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Cloudflare Connect 2025: Snarky Preview of the Vegas Tech Extravaganza

Get the full scoop on Cloudflare Connect 2025 — from official keynotes and rumored product launches to surprise guests, AI announcements, and Vegas-level hype.

CircuitSmith

07 Oct 2025 — 27 min read

Cloudflare’s annual developer conference – Cloudflare Connect 2025 – is almost here, and it’s shaping up to be a glitzy Vegas-tech spectacle. Scheduled for October 13–16, 2025 at the Aria in Las Vegas, this four-day event promises to gather thousands of developers, IT pros, investors, and industry nerds to talk all things cloud, security, and the future of the Internet[1]. Below we dive into agenda highlights, keynotes, rumored launches, and why you should (or shouldn’t) care, all in a tone balancing edgy irreverence with real insight. Let’s just say: what happens in Vegas… might end up defining Cloudflare’s product roadmap for the next year.

Official Agenda Highlights and Keynotes (What We Know)
New Product Launches Anticipated (Cloudflare’s Roadmap – What Might Drop)
The Rumor Mill: Keynote Rumors and Speculation in the Community
Trends from Previous Cloudflare Connect Events (Looking Back)
Sessions Worth Watching (and Skipping) – A Guide for Developers, IT Pros, and Investors
Star Power: Big-Name Speakers and (Possible) Surprise Guests
Our Snarky Conclusion (Why It Matters)

Official Agenda Highlights and Keynotes (What We Know)

Cloudflare Connect 2025 isn’t a mere webinar or roadshow – it’s a full-blown conference going bigger and better (Cloudflare’s words) than ever[2]. Here are the key agenda highlights and confirmed keynotes to mark on your calendar:

Opening General Session (Oct 14): Expect Cloudflare’s co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince to kick things off with grand pronouncements about “building a better Internet.” (Last year in NYC he literally preached “the best version of the Internet is open, collaborative…”[3], so anticipate a similar high-minded tone.) Co-founder & President Michelle Zatlyn will likely join him on stage – the dynamic duo rallying the troops[4][5]. This session is where Cloudflare will set the theme and possibly tease big announcements.
Innovation Keynote (Oct 15): This mid-conference keynote is all about new tech and products. CJ Desai, Cloudflare’s President of Product & Engineering, is almost certain to demo the latest shiny toys[6]. But Cloudflare’s not keeping the spotlight to itself – they’ve lined up some external star power. Carl Eschenbach, CEO of Workday (and notable enterprise bigwig), is on the speaker roster[7]. Will a SaaS CEO talk about cloud connectivity without plugging his own product? We’ll see. More excitingly for the AI-obsessed: Ashley Kramer, Chief Revenue Officer of OpenAI, is confirmed to speak[8]. Yes, the company behind ChatGPT is lending a top exec – count on AI hype permeating this keynote. Perhaps she’ll discuss how OpenAI uses Cloudflare (they do rely on Cloudflare’s infrastructure for security/performance, after all) or how developers can integrate AI at the edge. Rounding out the innovation keynote lineup, we have Kevin Deierling, NVIDIA’s SVP of Networking[9]. His presence hints at some love for hardware acceleration – maybe an announcement about Cloudflare using NVIDIA tech to speed up its network or AI workloads. In short, the Innovation Keynote will be a parade of Cloudflare’s latest tech with a side of enterprise and AI pizzazz.
Closing General Session (Oct 16): The finale likely circles back to Cloudflare’s leadership. Expect Matthew Prince to return with President Michelle Zatlyn to tie a bow on the event, possibly sharing a forward-looking vision (and a few humblebrags about how many attendees showed up). Given Cloudflare’s penchant for metrics, don’t be surprised if they tout how X million requests were served during the conference or some such stat. Also, Cloudflare’s Chief Strategy Officer Stephanie Cohen (ex-Goldman Sachs exec) is speaking[10] – she might appear here or in a business-focused session to talk strategy and partnerships. The closing session is all about big-picture reflections and setting the post-event agenda.

Other notable official happenings on the agenda include:

