Kash Rangan

Kash Rangan, in his final question, asked that if one were to rebuild an AI-native HCM company today, what functionality it would have that Workday, with its organic and acquired tools, can already provide to customers, given Workday's AI momentum and the 'overstated' disruption risk.

Answer

CEO Carl Eschenbach thanked Kash Rangan for his coverage. President of Product and Technology Gerrit Kazmaier outlined the core principles of building AI systems at scale: vast, clean, domain-specific data; strong semantics and a data model; a Business Process System to activate data for business outcomes; and domain knowledge. He asserted that Workday, with its consolidated, clean data set from 75 million users, formal business process descriptions, and ample usage data, already embodies the ideal 'AI stack for the enterprise of the future,' further enhanced by integrating reasoning models, AI systems, and experience layers like Sana.

Kash Rangan posed a conceptual question about rebuilding an HCM company on an AI-native stack today, what functionality it would have, and how Workday's current tools (organic/acquired) achieve that disruptive capability.

Answer

Carl Eschenbach (CEO, Workday) first thanked Kash Rangan for his coverage. Gerrit Katzmaier (President of Product and Technology, Workday) outlined the core principles of building AI systems at scale: vast, clean, domain-specific data; strong semantics and data models; a business process system to activate data towards outcomes; and domain knowledge. He argued Workday embodies this with its consolidated data set from 75 million users, formal business process descriptions, and integration of reasoning models, AI systems, and experience layers like Sana, making it the 'AI stack for the enterprise of the future.'

Kash Rangan asked for perspective on the market narrative that AI startups could disrupt established SaaS companies like Workday, and specifically about OpenAI's potential entry into the SaaS market.

Answer

CEO & Director Carl Eschenbach stated that concerns about AI disruption to seat-based models are "completely overblown." He emphasized Workday's entrenched position with over 11,000 customers, high retention rates, and its role as a trusted platform partner for enterprise AI strategy. He highlighted that over 70% of customers use Workday Illuminate and that net new ACV from AI products more than doubled year-over-year, demonstrating that customers are leaning into Workday for AI solutions.

Kash Rangan questioned the wider growth rate delta between online accounting (stronger) and online services, asking if this pattern break was due to factors like Mailchimp or a heavy accounting/finance emphasis with IES, and if services would follow suit.

Answer

CFO Sandeep Aujla explained that the deceleration in online services was primarily due to lapping prior year pricing contributions in payments and payroll. He reiterated strong momentum in core business, evidenced by charge volumes (18% overall, 29% with bill pay), and improved adoption of services. He noted that ongoing innovation, like AI agents and new UI, will provide future opportunities for platform adoption and services growth.

Kash Rangan asked about the wider growth rate delta between online accounting and online services, noting that historically services grew faster. He questioned if this pattern shift is due to a heavy accounting/finance emphasis with Intuit Enterprise Suite (IES) and if services growth is expected to follow suit.

Answer

Intuit CFO Sandeep Aujla clarified that the deceleration in online services growth is primarily due to lapping prior-year pricing contributions in payments and payroll, rather than a fundamental shift in momentum. He emphasized tremendous opportunity in money and payroll offerings, citing strong charge volumes (18% overall, 29% with bill pay) and improved service adoption. Aujla noted that innovation, including AI agents and new QuickBooks UI, will build on platform adoption and services over time, and he advised against over-interpreting the deceleration.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs requested a primer on how Intuit's go-to-market engine for QuickBooks is adapting to the new era of AI-driven search and how the company plans to capitalize on this shift.

Answer

CEO Sasan Goodarzi emphasized that as an AI company, Intuit is actively managing its presence in AI search. He noted that search drives less than 15% of traffic for the business group and that Intuit's top-tier brands benefit from higher visibility in AI search results. CFO Sandeep Aujla added that AI-driven traffic is of higher quality and consideration, leading to a more efficient conversion funnel, which Intuit is investing to capture.

Kash Rangan asked for an update on CoreWeave's data center contractor diversification efforts and when disruptions might cease to affect revenue outlook. He also questioned CoreWeave's unique value proposition three to four years from now, when supply meets demand, given the large contracts awarded to hyperscalers.

