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    Mike Cikos • Needham & Company

    Mike Cikos's questions to Cellebrite DI Ltd (CLBT) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Cellebrite DI Ltd (CLBT) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos from Needham & Company inquired about new CFO David Barter's initial findings and strategic approach, and asked for more specific examples of the "early signs of improved spending" in the U.S. Federal sector.

    Answer

    CFO David Barter stated his financial philosophy aligns with his predecessor's, emphasizing a bottoms-up planning approach, and noted he would update long-range plans later in the year. CEO Thomas Hogan and CRO Marcus Jewell pointed to a robust pipeline, a recent significant federal deal, and high customer interest in the newly acquired Keryllium technology as early positive indicators.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to CoreWeave Inc (CRWV) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to CoreWeave Inc (CRWV) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos asked about the sales progress with the 1,600 clients from Weights and Biases and whether on-demand/spot availability is a necessary component for new logo acquisition.

    Answer

    CEO Michael Intrator described the Weights and Biases integration as 'fantastic,' leading to new integrated products that offer clients deep observability and performance optimization. He confirmed that on-demand and spot capacity are crucial to their 'land and expand' strategy, as it allows new players and use cases to experiment on the platform, fostering future growth.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to CoreWeave Inc (CRWV) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos of Needham & Company asked about the progress of the sales integration with Weights & Biases and whether on-demand spot availability is a necessary component for new customer acquisition.

    Answer

    CEO Michael Intrator called the integration 'fantastic,' highlighting three new joint products that provide a significant differentiator. He affirmed that on-demand and spot capacity are important for their 'land and expand' strategy to attract new players and use cases, which helps build the pipeline for larger, long-term contracts over time.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Akamai Technologies Inc (AKAM) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Akamai Technologies Inc (AKAM) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos asked for details on the Compute business's performance in the first half of 2025 and the rationale for full-year growth potentially landing just under the 15% target.

    Answer

    CEO Tom Leighton stated that Compute, particularly Cloud Infrastructure Services (CIS), is exceeding expectations with major contract wins and projects 40-45% year-end ARR growth. CFO Ed McGowan clarified that the full-year revenue result depends on the precise timing of when these large deals begin revenue recognition, which could cause a slight variance from the 15% goal, but affirmed the underlying business momentum is very strong.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Datadog Inc (DDOG) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Datadog Inc (DDOG) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos of Needham & Company asked if the dynamic between enterprise and AI-native customers is analogous to the past on-prem versus cloud shift and requested an update on FlexLogs adoption.

    Answer

    CEO Olivier Pomel clarified the analogy is imperfect, as AI-natives are new, fast-growing companies, while enterprises are managing a more controlled cloud migration. He confirmed that FlexLogs is a key component in all large enterprise deals, changing the economic picture for customers migrating from legacy log solutions.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Dynatrace Inc (DT) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Dynatrace Inc (DT) leadership • Q1 2026

    Question

    Mike Cikos sought clarification on ODC revenue, asking if the Q1 result was in line with expectations excluding the one-time true-up, and whether customers hitting ODC limits are choosing to renew early.

    Answer

    CFO Jim Benson confirmed that the underlying ODC revenue was in line with expectations. He clarified that customers have a mix of behaviors, with some going into ODC and others opting for early expansion, but noted the quarter's large expansions were not primarily driven by customers over-consuming their commitments.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Qualys Inc (QLYS) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Qualys Inc (QLYS) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos of Needham & Company questioned if the improved Q2 upsell activity was a catch-up from Q1 delays and whether the driver was macro stabilization or internal process improvements.

    Answer

    CFO Joo Mi Kim clarified there was no catch-up effect, as upsells are tied to the specific customer cohort renewing in a given quarter. She attributed the improvement to a combination of a non-worsening macro environment and better GTM execution in communicating the value of Qualys's evolving product suite.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to DigitalOcean Holdings Inc (DOCN) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to DigitalOcean Holdings Inc (DOCN) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos of Needham & Company inquired about the net new ARR growth for the AI/ML business in Q2 and asked for an explanation of the factors affecting the 99% Net Dollar Retention (NDR) rate, especially given the lapping of a price increase.