Global Partner Summit (Oct 13): A special track for Cloudflare’s partners (think resellers, managed services, and folks who sell Cloudflare for a living). It’s a day-long mini-conference about go-to-market strategies[11]. If you’re a channel partner or just really into B2B networking, this is your jam – others can safely ignore it or hit the buffet instead.
Cloudflare University (Oct 13): An all-day training and certification extravaganza[12][13]. Security practitioners can even get certified in Application Security during the event[14]. In other words, come for the conference, leave with a fresh Cloudflare cert to spice up your LinkedIn. (Snark aside, the hands-on labs here are a smart way for Cloudflare to hook devs and ops folks into using their tech.)
Breakout Sessions & Tracks: The content is divided into tracks like Application Developer + AI, Networking + Security, Platform + Governance, and Cloud[15][16]. In total there are “hundreds of breakout sessions and workshops”[17]. So whatever your niche – be it writing code for edge servers or managing corporate zero-trust rollouts – there’s something for you. Agenda pro-tip: sessions run concurrently, so you won’t see everything. Pick your poison wisely (more on must-see sessions below).
Hackathon (Evening of Oct 14): Yes, there’s a hackathon from 4:30–10:00pm[18]. Because nothing says Vegas nightlife like pizza-fueled coding in a conference room! 😜 In all seriousness, Cloudflare’s hackathon could be fun – engineers will race to build apps on Cloudflare Workers, likely using whatever new toys get announced. If you’re a developer, this is a chance to get your hands dirty and possibly win swag or bragging rights. Just don’t expect much sleep.
Networking Events: Cloudflare Connect isn’t all work. There’s a Welcome Reception on Day 1 and a party called “Cloudflare After Dark” on Oct 15[19]. Translation: free drinks, maybe a DJ, and a chance to schmooze with Cloudflare employees and fellow attendees. Pro tip: That might be the best time to corner a product manager and ask tough questions – after they’ve had a cocktail in hand.

All told, the official agenda paints Cloudflare Connect 2025 as a multi-day tech festival: keynotes in the mornings, breakouts all day, and social events at night[20][21]. It’s a step up from last year’s smaller Connect events, which leads us to…

New Product Launches Anticipated (Cloudflare’s Roadmap – What Might Drop)

If you’re tuning into Connect 2025, you’re probably keen to hear “What’s Cloudflare launching next?” Based on official hints, past trends, and a dose of educated speculation, here’s what we anticipate on the Cloudflare product roadmap – including some rumored announcements that have the community buzzing:

