Overview
Matthew Prince is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cloudflare per the company’s press kit and Our Story pages. He co-founded Cloudflare with Michelle Zatlyn and Lee Holloway. Cloudflare is headquartered in San Francisco, went public on the NYSE as NET on September 13, 2019, and operates eighteen offices across thirteen countries serving customers in 335 cities and more than 125 countries.
Cloudflare handles approximately twenty percent of HTTP traffic per Our Story materials. Michelle Zatlyn now serves as Chief Operating Officer per the same page. Prince’s founding narrative spans Project Honey Pot with Holloway in 2004 through Harvard Business School MBA sabbatical where he met Zatlyn.
Enterprise cybersecurity buyers in 2026 increasingly evaluate whether vendors can integrate AI detection with existing SOC workflows, reduce mean time to respond, and demonstrate measurable outcomes across email, cloud, endpoint, and identity attack surfaces without multiplying analyst alert fatigue.
Role
As Co-founder and CEO, Prince leads Cloudflare’s global connectivity, security, and developer platform strategy. The press kit identifies him as a co-founder alongside Zatlyn and Holloway with Zatlyn as COO in current operating structure.
Prince’s CEO tenure spans private beta in June 2010 — when sites on Cloudflare were approximately thirty percent faster per Our Story — through TechCrunch Disrupt launch on September 27, 2010 and eventual NYSE listing.
Role strings on cloudflare.com press and Our Story pages are authoritative for this profile.
The cybersecurity sector continues consolidating around platform vendors that unify detection, response, and exposure management while embedding machine learning into products born in the appliance era. Founder and executive profiles in this category help researchers compare governance models, technical pedigree, and go-to-market evolution across vendors serving Fortune 500 and global enterprise accounts.
Background
Prince and Holloway started Project Honey Pot in 2004 per Our Story. During a 2009 Harvard Business School MBA sabbatical, Prince met Michelle Zatlyn; their team won the HBS Business Plan competition in April 2009.
Series A funding from Venrock and Pelion followed in November 2009. This academic-to-venture path preceded Cloudflare’s 2010 product launch.
No additional education or prior employers beyond Our Story and press kit claims are included.
The cybersecurity sector continues consolidating around platform vendors that unify detection, response, and exposure management while embedding machine learning into products born in the appliance era. Founder and executive profiles in this category help researchers compare governance models, technical pedigree, and go-to-market evolution across vendors serving Fortune 500 and global enterprise accounts.
Career
Career milestones on official pages: Project Honey Pot 2004 with Lee Holloway; HBS MBA sabbatical 2009 meeting Michelle Zatlyn; April 2009 HBS Business Plan competition win; November 2009 Series A from Venrock and Pelion; June 2010 private beta; September 27, 2010 TechCrunch Disrupt launch; co-founding Cloudflare 2009; NYSE NET IPO September 13, 2019.
Prince has remained co-founder and CEO through Cloudflare’s expansion to roughly twenty percent of HTTP traffic and global office footprint.
Co-founder continuity with Zatlyn as COO reflects sustained founding team governance at public-company scale.
The cybersecurity sector continues consolidating around platform vendors that unify detection, response, and exposure management while embedding machine learning into products born in the appliance era. Founder and executive profiles in this category help researchers compare governance models, technical pedigree, and go-to-market evolution across vendors serving Fortune 500 and global enterprise accounts.
Company Journey
Cloudflare was founded in 2009 with San Francisco headquarters per Our Story. Journey markers include 2010 private beta performance claims, Disrupt launch, and 2019 public listing.
Global expansion to eighteen offices, thirteen countries, 335 cities, and 125-plus countries documents Cloudflare’s evolution from startup CDN to broad connectivity and security platform.
Traffic scale approaching twenty percent of HTTP traffic per Our Story represents a rare infrastructure milestone among cybersecurity-adjacent public companies.
The cybersecurity sector continues consolidating around platform vendors that unify detection, response, and exposure management while embedding machine learning into products born in the appliance era. Founder and executive profiles in this category help researchers compare governance models, technical pedigree, and go-to-market evolution across vendors serving Fortune 500 and global enterprise accounts.
Leadership
Prince’s leadership combines co-founder CEO authority with public-company accountability post-2019 NYSE listing. Partnership with COO Michelle Zatlyn maintains founding-team operating continuity.
Venrock and Pelion Series A backing in November 2009 signals early venture confidence in Prince’s business plan competition thesis.
Prince represents founder-operator leadership sustaining through hyperscale traffic responsibility.
The cybersecurity sector continues consolidating around platform vendors that unify detection, response, and exposure management while embedding machine learning into products born in the appliance era. Founder and executive profiles in this category help researchers compare governance models, technical pedigree, and go-to-market evolution across vendors serving Fortune 500 and global enterprise accounts.
Public Milestones
Documented: Project Honey Pot 2004; founded 2009; HBS Business Plan win April 2009; Series A Nov 2009 Venrock/Pelion; private beta June 2010; TechCrunch Disrupt Sept 27 2010; NYSE NET IPO Sept 13 2019; ~20% HTTP traffic; 18 offices/13 countries; 335 cities/125+ countries; Zatlyn COO.
Press kit and Our Story are primary milestone sources.
Metrics beyond cited Cloudflare pages excluded.
The cybersecurity sector continues consolidating around platform vendors that unify detection, response, and exposure management while embedding machine learning into products born in the appliance era. Founder and executive profiles in this category help researchers compare governance models, technical pedigree, and go-to-market evolution across vendors serving Fortune 500 and global enterprise accounts.
Why This Founder Matters
Matthew Prince matters because Cloudflare sits at the intersection of performance CDN and security — handling roughly twenty percent of HTTP traffic makes Prince’s leadership globally consequential for internet resilience.
His HBS competition-to-IPO arc is a reference narrative for infrastructure founders bridging academic validation and public markets.
For cybersecurity readers, Cloudflare under Prince demonstrates how connectivity platforms become default security layers at internet scale.
The cybersecurity sector continues consolidating around platform vendors that unify detection, response, and exposure management while embedding machine learning into products born in the appliance era. Founder and executive profiles in this category help researchers compare governance models, technical pedigree, and go-to-market evolution across vendors serving Fortune 500 and global enterprise accounts.
Sources
Primary sourcing for this profile of Matthew Prince at Cloudflare is limited to the official company pages cited below, reviewed July 11, 2026.
- Cloudflare — official page: https://www.cloudflare.com/press/press-kit/
- Cloudflare — supporting page: https://www.cloudflare.com/our-story/
No education, employer, funding, or personal claims beyond those stated in the verified facts and cited pages are included. Sector analysis in narrative sections is interpretive context about the cybersecurity market, not additional biography.
Last Reviewed
This profile was last reviewed on July 11, 2026.
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