The following risk factors and other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K should be carefully considered. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we presently deem less significant may also impair our business operations. Please see Item 1. Business—Forward Looking Statements of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of the forward-looking statements that are qualified by these risk factors. If any of the events or circumstances described in the following risk factors actually occurs, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We have a history of losses, and we cannot be certain that we will achieve or sustain profitability.

We have incurred losses since our inception. We experienced net losses of $63.9 million, $48.4 million, and $8.4 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. At December 31, 2011, our accumulated deficit was $164.7 million and total stockholders’ equity was $62.5 million. We expect to continue to incur operating losses as a result of expenses associated with the continued development and expansion of our business. Our expenses include sales and marketing, research and development and other costs relating to the

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development, marketing and sale of our solution and consulting services that may not generate revenue until later periods, if at all. Any failure to increase revenue or manage our cost structure as we implement initiatives to grow our business could prevent us from achieving or sustaining profitability. In addition, our ability to achieve profitability is subject to a number of the risks and uncertainties discussed below, many of which are beyond our control. We cannot be certain that we will be able to achieve or sustain profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.

Unfavorable conditions in our industry or the global economy or reductions in information technology spending could limit our ability to grow our business and negatively affect our operating results.

Our operating results may vary based on the impact of changes in our industry or the global economy on us or our clients. The revenue growth and potential profitability of our business depends on demand for enterprise application software and services generally and for learning and talent management solutions in particular. We sell our solution primarily to large and mid-sized organizations whose businesses fluctuate based on general economic and business conditions. In addition, a portion of our revenue is attributable to the number of users of our solution at each of our clients, which in turn is influenced by the employment and hiring patterns of our clients and potential clients. To the extent that weak economic conditions cause our clients and potential clients to freeze or reduce their headcount, demand for our solution may be negatively affected. Historically, economic downturns have resulted in overall reductions in spending on information technology and learning and talent management solutions as well as pressure for extended billing terms, as occurred during the recent recession. If economic conditions deteriorate or do not materially improve, our clients and potential clients may elect to decrease their information technology and learning and talent management budgets by deferring or reconsidering product purchases, which would limit our ability to grow our business and negatively affect our operating results.

Our financial results may fluctuate due to our long, variable and, therefore, unpredictable sales cycle and our focus on large and mid-market organizations.

We plan our expenses based on certain assumptions about the length and variability of our sales cycle. If our sales cycle becomes longer or more variable, our results may be adversely affected. Our sales cycle generally varies in duration between two to nine months and, in some cases, even longer depending on the size of the potential client. Factors that may influence the length and variability of our sales cycle include:

The fluctuations that result from the length and variability of our sales cycle may be magnified by our focus on sales to large and mid-sized organizations. If we are unable to close an expected significant transaction with one or more of these companies in a particular period, or if an expected transaction is delayed until a subsequent period, our operating results for that period, and for any future periods in which revenue from such transaction would otherwise have been recognized, may be adversely affected.

Our financial results may fluctuate due to other factors, including invoicing terms, some of which may be beyond our control.

There are a number of other factors that may cause our financial results to fluctuate from period to period, including:

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In light of the foregoing factors, we believe that our financial results, including our revenue and deferred revenue levels, may vary significantly from period-to-period. As a result, period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful and should not be relied on as an indication of future performance.

The forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the markets in which we compete achieve the forecasted growth, we cannot assure you our business will grow at similar rates, or at all.

Growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates which may not prove to be accurate. Forecasts relating to the expected growth in the SaaS market or learning and talent management market may prove to be inaccurate. Even if these markets experience the forecasted growth, we may not grow our businesses at similar rates, or at all. Our growth is subject to many factors, including our success in implementing our business strategy, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties.

Our business depends substantially on clients renewing their agreements and purchasing additional clouds from us or adding additional users. Any decline in our client renewals or purchases of additional clouds or additional users would harm our future operating results.

In order for us to improve our operating results, it is important that our clients renew their agreements with us when the initial contract term expires and also purchase additional clouds or add additional users. Our clients have no obligation to renew their subscriptions after the initial subscription period, and we cannot assure you that clients will renew subscriptions at the same or higher level of service, if at all. In the past, some of our clients have elected not to renew their agreements with us. Moreover, certain of our clients have the right to cancel their agreements for convenience, subject to certain notice requirements and, in some cases, early termination fees. Our clients’ renewal rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our solution, pricing, the prices of competing products or services, mergers and acquisitions affecting our client base, reduced hiring by our clients or reductions in our clients’ spending levels. If our clients do not renew their subscriptions, renew on less favorable terms, fail to purchase additional clouds, or fail to add new users, our revenue may decline, and our operating results may be harmed.