Edge Containers Go GA: Cloudflare Containers have been the talk of the developer forums since Cloudflare opened them in beta around June 2025[22]. In case you missed it, Cloudflare has been quietly building out a container platform that lets you deploy full Docker containers to their edge network – effectively taking Cloudflare Workers beyond just JavaScript isolates. They’ve even integrated it with their Workers platform and Durable Objects for orchestration[23]. We know containers beta was targeted for “late June”[22], so by mid-October, it’s a good bet Cloudflare will announce general availability of Cloudflare Containers. This means developers could run any code (any language, heavier workloads) on Cloudflare’s global network. They’ve been bragging that it’s “simple, scalable, and global”[24] – and yes, they even have support for GPUs in this platform[25]. Expect a demo of someone deploying, say, a Python app or FFmpeg video processing container, live on stage. For devs, this is huge: Cloudflare edging into AWS/GCP territory by letting you bring your containers to their network.
AI at the Edge – More, More, More: Cloudflare has been beating the AI drum hard. In 2023 they launched Workers AI (providing on-demand machine learning inference on the edge)[26], and in 2024-25 they’ve integrated AI into products like security (e.g. AI firewall and “prompt protection” to secure generative AI apps[27]). With OpenAI’s CRO keynoting, we expect announcements around AI tools. Possibilities include: expanded support for running larger AI models on Workers (maybe leveraging those NVIDIA GPUs), new AI APIs or integrations (perhaps easier hookups to OpenAI or open-source models), or an “AI Agents” framework – Cloudflare has hinted at enabling autonomous agents on their platform. In fact, on their website they’re already touting tools to “build and secure AI agents”[28]. Don’t be surprised if they unveil a developer preview of something like Cloudflare AI Agents, making it easy to deploy AI-driven bots that can fetch, compute, and act across the web (all protected by Cloudflare’s network, of course). In short: AI is Cloudflare’s favorite buzzword this year, and Connect will double down on it.
Security & Zero Trust Upgrades: Security is Cloudflare’s bread and butter, and many Connect attendees are network/security engineers. So we anticipate updates in the Zero Trust SASE platform (Cloudflare One). Perhaps new capabilities in Cloudflare’s Secure Web Gateway, CASB, or threat intelligence. Cloudflare’s Security Week 2025 introduced things like AI-driven phishing protection and an AI firewall[27] – Connect might package these into a bigger narrative of “next-gen zero trust.” Also, keep an ear out for DDoS protection stats. Cloudflare loves to flex here; just a month ago they boasted of automatically mitigating a record-breaking 11.5 Tbps DDoS attack[29]. Connect could see them announce network upgrades that make their already-massive network even more resilient. Perhaps more data centers (they’re already in 330+ cities) or improved routing that cuts latency. Given Cloudflare’s emphasis on being the “Connectivity Cloud”, any enhancement that makes connectivity faster or safer is on the table. Rumors on tech forums suggest Cloudflare might introduce new firewall features or identity management tools to round out their Zero Trust offerings. If you hear acronyms like ZTNA, CASB, or SASE during keynotes, that’s what’s happening.
Developer Platform Tweaks (Workers, R2, Pages, etc.): Cloudflare’s developer community will be watching for improvements to existing services:
- Workers – Possibly higher limits, new languages (they added Python support in 2024), or better dev tooling. There’s talk that Workers VPC (a private network for Workers to connect to your VPC resources) which launched in April[30][31] will get highlighted. Maybe they announce general availability of Workers VPC and Private Links, bridging Cloudflare with AWS/Azure networks for enterprise devs.
- R2 (Object Storage) – Perhaps a price drop or new feature (versioning? search?). Cloudflare might use Connect to make R2 more enticing, since they love poking AWS by eliminating egress fees[32].
- Pages (Jamstack hosting) – Possibly support for dynamic functions or integration with Workers better (so Pages isn’t just static). Given Pages is mentioned in the sessions lineup[33], they could announce Pages 2.0 with server-side rendering or edge functions (chasing Netlify and Vercel).
- Databases – Cloudflare’s D1 (SQLite at the edge) is still in beta; maybe it goes GA. Or they announce a new distributed data service. Developers on forums have been hoping for a managed Redis or key-value store beyond the simple Workers KV. It’s speculative, but Connect could surprise us with a database-related launch (they did acquire a startup or two in this space last year, so who knows).
“NET” and the New Internet Economy: Here’s a curveball: just weeks ago during its Birthday Week, Cloudflare announced NET Dollar, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin for micropayments on the internet[34]. (Yes, you read that right – Cloudflare wants to play in crypto without saying “crypto,” aimed at enabling microtransactions for AI bots and content creators.) And they’re pushing an open standard (Agent Payments Protocol and something called x402) for these web transactions[35][36]. With Visa’s Chief Product Officer (Jack Forestell) speaking at Connect[37], it’s almost certain we’ll hear more about this new payment model. Don’t expect a full product launch (“NET Dollar” itself is still a plan, not live currency), but Cloudflare might demo how an AI agent could use NET Dollar to buy an article or API call in real-time. This plays into the narrative of “the Internet’s next business model” that CEO Prince loves to evangelize[35]. Investors will be listening closely, since it hints at Cloudflare expanding into fintech territory. It’s bold (and a bit controversial), so count on some tough questions and buzz if they push this at Connect.
Wildcard Rumors: The rumor mill always churns before a big conference. Among the more creative speculations floating around:
- Cloudflare to announce an AI-powered code assistant (integrated into their dashboard, helping write firewall rules or Workers code for you). This would be following the trend of every platform getting an “AI assistant.” Cloudflare hasn’t hinted at it, but it wouldn’t shock us given the season of AI.
- A Cloudflare–OpenAI partnership beyond just having a speaker. Perhaps free Cloudflare credits for OpenAI developers or a special program for AI startups. Pure conjecture, but that CRO of OpenAI didn’t come to Vegas for nothing – maybe something gets signed on stage?
- Edge network upgrades: Some enthusiasts are hoping Cloudflare will announce they’ve moved more of their stack to the Rust-based software they’ve been developing (they did announce a big performance boost from Rust recently, cutting response times by 10ms[38]). Connect might have a tech talk revealing the secret sauce of their latest edge software, or even an open-source reveal. Cloudflare likes to throw bones to the open-source community (last year they open-sourced a new RPC protocol[39]), so watch for any GitHub repo launches during the event.
- No, Cloudflare probably won’t unveil “Cloudflare Cloud” (an AWS competitor cloud) outright. They’re doing it piecemeal via the connectivity cloud concept. But if you hear them use the phrase “Cloudflare Cloud” unironically, well, you heard it here first.

In summary, Connect 2025 will be packed with product news. Cloudflare has a habit of releasing dozens of blog posts during their innovation weeks (e.g. Birthday Week saw dozens of announcements[40]). This conference is likely to bundle some of those into big themes and add a few “one more thing” surprises. Keep an eye on phrases like “general availability”, “preview launch”, and “beta today” – those signal real product releases you can go play with immediately. And yes, bring your bingo card of buzzwords (AI, Zero Trust, edge, Web3-ish payments) and see how many you can check off.

The Rumor Mill: Keynote Rumors and Speculation in the Community

It wouldn’t be a tech conference without some wild rumors and community speculation leading up to it. Here are a few of the keynote rumors and whispers circulating in developer forums and tech circles about Cloudflare Connect 2025:

