Company: Cloudflare
Title: Co-founder, President & Chief Operating Officer
Industry: Technology
Hometown:Â San Francisco, California
Notable in 2023: Brought cyber protection to vulnerable institutions from K-12 schools to local elections, while leading Cloudflare to its first $1 billion year.
In 2023, Cloudflare reached its first $1 billion revenue year, a recognition of the hard work that chief operating officer Michelle Zatlyn had put into the cybersecurity company, started at a time when few understood the level of threat that data leaks and other nefarious online actors were about to represent.
Zatlyn co-founded Cloudflare about 14 years ago. Today, cybersecurity threats are only increasing, with Cloudflare reporting distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) reaching an all-time high in 2023. The company now protects about 20% of websites, including 30% of the Fortune 1000. It prevents more than 182 billion cyberattacks each day.
I think the problem is that people evaluate too much. People don’t take opportunities because the timing is bad, or the financial side is insecure. Too many people are overanalyzing and becoming paralyzed. Sometimes you just have to go for it.Michelle ZatlynCo-founder, President & Chief Operating Officer, Cloudflare
In addition, Cloudflare's Project Galileo gives free services to over 2,000 organizations worldwide like media companies and civil rights groups. Its Athenian project focuses on election integrity so voting data can't be hacked. Cloudflare also works with the White House on Project Cybersafe Schools to add cybersecurity protection to elementary and high schools around the country.
"I love our mission to help build a better internet," Zatlyn told Foundr. "Because the internet's becoming more important for every single business. The fact that we're there every step of the way, helping them be a strategic partner? I'm so proud of that."
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