Elizabeth Porter

Elizabeth Porter from Morgan Stanley asked if the 'AI fog' among enterprise customers, which had lifted through 2025, has remained clear entering 2026, or if recent splashy announcements from competitors are causing sales cycle lengthening.

Answer

Chairman Mike Burkland stated that while every company prioritizes AI decisions, the previous 'fog' was a lack of CCaaS decision-making. He noted that Five9 is now front and center in CX AI conversations, with sellers leading with AI solutions. President Andy Dignan added that by focusing on vertical-driven outcomes and proven deployments, Five9 has actually accelerated some sales cycles.

Elizabeth Porter inquired about the stabilization of Sprinklr's leadership bench following recent changes and the early indicators being monitored to ensure productivity isn't disrupted through fiscal year 2027. She also asked about the margin trend for next year, balancing discipline with investments in go-to-market, AI, and product.

Answer

CEO Rory Read stated that major senior leadership changes are largely complete, with a team possessing experience and commitment for the long term, and no current indications of tactical disruption. He noted that a 'different Sprinklr' is expected by mid-next year due to improved customer relationships and streamlined processes. On margins, Mr. Read indicated that formal FY27 guidance would be provided later, but the current approach balances profitability with strategic spot investments, leaning towards growth if significant opportunities arise.

Elizabeth Porter inquired about the stabilization of Sprinklr's leadership bench following recent changes and the expected trend for operating margins in fiscal year 2027, balancing discipline with growth investments.

Answer

Rory Read, President and CEO, confirmed that major senior leadership changes are largely complete, emphasizing a strong, experienced team focused on the transformation journey. He indicated that for FY27, the company aims for a prudent balance between reasonable investments and maintaining profitability, with a willingness to prioritize growth if significant opportunities arise.

Elizabeth Porter questioned the implied revenue deceleration in guidance despite Q2 progress, seeking clarity on back-half drags and the demand curve's bending. She also inquired about the primary drivers for unlocking CCaaS demand, focusing on product versus go-to-market and roadmap progress.

Answer

Rory Read, President and CEO, explained prudent guidance reflects first-half cleanups, with a clear bend expected later. For CCaaS, he highlighted FY26's focus on hardening through successful implementations, expanded functionality, and improved support, with accelerated growth planned for FY27.

Elizabeth Porter inquired about the sales team's receptiveness to the new pod structure, the incentives being used, and the metrics for measuring its success, as well as the outlook for year-end headcount.

Answer

President, CEO & Director, Rory Read, detailed that the pod structure fosters collaboration between sales, technical, and service teams to create customer ownership. He emphasized that changing the culture to one of accountability and teamwork takes time but is aided by new enablement programs and recent hiring. Regarding headcount, Read expects it to be "plus or minus where we are today," with prudent hiring focused on upgrading technical capabilities in areas like AI and customer success, rather than significant expansion.

Elizabeth Porter asked how new AI capabilities, such as auto-constraints, are translating into observable changes in customer retention, multi-product adoption, or expansion, and how Autodesk views its pricing power in light of increasing AI-driven value. She also inquired about the key drivers behind the underlying margin expansion and the full-year guide increase, distinguishing between near-term and future levers.

Answer

CEO Andrew Anagnost described a multi-year AI journey, starting with highly retentive task automations like auto-constraints. He anticipates workflow automations will offer incremental monetization opportunities, while system-level optimizations will capture the most value further down the line. CFO Janesh Moorjani identified go-to-market optimization as the primary long-term margin driver, reducing sales and marketing as a percentage of revenue. He noted inherent operating leverage as a consistent factor, with cloud/AI workloads being accretive to gross profit dollars but a potential headwind to gross margin as they scale. The path to the 41% margin target will be non-linear due to new transaction model headwinds.

Elizabeth Porter asked if new AI capabilities, such as auto-constraints, are translating into observable changes in retention, multi-product adoption, or expansion activity, and how Autodesk views pricing power with AI-driven value. She also inquired about the drivers of underlying margin expansion, distinguishing between near-term and next-year impacts.