“Something Big with NVIDIA” – With NVIDIA’s networking head speaking, some Reddit threads wondered if Cloudflare will announce an official partnership with NVIDIA to turbocharge its edge network for AI. Perhaps Cloudflare deploying NVIDIA GPUs across all major data centers for AI inference, available to rent via Workers. Cloudflare has already been using GPUs quietly (for things like image processing and Workers AI)[25], so a formal “we have GPU-as-a-service at the edge” reveal could happen. If Prince brings Jensen Huang (NVIDIA’s CEO) on stage as a surprise guest in a leather jacket, well, you heard it here.
“Cloudflare Building Its Own LLM?” – This one’s far-fetched, but some devs joked that with all Cloudflare’s talk of AI and their massive data handling, maybe they’ve trained a language model of their own (perhaps on all the HTTP requests they proxy – kidding!). More plausibly, rumors of a Cloudflare AI training service or a special AI-focused data center could come true. Cloudflare might not build an LLM from scratch, but offering a platform for others to easily deploy and run AI models on Cloudflare’s edge (with isolation and speed) is basically what Workers AI is about. Look for any hints of “AI cluster” or “model hosting” in the keynote.
“Acquisitions or Partnerships” – Cloudflare has been on a building spree, but could they use Connect to announce a new acquisition? Some forum users speculated a browser isolation company or a dev tooling startup might have been snapped up. (In 2022, Cloudflare acquired Zaraz; in 2023, they grabbed Area 1 Security earlier on. Nothing huge lately.) A partnership rumor that has some traction is Cloudflare teaming up with major cloud providers in a deeper way – e.g., better integration with Azure or Google Cloud for secure interconnects. They did announce Workers Private Network with AWS/GCP links[30], so maybe a cameo by a Google Cloud exec or similar could happen. No solid evidence here, just vibes.
Surprise Guest – Could there be a surprise celebrity or industry icon appearance? Nothing concrete leaked, but given it’s Las Vegas, we half-expect Cloudflare to do something theatrically fun. Maybe Matthew Prince will pull a Tim Cook and say “one more thing” – then bring out, say, Sir Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the web) to talk about the open internet. Again, purely our imagination, but the Connect 2025 rumor mill has thrown out names from Cloudflare’s investor ranks and friends. Don’t hold your breath for a Steve Jobs moment though; Cloudflare’s style is a bit more pragmatic (and nerdy) than that of Apple or Salesforce.

In essence, the community’s speculative mood is high. Cloudflare’s forums and Discord have threads guessing at what’s next – from “Will they finally give us a KV store that doesn’t have eventual consistency?” to “Maybe they’ll announce free Pro plan for open-source projects.” A lot of it is wishful thinking. But Cloudflare has surprised us in the past (who saw a stablecoin coming?!), so Connect’s keynotes do have the potential for big news beyond the obvious. We’ll just have to watch to separate rumor from reality.

Trends from Previous Cloudflare Connect Events (Looking Back)

To understand Connect 2025, it helps to see how Cloudflare’s events have evolved. Last year’s Cloudflare Connect (2024) was a much smaller affair – a one-day event in New York City – but it set the tone for what Cloudflare wants to achieve. The theme in 2024 was strongly about “fighting for the open Internet” and keeping the web a collaborative, accessible place[3]. CEO Matthew Prince hammered that message in his keynote, reminding everyone that an open web is safer and better (while subtly positioning Cloudflare as the guardian of that open web). That idealistic streak runs deep in Cloudflare’s culture and we expect echoes of it in 2025’s talks, even as they also chase enterprise clients and AI dollars.

What’s changed in 2025 is the scale and scope. Cloudflare Connect 2025 in Las Vegas is a coming-of-age moment for Cloudflare’s conference strategy. They’ve gone from regional customer events to a full-fledged tech conference with (reportedly) nearly 200 speakers spanning security, performance, AI, and connectivity topics[41]. Cloudflare is signaling that Connect is now its flagship event (not just a side gathering). In fact, they’re calling it the “connectivity cloud flagship event”[42]. The move to Vegas, land of massive tech conventions, underscores this ambition. It’s as if Cloudflare looked at Salesforce’s Dreamforce or AWS re:Invent and said, “we want a piece of that action.”

A trend we’ve seen from previous Connect events (and Cloudflare’s “Innovation Weeks”) is rapid-fire announcements and iterative improvements rather than one or two earth-shattering launches. Cloudflare is very developer-oriented; they roll out features constantly (CDN improvements, new security tools, incremental Workers upgrades) and these events package them up. For instance, in the past: - Connect 2022 (virtual, during pandemic) and Connect 2023 were smaller, focusing on customer case studies and incremental updates. Cloudflare often saved major product reveals for their themed weeks (Security Week, Developer Week, Birthday Week, etc.). Connect events were more about showcasing those new goodies to customers and press in person. - However, Connect 2025 appears to blend both: It’s shortly after Birthday Week 2025 (which saw announcements around post-quantum security, content owner controls for AI, intern programs, etc.[43]), and it will no doubt reiterate some of those. But Cloudflare is also using Connect to announce new things (as evidenced by teasers of “exclusive product announcements”[44]).

