Cloudflare: Leading Cybersecurity - [Business Breakdowns, EP.241]
Today we are breaking down the cybersecurity giant, Cloudflare.
Today, Cloudflare controls over 20% of the world’s web traffic, and more impressively, absorbs 2.5mn cyber attacks per second.
My guest is Sam Eden, Investor at Square Peg’s Global Tech Fund. And while I understood on the surface what Cloudflare does, Sam helped me get into the weeds on how the digital pipes actually work.
So we go through the rise of Cloudflare and how they differentiated themselves vs. the incumbents and fellow upstarts. Through this story, Sam details the product offerings that led to Cloudflare's leading market share, and what growth looks like moving forward.
Please enjoy this episode on Cloudflare.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.
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Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Timestamps
(00:00:00) Welcome to Business Breakdowns
(00:02:33) Episode Intro: Cloudflare
(00:03:56) What Cloudflare Does: A Digital Postal Service
(00:06:24) How Shopify Uses Cloudflare
(00:07:29) Serving 20% of the Internet’s Traffic
(00:08:19) The Internet Before Cloudflare
(00:12:01) Cloudflare’s Founding Story
(00:14:32) Easy Onboarding, Powerful Network Effects
(00:16:05) Why Hackers Were Early Customers
(00:16:58) How Cloudflare Benefited from the Innovator’s Dilemma
(00:19:38) Why Partnering with ISPs Was a Win-Win
(00:20:44) Bigger is Better: Cloudflare’s Reinforcing Loop
(00:22:50) Product Evolution Over Time
(00:26:37) How the Internal Security Offering Works
(00:27:53) Act 3: Developing a Proprietary Software Stack
(00:33:21) Four Ways AI Impacts the Business
(00:37:04) Building Out the Enterprise Sales Function
(00:40:06) The “Pool of Funds” Bundling Strategy
(00:43:55) How Channel Partners Drive Growth
(00:46:58) Revenue in 3 Acts
(00:48:23) Mastering the Freemium Model
(00:51:00) Margins & EBITDA
(00:52:47) Capital Allocation: Reinvestment Rules
(00:54:09) Potential New Competitors and Threats
(00:55:17) Lessons Learned From November 2025’s Outage
(00:59:17) Why Cloudflare’s Competitive Position is Strong
(01:01:19) How Canva Uses Cloudflare
(01:02:29) How Sam is Thinking About Risks
(01:04:36) 25x Sales Requires Flawless Execution
(01:07:21) 4 Lessons from Studying Cloudflare
monday.com: Work Management Software - [Business Breakdowns, EP.217]
Today we are breaking down the work management software platform monday.com. Founded in February 2012, today monday.com has a market cap of over $14 billion. The platform has transformed a simple task management tool to a versatile platform serving numerous industries and use cases.
I am joined by Ben Hensman, Portfolio Manager of the Global Tech Fund at Square Peg. He takes us through the story of monday.com and how they emerged as a winner amidst plenty of competition. There are critical lessons to be learned from its successful expansion into larger enterprise markets. We cover its impressive financial growth, innovative architectural design, and a move into AI. Please enjoy this breakdown of monday.com.
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For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.
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Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Show Notes
(00:00:00) Introduction to monday.com
(00:01:35) The Origin Story of monday.com
(00:02:30) Early Growth and Success
(00:02:57) Product Flexibility and Customer Use Cases
(00:05:14) Transparency, Trust, and Efficiency
(00:12:19) Customer Success Stories
(00:16:00) Expanding into Larger Enterprises
(00:19:12) Innovative Database Architecture
(00:24:11) Sales and Go-to-Market Strategies
(00:36:14) Partner Program and Sales Models
(00:38:46) Net Dollar Retention Trends
(00:44:54) AI's Impact on monday.com
(00:54:40) Financial Performance and Margins
(01:03:22) Market Opportunity and Competitive Landscape
(01:07:30) Valuation and Future Prospects
(01:12:37) Lessons from monday.com
Here's how startups can crack the US market, according to Australian VCs
Today, we’re listening back to not one but two interviews from the other side of the globe, thanks to our new co-host Rebecca Bellan, who spent three years in Auckland, New Zealand. Late last year, Rebecca hopped across the Tasman to Australia to report on the startup scene in Australia, and came back to us with a temperature check on VC in the Antipodes.
Rebecca spoke to two Aussie VCs: Dan Krasnostein from Square Peg and Gabrielle Munzer from Main Sequence. Rebecca and our guests dug into why early stage funding is popping off in the region, the government's role in growing a startup ecosystem, fintech, climate tech, and what it’s like to compete and collaborate with Silicon Valley.
In addition to these conversations, Rebecca wrote a few deep dive stories from her time in Australia, including a look at its burgeoning climate tech scene and some of the people who are fighting to lift women up in the ecosystem. Rebecca also chatted with Canva — the SaaS darling of Australia — to learn how the company is embracing generative AI at its core and pursuing more B2B clients.
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.
For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
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Equity down under: How Australian startups can crack the US market
Today, we’re spinning the globe with not one but two interviews, thanks to our friend and colleague Rebecca Bellan, who’s been in Auckland, New Zealand for the past three years. She recently hopped across the Tasman to Australia to report on the startup scene in Australia, and is coming back to us with a temperature check on VC in the Antipodes.
Rebecca spoke to two Aussie VCs: Dan Krasnostein from Square Peg and Gabrielle Munzer from Main Sequence. Rebecca and our guests dug into why early stage funding is popping off in the region, the government's role in growing a startup ecosystem, fintech, climate tech, and what it’s like to compete and collaborate with Silicon Valley.
In addition to these conversations, Rebecca wrote a few deep dive stories from her time in Australia, including a look at its burgeoning climate tech scene and some of the people who are fighting to lift women up in the ecosystem. Rebecca also chatted with Canva — the SaaS darling of Australia — to learn how the company is embracing generative AI at its core and pursuing more B2B clients.
We have one more episode to share before saying goodbye to 2023. It's a fun one and a tradition: Equity's 2024 predictions. Stay tuned!
Connect with Equity on X and Threads @EquityPod, and keep up with all of TechCrunch's podcasts @TechCrunchPods on TikTok.
For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.
Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more!
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SaaStr 651: Top Mistakes Founders Make with Series A with Black Mangroves, Square Peg, Vertex, and GGV
Arnaud Bonzom, Founder and Managing Director @ Black Mangroves moderates a panel with Carmen Yuen, General Partner @ Vertex, Jenny Lee, Managing Partner @ GGV Capital, and Piruze Sabuncu, Partner @ Square Peg Capital on what founders should look out for when raising a Series A.
In this panel, Carmen, Jenny, and Piruze will discuss the lessons learned at Vertex, GGV, and Square Peg on the common pitfalls to look out for when you are raising your Series A. For each pitfall, they will provide tips and tactics on how to overcome them.
This episode is an excerpt of the VC session. You can watch the full video: https://youtu.be/nFUUTXlnaa0
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