranking.
• AI Product Toolkit. Eight Claude Code skills for product work. Turns each repeat task into one command, from ticket to release notes. Keeps a knowledge base current across every repo.
• The Blanchard Line. My family, 13 generations back, in 11 minutes. From Hampshire in 1639 to California. Every claim checked against records and archives. An original score and AI narration.
• Pip and the Worry Alarm. A picture book that helps kids sort their worries. Helps kids notice body clues and breathe through a worry. Recorded audio prompts, so young readers can follow along.

Crab Nebula: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, T. Temim (Princeton University). CC BY 4.0. Cropped and toned.