Another trend: Cloudflare loves to bring customers onstage. In 2024’s NYC Connect, they had speakers from companies like Zendesk and Apple (if rumor serves) to talk about how they use Cloudflare. This year, we see big customer names like Shopify (VP of Engineering Farhan Thawar speaking[45]), Conde Nast (SVP Geoff Campbell[46]), Indeed.com (security engineer Harshad Kadam[47]), and even Visa[37] on the agenda. The trend here is a push towards industry credibility – nothing convinces an audience more than hearing “Company X uses Cloudflare to solve Y.” So expect case studies and user stories to be interwoven with product announcements. Cloudflare might be known for its self-serve and dev community, but they desperately want to show they’re enterprise-ready too. Connect 2025’s lineup of speakers reflects that balance: startup gurus (e.g. Fiberplane’s CEO Micha Hernandez[48]), and Fortune 500 execs.

In summary, past Connect events were about vision and community, and those remain, but Connect 2025 adds a hefty dose of scale, polish, and enterprise focus. Cloudflare is growing up in public – and doing so with a characteristic mix of idealism (save the open web!) and hubris (run everything on Cloudflare’s network!). For attendees and observers, this means more content to digest than ever. The challenge will be separating the meaningful announcements from the marketing fluff. Our irreverent take: yesterday’s scrappy CDN startup is today’s multi-billion cloud challenger, and Connect is the coming-out party.

Sessions Worth Watching (and Skipping) – A Guide for Developers, IT Pros, and Investors

Not all talks are created equal. Depending on your role or interest – be it hardcore developer, network/security practitioner, or investor/industry analyst – you’ll want to prioritize different sessions at Cloudflare Connect 2025. Here’s our persona-based breakdown of what to catch and what you can probably skip:

For Developers & Tech Builders:

Must-Watch: Head straight to the Application Developer + AI track. This is where Cloudflare’s dev tools and platform shine. Look for sessions on Cloudflare Workers (especially anything covering new features like Workers Containers or the shiny Workers AI capabilities). If Cloudflare announces that container platform, you can bet there will be a deep-dive session on how to deploy containers with Wrangler – golden content for devs. Also, check out talks by Cloudflare’s own engineering rockstars: for example, Kenton Varda (Lead Engineer of Cloudflare Workers) is speaking[49] – if he’s giving a talk on the future of serverless or a workshop, don’t miss it. He’s the brains behind Workers, and any peek he gives into the roadmap (maybe Workers v4? new languages?) is developer gold. Another one: Sunil Pai (Principal Engineer, known in React circles) is on the roster[50]; he might be sharing some front-end/Pages insights. Plus, community figures like Kent C. Dodds (EpicWeb/dev educator) are involved[51], possibly doing a session on building modern web apps on Cloudflare. That’s likely to be high-energy and informative for web devs.

Don’t forget the Hackathon on Oct 14 evening[18]. It’s a unique chance to actually build something with the new announcements fresh in hand. Cloudflare’s devrels will be there to help. At minimum, you’ll get free food and maybe a T-shirt, at best you might win a prize or at least learn a ton of practical know-how. It’s one big coding party – and given it’s Vegas, perhaps the only party where folks are glued to VS Code instead of slot machines.

What to Skip: You can safely pass on the overly “businessy” sessions – anything that sounds like a customer panel of CISOs discussing procurement, or an “Executive Fireside Chat” where buzzwords fly but code stays absent. Also, unless you’re gunning for a certification, you might skip the Cloudflare University basic sessions. Those tend to cover introductory material (how to set up WAF rules 101, etc.) – useful for newbies, but if you’re already deploying Workers and fiddling with Page Rules daily, you’ll be bored. Similarly, the Global Partner Summit content isn’t aimed at developers; it’s about channel strategy, so feel free to use that time to explore the expo or catch up on work (or, you know, hit the blackjack table – we won’t tell).

For IT Professionals (Network Engineers, Security Folks, SREs):

Must-Watch: The Networking + Security track will speak your language. Look out for sessions or workshops on Zero Trust architecture – Cloudflare One, Access, Gateway, all that jazz. Cloudflare’s product managers will likely host sessions on how to implement zero trust for corporate networks, with best practices. If you manage enterprise networks, those could be very insightful (even if half the insight is “buy more Cloudflare,” you’ll still learn strategies). Also, attend any DDoS or performance-related talks. Cloudflare’s engineers might do a talk like “Anatomy of a 11 Tbps DDoS attack and how we mitigated it” – which would be super interesting (they teased details on their blog[52], but a live discussion could reveal more). A session titled perhaps “Networking at Cloudflare scale” or “Latency improvements via protocol X” would be catnip to network engineers – this is where Cloudflare could talk about recent upgrades (maybe something about their use of Rust in their stack for speed, or new load balancing techniques). Security folks should check out any talk on application security and AI – Cloudflare has new toys like “Firewall for AI” and “CASB scanning of AI apps”[53]. A session on how to protect AI and SaaS usage in enterprises (possibly referencing those Confidence Scores and Shadow IT tools) will be practical if you work in corporate security.