Answer

CEO Mike Intrator explained that as CoreWeave's data center portfolio grows, the relative impact of individual delays will diminish. He reiterated that CoreWeave's unique value proposition lies in its customized cloud, which extends its lead through specialized product offerings and decommoditizes compute, enabling it to effectively compete with hyperscalers.

Kash Rangan asked for an update on CoreWeave's data center contractor diversification efforts and when disruptions might cease to affect revenue outlook. He also questioned CoreWeave's unique value proposition in a future market where supply meets demand, given large contracts awarded to hyperscalers.

Answer

CEO Mike Intrator explained that as CoreWeave's portfolio of data centers grows to 2.9 gigawatts over the next 12-24 months, the relative impact of individual data center delays will diminish. He reiterated that CoreWeave's unique value proposition stems from its customized cloud, purpose-built for high-performance compute, which extends its lead through specialized software and product offerings, effectively decommoditizing compute.

Kash Rangan asked about the nature of hyperscaler contract renewals and inquired about the levers CoreWeave can pull to improve its return on assets as its cost of capital declines.

Answer

CEO Michael Intrator clarified that the company focuses on contract 'expansion' rather than 'renewal,' as clients typically upgrade to state-of-the-art hardware. CFO Nitin Agrawal added that return on assets is being improved through vertical integration via the Core Scientific acquisition, moving up the software stack with Weights and Biases, reducing deployment times, and maintaining strict cost discipline.

Kash Rangan from Goldman Sachs inquired about the renewal of hyperscaler contracts and the company's strategy for improving return on assets as its cost of capital decreases.

Answer

CEO Michael Intrator clarified that CoreWeave focuses on contract expansion rather than simple renewals, as clients upgrade to state-of-the-art hardware. CFO Nitin Agrawal added that vertical integration through acquisitions like Weights & Biases and the proposed Core Scientific deal, along with disciplined cost management and faster deployment times, are key levers for improving returns on capital.

Kash Rangan asked about Datadog's progress in GPU monetization versus CPU monetization, specifically regarding expanding customer wallet share for training and inferencing workloads on increasingly prevalent GPU clusters.

Answer

Olivier Pomel, Co-Founder and CEO, Datadog, stated that while products for GPU monitoring are entering the market, they do not yet generate significant revenue, indicating it as a future opportunity.

Kash Rangan asked about Datadog's progress in GPU monetization versus CPU monetization and the potential to expand wallet share from training and inferencing workloads on increasingly prevalent GPU clusters.

Answer

CEO Olivier Pomel explained that while Datadog has products for GPU monitoring entering the market, they are not yet generating significant revenue, representing a future opportunity.

Kash Rangan asked about the halo effect of Figma Make on the uptake of core product design, the adoption rates and metrics for Dev Mode, and the percentage contribution of pricing and packaging changes to revenue growth.

Answer

Dylan Field, Co-founder and CEO of Figma, noted that the traditionally linear workflow is changing, with users moving fluidly between Figma Make and Figma Design for ideation and production, emphasizing the platform's interoperability. Praveer Melwani, CFO of Figma, reported strong adoption and growth in Dev Mode seats, with rapid innovation and accelerated conversations with developer leaders. He added that the pricing and packaging rollout is halfway complete, tracking projections, and is expected to be a mid-to-high single-digit growth driver for the year, with further benefits in 2026.

Kash Rangan questioned the halo effect of Figma Make on the uptake of core product design, requested adoption and success metrics for Dev Mode, and asked about the impact of pricing and packaging on revenue growth.

Answer

Dylan Field, Co-founder and CEO, noted changing linear workflows, with Make and Figma Design becoming two sides of the same coin. Praveer Melwani, CFO, highlighted strong Dev Mode adoption, accelerated conversations with developer leaders, and confirmed pricing/packaging is tracking early projections, contributing mid-to-high single-digit growth.

Kash Rangan asked about Microsoft's criteria for accepting demand, particularly in response to another hyperscaler potentially taking business, and its long-term monetization strategy as a platform company beyond just hyperscaling.