The market in which we participate is intensely competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be harmed.

The market for learning and talent management software is highly competitive, rapidly evolving and fragmented. Many of our competitors and potential competitors are larger and have greater brand name recognition, much longer operating histories, larger marketing budgets and significantly greater resources than we do, and, with the introduction of new technologies and market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future. If we fail to compete effectively, our business will be harmed. Some of our principal

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competitors offer their products or services at a lower price, which has resulted in pricing pressures. Similarly, some competitors offer different billing terms, which has resulted in pressures on our billing terms. If we are unable to maintain our pricing levels and our billing terms, our operating results would be negatively impacted. In addition, pricing pressures and increased competition generally could result in reduced sales, reduced margins, losses or the failure of our solution to achieve or maintain more widespread market acceptance, any of which could harm our business.

We face competition from paper-based processes and desktop software tools. We also face competition from custom-built software that is designed to support the needs of a single organization, as well as from third-party human resource application providers. These software vendors include, without limitation, Halogen Software, Inc., Jive Software, Inc., Oracle Corporation, Taleo Corporation, which Oracle Corporation announced its intention to acquire in February 2012, Saba Software, Inc., SAP AG, SuccessFactors, Inc., which was acquired by SAP America, Inc. in February 2012, StepStone ASA (a subsidiary of Axel Springer AG), SumTotal Systems, Inc., and Softscape, Inc. (a subsidiary of SumTotal Systems, Inc.).

Many of our competitors are able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products and services. In addition, many of our competitors have established marketing relationships, access to larger client bases and major distribution agreements with consultants, system integrators and distributors. Moreover, many software vendors could bundle human resource products or offer such products at a lower price as part of a larger product sale. In addition, some competitors may offer software that addresses one, or a limited number, of learning or talent management functions at a lower price point or with greater depth than our solution. As a result, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or client requirements. Further, some potential clients, particularly large enterprises, may elect to develop their own internal solutions. For all of these reasons, we may not be able to compete successfully against our current and future competitors.

Mergers of or other strategic transactions by our competitors could weaken our competitive position or reduce our revenue.

If one or more of our competitors were to merge, acquire or partner with another of our competitors, the change in the competitive landscape could adversely affect our ability to compete effectively. For example, in February 2012, SAP America, Inc. acquired SuccessFactors, one of our competitors; in addition, in February 2012, Oracle Corporation announced its intention to acquire Taleo Corporation, another one of our competitors. Our competitors may also establish or strengthen cooperative relationships with our current or future strategic distributors, systems integrators, payroll services companies, third-party consulting firms or other parties with whom we have relationships, thereby limiting our ability to promote our solution and limiting the number of consultants available to implement our solution. Disruptions in our business caused by these events could reduce our revenue.

Our business and operations are experiencing rapid growth and organizational change. If we fail to effectively manage such growth and change in a manner that preserves the key aspects of our corporate culture, our business and operating results could be harmed.

We have experienced, and may continue to experience, rapid growth and organizational change, which has placed, and may continue to place, significant demands on our management, operational and financial resources. For example, our headcount has grown from 327 employees on December 31, 2010 to 507 employees on December 31, 2011. In addition, we have established offices in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Israel, Spain and India, and we may continue to expand our international operations into other countries in the future. We have also experienced significant growth in the number of users, transactions and data that our SaaS hosting infrastructure supports. Finally, our organizational structure is becoming more complex as we improve our operational, financial and management controls as well as our reporting systems and procedures. We will require significant capital expenditures and the allocation of valuable management resources to grow and change in these areas without undermining our corporate culture of rapid innovation, teamwork and attention to client success that has been central to our growth so far. If we fail to manage our anticipated growth and change in a manner that preserves the key aspects of our corporate culture, the quality of our solution may suffer, which could negatively affect our brand and reputation and harm our ability to retain and attract clients.

