CV Growth Outlook
Q: What's your outlook for contract value (CV) growth reacceleration?
A: We expect total CV growth to reaccelerate this year, coming off either Q1 or Q2. " " " " " Despite a challenging environment, our robust pipeline, stabilizing retention rates, and an increasingly experienced sales force give us confidence in this acceleration. " " "

Tech Vendor Challenges
Q: How are tech vendor challenges affecting your business?
A: The tech vendor segment, which represents a little less than 25% of total CV, faced headwinds due to tougher renewals and market conditions. " " We had more tech vendor contracts up for renewal in Q1, leading to less new business on those renewals, but sales to new tech vendor logos have been strong. " "

Retention Rates Stabilizing
Q: Are retention rates stabilizing after the elevated renewals?
A: Yes, retention rates have stabilized, which will contribute to CV growth reacceleration. " " " The disproportionate amount of tech vendor renewals impacted Q1, but renewals are more evenly spread over the rest of the year. "

EBITDA Margin Outlook
Q: What is driving your improved EBITDA margin outlook?
A: We raised our EBITDA margin outlook from 23% to 23.5%, driven by modest upside in operating expenses and revenue. " Margins are structurally higher today, and we expect to modestly expand margins each year over the medium to long term. "

Pricing Stabilization
Q: Can you elaborate on pricing stabilization?
A: Pricing in our subscription business remains completely stable. " In the nonsubscription part of our Research business, pricing has stabilized due to our focus on higher-quality leads. " " As lead quality improves, we expect pricing to increase, potentially presenting upside to guidance. " "

Quota-bearing Headcount Growth
Q: What are your hiring plans for quota-bearing headcount?
A: We're targeting mid- to high single-digit growth in quota-bearing headcount by year-end, positioning us well for 2025. " " We're focused on hiring the right number of people over the course of the year to drive future growth. "

AI Demand and Usage
Q: How is AI impacting your business and clients?
A: There's broad interest in AI across all functional areas, and clients are actively using our AI research. " While AI is a hot topic, it substitutes for other topics like cloud computing in the past, so it hasn't led to a step change in demand. " Internally, we're using AI mainly in data analytics. "

Conferences Expansion
Q: What's the status of your Conferences expansion plan?
A: We're expanding our Conferences portfolio, adding two new conferences in Q1 and increasing from 47 conferences last year to 51 in 2024. " We plan to continue this growth over the next several years to support our Research business. "

Sales Force Tenure
Q: How is sales force tenure impacting productivity?
A: Our sales force is becoming more experienced, which should enhance productivity once the economy stabilizes or improves. " We measure inputs beyond final output, and these give us confidence despite the challenging environment. "

Enterprise Count Decline
Q: Why is the enterprise count declining, and how does it affect CV growth?
A: The decline is due to churn in the small tech space, where companies face funding challenges. " " While we're adding new logos, it's not offsetting the losses. However, we expect total CV to reaccelerate with contributions from all segments. " "