Answer

CEO Andrew Anagnost described AI as a multi-year journey, starting with task automation (like auto-constraints) which is highly protective and retentive due to significant productivity gains. He expects workflow automations to offer incremental monetization opportunities, while system-level optimizations, further down the pipeline, will capture the most value. CFO Janesh Moorjani identified go-to-market optimization as the biggest long-term margin lever, reducing sales and marketing as a percentage of revenue. He also cited inherent operating leverage, with cloud/AI workloads being accretive to gross profit dollars but a potential headwind to gross margin as they scale, and continued R&D prioritization with G&A efficiency. He reiterated that the path to the 41% margin target will be non-linear due to new transaction model headwinds.

Elizabeth Porter of Morgan Stanley inquired about how customer conversations regarding tariffs have evolved and asked about channel partner productivity on new business following the transaction model rollout.

Answer

President and CEO Andrew Anagnost stated that while customers are coping with pricing pressures, they are not raising new tariff-related red flags, and that the company has seen a steady increase in new business from partners. EVP & CFO Janesh Moorjani confirmed that cautious macro assumptions remain in the guidance and noted tougher comps in the second half from last year's acquisitions and new transaction model ramp.

Elizabeth Porter inquired about the impact of the renewed RingCentral partnership on pipeline velocity and average deal size, and its potential as a driver for fiscal 2026 bookings.

Answer

CEO Scott Russell noted tight collaboration with RingCentral, highlighting Cognigy's existing partnership with them and the combined offering of UCAS, CCAS, and agentic AI. He expects renewed growth due to identified leads and go-to-market collaboration.

Elizabeth Porter inquired about changes in pipeline velocity or average deal size resulting from the renewed RingCentral partnership and its potential as an incremental driver for fiscal 2026 bookings.

Answer

CEO Scott Russell confirmed tight collaboration with RingCentral, noting Cognigy was already a partner. Russell highlighted the renewed partnership's potential to combine world-leading UCaaS with best-in-class CCaaS and agentic AI, expecting renewed growth from identified leads and go-to-market collaboration.

Elizabeth Porter inquired about the target for $100 million incremental business from Zeta Live, its comparison to prior years, the event's momentum, and the conversion timeline. She also asked about LiveIntent's performance and integration trends.

Answer

David Steinberg (Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Zeta Global) noted that last year's Zeta Live generated $57 million in business, and this year's $100 million target is supported by the current pipeline, with unprecedented momentum. Chris Greiner (CFO, Zeta Global) confirmed LiveIntent is performing well, accruing 100% of its earnout, with new product synergies. David Steinberg added that cross-sales indicate the LiveIntent deal was a 'grand slam home run'.

Elizabeth Porter asked about the $100 million incremental business target from Zeta Live, comparing it to prior years' achievements and assessing the current momentum. She also sought clarification on the conversion timeline to bookings and revenue, and if it's included in the 2026 guidance. Additionally, she inquired about LiveIntent's performance, particularly weaker Q3/Q4 guidance, and the integration progress.

Answer

CEO David Steinberg confirmed the $100 million target, noting last year's $57 million, and expressed strong momentum from Zeta Live, with the pipeline already sufficient. He indicated the 2026 guidance includes a buffer for such contributions. CFO Chris Greiner stated LiveIntent is performing well, accruing 100% of its earnout, and highlighted new product synergies flowing organically. David Steinberg added that cross-sales between Zeta and LiveIntent clients are significant.

Elizabeth Porter inquired if Zeta's AI products require significant customer support to implement and asked whether the Cannes Lions festival has historically been a business driver.

Answer

CEO David Steinberg explained that due to early investments in a Learning and Development group and automated training tools like ZOE, customer handholding is 'substantially less' than for competitors. He noted that Cannes Lions is a 'new thing' for them but proved to be 'very impactful,' generating a meaningful pipeline increase and is now considered one of their two most important annual events.

Elizabeth Porter of Morgan Stanley asked about the capabilities of Zeta's new mobile product versus LiveIntent's offering and the go-to-market strategy. She also inquired about the Q3 revenue mix between political and advocacy spend and the cyclicality of advocacy.