    Answer

    CFO Matt Steinfort clarified that the AI ARR growth of over 100% Y/Y was against a difficult comparison from Q2 of the prior year when AI capabilities were launched. He stated the incremental ARR of $32M was the highest in company history, with a good balance between AI and core cloud. Regarding NDR, he explained that while some large customers are accelerating, others remain cautious, creating a mixed impact. He emphasized that strong new customer acquisition and AI growth are driving overall revenue momentum despite the lagging NDR metric.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Confluent Inc (CFLT) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Confluent Inc (CFLT) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos of Needham & Company asked if the new focus on displacing CSPs represents a longer sales cycle. He also asked if cloud consumption trends in Q2 deteriorated further from Q1, given the updated guidance.

    Answer

    CEO Jay Kreps explained that displacing CSPs is not a longer sales cycle; in fact, it can be easier as it involves swapping in a better product for less money without displacing a large internal team. CFO Rohan Sivaram clarified that Q2 month-over-month cloud growth rates were 'flattish to slightly down' from Q1. He reiterated that while the guidance reflects this, there are several 'green shoots' like Flink, WarpStream, and late-stage pipeline progression that provide potential upside.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Varonis Systems Inc (VRNS) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Varonis Systems Inc (VRNS) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos followed up on the 20%+ ARR growth target, asking for more specifics on new logo acquisition, the size of initial lands, and whether an acceleration is occurring.

    Answer

    CFO & COO Guy Melamed confirmed an acceleration in both the number and size of new logo wins, driven by the appeal of the automated SaaS platform, MDDR service, and Copilot security. CEO Yaki Faitelson added that once customers convert to SaaS, the automated value they receive makes it much easier to drive expansion to other platforms.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to ServiceNow Inc (NOW) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to ServiceNow Inc (NOW) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos of Needham & Company inquired if ServiceNow's platform innovation is accelerating new logo acquisition and asked for more details on the 'NowNext AI' program.

    Answer

    President & CFO Gina Mastantuono confirmed strong new logo performance, noting that average new logo ACV more than doubled year-over-year. President, CPO & COO Amit Zavery explained that the NowNext AI program is a strategic C-suite initiative to accelerate AI adoption with key customers, leveraging existing senior engineering and consulting talent.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Cognyte Software Ltd (CGNT) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Cognyte Software Ltd (CGNT) leadership • Q1 2026

    Question

    Mike Cikos of Needham & Company inquired about Cognite's Q1 performance versus its internal plan, the impact of recent large contract signings on the fiscal 2026 guidance, the accounting for a multi-year deal in RPO, and the financial and strategic details of the GroupSense acquisition.

    Answer

    CEO Elad Sharon stated that Q1 performance was slightly ahead of expectations and that demand remains healthy. He clarified that a significant new subscription deal's revenue recognition begins in fiscal 2027, hence its limited impact on the current year's guidance. CFO David Abadi explained that only one year of this multi-year deal is included in RPO due to specific contract terms. Regarding the GroupSense acquisition, Abadi noted it's a breakeven deal adding $3 million in revenue, while Sharon emphasized its strategic importance for expanding into the US market with a new customer base.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to MongoDB Inc (MDB) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to MongoDB Inc (MDB) leadership • Q1 2026

    Question

    Mike Cikos of Needham & Company sought to clarify if May's Atlas consumption growth rebounded to February/March levels and asked about the drivers behind the significant increase in new customer logos during the quarter.

    Answer

    CFO Mike Berry confirmed that May's consumption growth was much more consistent with the healthier trends seen in February and March. CEO Dev Ittycheria attributed the strong new logo additions to the maturation and sophistication of the self-serve motion, which efficiently acquires mid-market customers and complements the direct sales force's upmarket focus.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (CRWD) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (CRWD) leadership • Q1 2026

    Question

    Mike Cikos asked for an update on the macroeconomic environment, noting differing reports from peers and inquiring about trends and linearity seen in April and May.