Answer

Satya Nadella, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, reiterated the core principle of building a fungible, planet-scale fleet for diverse use cases. He explained that Microsoft declines demand that is too concentrated by customer, location, or skews heavily towards a single meter, as it doesn't align with their long-term business interest or margin stack. He emphasized balancing third-party demand with funding first-party apps and R&D to differentiate Microsoft as a platform company. Amy Hood, Chief Financial Officer, and Satya Nadella also offered congratulations to Kash Rangan on his last call.

Kash Rangan followed up on Keith Weiss's question, addressing the 'elephant in the room' regarding another hyperscaler potentially taking business from Microsoft. He asked about Microsoft's criteria for accepting or declining demand, particularly concerning volume, concentration, and monetization vectors beyond just hyperscaler services.

Answer

Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella reiterated the core principle of building a fungible, global fleet for third-party, first-party, and research. He explained that Microsoft declines demand that doesn't align with this goal, especially if it's overly concentrated by customer, location, or heavily skews towards a single meter (e.g., only AI accelerators without broader compute/storage). Nadella emphasized balancing this with first-party applications (which offer a different margin profile) and funding R&D, as these factors are crucial for Microsoft's long-term differentiation.

Kash Rangan from Goldman Sachs inquired about the outlook for CapEx in relation to Azure's growth rate, asking if the company is in a continuous build-out phase that precedes a richer gross margin mix from AI applications.

Answer

CFO Amy Hood stated that CapEx is directly correlated to the $368 billion contracted backlog and strong demand, which currently exceeds supply. She advised against focusing on a specific crossover point for CapEx and revenue growth. CEO Satya Nadella added that while they are building out capacity, software optimizations are simultaneously being used to improve hardware efficiency and yield over time.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs asked about the outlook for Capital Expenditures relative to Azure's growth rate and when the business mix might shift to higher gross margins from AI inference.

Answer

CFO Amy Hood explained that current CapEx is driven by the need to service the $368 billion contracted backlog and that she is focused on meeting demand rather than predicting a specific crossover point with revenue. CEO Satya Nadella added that while they are aggressively building capacity, software optimizations are simultaneously being used to improve hardware efficiency and yield over time.

Kash Rangan from Goldman Sachs questioned the outlook for capital expenditures in relation to Azure's growth, asking about the long-term shape of this curve and when inference-driven applications might lead to a richer gross margin mix.

Answer

CFO Amy Hood stated that high CapEx is directly correlated to the $368B contracted backlog and strong demand that currently exceeds supply. She is focused on capturing market share rather than predicting a specific CapEx/revenue crossover point. CEO Satya Nadella added that software optimizations will continuously improve hardware yield over time.

Kash Rangan asked about the institutionalization of agentic technology adoption, focusing on the process of integration and implementation, and the role of partners and forward-deployed engineers in ensuring success.

Answer

CEO Bill McDermott highlighted that customers are moving away from 'toy sidecars' and seeking integrated solutions for complex business processes. He emphasized ServiceNow's AI platform for business transformation, which integrates workflows across systems of record, leveraging hyperscalers and large language models. President, CPO, and COO Amit Zavery added that ServiceNow offers 100+ prepackaged agentic workflows for faster deployment and is investing in AI black belt forward-deployed engineers for co-innovation.

Kash Rangan asked about the institutionalization of agentic technology adoption, focusing on the process of integration and implementation, and the role of partners and forward-deployed engineers in ensuring success.

Answer

CEO Bill McDermott highlighted that customers are moving away from 'toy sidecars' and seeking integrated solutions for complex business processes. He emphasized ServiceNow's AI platform for business transformation, which integrates workflows across systems of record, leveraging hyperscalers and large language models. President, CPO, and COO Amit Zavery added that ServiceNow offers 100+ prepackaged agentic workflows for faster deployment and is investing in AI black belt forward-deployed engineers for co-innovation.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs posed a question about the core asset that ensures ServiceNow's prosperity in the AI era, challenging the bear thesis that new AI models from hyperscalers could render enterprise software obsolete.