Answer

CEO David Steinberg highlighted that Zeta's AI-powered mobile product is scaling faster than expected, and LiveIntent's mobile identifiers will accelerate this growth. CFO Christopher Greiner explained that political candidate revenue was a much larger contributor than advocacy in Q3, and the company is building its advocacy practice to be sustainable in non-election years.

Elizabeth Porter asked how GoDaddy is managing the impact of AI on its own SEO, how it plans to help customers navigate this shift, and what the near-term focus areas are for the 'Ask Arrow' product.

Answer

CEO Aman Bhutani stated that GoDaddy is managing SEO changes by diversifying acquisition channels and improving conversion. To help customers, he envisions an agentic tool that performs continuous SEO optimizations for them. The near-term focus for 'Ask Arrow' is on core customer jobs-to-be-done and rapidly integrating partner solutions through AI-driven coding, which he believes will be a key differentiator.

Elizabeth Porter of Morgan Stanley inquired about the early signs of success in attaching subscriptions to Formation Nation's customer base, particularly with the redeployed sales team. She also asked about which areas of incremental investment were preventing the strong revenue upside from translating into a higher full-year margin outlook.

Answer

CEO Jeff Stibel explained that redeploying a Formation Nation sales center to sell LegalZoom's subscription-heavy products is driving immediate subscription attachment, with significant cross-sell opportunities in compliance and 'Do It For Me' (DIFM) products. CFO Noel Watson identified the new 'Concierge' or DIFM offering as a key investment area requiring upfront spending to scale. Stibel added that investments in technology to automate processes like annual report filings also improve retention, justifying the investment.

Elizabeth Porter asked about the evolution of customer awareness regarding Amplitude's broader product portfolio and the potential for capturing more wallet share. She also inquired about where the Net Retention Rate (NRR) might stabilize in the near term.

Answer

Founder, CEO & Director Spenser Skates acknowledged that many existing customers are still learning about the full platform, which is why 2025 was designated "the year of the platform." He noted that while 67% of ARR is from multi-product deals, less than 50% of the customer base is, indicating significant room for growth. He estimated a 2-3x increase in total spend when a customer adopts the full platform. CFO Andrew Casey stated the company's long-term aspiration for NRR is above 115%.

Elizabeth Porter asked how the current macro environment might affect the replacement cycle for Martech stacks and Amplitude's opportunity. She also inquired about the timeline for cross-sell and consolidation benefits to materially impact the NRR metric.

Answer

CEO Spenser Skates observed that, contrary to slowing down, customers are often more willing to make big platform moves now to consolidate spend and vendors, citing Atlassian as an example. CFO Andrew Casey responded that NRR should see progressive quarter-to-quarter improvement, with the biggest year-over-year gain coming from reduced contraction. However, he noted that the most dramatic upward movements in NRR will occur when they land large, multimillion-dollar enterprise expansion deals.

Speaking for Elizabeth Porter, an analyst asked about the biggest hurdles to multi-product adoption among the 75% of customers using only one product and the go-to-market strategy to unlock that base. She also asked about the mid-term margin outlook and whether top-line outperformance would be reinvested.

Answer

CEO Spenser Skates admitted that while they are successful at landing new customers on multiple products, they have been less effective at cross-selling to the existing renewal base. He said they have now implemented specific incentives and training to drive multi-product adoption at renewal. CFO Andrew Casey stated that they are not yet at the desired efficiency level for sales and marketing to warrant reinvesting all upside, and the focus for 2025 remains on achieving growth with leverage.

Elizabeth Porter from Morgan Stanley inquired about the types of user personas purchasing additional Core Seats and the long-term strategy for building solutions for these new users.

Answer

CEO Yamini Rangan described the Core Seat as a major future growth lever, providing access to the Smart CRM's full capabilities. She noted that 25% of Pro Plus customers have already added more Core Seats to gain advanced editing and automation features. Rangan confirmed this expands HubSpot's user base beyond traditional sales and service roles to include admins, operations, and finance personnel. She stated that HubSpot will continue adding significant value, including AI capabilities, to the core platform layer to drive sustained growth.

