# HUBSPOT INC (HUBS) FY 2024 MD&A

Verbatim Item 7 Management's Discussion and Analysis from HUBSPOT INC's 10-K for fiscal year 2024.

SEC filing source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1404655/000095017025018873/hubs-20241231.htm
Accession: 0000950170-25-018873
Filing date: 2025-02-12
Report date: 2024-12-31
Extracted structurally from real Item 7 body heading to real Item 7A/8 boundary. Published MD&A gate trimmed front/tail over-capture.
Confidence: high

Company profile: /company/HUBS/
All MD&A years: /company/HUBS/mda/
Previous year: /company/HUBS/mda/fy2023/ (FY 2023)
Next year: /company/HUBS/mda/fy2025/ (FY 2025)

ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes that appear elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As discussed in the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” included under Part I, Item 1A within this Annual Report on Form 10-K. A discussion of our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 is included in section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed on February 14, 2024.

Company Overview

We provide a customer platform that helps businesses connect and grow better. We deliver seamless connection for customer-facing teams with a unified platform that includes three layers: AI-powered engagement hubs, a Smart CRM, and a connected ecosystem that extends the customer platform with app marketplace integrations, a community network, and an academy of educational content.

Our AI-powered engagement hubs include Marketing, Sales, Service, Operations, Content, and Commerce, as well as other tools and integrations that enable companies to attract, engage, and delight customers throughout the customer lifecycle. Our customer platform features a central database of lead and customer interactions and integrated applications designed to help businesses attract visitors to their websites, convert visitors into leads, close leads into customers, transact with those customers, and delight them so they become promoters of those businesses.

Breeze is our AI that powers the customer platform, including our Smart CRM, engagement Hubs, and the connected ecosystem. The core of our customer platform is our Smart CRM: a unified data platform of lead and customer information that allows businesses to track their interactions with contacts and customers, manage their customer activities, report on their pipeline and sales, and manage and govern their team and business processes. Our customer platform was built to easily and seamlessly integrate third party applications to further customize to an individual company’s industry or needs. As data is becoming more important to our customers’ success and a differentiator for our business, there is a need to move quickly on data enrichment.

We designed and built our customer platform to serve a broad range of customers globally. Our customer platform starts completely free and grows with our customers to meet their needs at different stages in their life-cycles. It supports multiple languages and currencies and offers an array of sophisticated features, including content partitioning at the enterprise level for companies operating in or serving multiple countries.

We focus on selling to mid-market business-to-business, or B2B, companies, which we define as companies that have between two and 2,000 employees. While our customer platform was built to grow with any company, we focus on selling to mid-market businesses because we believe we have significant competitive advantages attracting and serving this market segment. These mid-market businesses seek an integrated, easy-to-implement and easy-to-use solution to reach customers and compete with organizations that have larger marketing, sales, and customer service budgets. We efficiently reach these businesses at scale through our proven inbound methodology, our Solutions Partners, and our “freemium” model. A Solutions Partner is a service provider that helps businesses with strategy, execution, and implementation of go-to-market activities and technology solutions. Our freemium model attracts customers who begin using our customer platform through our free products and then upgrade to our paid products. As of December 31, 2024, we had 8,246 full-time employees and 247,939 Customers of varying sizes in more than 135 countries, representing many industries.

Our customer platform is a multi-tenant, globally available software-as-a-service product delivered through APIs, web browsers or mobile applications. We sell our customer platform on a subscription basis. Our total revenue increased to $2.6 billion in 2024, from $2.2 billion in 2023, and from $1.7 billion in 2022, representing year-over-year increases of 21% in 2024 and 25% in 2023. We had net income of $4.6 million in 2024, net losses of $164.5 million in 2023, and $107.3 million in 2022.

We derive most of our revenue from subscriptions to our cloud-based customer platform and related professional services, which consist of customer on-boarding, training and consulting services. Subscription revenue accounted for 98% of our total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022. We sell multiple product plans at different base prices on a subscription basis, each of which includes our Smart CRM and integrated applications to meet the needs of the various customers we serve. We also generate revenue through usage and consumption-based models. Customers pay additional fees if the number of contacts stored

46

and tracked in the customer’s database exceeds specified thresholds. We also generate additional revenue based on the purchase of additional subscriptions, products and seats, and the number of account users. Most of our Customers’ subscriptions are one year or less in duration.

Subscriptions are billed in advance on various schedules. Because the mix of billing terms for orders can vary from period to period, the annualized value of the orders we enter into with our customers will not be completely reflected in deferred revenue at any single point in time. Accordingly, we do not believe that change in deferred revenue is an accurate indicator of future revenue.

Many of our customers purchase on-boarding, training, and consulting services, which are designed to help customers enhance their ability to attract, engage and delight their customers using our customer platform. We also generate revenue from Commerce Hub and a number of revenue-share agreements with other companies. Professional services and other revenue accounted for 2% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022.