Answer

Chairman & CEO Bill McDermott stated that ServiceNow's core asset is its deep enterprise domain expertise, managing immense complexity, compliance, and security across a trillion transactions. He argued that hyperscalers will partner with ServiceNow for its enterprise-ready platform, which customers are using to consolidate legacy systems and manage all AI investments.

Kash Rangan inquired about the business objectives and ROI parameters that led Roto-Rooter to select ServiceTitan, asking about the incumbent and how ServiceTitan secured the deal given Roto-Rooter's current growth trajectory.

Answer

Co-Founder and CEO Ara Mahdessian expressed excitement about the Roto-Rooter partnership, noting ServiceTitan's platform is chosen by large trades businesses for its trade-specific workflows and enterprise capabilities. He highlighted that Roto-Rooter's residential and commercial business aligns with ServiceTitan's strengths, and their objectives, consistent with other customers, focus on revenue growth through lead generation, conversion, increased close rates, average tickets, and back-office automation for cost reduction.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs inquired about the potential positive and negative impacts of tariffs on ServiceTitan's business, particularly concerning equipment lifetimes and transaction volumes.

Answer

Co-founder, Chairperson & CEO Ara Mahdessian acknowledged that tariffs could create compound factors like supply chain inflation, but noted that ServiceTitan's customers have historically proven their ability to pass on rising costs. He stated that due to macro uncertainty, the company elects to forecast Gross Transaction Volume (GTV) prudently.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs asked about the potential positive and negative impacts of tariffs on ServiceTitan's business and its customers.

Answer

Co-founder, Chairperson & CEO, Ara Mahdessian responded that while tariffs could introduce compound factors, ServiceTitan's customers have historically proven resilient and able to pass through rising costs. He noted that due to macro uncertainty, the company elects to forecast Gross Transaction Volume (GTV) prudently.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs asked for the core, unifying message that positions Elastic as a predictable growth company for the next five years across its diverse AI search, security, and observability offerings.

Answer

CEO Ashutosh Kulkarni responded that Elastic is fundamentally a 'Search AI company.' He emphasized that its core differentiator is delivering superior search relevance from complex, unstructured data. This capability is critical for providing accurate context to LLMs in the AI era and serves as an asymmetric advantage that strengthens its position in the security and observability markets, which are also fundamentally data problems.

Kash Rangan asked for key takeaways from the first year of the new sales segmentation and how the go-to-market approach will be refined to achieve multibillion-dollar scale. He also asked new CFO Navam Welihinda about opportunities he sees to uncover leverage.

Answer

CEO Ashutosh Kulkarni stated the segmentation is working, leading to larger deals and better platform consolidation wins, and the focus is now on scaling sales capacity and adding security specialists. He emphasized watching 'subscription revenue less Monthly Cloud' as the key GTM metric. CFO Navam Welihinda said he aims to provide more visibility and partner with the CEO to invest appropriately to capture the GenAI market share opportunity.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs asked for Sridhar Ramaswamy's conviction on enterprise AI adoption reaching a tipping point, similar to the consumer world. He also inquired about the significance of Snowflake's new support for Apache Spark workloads.

Answer

CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy expressed strong conviction in enterprise AI, citing personal experience with Snowflake Intelligence and the value created by combining top models like GPT-5 with enterprise data. EVP of Product Christian Kleinerman addressed the Spark question, explaining that Snowpark Connect allows customers to use familiar Spark APIs while the processing runs on Snowflake's high-performance Snowpark engine, simplifying migrations and improving cost-performance.

On behalf of Kash Rangan, Matt Martino asked for key takeaways from Snowflake's recent sales kickoff event, including the primary message delivered to the sales force regarding new use cases and products.

Answer

CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy described the sales kickoff as unifying the team with a sense of purpose and infectious enthusiasm. He highlighted the increasing sophistication in the go-to-market strategy, such as identifying exemplary sales engineers as role models and creating 'colleges' for cross-specialization in areas like machine learning. The core message focused on a sophisticated, confident approach to taking products to market, creating customer value, and thoughtfully adding new product sales motions to the organization. EVP of Product Christian Kleinerman added there was significant excitement for the upcoming product lineup.