One more: the “Inside the adversary’s mind” type session. I noticed an Instagram promo about Cloudflare’s red team lead doing a talk[54]. If Dan Jones or Cloudflare’s security team is giving a behind-the-scenes on how they attack their own systems to improve defenses, that’s a must-see for security pros. You’ll get tips on hardening systems (and possibly some fun hacker stories).

What to Skip: If you’re deeply technical, you might skip the high-level vision keynotes after the first 15 minutes. Once the keynotes shift from announcements to customer fluff (“here’s how Company X transformed their business with Cloudflare”), many IT pros tune out. You can catch the highlights later. Also, the Women’s NETwork lunch (a networking lunch focused on women in tech[55]) might not be content-heavy – it’s more for networking and diversity focus, which is great but not exactly a technical session (unless that’s something you specifically are interested in for mentorship and community reasons). Finally, the Partner Summit again isn’t crucial unless your role intersects with reselling Cloudflare or vendor management.

In short, focus on sessions that dive into how things work and how to deploy them. Skip the marketing sizzle.

For Investors & Industry Analysts

Must-Watch: You’re here for the big picture and strategic signals. Do not miss the Opening and Closing keynotes, as well as any session where Cloudflare’s executives like the CFO or Chief Strategy Officer speak frankly. While developers geek out elsewhere, you’ll want to hear metrics and vision statements. For example, Cloudflare might not explicitly hold an “Investor Day” at Connect (they did one separately in early 2025[56]), but the presence of big partners (Visa, NVIDIA, etc.) and customers on stage is as much about impressing Wall Street as it is about tech. Listen for comments like “we now have X number of paying customers” or “the total addressable market for our connectivity cloud is Y billion.” They often drop these nuggets during keynotes or fireside chats. CEO Prince sometimes shares anecdotes that hint at future business models – e.g., if he spends 5 minutes extolling the NET Dollar microtransactions idea, that’s a clue to analysts about Cloudflare’s strategic direction into payments (and maybe competing a bit with other fintech). Also, watch any Executive Panels or the invite-only Executive Exchange program[57]. The Executive Exchange is a closed-door series for C-level attendees, but if any coverage or summary leaks out, it will contain candid discussions on Cloudflare’s roadmap, customer needs, and perhaps deals in the pipeline.

If you have access, talk to customers at the event – investors can glean a lot from what big enterprise clients are excited or frustrated about. Cloudflare will surely have some Customer Success folks floating around boasting, “Customer A saved Y million using us.” Gather those stories; they hint at where Cloudflare’s stickiness and upsell potential lie (or where challenges might be).

What to Skip: You probably don’t need to attend a workshop on “How to write a Cloudflare Worker” or a deep-dive on TLS settings. Technical minutiae won’t move the stock price (unless something goes horribly wrong). So skip the hardcore developer sessions (you can read a summary on the blog later). Also, unless you enjoy the technical details, you can gloss over the Hackathon and University training events – those won’t impact Cloudflare’s revenue directly. Instead, maybe use that time to network with Cloudflare execs or customers in the hallways. As an investor, you also might skip the After Dark party (or maybe not, free booze is free booze…). But if you do go, keep it cool – no one likes that person asking “So, what’s your EBITDA outlook?” while everyone else is trying to chill 😜.

Bottom line: Investors should focus on Connect 2025’s strategic announcements, customer evidence, and any guidance-type commentary. And remember, Connect is as much a marketing event as a tech event – take the grand claims with a grain of salt. Look for substance behind the sizzle: for example, Cloudflare claiming “20% of all websites are protected by Cloudflare”[58] is impressive – but ask, how are they monetizing that huge free user base? Connect might offer hints (like new plans or services to convert free users to paying). Keep those analytical ears open.

Star Power: Big-Name Speakers and (Possible) Surprise Guests

One thing is clear: Cloudflare has managed to assemble an eclectic roster of speakers for Connect 2025, mixing internal leaders with big-name outsiders. Here’s a rundown of the notable figures you’ll see on stage, and why they matter:

