Founder's Mentality: The CEO Sessions

Michelle Zatlyn, Cloudflare: Protect the Steady State, Disrupt What’s Next

  • First published on Σεπτεμβρίου 29, 2026

Podcast

Michelle Zatlyn, Cloudflare: Protect the Steady State, Disrupt What’s Next
en

Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform here. Find us on YouTube.

When did showing up become optional?

In 2009 Michelle Zatlyn co-founded Cloudflare, a tech startup that powers 45% of all Fortune 500 companies through solving problems that were keeping their leaders up at night. The surprising thing is, Michelle had no background in engineering. She developed an expertise through showing up, leveraged her own strengths to build a billion dollar business, and wrote a playbook all founders can learn from in the process.

Join host Jimmy Allen of Bain & Company and Michelle as they discuss the importance of solving problems that people care about, how to build teams that thrive off cross-functional collaboration, and how to balance delivery and development agendas throughout moments of hyperscale.

Michelle’s story highlights the importance of showing up. Not all leaders start off as experts, but they can become one through being in the room where it happens. How can founders push themselves to show up, even at times where they don't initially have the expertise?

This is a conversation about balancing delivery with growth, building a team that will drive progress through collaboration, and becoming an expert through showing up in the process.

Read what host Jimmy Allen had to say about this episode.

More on this episode

Tags

Έτοιμοι να μιλήσουμε

Συνεργαζόμαστε με φιλόδοξους ηγέτες που θέλουν να καθορίσουν το μέλλον και όχι. Όχι να κρυφτούν από αυτό. Μαζί, επιτυγχάνουμε πετυχαίνουμε εξαιρετικά αποτελέσματα.