Kash Rangan asked about the expected evolution of the customer consumption mix between core warehousing and new AI products, and inquired about the KPIs for the new sales compensation plan and when its benefits might materialize.

Answer

CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy stated it's too early to predict a specific revenue mix but the goal is for new products to become a significant revenue driver. CFO Mike Scarpelli explained the new sales comp plan is building a 'new muscle' for reps to focus on consumption growth, with a more material impact expected in fiscal 2026.

Kash Rangan asked how MongoDB reconciles its successful enterprise focus with the traction seen in AI startups like DevRev, and whether the patterns observed in these startups could be a leading indicator for future enterprise adoption of AI.

Answer

President & CEO Dev Ittycheria clarified that while the adoption by innovative startups like DevRev is a positive signal, the quarter's growth was materially driven by large enterprise workloads acquired through the company's move upmarket. He emphasized that the quality and durability of these enterprise workloads confirm the success of the strategy, which works in concert with an effective self-serve motion for the SMB market.

Kash Rangan from Goldman Sachs requested an update on the progress of key growth initiatives, such as the move upmarket and Relational Migrator, and asked for more detail on the dynamics of the EA business in the second half of the year.

Answer

CEO Dev Ittycheria detailed strong progress across R&D, the upmarket sales motion, and developer awareness initiatives, noting the fast adoption of MongoDB 8.0. CFO Mike Berry clarified that the full-year guidance reflects the Q1 Atlas beat but adjusts for timing pull-ins in the non-Atlas EA business, maintaining the previously stated $50 million multiyear headwind.

Kash Rangan asked why the second-half guidance wasn't raised more significantly despite strong enterprise momentum and new product growth, and questioned when the business might reach an inflection point, also inquiring about the impact of new executive hires.

Answer

Co-CEO Eran Zinman explained that the company's upmarket momentum is being driven by new go-to-market leadership, while the multi-product strategy is currently more focused on the SMB segment. He described these as two distinct efforts that will converge over time as the newer products mature, contributing to sustained growth.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs asked about the levers Atlassian plans to use to achieve the implied revenue acceleration in fiscal 2027 needed to meet its long-term growth targets.

Answer

CFO Joe Binz reaffirmed the company's target of 20% compounded annual growth from FY24 through FY27, stating the FY26 guidance is a conservative, risk-adjusted approach. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes added that the new Teamwork Collection is a powerful growth vector exceeding expectations, citing major customer wins. He emphasized that the combination of Atlassian's three strategic transformations—enterprise, AI, and system of work—provides confidence in achieving long-term goals.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs asked about the levers Atlassian plans to pull to achieve the implied revenue acceleration in fiscal 2027 needed to meet its long-term growth targets.

Answer

CFO Joe Binz reiterated confidence in the long-term target of 20% compounded annual growth from FY24-FY27, noting the FY26 guidance is conservative. CEO & Co-Founder Mike Cannon-Brookes highlighted the strong early momentum of the Teamwork Collection as a new growth vector, citing major customer wins. He emphasized that the combination of Atlassian's three strategic pillars—enterprise, AI, and system of work—is creating multiplying effects that will drive durable growth.

Kash Rangan asked about the key learnings from the successful DPS model that could be institutionalized more broadly and inquired about any observed impact from tariff discussions on customer prospecting.

Answer

CEO Rick McConnell explained that the main learning from DPS was that the legacy pricing model constrained customers. Providing full platform access accelerates consumption, which ultimately drives incremental ARR or ODC. Regarding tariffs, he stated that Dynatrace has seen very little impact thus far but maintains a cautious macro outlook.

Kash Rangan from Goldman Sachs asked about the key drivers behind the traction of RingCentral's new products and questioned the sustainability of its robust free cash flow generation.

Answer

CEO Vlad Shmunis attributed new product success to strong demand and RingCentral's leadership in business telephony, which positions them to integrate AI across the entire customer communication workflow. CFO Vaibhav Agarwal affirmed the sustainability of free cash flow, citing operating leverage, cost discipline, working capital efficiencies, and a focus on maximizing free cash flow per share through SBC reduction and buybacks.

Kash Rangan from Goldman Sachs asked about the key business lessons learned from the recent downturn and what gives ZoomInfo's AI solutions enduring value when foundational models are widely available.

