A Family of Entrepreneurs
Javier and Manuel Oblitas grew up part of a family of five in Lima, Peru. Their dad, Humberto, had been a businessman his whole life, a native of Cajamarca who started selling goods at age 12, from eggs to newspapers to clothing. Growing up, Javier and Manuel spent weekends at his wholesale clothing store, watching him work.
Their late grandfather, whom they called “Papito,” ran an electronic repair shop, fixing anything from TVs to appliances. Javier and Manuel grew up watching him work.
A Commodore 64 for Christmas
Javier and Manuel were very young when their parents gave them a Commodore 64 for Christmas. Completely self-taught, they learned to program in assembly language and BASIC, scavenging secondhand computer magazines for code snippets.
They wrote their own DOS for the Commodore, started building a version of Super Mario Bros., and eventually wrote a basic invoicing program for their dad's business, their first real-world software.
Starting Over in San Antonio
Both brothers immigrated to San Antonio, Texas in 1995 along with their mom, little brother, and little sister. Their dad stayed behind in Peru for close to a year, closing his manufacturing business, and left the family with three months' rent and a used car.
Javier and Manuel, the only ones who could work, had to manage the household while going to school. Manuel managed restaurants, starting at McDonald's. Javier worked as a surface mount technician at Harris Corporation, manufacturing microwave radios for cell towers, with a side job at a PC repair shop. Both enrolled in community college that same year, self-funding their education while working full time.
The Roots of VND
In 1997, the brothers landed a freelance software project for a company called Apartment Listing Service (ALS), which ran a system similar to a real estate MLS, but for apartment locators to find deals and specials. They converted a DOS-based desktop application to run on Windows 98 and “internet-enabled” it to pull live data from a database in Dallas, replacing a system that previously relied on floppy disks mailed out twice a month.
Javier joined ALS full time in 1999 to support the software, which served real estate agents from Dallas to Corpus Christi.
Visual Net Design Is Born
Riding new demand for web development, Javier and Manuel joined forces and launched Visual Net Design, registering VisualNetDesign.com and vndx.com. They each put in $500. The core services were software and web development, IT support, and web hosting, the same three pillars VND still runs on today.
SEO was still in its infancy. After hours of research, VND ranked #1 for “web developers in san antonio” and mastered organic placement on the brand-new Google Maps. That inbound engine, not cold calls, became how VND grew.
Running VND From Home
For the first couple of years, VND ran out of a home office: a Sony VAIO running Windows XP, an HP Pavilion CRT monitor, and a fax machine doubling as the company's entire IT department. That same year, VND hired its first full-time employee. From there, the company doubled in size and revenue every year.
Building a Real Team
VND hired Raul Grimaldo, its first developer, in 2005. That June, the growing team celebrated with the company's first BBQ, with Raul, Justin Solis, and Manuel manning the grill.
Out of the House, Into an Office
VND moved into space inside the Apartment Listing Service office (its first real office, and a full-circle moment given ALS was the project that started it all). Brenda Oblitas, Javier's wife, joined around this time and still runs VND's financials today.
“Campeones de la Informática”
VND had already applied for HUB, DBE, and HABE certification in 2007. On August 20, 2009, Manuel and Javier were profiled in Conexión, the San Antonio Express-News' Hispanic-focused publication, sharing how growing up around video games and technology sparked the curiosity that led them to found VND.
VND Gets a Real Address
VND moved into its own standalone office, with its own sign on the building for the first time: “VND: Web & Technology Solutions.” The client roster was growing fast, and starting to include names that mattered well beyond San Antonio.
Named #1, Three Years Running
On September 10, 2013, the San Antonio Business Journal honored VND with a Top of the List presentation, naming Manuel and Javier's team the #1 largest web design and development firm in San Antonio, the third year in a row VND had topped the list.
Still Making Time to Jam
Manuel has played drums since 1997, Javier plays guitar (and for a stretch, VND's office had its own jam room). That same year, VND launched LiveComm, its mass-texting and communications platform, and landed a major project with Texas State University's NASA-affiliated EPDC program.
VND Goes on the Road
VND exhibited at its first trade show, the InnoTech San Antonio conference, on April 9, 2015 (telepresence robot in tow).
Bigger Names, Bigger Projects
VND launched the website platform for ST Engineering's (VT Aerospace) drone division and kept adding recognizable clients across banking, real estate, and healthcare.
Cohort #3, Stanford LBAN
Manuel graduated from cohort #3 of the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN) Business Scaling program at Stanford, representing VND. He went on to volunteer overseeing nationwide networking for LBAN alumni, organizing dinners, launching the first cohort-graduation networking events, and starting LBAN's first alumni leadership peer group, now an annual event called the LBAN Summit.
Deeper Roots, Bigger Reach
VND kept building relationships with organizations doing meaningful work across San Antonio and beyond, from nonprofits to healthcare to national trade groups. In June 2018, the San Antonio Business Journal profiled VND's data center growth.
VND Buys Its Headquarters
VND purchased its own building at 8530 Village Drive (VND Plaza) and began exploring government contracting, becoming an active GSA contractor with 8(a) and NMSDC minority certification as next steps.
Representing San Antonio Nationally
Manuel, Javier, and Brenda joined USHCC CEO Ramiro Cavazos at LBAN's SOLE event at Stanford, part of VND's ongoing work representing San Antonio's Hispanic business community on a national stage.
A New Data Center, Same Motto
Today VND runs its own data center at the Village Drive headquarters, alongside managed IT and software development, all under one roof. The motto hasn't changed since day one: “With tech, anything is possible!”
Putting AI to Work for Clients
VND's newest chapter is about bringing practical AI into the businesses it already serves, built into the software, IT support, and hosting clients rely on every day. That means AI-assisted development, smarter cybersecurity monitoring, and automation that takes real work off a client's plate.
It's also showing up in how VND reaches new clients, through outreach like the Free Technology Assessment and Free Cyber Score Review (no-cost audits designed to show a business exactly where AI and better IT practices can move the needle). Twenty-eight years after two brothers converted a DOS program to run over the internet, VND is still doing the same thing: finding the new technology first, and putting it to work for its clients.