We have focused on rapidly growing our business and plan to continue to make investments to help us address some of the challenges facing us to support this growth, such as demand for our customer platform by existing and new customers, significant competition from other customer platform providers and related applications and rapid technological change in our industry.

We believe that the growth of our business is dependent on many factors, including our ability to expand our customer base, increase adoption of our customer platform within existing customers, develop new products and applications to extend the functionality of our customer platform and provide a high level of customer service. We have invested and intend to continue investing for long-term growth. We intend to continue to invest in sales and marketing to support our growth. We plan to continue to invest in research and development as we continue to introduce new products and applications to extend the functionality of our customer platform. We intend to continue maintaining a high level of customer service and support which we consider critical for our continued success. We also plan to continue investing in our data center infrastructure and services capabilities in order to support continued future customer growth. We also expect to continue to incur additional general and administrative expenses as a result of both our growth and the infrastructure required to be a public company. We expect to use our cash flow from operations to fund these growth strategies and support our business and may break-even from a profitability perspective in the next 12 months.

Global Economic Conditions

Our results of operations may be significantly influenced by general macroeconomic conditions, including, but not limited to, the impact of pandemics, geo-political conflicts, foreign currency fluctuations, interest rates, inflation, recession risks, existing and new domestic and foreign laws and regulations, all of which are beyond our control. Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and rising inflation have had, and may continue to have an adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results in future periods. As we continue to monitor the direct and indirect impacts of these circumstances, the broader implications of these macroeconomic events on our business, results of operations and overall financial position, particularly in the long term, remain uncertain. See Part I, Item 1A. "Risk Factors" for further discussion of the impact of these general macroeconomic factors and risks on our business.

Key Business Metrics

The following key business metrics are presented in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in our press releases announcing our financial results which are furnished on Form 8-K. We use these key business metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business and results of operations, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. These key business metrics may be calculated in a manner different than similar key business metrics used by other companies.

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","2022"],["Customers","","","247,939","","","","205,091","","","","167,386"],["Average Subscription Revenue per Customer","","$","11,343","","","$","11,384","","","$","11,163"],["Net Revenue Retention","","","102.2","%","","","103.9","%","","","110.3","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Customers. We believe that our ability to increase our customer base is an indicator of our market penetration, the growth of our business, and our potential future business opportunities as we continue to expand our sales force and invest in marketing efforts. We define our Customers at the end of a particular period as the number of business entities with one or more paid subscriptions to our customer platform either purchased directly with us or purchased from a Solutions Partner. A single customer may have separate paid subscriptions to our customer platform, but we count these as one Customer if certain customer-provided information such as company name, URL, or email address indicate that these subscriptions are managed by the same business entity.

47

Average Subscription Revenue per Customer. We believe that our ability to increase the Average Subscription Revenue per Customer is an indicator of our ability to grow the long-term value of our existing customer relationships. We define Average Subscription Revenue per Customer during a particular period as subscription revenue from our Customers during the period divided by the average Customers during the same period.

Net Revenue Retention. We believe that our ability to retain and expand a customer relationship is an indicator of the stability of our revenue base and the long-term value of our Customers. Net Revenue Retention is a measure of the percentage of recurring revenue retained from Customers over a given period of time. Our Net Revenue Retention for a given period is calculated by first dividing Retained Subscription Revenue by Retention Base Revenue in the given period, calculating the weighted average of these rates using the Retention Base Revenue for the period, and then annualizing the resulting rates. A definition of each of the key terms used to calculate Net Revenue Retention is included below.

Retained Subscription Revenue. Contractual Monthly Subscription Revenue of the same cohort of Customers as those that comprise the Retention Base Revenue at the end of the same month.

Retention Base Revenue. Contractual Monthly Subscription Revenue of our Customers as of the beginning of each month.

Contractual Monthly Subscription Revenue. The subscription fees contractually committed to be paid for a full month under our Customer agreements, converted into USD at fixed rates that are held consistent over time, excluding commissions owed to our Solutions Partners.

Key Components of Consolidated Statements of Operations

Revenue

We derive our revenue from two major sources, revenue from subscriptions to our customer platform and professional services and other revenue consisting mainly of on-boarding, training, consulting services fees, and Commerce Hub.

Subscription based revenue is derived from customers using our customer platform for their marketing, sales, service, operations, and content management needs. Our customer platform includes a system of engagement for efficiently engaging customers through SEO, web content, social, blogging, email, marketing automation, messaging, support ticketing, knowledge base, commerce, conversation routing, video hosting, and data enrichment. Over 1,700 integrations and applications are available for our users, across a wide range of categories, including integrations with leading social media, email, sales, video, analytics, content and webinar tools. All subscription fees that are billed in advance of service are recorded in deferred revenue. Subscription based revenue is recognized net of consideration paid to Solutions Partners when those Solutions Partners purchase a subscription to our customer platform.