Answer

CEO Henry Schuck cited three key learnings: focusing on high-LTV upmarket customers, driving customer-centric product innovation, and leveraging their unique data advantage. He stressed that ZoomInfo's proprietary data asset is not available in foundational models, providing critical, context-specific value that customers cannot get elsewhere.

Kash Rangan from Goldman Sachs asked about the key lessons learned from the recent three-year downturn and what creates an enduring competitive advantage for ZoomInfo's AI products when foundational models are widely accessible.

Answer

CEO Henry Schuck outlined three key learnings: focusing on upmarket customers, accelerating product innovation, and leveraging their unique, proprietary data asset. He emphasized that this data provides critical, context-specific intelligence not available in general foundational models, creating a durable advantage.

Kash Rangan asked for perspective on how customers are assessing the impact of tariffs on their business. He also requested leading indicators on the success of the go-to-market transformation, such as pipeline metrics or retention.

Answer

CEO Craig Courtemanche explained that customers are highly resilient and build factors like tariffs into their models, so it is not a primary concern in their conversations. CFO Howard Fu pointed to stable headcount, rising productivity, and better regional tailoring as positive GTM indicators, while Courtemanche cited the major Clayco win as tangible proof of the new partnership approach's success.

Speaking on behalf of Kash Rangan, Matt Martino asked which products Procore can lean into to capitalize on its deflationary value proposition and drive cross-sells amid macro uncertainty.

Answer

CEO Craig Courtemanche explained that the recent go-to-market transition is designed to deepen customer relationships and drive adoption, which in turn earns the right to have cross-sell conversations. He noted that the opportunity varies by stakeholder (owners, GCs, specialty contractors) and that the new teams are now in place to pursue this across the customer base.

Kash Rangan from Goldman Sachs asked for tangible evidence that AI is quantifiably accelerating core product adoption beyond the direct AI revenue target, and whether this could signal a new growth curve for the company.

Answer

Chairman & CEO Shantanu Narayen pointed to three key pieces of evidence: the rapid growth of the new AI book of business to a projected $250M; the massive scale of AI-driven campaigns and transactions in the Digital Experience business; and the billions of Firefly generations and Express exports, which indicate high AI usage and productivity gains in the Digital Media business. He positioned this underlying usage as a leading indicator of strong adoption and future growth.

Kash Rangan from Goldman Sachs asked about the impact of Rubrik's rapid innovation on sales cycles and customer awareness, questioning if the company is at the beginning of a new 'S-curve' of adoption as data security becomes more central to enterprises.

Answer

Co-Founder, CEO & Chairman Bipul Sinha agreed, stating that the rise of Generative AI is forcing enterprises to replatform and modernize their infrastructure, making data security paramount. He positioned Rubrik at the forefront of this secular trend, helping customers adopt cloud and GenAI with confidence. Sinha provided an example of a large Japanese industrial company that replaced multiple native cloud backup tools with Rubrik, achieving both enhanced cyber recovery and cost savings.

Kash Rangan of Goldman Sachs asked what is constraining enterprise adoption of generative AI compared to consumer AI, and for clarification on the accretion timeline for the Informatica acquisition.

Answer

Chair and CEO Marc Benioff explained that enterprise AI adoption is slower because it requires highly controlled, governed, and secured data, unlike consumer AI's use of amalgamated public data. He stated the primary constraint is the need for data harmonization, making the Informatica acquisition critical. President and CFO Robin Washington clarified the deal is expected to close in early FY27 and is targeted to be accretive within two years post-close.

Kash Rangan asked what is constraining enterprise AI adoption compared to the consumer space and how Salesforce can accelerate it, and also requested clarification on the timeline for the Informatica acquisition to become accretive.

Answer

CEO Marc Benioff explained that enterprise AI is constrained by the need for strict data governance, security, and control, unlike consumer AI's use of amalgamated public data. He positioned the Informatica acquisition as critical for helping customers harmonize their data to unlock AI. CFO Robin Washington clarified the deal is expected to close around February 2026 and is targeted to be accretive within two years of closing.