    Answer

    CEO George Kurtz stated that the team executed well and "powered through" a noisy environment. He attributed the strong performance, including fantastic net new ARR, to having the right platform to solve customer problems, with Next-Gen SIEM being a particular home run. He emphasized focusing on execution and what the company can control.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Couchbase Inc (BASE) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Couchbase Inc (BASE) leadership • Q1 2026

    Question

    Mike Cikos sought more detail on the mix between the expansion of existing workloads and the addition of new ones, and also requested an update on the market traction for the recently announced Capella AI services.

    Answer

    CEO Matt Cain explained that the company's momentum is driven by a focus on landing new applications, which is aided by platform consolidation trends where customers choose Couchbase for its unique capabilities. Regarding Capella AI, he noted it is currently in preview with active customer engagement. He highlighted that the success of the free tier, with sign-ups tripling year-over-year, is building a strong top-of-funnel for future application growth.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Couchbase Inc (BASE) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos sought more color on the churned customers, questioning if they were from newer or older cohorts, and asked about OpEx discipline and the future contribution from the partner ecosystem.

    Answer

    CEO Matthew Cain clarified that the churn was isolated to a couple of accounts where Couchbase was not as strategically deployed and was not indicative of a broader issue. He emphasized that partner investment is an ongoing and persistent part of the business, and that overall efficiency gains in R&D and go-to-market are driving leverage and progress towards their Rule of 40 and free cash flow objectives.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Zscaler Inc (ZS) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Zscaler Inc (ZS) leadership • Q3 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos of Needham & Company inquired about the macroeconomic environment, asking why Zscaler's results appeared strong in April and May despite mixed reports from other tech companies and whether product momentum offset increased deal scrutiny.

    Answer

    CEO Jay Chaudhry stated they did not experience a softer April, attributing their resilience to not selling security appliances and focusing on high-priority areas like Zero Trust and AI security, which also offer cost savings. CFO Remo Canessa credited the strong sales organization under Mike Rich, which emulates ServiceNow's model of deepening relationships with large enterprise accounts.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Zscaler Inc (ZS) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    An analyst from Needham & Company asked if the 20%-plus growth in unscheduled billings was primarily driven by emerging products and sought more color on which of those products are seeing the most traction.

    Answer

    CFO Remo Canessa clarified that the growth was broad-based across both core and emerging products. CEO Jay Chaudhry added that within emerging products, ZDX, branch solutions like Zero Trust SD-WAN, and cloud workload protection are all performing well. He noted that emerging products ARR is growing twice as fast as core products and cited a seven-figure deal for Zero Trust SD-WAN as an example of recent success.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Pure Storage Inc (PSTG) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Pure Storage Inc (PSTG) leadership • Q1 2026

    Question

    Mike Cikos from Needham & Company asked about the customer overlap between those adopting Evergreen One, Fusion, and Portworx.

    Answer

    CEO Charles Giancarlo explained that Fusion is core software available to all customers, while Portworx is a separately licensed product. CTO Rob Lee added that all three offerings deliver elements of the cloud operating model to customers, with Evergreen One focusing on consumption agility, and Fusion and Portworx providing cloud-based management and automation. He also noted an expectation for greater integration between Fusion and Portworx over time.

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    Mike Cikos's questions to Nutanix Inc (NTNX) leadership

    Mike Cikos's questions to Nutanix Inc (NTNX) leadership • Q3 2025

    Question

    Mike Cikos from Needham & Company asked if the cohort of VMware displacement deals exhibits different behavior compared to the broader pipeline and sought clarification on whether hiring would catch up within the fiscal year.

    Answer

    President and CEO Rajiv Ramaswami explained it's difficult to separate VMware displacement deals from the general pipeline, but anecdotally, some of these customers are more motivated to move quickly. CFO Rukmini Sivaraman reiterated that the company has seen no direct tariff impact and that the team is actively hiring to its fiscal year plan, with some hiring timing shifts from Q3 to Q4.

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