Professional services and other revenue are derived primarily from customer on-boarding, training, and consulting services. Depending on which Hubs and services a customer purchases, they receive on-boarding guidance or one-on-one training from one of our on-boarding, inbound consultants, or technical consultants by web meetings. Training is generally sold in connection with a customer’s initial subscription and is billed in advance. The training is also available to be purchased separately following a customer’s purchase of its initial subscription and our Solutions Partners routinely provide the same training to customers. We also derive revenue from Commerce Hub and a number of revenue-share agreements with other companies based on mutually agreed upon terms.

Cost of Revenue, Operating and Other Expenses

Cost of Revenue

Cost of subscription revenue consists primarily of managed hosting providers and other third-party service providers, employee-related costs including payroll, benefits and stock-based compensation expense for our customer support team, amortization of capitalized software development costs and acquired technology, and allocated overhead costs, which we define as facilities, depreciation of fixed assets, and costs related to information technology.

Cost of professional services and other revenue consists primarily of personnel costs of our professional services organization, including salaries, benefits, bonuses and stock-based compensation, amortization of capitalized software development costs associated with our internally built software platform, as well as professional fees and allocated overhead costs, which we define as facilities, depreciation of fixed assets, and costs related to information technology. It also consists of costs associated with our other service offerings, including Commerce Hub.

48

We expect that the cost of subscription and professional services and other revenue will increase in absolute dollars as we continue to invest in growing our business. Over time, we expect to gain benefits of scale associated with our costs of hosting our customer platform relative to subscription revenues, resulting in improved subscription gross margin, exclusive of stock-based compensation. We expect professional services and other margins to break-even in the next 12 months, exclusive of stock-based compensation.

Research and Development

Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs of our development team, including payroll, benefits and stock-based compensation expense, professional and contractor fees and allocated overhead costs. We capitalize certain software development costs that are attributable to developing new products and adding incremental functionality to our customer platform and amortize such costs as costs of subscription and cost of professional services and other revenue over the estimated life of the new product or incremental functionality, which is generally two years. We also capitalize certain development costs that are attributable to developing our internally developed software platforms and amortize such costs throughout the consolidated statement of operations over the estimated life of our internally developed software platforms, which is generally five years. We focus our research and development efforts on improving our products and developing new ones, delivering new functionality and enhancing the customer experience. We believe delivering new functionality for our customers is an integral part of our solution and provides our customers with access to a broad array of options and information critical to their marketing, sales, and customer service efforts. We expect to continue to make investments in and expand our offerings to enhance our customers’ experience and satisfaction and attract new customers. Over time, we expect research and development expenses to increase in absolute dollars as we continue to increase the functionality of our customer platform and remain consistent as a percentage of total revenue, exclusive of stock-based compensation expense.

Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel costs of our sales and marketing employees, including sales commissions and incentives, benefits and stock-based compensation expense, marketing programs, including lead generation, costs of our annual INBOUND conference, other brand building expenses, amortization of intangible assets, professional and contractor fees and allocated overhead costs. Sales and marketing expenses also include commissions paid to our Solutions Partners in instances where the end customer purchases and pays for a subscription to our customer platform. We defer certain sales and Solutions Partner commissions related to acquiring new contracts and amortize them ratably over a period of benefit that we have determined to be approximately two to four years.

We plan to continue to invest in sales and marketing to grow our customer base and increase sales to existing customers. This growth will include adding sales personnel and expanding our marketing activities to continue to generate leads and build brand awareness. We expect sales and marketing expenses to increase in absolute dollars as we continue to develop our sales and marketing teams. Over time, we expect sales and marketing expenses will decline as a percentage of total revenue, exclusive of stock-based compensation.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses consist of personnel costs and related expenses for executive, finance, legal, human resources, employee-related information technology, administrative personnel, including payroll, benefits and stock-based compensation expense, professional fees for external legal, accounting and other consulting services, and allocated overhead costs. We expect that general and administrative expenses will increase on an absolute dollar basis as we incur the costs of compliance associated with being a publicly trade company, and remain relatively consistent as a percentage of total revenue, exclusive of stock-based compensation expense, as we focus on processes, systems and controls to enable our internal support functions to scale with the growth of our business. Over time, we expect general and administrative expenses to remain consistent as a percentage of total revenue, exclusive of stock-based compensation.

Restructuring

Restructuring expenses primarily consist primarily of lease consolidation charges and personnel costs, such as employee severance payments, benefits, and stock-based compensation expense, associated with our workforce reduction, which are described in Note 18 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Other Income (Expense)

Interest income primarily consists of interest earned on invested cash and cash equivalents balances and investments. Interest expense primarily consists of amortization of issuance costs and contractual interest expense related to our Notes. Other income

49

(expense) primarily consists of the impact of foreign currency transaction gains and losses associated with monetary assets and liabilities and any gains, losses, or impairments on our strategic investments.

Income Tax Expense

Income tax expense consists of current and deferred taxes for U.S. and foreign jurisdictions.

