Cloudflare vs Postman: Founders, CEOs and History
Cloudflare was founded in 2009 by Matthew Prince, Michelle Zatlyn, Lee Holloway and is led by Matthew Prince. Postman was founded in 2014 by Abhinav Asthana, Ankit Sobti, Abhijit Kane and is led by Abhinav Asthana.
Company facts
Cloudflare
- Founded
- 2009
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California
- Current CEO
- Matthew Prince
- Employees
- 5,156
Postman
- Founded
- 2014
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, United States
- Current CEO
- Abhinav Asthana
- Employees
- 1,600
Founders
Cloudflare
Matthew Prince
Matthew Prince is Cloudflare's co-founder, CEO, and board chair. In 2004 he and Lee Holloway built Project Honey Pot, which let website owners track spammers harvesting email addresses but could not stop them.
Michelle Zatlyn
Michelle Zatlyn is Cloudflare's co-founder, President, and Chief Operating Officer, and a member of its board. She met Matthew Prince at Harvard Business School, where the two developed the business plan that became Cloudflare in 2009.
Lee Holloway
Lee Holloway co-founded Cloudflare in 2009 and was its first lead engineer and systems architect. He had earlier built Project Honey Pot with Matthew Prince starting in 2004, and he designed much of Cloudflare's early software infrastructure.
Postman
Abhinav Asthana
Abhinav Asthana is the co-founder and CEO of Postman. He started Postman as a side project to make API testing less painful, released it free on the Chrome Web Store, and after it reached about 500,000 users recruited Ankit Sobti and Abhijit Kane to found the…
Ankit Sobti
Ankit Sobti is a co-founder of Postman and its Chief Technology Officer. He joined Asthana in 2014 to turn the Chrome app into a company and has overseen the engineering that took Postman from a browser extension to desktop and web clients and a cloud platform…
Abhijit Kane
Abhijit Kane is a co-founder of Postman. He was one of the two former colleagues Asthana recruited in 2014 when the Chrome app's growth made it clear Postman could be a company, and he remains part of the founding leadership team.
CEOs and their tenures
Cloudflare
- Matthew Prince2009–present
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chair
Co-founded Cloudflare in 2009, led it through its September 2019 NYSE IPO, and has grown annual revenue past $2 billion (2025) while expanding from web security into Zero Trust, developer, and AI services.
Source - Michelle Zatlyn2009–present
Co-Founder, President, and Chief Operating Officer
Co-founded Cloudflare in 2009 with Matthew Prince and Lee Holloway and, as President and COO, has led operations and company-building as Cloudflare scaled to more than 5,000 employees.
Source - Thomas Seifert2017–present
Chief Financial Officer
Has led Cloudflare's finance organization since 2017, including its 2019 IPO.
Source
Postman
- Abhinav Asthana2014–present
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
Created Postman in 2012, has led the company since incorporation, and raised about $433 million including the 2021 Series D at a $5.6 billion valuation.
Source - Ankit Sobti2014–present
Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder
Leads Postman's technology and engineering.
Source - Abhijit Kane2014–present
Co-Founder
Co-founded Postman with Asthana and Sobti and remains part of its founding leadership.
Source
Timeline: Cloudflare and Postman side by side
2009Cloudflare
Cloudflare Founded
Matthew Prince, Michelle Zatlyn, and Lee Holloway founded Cloudflare, building on the Project Honey Pot spam-tracking project.
2010Cloudflare
TechCrunch Disrupt Launch
Cloudflare launched publicly at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco in September 2010, offering free website protection and acceleration.
2012Postman
Postman Chrome app launched
Abhinav Asthana releases Postman free on the Chrome Web Store while working at Yahoo in Bengaluru.
2014Cloudflare
Universal SSL and Project Galileo
Cloudflare gave free SSL certificates to all customers with Universal SSL and launched Project Galileo to protect at-risk nonprofits and journalists for free.
2014Postman
Postman, Inc. founded
Asthana, Ankit Sobti and Abhijit Kane form the company.