For a detailed discussion of the risks related to our ability to expand our business internationally, manage growth in our SaaS hosting network infrastructure, and expand parts of our organization to implement improved operational, financial and management controls and reporting systems, see the following risk factors “ —We currently have only a limited number of international offices and may expand our international operations, but we do not have substantial experience in international markets and may not achieve the results that we expect ” and “ —As a newly public company, we are obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting. If our internal control over financial reporting is ineffective, our financial reporting may not be accurate, complete and timely, and our auditors may be unable to attest to its effectiveness when required, thus adversely affecting investor confidence in our company.”

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As a newly public company, we are obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting. If our internal control over financial reporting is ineffective, our financial reporting may not be accurate, complete and timely, and our auditors may be unable to attest to its effectiveness when required, thus adversely affecting investor confidence in our company.

We are required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for the year ending December 31, 2012 and in each year thereafter. Our auditors may also need to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. These assessments will need to include disclosure of any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting.

We are in the early stages of the costly and challenging process of compiling our system of internal control over financial reporting and processing documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404. We may discover, and may not be able to remediate, future significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, nor be able to complete our evaluation, testing and any required remediation in a timely fashion. Failure of our internal control over financial reporting to be effective could cause our financial reporting to be inaccurate, incomplete or delayed. Moreover, even if no inaccuracy, incompletion or delay of reporting results, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert, and our auditors will be unable to affirm, that our internal control is effective, in which case investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common stock.

Our systems collect, access, use and store personal and other client proprietary information. As a result, we are subject to security risks and are required to invest significant resources to prevent or correct problems caused by security breaches. If a security breach occurs, our reputation could be harmed, our business may suffer, and we could incur significant liability.

Our learning and talent management solution involves the storage and transmission of clients’ proprietary and confidential information over the Internet (including public networks), and security breaches, unauthorized access, unauthorized usage, virus or similar breach or disruption could result in loss of this information, damage to our reputation, early termination of our contracts, litigation, regulatory investigations or other liabilities. In addition, errors in the storage or transmission of such information could compromise the security of that information. If our security measures are breached as a result of third-party action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise and, as a result, someone obtains unauthorized access to client data, our reputation will be damaged, our business may suffer and we could incur significant liability. Advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other events or developments could result in compromises or breaches of our security systems and the data stored in these systems. Because there is a time lag associated with developing adequate protections against such new developments and techniques, unauthorized access or sabotage of our systems and the information processed in connection with our business may result. If an actual or perceived security breach occurs, the market perception of our security measures could be harmed and we could lose sales and clients. Any violations of privacy or information security could result in the loss of business, litigation and regulatory investigations and penalties that could damage our reputation and adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition, including our ability to make required reporting and disclosures as a public company. Moreover, if a high profile security breach occurs with respect to another SaaS provider, our clients and potential clients may lose trust in the security of the SaaS business model generally, which could adversely impact our ability to retain existing clients or attract new ones.

Any significant disruption in our SaaS hosting network infrastructure could harm our reputation, require us to provide credits or refunds, result in early termination of a client agreement or a loss of clients, and adversely affect our business.

Our SaaS hosting network infrastructure is a critical part of our business operations. Our clients access our learning and talent management solution through a standard web browser. Our clients depend on us for fast and reliable access to our solution. Our software is proprietary, and we rely on the expertise of members of our engineering and software development teams for the continued performance of our solution. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, disruptions in our computing and communications infrastructure. Factors that may cause such disruptions include:

Although we generally back up our client databases hourly and store our data in more than one geographically distinct location at least weekly, our infrastructure does not currently include the real-time mirroring of data. Thus, in the event of any of the factors described above, or certain other failures of our computing infrastructure, client data from recent transactions may be permanently lost or otherwise compromised. Moreover, some of our agreements include performance guarantees and service level standards that obligate us to provide credits, or refunds or termination rights in the event of a significant disruption in our SaaS hosting network infrastructure or other technical problems that relate to the functionality or design of our solution.

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We rely on third-party computer hardware and software that may be difficult to replace or which could cause errors or failures of our service.

We rely on computer hardware, purchased or leased, and software licensed from third parties in order to deliver our solution. This hardware and software may not continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Any loss of the right to use any of this hardware or software could result in delays in our ability to provide our solution until equivalent technology is either developed by us or, if available, identified, obtained and integrated. In addition, errors or defects in third-party hardware or software used in our solution could result in errors or a failure of our solution, which could harm our business. In addition, we completed the transition of our network infrastructure from a fully managed third-party hosting environment to self-managed, co-location facilities in 2011. If our co-location facilities do not scale and support our continued growth on a more cost-effective basis than a fully managed third-party environment, our business may be negatively impacted.