Results of Operations

The following tables set forth certain consolidated financial data in dollar amounts and as a percentage of total revenue.

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","2022"],["","","(in thousands)"],["Revenue:"],["Subscription","","$","2,569,546","","","$","2,123,479","","","$","1,690,538"],["Professional services and other","","","57,997","","","","46,751","","","","40,431"],["Total revenue","","","2,627,543","","","","2,170,230","","","","1,730,969"],["Cost of revenue:"],["Subscription","","","336,878","","","","283,675","","","","251,274"],["Professional services and other","","","56,387","","","","54,687","","","","56,746"],["Total cost of revenue","","","393,265","","","","338,362","","","","308,020"],["Gross profit","","","2,234,278","","","","1,831,868","","","","1,422,949"],["Operating expenses:"],["Research and development","","","778,714","","","","617,745","","","","442,022"],["Sales and marketing","","","1,218,844","","","","1,068,560","","","","886,069"],["General and administrative","","","300,332","","","","249,649","","","","197,720"],["Restructuring","","","3,990","","","","96,843","","","","\u2014"],["Total operating expenses","","","2,301,880","","","","2,032,797","","","","1,525,811"],["Loss from operations","","","(67,602",")","","","(200,929",")","","","(102,862",")"],["Other income (expense)"],["Interest income","","","82,706","","","","58,828","","","","15,000"],["Interest expense","","","(3,721",")","","","(3,801",")","","","(3,762",")"],["Other income (expense)","","","17,294","","","","(4,673",")","","","(6,829",")"],["Total other income (expense)","","","96,279","","","","50,354","","","","4,409"],["Income (loss) before income tax expense","","","28,677","","","","(150,575",")","","","(98,453",")"],["Income tax expense","","","(24,049",")","","","(13,935",")","","","(8,894",")"],["Net income (loss)","","$","4,628","","","$","(164,510",")","","$","(107,347",")"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

50

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","2022"],["Revenue:"],["Subscription","","","98","%","","","98","%","","","98","%"],["Professional services and other","","","2","","","","2","","","","2"],["Total revenue","","","100","","","","100","","","","100"],["Cost of revenue:"],["Subscription","","","13","","","","13","","","","15"],["Professional services and other","","","2","","","","3","","","","3"],["Total cost of revenue","","","15","","","","16","","","","18"],["Gross profit","","","85","","","","84","","","","82"],["Operating expenses:"],["Research and development","","","30","","","","28","","","","26"],["Sales and marketing","","","46","","","","49","","","","51"],["General and administrative","","","11","","","","12","","","","11"],["Restructuring","","","0","","","","4","","","","0"],["Total operating expenses","","","88","","","","94","","","","88"],["Loss from operations","","","(3",")","","","(9",")","","","(6",")"],["Total other income (expense)","","","4","","","","2","","","","0"],["Income (loss) before income tax expense","","","1","","","","(7",")","","","(6",")"],["Income tax expense","","","(1",")","","","(1",")","","","(1",")"],["Net income (loss)","","","0","%","","","-8","%","","","-6","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

* Percentages are based on actual values. Totals may not sum due to rounding.

Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2023

Revenue

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Subscription","","$","2,569,546","","","$","2,123,479","","","$","446,067","","","","21","%"],["Professional services and other","","","57,997","","","","46,751","","","","11,246","","","","24","%"],["Total revenue","","$","2,627,543","","","$","2,170,230","","","$","457,313","","","","21","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Subscription revenue increased during 2024 due to the increase in Customers, which grew from 205,091 as of December 31, 2023 to 247,939 as of December 31, 2024. Average Subscription Revenue per Customer also decreased from $11,384 for the year ended December 31, 2023 to $11,343 for the year ended December 31, 2024. The growth in Customers was primarily driven by increased demand for our lower-priced Starter products, as well as Professional and Enterprise products from our new seats model. The decrease in Average Subscription Revenue per Customer was primarily driven by continued purchases of our lower-priced Starter products and the impact of our new seats pricing model, offset by a continued demand for our Professional and Enterprise products, the addition of customers from the acquisition of Clearbit, and the impact of foreign currency translation primarily attributable to the increase in the value of the U.S. Dollar relative to the Euro and British Pound Sterling.

Professional services and other revenue increased during 2024 primarily due to an increase in other revenue streams, including Commerce Hub.

51

Cost of Revenue, Gross Profit and Gross Margin Percentage

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Total cost of revenue","","$","393,265","","","$","338,362","","","$","54,903","","","","16","%"],["Gross profit","","$","2,234,278","","","$","1,831,868","","","$","402,410","","","","22","%"],["Gross margin","","","85","%","","","84","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Total cost of revenue increased during 2024 primarily due to an increase in subscription and hosting costs, amortization of capitalized software development costs, amortization of acquired technology and employee-related costs, offset by a decrease in allocated overhead expenses. Gross margins remained relatively consistent year-over-year.

