At a glance, the cybersecurity startup Spera Security seems like it had an easy ascension to the top of its field.
Milestones came quickly. Founder Dor Fledel, ’22, launched the platform in just over a year. He raised $10 million from cyber-focused venture capital firms and from angel investors linked to some of the largest companies in the United States, including Google, Zendesk, and Palo Alto Networks. In 2024, Fledel sold his company for over $100 million to Okta, the San Francisco–based software giant specializing in identity security.
But what looks like rapid success was hard-won by Fledel. Driven by his passion for innovation and a vision for a more secure future, he spent many years brainstorming startup ideas and cultivating a broad skillset. He’s also quick to credit Booth’s collaborative community—where he found institutional investors, angel investors, and industry thought leaders who shared his vision—for its instrumental role in his entrepreneurial journey.
“Booth helped me in so many ways. I gained so much knowledge and was able to really develop myself while earning my MBA,” he says. “More than anything, it provided me with a network of experts who were willing to dedicate time and resources to turn my dream into a reality.”
One of those experts is Jean Mou, ’97, an operating partner at Impact Venture Capital in Silicon Valley, California, and a member of the Council on Chicago Booth. She was so impressed with Fledel that she joined Spera Security as an angel investor during its Seed round.
“When we first met, we discussed how Dor envisioned building a large enterprise cybersecurity company and how leadership was such an essential element of it,” says Mou. “This knowledge was a key differentiator from most first-time entrepreneurs just starting their journey.”
“Booth helped me in so many ways ... More than anything, it provided me with a network of experts who were willing to dedicate time and resources to turn my dream into a reality.”
Fledel knew for a long time that he wanted to be an entrepreneur. The idea to focus on cybersecurity came after undergrad, when he was working in the military. During his more than 10 years of service, he learned about the subdomain of identity security, which aims to protect all identities—human and machine—within an organization from cyber threats. Seeing firsthand how attackers penetrate cybersecurity, Fledel developed an acute understanding of the challenges that persist in the space.
Fledel left the military with one pressing question: What would best position him to launch a successful cybersecurity startup?
“That’s how I found Booth,” he says. “I saw that I could quickly learn about a lot of different fields and gain the business skills I needed to complement my professional skills and deep knowledge of cybersecurity.”
In his second year in the Full-Time MBA Program, Fledel began developing a thesis and business plan with his future cofounder, Ariel Kadyshevitch, a software engineer and security researcher Fledel met during his time in the military.
In June 2022, the day after Fledel’s graduation, they officially launched Spera Security and began seeking Seed funding. Fledel and Kadyshevitch spoke to more than 150 investors and practitioners in the field, asking about their security challenges and the pressures they faced not only from attackers, but also regulators and board members.
Fledel met many future investors through Booth networking events, including Mou as well as fellow alumni John Brennan, ’17, and Kirk Manoogian, ’20, senior partner and vice president, respectively, at YL Ventures, a cyber-focused VC fund in California. Fledel shared several mutual connections with Brennan, and they remained in touch about Spera. Ultimately, YL Ventures decided to invest.
“As a Seed-stage investor, far and away the most important thing for me to get excited about is the team,” says Brennan. “Dor and Ariel had all the characteristics, both as individuals and as a pair, that I look for in founding teams—world-class domain expertise, overwhelmingly strong references that enable elite team building, and the ability to both build and commercialize top-tier technology.”
Brennan and Manoogian were also impressed with the technical side of Spera and its focus on the identity security of modern enterprises—a massive problem they say no single company has yet solved for.
“As a Seed-stage investor, far and away the most important thing for me to get excited about is the team. Dor and Ariel had ... world-class domain expertise, overwhelmingly strong references that enable elite team building, and the ability to both build and commercialize top-tier technology.”
Following the Seed investment in July 2022, Fledel and his team started building their prototype and had it in place by the end of the year. With product in hand, they started looking for their first customers. Once again, the Booth network showed up.
Fledel made dinner plans with fellow alumnus Quincy Castro, ’20, chief information security officer at Redis, an in-memory database platform based in Mountain View, California. They both arrived wearing a Booth sweatshirt, an immediate icebreaker.
“When working with startups, it’s just as important for me to fit with the founder as with the business,” says Castro. “Having gone through Booth myself, Dor and I thought similarly about how to succeed as a business, so it was a great fit for me.”
Spera’s product also helped Castro solve an important need for Redis—identifying and mitigating damage to the companies they protect, which Castro had been striving to do in a more consolidated way.
Castro was so inspired by Spera that he joined as a design partner, a typical occurrence in startups, where customers can act as partners to improve the product.
“Castro is a true visionary and knows how to provide valuable feedback to shape startups to bring an innovative solution to the market,” says Fledel. “He helped teach us how to build value based on industry needs.”
In early 2023, Spera closed on $10 million in funding, led by YL Ventures. Throughout the year, Fledel and his team continued to improve and grow, expanding to more than 25 people.
In February 2024, all their hard work culminated in Okta’s acquisition of Spera for more than $100 million. However, for Fledel and his team, the acquisition is just the beginning.
“We’re the best in our category, and we’ll continue to be backed by the industry leader in our field,” Fledel says. “We’re excited to create more impact in cybersecurity as part of Okta. I see this as the beginning of the impact we’ll have on businesses becoming more secure and reliable.”
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