Matthew Prince (Cloudflare Co-founder & CEO) – The man, the myth, the HN commenter. Prince is a charismatic speaker who will undoubtedly set the conference’s tone. He’s known for blending idealism (“build a better Internet”) with bold business moves. Expect him to emcee parts of the event and maybe drop a surprise announcement or two. (If a Cloudflare stablecoin or other crazy idea raises eyebrows, that’s classic Prince for you.)
Michelle Zatlyn (Cloudflare Co-founder & President) – Zatlyn often provides the polished, customer-centric balance to Prince’s geeky vision. She’ll likely share success stories and maybe moderate panels. As one of the few female co-founders in a major tech company, her presence is also a signal of Cloudflare’s culture.
Carl Eschenbach (CEO of Workday) – Quite a catch for Cloudflare’s speaker list[7]. Eschenbach is a heavyweight in enterprise software (former VMware exec, now running Workday). His appearance indicates Cloudflare’s enterprise push. He might talk about digital transformation or the importance of connectivity and security in SaaS. Also, fun fact: he’s on the Board of Directors at Cloudflare (joined in 2020), so he’s both a partner and an insider[59]. Investors should pay attention to his words – he bridges Cloudflare’s tech and enterprise strategy.
Ashley Kramer (CRO of OpenAI) – In the AI world, having an OpenAI exec on stage is a big deal[8]. Kramer will likely discuss how OpenAI and Cloudflare partner (Cloudflare has been critical in securing OpenAI’s APIs and websites during the ChatGPT boom). She might also provide a broader perspective on AI adoption in industry – which conveniently ties into Cloudflare’s AI narrative (“we provide the secure, fast infrastructure for the AI era”). If there’s an AI-related announcement, she’ll be there to endorse it. For attendees, it’s a chance to indirectly peek into OpenAI’s thinking too – which is fascinating given how AI is reshaping everything.
Kevin Deierling (SVP, NVIDIA) – Representing the hardware side, Deierling brings networking pedigree[9]. NVIDIA’s interest in Cloudflare could revolve around SmartNICs or DPUs (NVIDIA makes high-performance networking cards) and GPUs for AI. If Cloudflare is enhancing its network with fancy hardware or offering GPU computing at the edge, he’s the guy to lend credibility. Also, NVIDIA’s stock has been flying high on AI; having them on stage doesn’t hurt Cloudflare’s attempt to ride the AI coattails for investors’ attention.
Mark Anderson (President, Cloudflare) – Cloudflare recently promoted Mark Anderson (previously COO, now President) who handles go-to-market. He’s on the agenda[60] and might talk in the Partner Summit or exec sessions about sales momentum and customer growth. Not a household name, but if you care about Cloudflare’s business, you’ll listen to him for the “state of the business” comments.
CJ Desai & Other Cloudflare Execs – We’ve mentioned CJ Desai (Product & Engineering head) as a keynoter[61]. Also look out for Jen Taylor (Chief Product Officer) if she appears – she often speaks on product vision. John Graham-Cumming (CTO) might do some tech talks; he’s a brilliant engineer and often blogs interesting tidbits. And Thomas Seifert (CFO) sometimes joins investor-oriented chats – if there’s a financial or operational discussion, he’ll be part of it. Basically, Cloudflare’s leadership team is out in force, giving Connect a bit of an “Investor Day meets Developer Conference” vibe.
Industry Guests & Customers: Beyond the headliners, Connect features a smorgasbord of industry voices:
- Farhan Thawar (VP Engineering, Shopify)[45] – Likely to talk about e-commerce scale and how Shopify leverages Cloudflare’s network (Shopify is indeed a major Cloudflare customer, using them for CDN and security).
- Ehren Kret (CTO, Signal)[62] – A very interesting inclusion. Signal is all about privacy; Kret could discuss how to build secure, private communication at scale – perhaps tying in how Signal uses Cloudflare’s proxy (they use Cloudflare’s Privacy Gateway for some services). His presence underscores Cloudflare’s role in privacy and security (and might appease some skeptics who recall Cloudflare’s past controversies with privacy; having Signal on stage is a strong endorsement).
- Jack Forestell (Chief Product & Strategy Officer, Visa)[37] – This one we flagged because of the NET Dollar tie-in. A payments exec on stage at a cloud conference is unusual, and it signals a discussion of the future of online commerce and payments. If Cloudflare wants to legitimize its microtransaction ambitions, having Visa’s endorsement (even if just philosophical) is huge. It could also simply be Visa talking about securing financial services online – and how they partner with Cloudflare to stop attacks. Either way, big finance name = credibility points.
- Anouk Patty (Chief of Sport, U.S. Ski & Snowboard)[63] – Okay, this one raised eyebrows. What does skiing have to do with Cloudflare? Possibly nothing… or possibly everything, if you consider that modern sports have heavy tech components (fan websites, streaming, apps). Cloudflare might be showcasing an “unexpected” customer story: even a ski team relies on Cloudflare for their web presence/security. Or it’s a diversity-of-thought speaker to add a dash of inspiration beyond pure tech. We’re curious what she’ll say – maybe something about teamwork and technology. It might be a bit of an oddball session but hey, it breaks up the monotony of tech talk and could yield a cool analogy or two (“slalom through security challenges like a downhill run!”).
- Kent C. Dodds (Founder, EpicWeb)[51] – A celebrity in the frontend developer world, Kent will resonate with the dev community attendees. Likely hosting a workshop or panel on modern web dev practices (perhaps using Cloudflare Pages/Workers). His involvement shows Cloudflare wants to court frontend and fullstack devs and not just infra engineers. It should be a fun, high-energy session if you’re into React, Remix, etc.
- Swyx (Shawn Wang, Editor of Latent Space AI newsletter)[64] – Swyx is a well-known voice in AI and dev circles. Having him indicates a session bridging AI and developers (maybe a talk on AI agents, given Latent Space focuses on that). He’s also a former Netlify guy, so expect insightful (and possibly cheeky) commentary. He’ll cut through BS – Cloudflare is smart to have some community folks like him onboard to add authenticity.