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Subscription cost of revenue","","$","336,878","","","$","283,675","","","$","53,203","","","","19","%"],["Percentage of subscription revenue","","","13","%","","","13","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The increase in subscription cost of revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the year ended December 31, 2023 was primarily due to the following:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Change"],["","","(in thousands)"],["Amortization of capitalized software development costs","","$","27,937"],["Subscription and hosting costs","","","16,766"],["Amortization of acquired technology","","","5,402"],["Employee-related costs","","","3,727"],["Allocated overhead expenses","","","(629",")"],["","","$","53,203"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Subscription and hosting costs increased primarily due to growth in our Customer base from 205,091 at December 31, 2023 to 247,939 at December 31, 2024. Amortization of capitalized software development costs increased due to the increased number of developers working on our software platform as we continued to develop new products and increased functionality. We also saw higher subscription and hosting costs as we continued to focus on the security, reliability and performance of our customer platform. Amortization of acquired technology increased due to the acquired technology associated with our acquisition of Clearbit in December 2023. Employee-related costs increased as a result of increased headcount as we continue to grow our customer support organization to support our customer growth and improve service levels and offerings. Allocated overhead expenses decreased primarily due to the reduction of our leased space as a result of the global lease consolidation under the Restructuring Plan.

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Professional services and other cost of revenue","","$","56,387","","","$","54,687","","","$","1,700","","","","3","%"],["Percentage of professional services and other revenue","","","97","%","","","117","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The increase in professional services and other cost of revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the year ended December 31, 2023 was primarily due to the following:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Change"],["","","(in thousands)"],["Allocated overhead and other expenses","","$","9,747"],["Employee-related costs","","","(8,047",")"],["","","$","1,700"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Allocated overhead and other expenses increased primarily due to increased costs associated with our other service offerings, including Commerce Hub. Employee-related costs decreased as we continue to leverage our Solutions Partners to deliver on-boarding and other professional services.

52

Research and Development

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Research and development","","$","778,714","","","$","617,745","","","$","160,969","","","","26","%"],["Percentage of total revenue","","","30","%","","","28","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The increase in research and development expense for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the year ended December 31, 2023 was primarily due to the following:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Change"],["","","(in thousands)"],["Employee-related costs","","$","141,720"],["Hosting expenses","","","6,479"],["Allocated overhead expenses","","","9,805"],["Professional fees","","","2,965"],["","","$","160,969"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Employee-related costs increased as a result of increased headcount as we continued to grow our engineering organization to develop new products, increase functionality and to maintain our existing customer platform. Hosting expense increased due to incremental spend associated with our product development infrastructure that is unrelated to the hosting of our customer platform for our paying Customers. Allocated overhead expenses increased due to the increased proportional allocation of shared company expenses associated with the growth in research and development headcount relative to other departments. Professional fees increased due to an increase in the use of third-party services and contractors.

Sales and Marketing

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Sales and marketing","","$","1,218,844","","","$","1,068,560","","","$","150,284","","","","14","%"],["Percentage of total revenue","","","46","%","","","49","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The increase in sales and marketing expense for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the year ended December 31, 2023 was primarily due to the following:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Change"],["","","(in thousands)"],["Employee-related costs","","$","125,840"],["Marketing programs","","","14,862"],["Solutions Partner commissions","","","3,966"],["Software and services","","","6,147"],["Allocated overhead expenses","","","1,143"],["Intangible asset write off","","","(1,674",")"],["","","$","150,284"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Employee-related costs increased as a result of increased headcount as we expanded our selling and marketing organizations to grow our customer base. Marketing programs increased due to the timing and size of certain marketing efforts as we made investments in attracting new customers. Solutions Partner commissions increased as a result of increased revenue generated through our Solutions Partners, partially offset by certain Solutions Partner commissions that are deferred and amortized over two to four years as we changed the duration of certain Solutions Partner commissions terms from lifetime to three years in 2023. Software and services expense increased as we continued to invest in tools to expand our sales and marketing efforts. Allocated overhead expenses increased due to an increase in shared company expenses associated with our systems and infrastructure. In addition, during 2023, we recorded a one-time write off of an intangible asset which did not recur in 2024.

53

General and Administrative

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["General and administrative","","$","300,332","","","$","249,649","","","$","50,683","","","","20","%"],["Percentage of total revenue","","","11","%","","","12","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The increase in general and administrative expense for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the year ended December 31, 2023 was primarily due to the following:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Change"],["","","(in thousands)"],["Employee-related costs","","$","34,681"],["Customer credit card fees","","","4,519"],["Professional fees","","","5,037"],["Software and services","","","5,025"],["Allocated overhead expenses","","","1,421"],["","","$","50,683"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Employee-related costs increased as a result of increased headcount as we grew our business and required additional personnel to support our expanded operations. Professional fees increased primarily due to our acquisition in 2024. Customer credit card fees increased due to increased customer transactions as we continued to grow our business. Software and services expense increased as we continued to invest in tools to streamline operations across general and administrative functions. Allocated overhead expenses increased due to an increase in shared company expenses associated with infrastructure as we continued to grow our business.

