Matthew Prince
Matthew Prince is Cloudflare’s co-founder and CEO, and his AI work links crawler access to compensation for online creators. He studied English literature and computer science at Trinity College, earned a law degree at the University of Chicago, and created Project Honey Pot with Lee Holloway to help websites track email spammers. At Harvard, he started Cloudflare as a business-school project and won the 2009 business-plan contest with Michelle Zatlyn. In July 2025, he announced default blocks on AI crawlers unless they paid creators; TIME included him on its 2025 TIME100 AI list. His September 2026 founders’ letter discussed AI agents and crawler traffic, and he is Cloudflare’s co-founder and CEO as of October 2026.
- Now at
- Cloudflare
Timeline
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1996–2000
Studying computing and law
He graduates from Trinity College in 1996 with a B.A. in English Literature and Computer Science. At the University of Chicago, he earns a J.D. in 2000.
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2004
Project Honey Pot
With Lee Holloway, he creates Project Honey Pot in 2004, a system that lets website owners track how spammers harvest email addresses.
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2007–2009
Building Cloudflare at Harvard
He takes a sabbatical from Unspam from 2007 to 2009 to attend Harvard Business School. He starts Cloudflare as a 2009 business-school project with a classmate and an early Unspam engineer; he and Michelle Zatlyn win Harvard’s business-plan contest.
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2010–2013
A million Cloudflare users
Cloudflare launches in 2010 and reaches more than a million users by 2013.
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July 2025
Blocking AI crawlers
In July 2025, he announces that Cloudflare is changing its default to block AI crawlers unless they pay creators for their content.
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2025
A TIME100 AI selection
TIME lists him among the Leaders in its 2025 TIME100 AI.
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September 2026
AI agents and web traffic
In September 2026, he and Michelle Zatlyn publish Cloudflare’s Annual Founders’ Letter. It says AI agents and crawlers move the projected crossover of automated and human traffic to May 2026.
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As of October 2026
Leading Cloudflare
He is Cloudflare’s co-founder and CEO.
Sources and credits
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- Matthew Prince '96
- Speaker Details: Cloudflare Investor Day 2026
- Matthew Prince '00: Internet Entrepreneur’s Company Supercharges Websites | University of Chicago Law School
- Our Story | Cloudflare
- Harvard Business School Holds 13th Annual Business Plan Contest | Newsroom
- Content Independence Day: no AI crawl without compensation! | Cloudflare Blog
- Press Overview | Cloudflare
- Cloudflare’s 2026 Annual Founders’ Letter | Cloudflare Blog
- Speakers - Cloudflare Connect 2026