Elizabeth Porter from Morgan Stanley asked for more detail on the 25% of Pro Plus customers adding more 'core seats,' inquiring about the new user personas gaining access and HubSpot's long-term strategy to build solutions for them.

Answer

CEO Yamini Rangan described the core seat as a major future growth lever, providing access to the Smart CRM for personas beyond sales and service, such as admins, operations, and finance. She explained that customers are upgrading for advanced edit capabilities and automation. Rangan affirmed that HubSpot will continue adding significant value, including AI capabilities, to the core platform layer to drive sustained growth and expand its user base.

Elizabeth Porter asked how the investment and return profile for building the Base44 brand might compare to the previous expansion into the Partners market. She also requested an update on the new self-creator product and its potential impact on conversion rates.

Answer

Co-Founder & CEO Avishai Abrahami and CFO Lior Shemesh explained that the return on investment for Base44 should be much faster than for Studio, as it was an acquisition of a 'best of its class' product, not a ground-up build, and thus won't be a burden on the P&L. President & COO Nir Zohar confirmed the new self-creator product is still planned for launch but noted it will take time to roll out and measure any potential uplift in conversion.

Elizabeth Porter of Morgan Stanley requested insights into upcoming AI innovations for the Self-Creator segment and its potential future growth rate. She also asked about the drivers for the improved top-of-funnel performance, questioning if it was macro-related or due to specific company initiatives.

Answer

CEO Avishai Abrahami explained that upcoming AI innovation will improve both user acquisition and the final website quality for self-creators. He also noted that new monetized AI products will create additional revenue streams from this segment. He attributed the top-of-funnel improvement to both "small changes in the macro" and significant internal efforts to boost conversion, highlighting a 13% uplift for the new cohort.

Elizabeth Porter of Morgan Stanley inquired about the necessary evolution of Klaviyo's go-to-market motion as its product portfolio expands, and whether this requires targeting more senior decision-makers.

Answer

Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Bialecki confirmed the expanded portfolio is up-leveling conversations from CMOs to Chief Digital Officers and CIOs who value the shared data platform. He noted that while marketing is a common entry point, they see a trend of customers wanting the entire stack at once. The new conversational agent product also provides a new vector to initiate conversations with different parts of an organization.

Elizabeth Porter from Morgan Stanley asked for color on new customer top-of-funnel demand, the contribution of the WooCommerce partnership, and how these trends have continued into Q2.

Answer

CEO Andrew Bialecki noted strength across all segments, from entrepreneurs to enterprise, driven by word-of-mouth, international expansion, and growing interest in the B2C CRM vision. CFO Amanda Whalen added that while not disclosing specific Q2 metrics, key operational indicators remained consistent through April and were factored into the confident Q2 guidance.

Elizabeth Porter asked for details on the stabilization of the Net Revenue Retention (NRR) rate, seeking clarity on whether improvements were driven by cross-sell or expansion, and the timing for lapping easier comparisons.

Answer

CFO Amanda Whalen confirmed that in-period NRR stabilized from Q3 to Q4, driven by consistent gross retention, stabilizing expansion trends, and good progress on cross-sell efforts like SMS. She noted that while encouraging, it's too early to call a floor. She also highlighted that this was the first full quarter without the impact of 2022 pricing changes, which contributed to the stabilization.

Elizabeth Porter questioned why the down-market segment is deteriorating more than expected, contrasting with a stable macro environment, and asked about the risk of secular competitive pressures. She also sought clarity on the drivers behind the modest revenue growth improvement implied for Q4 2025.

Answer

CEO Bill Wagner attributed the low-end weakness to a post-pandemic decline in the number of freelancers, rather than broader macro issues or competition, noting strong SEO demand in the enterprise segment. CFO Brian Mulroy explained that the expected Q4 acceleration is driven by strong momentum in their Enterprise and AI product suites, which are projected to grow from $25M ARR at the end of Q2 to nearly $50M ARR by year-end.

Elizabeth Porter of Morgan Stanley referenced a CIO survey indicating AI adoption is improving cost bases in sales and asked about the efficiency conversations ZoomInfo is having with customers.