Restructuring

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,"],["(dollars in thousands)","","2024","","","2023","","","$ Change","","","% Change"],["Restructuring","","$","3,990","","","$","96,843","","","$","(92,853",")","","","(96","%)"],["Percentage of total revenue","","*","","","","4","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Restructuring charges in 2024 consisted of variable facilities-related costs on unused space. Restructuring charges were $96.8 million in 2023 due to the implementation of the Restructuring Plan in the first quarter of 2023 and its continued execution throughout the year. Restructuring charges in 2023 primarily consisted of $26.8 million of severance, employee related benefits and other costs, and $70.0 million related to the termination and abandonment of leases globally. See Note 18 in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Interest Income

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Interest income","","$","82,706","","","$","58,828","","","$","23,878","","","","41","%"],["Percentage of total revenue","","","3","%","","","3","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Interest income primarily consists of interest earned on invested cash and cash equivalents balances and investments. The increase during the year is due to a higher balance of cash invested and increases in yields on our investment balances.

Interest Expense

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Interest expense","","$","(3,721",")","","$","(3,801",")","","$","(80",")","","","(2","%)"],["Percentage of total revenue","","*","","","*"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

* not meaningful

54

Interest expense primarily consists of amortization of the debt issuance costs and contractual interest expense related to our 2025 Notes.

Other (Expense) Income

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Other income (expense)","","$","17,294","","","$","(4,673",")","","$","21,967","","","","470","%"],["Percentage of total revenue","","","1","%","","*"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

* not meaningful

The change in other expense during 2024 is primarily due to the following:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Change"],["","","(in thousands)"],["Gain on strategic investments","","$","21,245"],["Impairment of strategic investments","","","(3,602",")"],["Foreign currency transaction gains and losses","","","4,324"],["","","$","21,967"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Other income (expense) primarily consists of the impact of foreign currency transaction gains and losses associated with monetary assets and liabilities and any gains or impairments on our strategic investments. The increase in gain on strategic investments is due to gains of $21.2 million from observable price changes in the value of certain strategic investments in 2024 that did not occur in 2023. The increase in impairment of strategic investments is due to a $5.3 million loss recorded in 2024 from the decrease in value of our strategic investments compared to $1.7 million in 2023. The change in foreign currency gains and losses transactions is primarily attributable to the value of the U.S. Dollar relative to the Euro and British Pound Sterling.

Income Tax Expense

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,","","","Change"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","Amount","","","%"],["","","(dollars in thousands)"],["Income tax expense","","$","(24,049",")","","$","(13,935",")","","$","(10,114",")","","","73","%"],["Effective tax rate","","","(84","%)","","","9","%"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

Income tax expense consists of current and deferred taxes for U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. The increase in income tax expense was primarily due to an increase in income generated in tax paying jurisdictions.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our principal sources of liquidity to date have been cash and cash equivalents, net accounts receivable, our common stock offerings, and our convertible notes offerings.

The following table shows cash and cash equivalents, working capital, net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities, net cash and cash equivalents used in investing activities, and net cash and cash equivalents provided by financing activities for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","","Year Ended December 31,"],["","","2024","","","2023","","","2022"],["","","(in thousands)"],["Cash and cash equivalents","","$","512,667","","","$","387,987","","","$","331,022"],["Working capital","","","1,060,204","","","","929,532","","","","1,000,058"],["Net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities","","","598,599","","","","350,971","","","","273,174"],["Net cash and cash equivalents used in investing activities","","","(515,861",")","","","(334,766",")","","","(319,658",")"],["Net cash and cash equivalents provided by financing activities","","","53,495","","","","37,011","","","","7,428"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

55

Our cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2024 were held for working capital purposes and for a business acquisition (See Note 19 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements). We believe our working capital is sufficient to support our operations for at least the next 12 months. At December 31, 2024, $184.3 million of our cash and cash equivalents was held in accounts outside the United States. We do not assert indefinite reinvestment of our foreign earnings because these earnings have been subject to United States Federal tax. While we have concluded that any incremental tax incurred upon ultimate distribution of these earnings to be immaterial, our current plans do not demonstrate a need to repatriate undistributed earnings to fund our U.S. operations.

Net Cash and Cash Equivalents Provided by Operating Activities

Net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities consists primarily of net income (loss) adjusted for certain non-cash items, including stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization and other non-cash charges, net.

