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Cloudflare's R&D (called ETI, Workers Org) 'ships (early, often)', supports…

2026-08-06 · 10:07 UTC ·@threepointone ·1 min read

Brief

Cloudflare's R&D arm (ETI/Workers Org) operates by shipping early and often, supporting customers in production, building in public, making unconventional bets, and iterating rapidly while engaging users via Slack, DMs, and email at surprising scale. The author links this approach to Matthew and Michelle's HBS/Clay Christensen ties, Kenton's focus on disruption theory, and Dane's high signal, arguing the firm uniquely accepts the tradeoffs needed to aim at becoming an 'agent cloud of the coming century.'

Why it matters

Cloudflare's R&D (called ETI, Workers Org) 'ships (early, often)', supports customers in production, 'builds in public', makes 'weird bets', and engages directly with users via Slack, DMs, and email at a scale the author says 'should make this all impossible' (post dated 2026-08-06).

Key details

  • The author attributes this culture to leadership: Matthew and Michelle were students of Clay Christensen at Harvard Business School and maintained that relationship, Kenton prioritizes the technical definition of disruption theory, and Dane is described as 'the most high signal individual' the author has known.
  • The author acknowledges 'obvious tradeoffs' to this approach but claims no other company is willing to try or commit to those tradeoffs, implying Cloudflare could uniquely become the 'agent cloud of the coming century.'
Source evidence

re: cloudflare emerging as the agent cloud of the coming century

our "r&d" department (aka ETI, Workers Org) is weird in the truest, most wonderful sense of the word. we ship (early, often) and support customers in prod, we build in public (and don't stfu about it), we're unafraid of making weird bets, we learn and iterate a ton, work directly with users/customers (in tons of slack channels, DMs, mails, all that) operating at a scale that should make this all impossible. there are obvious tradeoffs, but I don't see any other org/company willing to even try, let alone commit to those tradeoffs

I think it's based on matthew/michelle being clay christensen's students in HBS (and them continuing the relationship for years later), kenton caring about the technical definition of disruption theory, and dane being the most high signal individual I've ever known; probably has a lot to do with it