Our Story

Thirty-eight clothing stores. Fifteen shaitel-machers. Eleven tableware brands. Seventeen websites promising the best Yom Tov recipes. Shoshana's head was spinning. The excitement of Yom Tov was overshadowed by her immense to-do list. How in the world would she research and contact all the service providers she needed? Some of them had websites, most did not. Her local classifieds mostly offered just a short blurb and contact info, and anyway, who had the time to look through hundreds of entries and manually call them all?

If only there was one place where she could find all the businesses, see their work and message them on the spot. And those thirty-eight clothing stores, shaitel-machers, tableware brands and recipe developers? They remained sitting in their shops, offices and neighborhood wi-fi cafes, scratching their heads and wondering: "How do I get in front of Shoshana to showcase my unique skill and special touch?" The answer: TheOrbyt.com.

Today's consumer has become exactly that: a consumer. Before we book a professional, we want to connect to their vibe. In the weeks preceding an actual order, customers will click through profiles, compare before-and-after photos, and get a feel for the business and its values.

"It's no longer enough to offer quality products or services. You have to connect, offer value and curate your followers," says Michali of TheOrbyt.com. It is exactly what they call it: the age of social media. But for so many frum business owners and consumers, this is a major conundrum.

The available platforms come with a host of issues. Instagram, TikTok, and even LinkedIn are noise machines. Irrelevant content pours in daily, drowning the consumer in a deluge that distracts rather than informs. Typically, frum business pages sink to the bottom of these platforms. Algorithms favor stars and celebrities who cross boundaries we are simply not willing to cross.

Even businesses whose posts garner thousands of impressions and likes report disappointing conversion rates. One boutique owner shared: "On average, I'll get 15-30k views on Instagram, but I'm only averaging two new customers per month." These posts float around in cyberspace, hiking impressions by reaching thousands of immaterial consumers with no bottom-line value.

Within the frum world, there have been brave tries to solve these issues, but they all face limitations. Websites offer a somewhat-solution, but constant updates are clumsy and time-consuming, and ranking on Google requires expensive SEO. Effective WhatsApp status campaigns can demand costly influencers and repeated outreach. Until now, many business owners chose to forgo exposure to uphold their values, while consumers settled for mismatched providers.

For Esty and Michali, the brilliant visionaries behind Orbyt, this was not okay. As Esty says: "The frum business community has so much to be proud of. There is explosive creativity and innovation happening in every field, from retail shops to therapists, party planners, service providers, musicians and artists. They deserve a platform that respects their values and allows them to share and connect."

With that vision and passion, TheOrbyt.com was created: a content-sharing platform designed exclusively for frum, B2C business owners to list their businesses, promote their offerings, and connect to their customers. For consumers, Orbyt is the ultimate solution for busy life: one place to explore and contact every frum business they could need.

When you enter Orbyt, you are greeted with a vibrant array of posts aligned with frum values. You can browse businesses using Discover, explore industries like interior design, events and simchas, and food services, and refine by location. When something grabs your interest, follow that business with one click.

Once you have your curated list of followed businesses, your personal feed shows only what you choose to follow. Orbyt's homepage displays every post in queue as posted, and your feed displays posts only from businesses you follow. No secret algorithm. No manipulation. Nothing to hack or outsmart.

A special feature is a clear, concise business directory where all Orbyt business accounts are listed. Orbyt keeps a professional tone throughout, and in another testament to its values, female content is available only to women. Beyond that, users can block categories they would rather avoid, like music during aveilos.

For businesses that already use Instagram, Orbyt offers seamless IG integration. Once set up, your latest IG posts are visible on Orbyt, and future Instagram posts are automatically cross-posted as well. Orbyt also enables easy reposting to email, WhatsApp, and other channels.

It has been just a few months since Orbyt launched, and early Orbyters are already flying high. Content includes fun pieces by musicians and entertainers, the latest trends in party-planning and food plating, deep insights from therapists, and organizing hacks for busy mothers.

Instead of doomsday warnings and raging antisemitism that is impossible to avoid on general platforms, Orbyt consumers walk away inspired and uplifted by beauty, creativity and goodwill shared within a community that truly cares.

For businesses on Orbyt, the typical barriers between professional and client have melted away. For less than the price of one print ad, they get year-round exposure with the ability to share limitless content directly to their target audience, free of the stress, anxiety and distractions typical of social media.

From business owners and consumers are now in Orbyt: the space that allows them to cross barriers without crossing boundaries.