Grit

Guest: Chris Merritt, President of Field Operations and CRO of Cloudflare

In this episode, we cover: How Chris' current company, Cloudflare, is creating a more secure and reliable internet network. (3:44) ... Chris' experience working at Cloudflare during the company's early stages. (8:23) ... The evolution of Cloudflare’s go to market strategy. (13:18) ... Content-driven strategy: How Cloudflare uses an engineering blog to help enable its freemium model. (17:54) ... Stopping DDoS attacks: How an increase in security awareness among the general public benefited Cloudflare. (25:03) ... ‘A community watch’: Why Cloudflare’s large and diverse user base enables a better and more competitive product. (31:17) ... Change management: The incremental and careful process of bringing Cloudflare up-market. (36:37) ... The qualities Chris looks for in new hires. (44:23) ... How Chris defines grit. (50:10)

Show Notes

Just take it from website security industry executive Chris Merritt — the internet was not designed with security and performance in mind. 


As President of Field Operations and CRO of Cloudlflare, Chris and his company are dedicated to fixing this problem by protecting websites for a more secure and reliable internet. 


On this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Chris discuss how Cloudflare’s go-to-market strategy has evolved, as well as how Cloudflare helps prevent bad actors from conducting internet attacks.


In this episode, we cover:
  • How Chris' current company, Cloudflare, is creating a more secure and reliable internet network. (3:44)
  • Chris' experience working at Cloudflare during the company's early stages. (8:23)
  • The evolution of Cloudflare’s go to market strategy. (13:18)
  • Content-driven strategy: How Cloudflare uses an engineering blog to help enable its freemium model. (17:54)
  • Stopping DDoS attacks: How an increase in security awareness among the general public benefited Cloudflare. (25:03)
  • ‘A community watch’: Why Cloudflare’s large and diverse user base enables a better and more competitive product. (31:17)
  • Change management: The incremental and careful process of bringing Cloudflare up-market. (36:37)
  • The qualities Chris looks for in new hires. (44:23)
  • How Chris defines grit. (50:10)
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What is Grit?

Grit explores what it takes to create, build, and scale world-class organizations. It features weekly episodes highlighting the leaders who are pushing their companies to make a difference. This series is hosted by Joubin Mirzadegan, go to market operating partner at Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm investing in history-making founders.