Israeli Founders Building a FinTech Venture: Omri Dor, Co-Founder and COO of Obligo (Part 1)

Omri tells a wonderful story of validating and navigating his original FinTech idea in Israel and building a company in the US.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Omri Dor: I was born and raised in Israel in a very small town called Yavne. I’ve always been a technology geek. I programmed on Basic and DOS before we even had Windows. That has stayed with me since then. I studied Electrical Engineering and Physics for my Bachelors in Technion. As you may know, we have mandatory military service in Israel. I served for three years.

Sramana Mitra: What did you do after you came out of military service?

Omri Dor: The first thing I did, which is typical of most Israelis, is I took a year off and went to Australia. I was living and working in Sydney. I was working for a software company. I was backpacking in New Zealand to take some time to figure out what I want to do with my life.

Sramana Mitra: The answer was?

Omri Dor: I wanted to become a tech entrepreneur. There were two reasons for that. Number one was my technology background. The other thing that I did before that is I like to throw parties. My dad was a musician. He’s a guitarist. He would be traveling all around the world and he would take my mom with him. Very often, we would have no parents in the house. So what do you do? Throw a party and invite everyone.

Those parties grew and grew. Every time, there was a lot of operational stuff to take care of. That’s where I got my entrepreneurial kick. Every decision I’ve taken along the way, I was always thinking if this is going to get me closer to the goal.

Sramana Mitra: What year was that?

Omri Dor: I enlisted in 2005 and was released in early 2008. For a couple of months, I was throwing these parties. Then I traveled to Australia in June of 2008. I went back to Israel and started studying in Technion.

Sramana Mitra: 2009 was when you started at Technion?

Omri Dor: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: Then you finished in 2013?

Omri Dor: 2013.

Sramana Mitra: What happens?

Omri Dor: In Technion, I enjoyed studying immensely. I felt like I was good at it. I had the opportunity to go on a couple of internships. I did one summer internship with Google in California. The next summer, I did an internship with Google again but in New York City. The year after that, I did an internship with Facebook in London. All of these were software internships.

I guess that brings us to me finishing my degree. At that point, I started to work for a cybersecurity company in Israel. I did spend some time traveling again but I worked for a cybersecurity company.

Sramana Mitra: How long was that?

Omri Dor: Not very long – one and a half years. 2016 was when I started with my older brother on what eventually became Obligo.

This segment is part 1 in the series : Israeli Founders Building a FinTech Venture: Omri Dor, Co-Founder and COO of Obligo
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