Answer

CEO Henry Schuck explained that while customers are eager to leverage AI for efficiency, they often lack the necessary unified data foundation. He positioned ZoomInfo's platform, particularly the Operations suite which grew over 20% YoY, as the critical infrastructure that centralizes data and enables these AI-driven initiatives.

Inquired about the strategy for migrating existing customers to Copilot in 2025-2026 and the key drivers behind the recent improvement in Net Revenue Retention (NRR).

Answer

The company is actively migrating customers to Copilot both at renewal and off-cycle, maintaining pricing discipline and using pilots to prove value. The NRR improvement from 85% to 87% was driven by stable gross retention, significantly better upsell opportunities in the upmarket segment, and stabilization in the downmarket segment after earlier declines.

Asked about the potential for operational margin improvements in 2025 from cost reductions and whether Copilot adoption is driving deal size expansion or just helping maintain renewals.

Answer

The company views margin expansion as a key lever for growing levered free cash flow per share in 2025. They confirmed that migrating customers to Copilot is driving double-digit growth in average selling price (ASP), indicating it is an expansion driver.

Elizabeth Porter of Morgan Stanley referenced a CIO survey and asked about conversations regarding AI-driven cost efficiencies for customers and how ZoomInfo can capture a portion of those savings.

Answer

CEO Henry Schuck responded that customers often lack the foundational data infrastructure to implement AI effectively. He highlighted that ZoomInfo's Operations solutions, which grew over 20% YoY, and the new Go-to-Market Studio are critical for providing this unified data foundation, enabling customers to pursue their AI initiatives.

Elizabeth Porter highlighted the impressive $20 million ARR from AI products and asked about the expected evolution of this revenue stream and whether it should be considered truly incremental to the core business.

Answer

CEO Dennis Woodside confirmed the ARR is incremental and noted there is significant runway for growth, with only 5,000 of 73,000 customers paying for AI SKUs. He explained that monetization occurs through direct SKUs and inclusion in higher-tier plans. He also signaled that new agentic AI capabilities will be a future growth catalyst with a new, resolution-based pricing model.

Elizabeth Porter asked for an update on new customer acquisition, particularly in the mid-market, and sought commentary on the industry impact of Google's delayed third-party cookie deprecation.

Answer

CFO Lauren Dillard clarified that the recent decline in customer count was mainly from smaller international customers being moved to a reseller model, a process that is now nearly complete. She anticipates improvement driven by new Clean Room use cases and a new pricing model aimed at the mid-market. CEO Scott Howe described Google's cookie delay as a "nonevent" for customers, stating the industry has already been methodically moving to non-cookie solutions like direct authentication, which now provides greater reach.

Elizabeth Porter (identified as Elizabeth Elliott in the transcript) requested more context on pipeline coverage ratios for 2025 and how they provide confidence in navigating a potentially difficult macro environment.

Answer

CEO Ryan Barretto stated that the company feels good about its current pipeline coverage. He noted that the go-to-market team is performing well in terms of pipeline hygiene and top-of-funnel creation, and while they are monitoring the macro environment closely, they are not currently seeing any material changes.

Elizabeth Porter asked about the specifics of the Influencer Marketing rebrand and its potential to unlock demand, and also questioned the forward trend for ACV growth after its recent slowdown.

Answer

CEO Ryan Barretto explained the rebrand leverages Sprout Social's significant brand equity and clarifies the product's origin, with more product updates coming soon. On ACV, he expressed satisfaction with the growth, highlighting the 35% growth in the enterprise segment and expecting multi-product opportunities to continue driving ACV as a key part of the growth story.

Elizabeth Porter followed up on the Tagger opportunity, asking about the current adoption rate within Sprout's customer base and its potential over the next year. She also revisited the topic of RPO-based bookings, seeking to understand what will drive the convergence of metrics toward the mid-30s growth rate, whether it's an unlock of new deals or improving comps.

Answer

CEO Ryan Barretto noted that it is still early days for Tagger adoption but sees significant opportunity across the existing customer base. CFO Joe Del Preto explained that the convergence between CRPO and revenue growth is a function of customer mix; as Sprout moves upmarket and secures more annual and multi-year contracts, the metrics will naturally align.