Mischa McInerney

The company today has millions of customers worldwide, surpassed a $1 billion revenue run rate, and employs 3,300 team members. It stops billions of cyberattacks a day for millions across the globe. And it was started by Silicon Valley outsiders. Meet the co-founder, president, and COO of Cloudfare, Michelle Zatlyn: 1. Zatlyn admits she never saw herself as an entrepreneur who needed to be their own boss. She didn’t have it all figured out as a student at Harvard, standing on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, or even today. “I think if you’re a founder and you’re not sure, that’s OK. There are lots of ways to be successful. If you talk to a hundred successful founders, you will get a hundred different ways.” 2. Zatlyn says she used to run into a famous founder who said Cloudflare was impossible. Eventually, they reconciled, and the founder admitted the business idea was possible and a necessary disruptor. Through that experience, Zatlyn learned that rejection and doubt from others happen, especially at the beginning. But instead of reacting with bitterness, Zatlyn advises other founders to stay in the game. “You don’t need to win them over. Everyone comes around at some point, and your job is to keep winning on the field, gaining progress, gaining ground …, and finding the people who do want to believe and be championed. [If you] spend your time on that, you’ll be much happier and more productive for it.” 3. A final piece of advice from Michelle: "People don't take opportunities because the timing is bad, or the financial side is unsecure. Too many people are overanalyzing. Sometimes you just have to go for it." *** Remember: It's never too late to turn your dream idea into your dream business. *** That's a wrap. Hope you enjoyed these inspirational quotes from Michelle. If you did: 1. Follow me @arjunmahadevan for more like this (and for more on how to turn your dream idea into your dream US business with @doolaHQ) 2. RT this, if you can, to share this advice with a friend