Net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2024 primarily reflected our net income of $4.6 million, $51.7 million accretion of bond discounts and a $21.2 million gain on investments, offset by non-cash expenses that included $96.8 million of depreciation and amortization, $504.8 million in stock-based compensation, $5.3 million on impairment of strategic investments, $2.7 million provision for deferred income taxes, and $2.0 million of amortization of debt issuance costs. Working capital sources of cash and cash equivalents primarily included a $131.0 million increase in deferred revenue primarily resulting from the growth in the number of customers invoiced during the period, a $32.3 million decrease in right-of-use assets, and $89.0 million increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities. These sources of cash and cash equivalents were offset by a $4.4 million increase in prepaid expenses and other assets, a $41.5 million decrease in operating lease liabilities, a $4.6 million decrease in accounts payable related to timing of bill payments, a $96.7 million increase in deferred commissions, and a $48.4 million increase in accounts receivable as a result of increased billings to customers.

Net cash and cash equivalents provided by operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2023 primarily reflected our net loss of $164.5 million and $42.9 million accretion of bond discounts, offset by non-cash expenses that included $72.7 million of depreciation and amortization, restructuring charges of $67.3 million, $432.3 million in stock-based compensation, $1.7 million on impairment of strategic investments, and $2.0 million of amortization of debt issuance costs. Working capital sources of cash and cash equivalents primarily included a $109.9 million increase in deferred revenue primarily resulting from the growth in the number of customers invoiced during the period, a $29.2 million decrease in right-of-use assets, and $79.9 million increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities. These sources of cash and cash equivalents were offset by a $47.0 million increase in prepaid expenses and other assets, a $36.9 million decrease in operating lease liabilities, a $14.0 million decrease in accounts payable related to timing of bill payments, a $81.2 million increase in deferred commissions, and a $57.6 million increase in accounts receivable as a result of increased billings to customers.

Net Cash and Cash Equivalents Used in Investing Activities

Our investing activities have consisted primarily of purchases, maturities and sale of investments, property and equipment purchases, business acquisitions, purchase of intangible assets, purchases of strategic investments, and capitalization of software development costs. Capitalized software development costs are related to new products or improvements to our existing software platform that expands the functionality for our customers and for Company use.

Net cash and cash equivalents used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2024 consisted primarily of cash used for $2.0 billion purchases of investments, $15.5 million of purchases of strategic investments, $40.4 million for acquisition of a business, $37.9 million of purchased property and equipment, $1.2 million purchases of intangible assets, and $89.6 million of capitalized software development costs, offset by $1.7 billion received related to the maturity of investments, $2.0 million of proceeds from sale of investments, and $1.9 million of proceeds from a net working capital settlement.

Net cash and cash equivalents used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2023 consisted primarily of $1.6 billion purchases of investments, $33.7 million of purchased property and equipment, $14.4 million of purchases of strategic investments, $66.4 million of capitalized software development costs, and $142.1 million for a business acquisition. These uses of cash were offset by $1.5 billion received related to the maturity of investments.

Net Cash and Cash Equivalents Provided by Financing Activities

Our financing activities have consisted primarily of the issuance of common stock under our stock plans, and payments of employee taxes related to the net share settlement of stock-based awards.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, cash provided by financing activities consisted of $75.5 million of proceeds related to issuance of common stock under stock plans, offset by $21.9 million used for payment of employee taxes related to the net share settlement of stock-based awards.

56

For the year ended December 31, 2023, cash provided by financing activities consisted of $47.7 million of proceeds related to issuance of common stock under stock plans, offset by $10.7 million used for payment of employee taxes related to the net share settlement of stock-based awards.

Liquidity and Capital Resources Considerations

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

Contractual obligations are cash that we are obligated to pay as part of certain contracts that we have entered during our course of business. Our contractual obligations consist of operating lease liabilities that are included in our consolidated balance sheets and vendor commitments associated with agreements that are legally binding. As of December 31, 2024, the total obligation for operating leases was $356.6 million, of which $51.8 million is expected in the next twelve months. As of December 31, 2024, our vendor commitment was $681.0 million, of which $247.7 million is expected in the next twelve months. See Note 12 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Convertible Senior Notes

As of December 31, 2024, the carrying value was $458.2 million for our 2025 Notes. The interest rate is fixed at 0.375% for the 2025 Notes and the notes are due June 1, 2025. The Company expects to settle the principal amount of the 2025 Notes in cash. Between December 31, 2024 and the date of filing this report, the Company settled $89.3 million of the principal balance of the 2025 Notes in cash in response to conversion notices received prior to December 31, 2024. See Note 10 and Note 19 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Letters of Credit

As of December 31, 2024, we had a total of $4.1 million in letters of credit outstanding for office space. These irrevocable letters of credit are expected to remain in effect, in some cases, until 2029.

Off Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no material off-balance sheet arrangements at December 31, 2024 or 2023 exclusive of items described above and indemnifications of officers, directors and employees for certain events or occurrences while the officer, director or employee is, or was, serving at our request in such capacity.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. In preparing our financial statements, we make estimates, assumptions and judgments that can have a significant impact on our reported revenues, results of operations and net income or loss, as well as on the value of certain assets and liabilities on our balance sheet during and as of the reporting periods. These estimates, assumptions and judgments are necessary because future events and their effects on our results and the value of our assets cannot be determined with certainty and are made based on our historical experience and on other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. These estimates may change as new events occur or additional information is obtained, and we may periodically be faced with uncertainties, the outcomes of which are not within our control and may not be known for a prolonged period of time. Because the use of estimates is inherent in the financial reporting process, actual results could differ from those estimates.

