Oren Michels
Entrepreneur, investor, and CEO focused on enterprise AI
oren
New York, New York
6.3K connections
Joined September 2025
Summary
Founder and enterprise‑AI CEO: Oren co-founded Barndoor AI (2024) and serves as CEO, positioning the product as a control plane to give enterprises visibility, policy enforcement, and auditability for agentic AI workforces. He led the company's seed launch and fundraising in 2025. barndoor+1
API-management pioneer and builder: Oren co-founded Mashery in 2006 and led it as CEO through rapid growth and an acquisition by Intel in 2013. His experience building API developer ecosystems and governance for data flow informs his current focus on governance for AI agents. techcrunch+1
Angel investor and advisor: Oren has an active angel investing profile and advisory role for startups in the US and Europe, with early investments called out publicly (e.g., Uber, eero) and a track record of advising enterprise software companies on growth and M&A. crunchbase+1
Theatre producer and arts leader: Alongside his tech career, Oren is a Tony‑credited Broadway and Off‑Broadway producer (credits include Romeo + Juliet and Good Night, and Good Luck) and has served in leadership roles in theatre organizations. playbill+1
Speaker, connector, and educator: Oren frequently speaks at industry conferences (SXSW, LeWeb, Dublin Web Summit, Web 2.0, etc.) and has guest‑lectured at universities such as MIT and UCLA, bridging product, go‑to‑market, and developer ecosystem topics. technologyreview+1
Work
Education
Projects
Writing
Barndoor.ai — Author archive (posts on agentic AI, governance, and market formation)
August 14, 2025Collection of blog posts and essays on agentic AI, enterprise governance, and technology market formation authored by Oren Michels on the Barndoor.ai site.
Barndoor AI press announcement: "Barndoor AI Raises $13.6M in Series Seed"
May 20, 2025Company press release describing Barndoor's mission, product (control plane for agentic AI), and seed financing led by Crosslink Capital.