Cloudflare’s Annual Founders’ Letter

On September 27, 2021, Cloudflare celebrates its 11th birthday and continues its tradition of launching innovative new products as a gift back to the Internet. The company has experienced significant growth in the past year, with over half of its team starting since March 2020 due to the pandemic. Despite initial concerns about remote work affecting their culture, Cloudflare found that hiring curious and empathetic individuals allowed them to maintain productivity and happiness among employees. As they emerge from the pandemic, the company aims to create a better way to work by combining in-person collaboration with flexibility for remote work. Regarding the Internet, Cloudflare remains committed to its mission of building a better one, despite challenges such as cyberattacks and toxic social media. The company believes that while some technologies have caused harm, the Internet itself is still a miracle that has allowed people to stay connected during the pandemic. As policy makers address new harms in an interconnected world, Cloudflare will continue to engage with them to preserve the integrity of the Internet. In terms of innovation, Cloudflare focuses on making web page loading, email sending, video streaming, and other online activities more secure, reliable, or faster. The company is entering a new area to address network security risks and investing in technologies that could disrupt the current state of the web. Overall, Cloudflare believes it is just getting started and will continue to grow with the Internet.