We believe that of our significant accounting policies, which are described in Note 2 “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to our consolidated financial statements, the following accounting policies and specific estimates involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity.

Revenue Recognition

We generate revenue from arrangements with multiple performance obligations, which typically include subscriptions to our online software solutions and professional and other services which include on-boarding, training, consulting services and our Commerce Hub. Our customers do not have the right to take possession of the online software products. Revenue from online software products and support is recognized ratably over the subscription period beginning on the date the online software product is made available to customers. We recognize revenue from on-boarding, training, consulting services, and Commerce Hub as the services are provided. Amounts billed that have not yet met the applicable revenue recognition criteria are recorded as deferred revenue.

57

We allocate the transaction price to each distinct performance obligation based on the standalone selling price (“SSP”) of each good or service. We calculate SSP for each type of online software product and professional service offering by averaging the selling price of all purchases within the trailing four calendar quarters. We generally use four quarters of transaction data to determine SSP as most of our customer arrangements are one year or less and pricing may be subject to change upon each customer’s renewal. In instances where there are not sufficient data points, or the average selling prices for a particular online software product or professional service offering are disparate, we estimate the SSP using other observable inputs, such as similar products or services. If the actual selling price for the sale of an online software product or professional service offering within a multiple performance obligation arrangement substantially differs from the SSP of that offering, we use the relative SSP to allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract.

Costs to Obtain a Contract with a Customer

Sales commissions earned by our sales force and Solutions Partners are considered incremental, recoverable costs of obtaining a contract with a customer. Sales commissions for initial contracts are deferred and then amortized on a straight-line basis over a period of benefit that we have determined to be approximately two to four years. The two to four-year period has been determined by taking into consideration the commitment term of the customer contract, the nature of the Company’s technology development life-cycle, and an estimated customer relationship period. Sales commissions for upgrade contracts are deferred and amortized on a straight-line basis over the remaining estimated customer relationship period of the related customer. While we do not anticipate any significant changes to the two to four year amortization period, if a change did occur it could produce a material impact on our financial statements. For example, if the commitment term of our customer contracts significantly increased, our deferred commission expense asset would increase, and our amortization expense would decrease in the period in which the change occurs.

Capitalized Software Development Costs

Software development costs consist of certain payroll and stock compensation costs incurred to develop functionality for our customer platform and internally-built software platforms, as well as certain upgrades and enhancements that are expected to result in enhanced functionality. We capitalize certain software development costs for new offerings as well as upgrades to our existing software platforms, while costs associated with planning new developments and maintaining our customer platform and internally built software platforms are expensed as incurred. We amortize these development costs over the estimated useful life of two to five years on a straight-line basis. We determined that a two to five year life is appropriate for our internal-use software based on our best estimate of the useful life of the internally developed software after considering factors such as continuous developments in the technology, obsolescence, and anticipated life of the service offering before significant upgrades. Management evaluates the useful lives of these assets on a quarterly basis and tests for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances occur that could impact the recoverability of these assets.

We determine the amount of internal software costs to be capitalized based on the amount of time spent by our developers on projects in the application stage of development. There is judgment involved in estimating the time allocated to a particular project in the application stage. A significant change in the time spent on each project could have a material impact on the amount capitalized and related amortization expense in subsequent periods.

Business Combinations

We account for business acquisitions using the purchase method of accounting, in accordance with which assets acquired and liabilities assumed are recorded at their respective fair values at the acquisition date. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the estimated fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed.

Significant judgment is used in determining fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed, as well as intangible assets and their estimated useful lives. Fair value and useful life determinations are based on, among other factors, estimates of replacement costs, future expected cash flows attributable to the acquired intangible assets and appropriate discount rates used in computing present values. Particularly for the acquisitions of Cacheflow and Clearbit, management applied judgment in estimating the fair values of the acquired developed technology intangible assets. For the acquisition of Cacheflow, management applied judgment in estimating the costs to rebuild the acquired technology. For the acquisition of Clearbit, the valuation involved estimates and assumptions with respect to forecasted revenue growth rates, the revenue attributable to the acquired intangible asset over its estimated economic life and the discount rate. These judgments may materially impact the estimates used in allocating the purchase price consideration to the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed, as well as our current and future operating results. Actual results may vary from these estimates that may result in adjustments to goodwill and acquisition date fair values of assets and liabilities during a measurement period or upon a final determination of asset and liability fair values, whichever occurs first. Adjustments to the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed made after the end of the measurement period are recorded within our operating results.

58

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

For information on recent accounting pronouncements, see Recent Accounting Pronouncements in the notes to the consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