2015Postman
$1M seed round
Nexus Venture Partners leads Postman's seed round.
2017Cloudflare
Cloudflare Workers Announced
Cloudflare introduced Workers, a serverless platform built on V8 isolates that lets developers run code across its network.
2017Postman
HQ moves to San Francisco
Postman relocates its corporate headquarters from Bengaluru.
2019Cloudflare
NYSE IPO
Cloudflare completed its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker NET in September 2019 at $15 per share, raising about $525 million.
2019Postman
$50M Series B
CRV leads Postman's Series B.
2020Cloudflare
Cloudflare One Launched
Cloudflare bundled its Zero Trust access, secure web gateway, and network services into Cloudflare One, its SASE platform.
2020Postman
$150M Series C at $2B
Insight Partners leads the round.
2021Postman
$225M Series D at $5.6B
Insight Partners leads; Coatue, CRV, Nexus, Battery Ventures and BOND participate.
2022Cloudflare
Area 1 Security and R2 General Availability
Cloudflare acquired email security company Area 1 Security for about $162 million and made R2 zero-egress object storage generally available.
2023Postman
Akita acquisition and Postbot
Postman buys Akita Software and introduces its Postbot AI assistant.
2024Cloudflare
Revenue Reaches $1.67 Billion
Cloudflare reported 2024 revenue of $1.67 billion and free cash flow of $166.9 million.
2024Postman
Orbit acquisition and Postman v11
Postman acquires Orbit and ships v11 with AI features.
2025Cloudflare
Revenue Passes $2 Billion
Cloudflare reported 2025 revenue of $2.17 billion (+29.8%) and closed its largest contract ever, averaging $42.5 million per year in ACV.
2025Postman
liblab acquisition
Postman acquires SDK generation platform liblab in November.
2026Cloudflare
VoidZero Acquisition and Growth Acceleration
Cloudflare acquired VoidZero, the company behind the Vite JavaScript tooling ecosystem, in June 2026 and reported Q2 2026 revenue growth of 36%.
2026Postman
Fern, new platform and Fabric Gateway
Fern acquired in January; AI-native platform and Free/Solo/Team/Enterprise pricing in March; Fabric Gateway generally available September 29.
Acquisitions
Cloudflare
- Human Native2026Undisclosed
- Astro Technology Company2026Undisclosed
- VoidZero2026Undisclosed
- Replicate2025Undisclosed
- Nefeli Networks2024Undisclosed
- Baselime2024Undisclosed
Postman
- Fern2026Undisclosed
- liblab2025Undisclosed
- Orbit2024Undisclosed
- Akita Software2023Undisclosed
Questions about Cloudflare vs Postman
Who is the CEO of Cloudflare, Inc. and Postman, Inc.?
Cloudflare, Inc. is led by Matthew Prince and Postman, Inc. is led by Abhinav Asthana. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Cloudflare, Inc. founded vs Postman, Inc.?
Cloudflare, Inc. was founded in 2009 — 5 years before Postman, Inc., which was founded in 2014. Cloudflare, Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Postman, Inc..
How many employees does Cloudflare, Inc. have compared to Postman, Inc.?
Cloudflare, Inc. employs approximately 5,156 people, while Postman, Inc. employs approximately 1,600. Cloudflare, Inc. has the larger workforce at 5,156 employees, compared to Postman, Inc.'s 1,600. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Cloudflare, Inc. and Postman, Inc. headquartered?
Both Cloudflare, Inc. and Postman, Inc. are headquartered in United States, meaning they operate under the same primary regulatory and tax environment.
Who founded Cloudflare, Inc. and Postman, Inc.?
Cloudflare, Inc. was founded by Matthew Prince, Michelle Zatlyn, Lee Holloway. Postman, Inc. was founded by Abhinav Asthana, Ankit Sobti, Abhijit Kane.
Which company has a longer operating history — Cloudflare, Inc. or Postman, Inc.?
Cloudflare, Inc. has been operating for approximately 17 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Postman, Inc. has been in operation for around 12 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Cloudflare vs Postman overview