With nearly 200 speakers, we can’t list them all, but suffice to say, Cloudflare Connect 2025 has star power from multiple arenas: cloud computing, AI, enterprise IT, finance, even sports. This mixed cast is intentional – Cloudflare wants to position itself at the intersection of all these domains as the “connectivity cloud” that ties them together. Will there be true surprise guests? The agenda is pretty packed, and most big names are already announced. Perhaps a surprise could be a major customer testimonial kept under wraps or a cameo by a public official (Cloudflare has friends in government cybersecurity circles – someone from CISA or a former FCC head could pop in to talk policy). We don’t have concrete info on a surprise guest, so consider that pure speculation. The safest bet is the content of the talks themselves will be the “surprise” (for better or worse).

Our Snarky Conclusion (Why It Matters)

So, what can attendees and livestream viewers expect from Cloudflare Connect 2025? In a nutshell: a rollercoaster of tech optimism, product announcements, and a few eye-roll-inducing marketing buzzwords – all delivered with Cloudflare’s unique blend of engineering and showmanship. This conference is Cloudflare’s bid to solidify its place among the tech giants. By covering everything from developer tooling to investor vision, they’re trying to please both the hoodie crowd and the suit crowd.

From a snarky journalist perspective, it’s equal parts impressive and ambitious. Impressive because Cloudflare really has built an empire on the internet’s infrastructure – 20% of websites rely on them[65], and they handle insane amounts of traffic (trillions of requests, billions of threats blocked). Ambitious because they’re not content to be “just a CDN” or “just a security company.” The Connect 2025 agenda screams: We want to do it all – cloud, network, security, AI, and now payments. That’s a lot of plates to spin.

For developers, Connect will offer plenty of meat to sink your teeth into – new toys to play with (Containers! AI APIs! maybe new CLI features!). For IT pros, it will reinforce that Cloudflare is serious about enterprise-grade services (and maybe make your job securing stuff a bit easier, or at least give you new solutions to evaluate). For investors and industry watchers, Connect will be a barometer of Cloudflare’s execution and vision – can they actually monetize all this new stuff? Are enterprises buying in? The presence of heavy hitters on stage suggests yes, Cloudflare is making inroads in the big leagues[66].

And hey, it’s in Vegas. Even if some sessions bore you, you’ve got Las Vegas Boulevard outside. But knowing Cloudflare, they’ll try hard not to bore you. Expect live demos (hopefully with fewer hiccups than an AWS re:Invent demo… but if a demo fails, the snarky live-tweets will be gold). Expect occasional edgy jokes – Prince and team are known to throw shade at competitors. Don’t be surprised if there’s a sly dig at AWS’s egress fees, or Akamai’s aging network, or Zscaler’s approach to zero trust. It’s all part of the show.

Sources:

· Official Cloudflare Connect 2025 event overview and agenda[1][17]

· Cloudflare Connect 2025 speaker lineup (Cloudflare executives, OpenAI, Workday, Visa, etc.)[67][7]

· Cloudflare press release on “NET Dollar” stablecoin and Internet microtransactions[34][35]

· Cloudflare Developer Week 2025 announcements (Containers beta, Workers VPC)[22][68]

· Cloudflare Birthday Week 2025 recap (open web themes, content authenticity, post-quantum security)[3][43]

· The Hacker News report on Cloudflare mitigating an 11.5 Tbps DDoS attack (network capacity bragging rights)[29]

· CMSWire and Tech.Vegas coverage of Cloudflare Connect 2025 themes (application modernization, AI integration, connectivity cloud messaging)[66][42].

[1] [66] Cloudflare Connect Las Vegas 2025

https://www.cmswire.com/events/conference/cloudflare-connect-las-vegas-2025/

[2] Cloudflare Connect 2025 - Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/Cloudflare/videos/cloudflare-connect-2025/2151963458634106/

[3] [PDF] Connect NYC 2024 — Keynote Presentation

http://cloudflare2019ipo.q4web.com/files/doc_downloads/Presentations/2024/05/Connect-NYC-2024-Keynote-Presentation.pdf

[4] [5] [7] [10] [37] [47] [48] [49] [50] [59] [60] [62] [63] [64] Speakers - Cloudflare Connect 2025