Defects in our solution could affect our reputation, result in significant costs to us and impair our ability to sell our solution and related services.

Defects in our solution could adversely affect our reputation, result in significant costs to us and impair our ability to sell our solution in the future. The costs incurred in correcting any solution defects may be substantial and could adversely affect our operating results. Although we continually test our solution for defects and work with clients through our client support organization to identify and correct errors, defects in our solution are likely to occur in the future. Any defects that cause interruptions to the availability of our solution could result in:

While our client agreements typically contain limitations and disclaimers that purport to limit our liability for damages related to defects in our solution, such limitations and disclaimers may not be enforced by a court or other tribunal or otherwise effectively protect us from such claims.

We may acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management’s attention, result in additional dilution to our stockholders and otherwise disrupt our operations and harm our operating results.

In the future, we may seek to acquire or invest in businesses, products or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our solution, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. The pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are ultimately consummated.

We do not have any experience in acquiring other businesses. If we acquire additional businesses, we may not be able to integrate the acquired personnel, operations and technologies successfully or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition. We may also not achieve the anticipated benefits from the acquired business due to a number of factors, including:

In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, which must be assessed for impairment at least annually. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process, which could harm our results of operations.

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Acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our operating results, business and financial condition may suffer.

Our growth depends in part on the success of our strategic relationships with third parties.

We anticipate that we will continue to depend on various third-party relationships in order to grow our business. In addition to growing our indirect sales channels, we intend to pursue additional relationships with other third parties, such as technology and content providers and implementation consultants. Identifying, negotiating and documenting relationships with third parties require significant time and resources as does integrating third-party content and technology. Our agreements with distributors and providers of technology, content and consulting services are typically non-exclusive, do not prohibit them from working with our competitors or from offering competing services and generally do not have minimum purchase commitments. Our competitors may be effective in providing incentives to third parties to favor their products or services or to prevent or reduce subscriptions to our solution. In addition, these distributors and providers may not perform as expected under our agreements, and we have had, and may in the future have, disagreements or disputes with such distributors and providers, which could negatively affect our brand and reputation. A global economic slowdown could also adversely affect the businesses of our distributors, and it is possible that they may not be able to devote the resources we expect to the relationship.

If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with these third parties, including our relationship with ADP, our ability to compete in the marketplace or to grow our revenue could be impaired and our operating results would suffer. Even if we are successful, we cannot assure you that these relationships will result in improved operating results.

Failure to effectively expand our direct sales teams and develop and expand our indirect sales channel will impede our growth.

We will need to continue to expand our sales and marketing infrastructure in order to grow our client base and our business. We plan to significantly expand our direct sales teams and engage additional third-party distributors, both domestically and internationally. Identifying, recruiting and training these people and entities will require significant time, expense and attention. Our business will be seriously harmed and our financial resources will be wasted if our efforts to expand our direct and indirect sales channels do not generate a corresponding increase in revenue. In particular, if we are unable to hire, develop and retain talented sales personnel or if our new direct sales personnel are unable to achieve expected productivity levels in a reasonable period of time, we may not be able to significantly increase our revenue and grow our business.

If we fail to retain key employees and recruit qualified technical and sales personnel, our business could be harmed.

We believe that our success depends on the continued employment of our senior management and other key employees, such as our chief executive officer. In addition, because our future success is dependent on our ability to continue to enhance and introduce new software and services, we are heavily dependent on our ability to attract and retain qualified engineers with the requisite education, background and industry experience. As we expand our business, our continued success will also depend, in part, on our ability to attract and retain qualified sales, marketing and operational personnel capable of supporting a larger and more diverse client base. The loss of the services of a significant number of our engineers or sales people could be disruptive to our development efforts or business relationships. In addition, if any of our key employees joins a competitor or decides to otherwise compete with us, we may experience a material disruption of our operations and development plans, which may cause us to lose clients or increase operating expenses as the attention of our remaining senior managers is diverted to recruit replacements for the departed key employees.

In cases where we are asked by clients to deploy our solution on their behalf, failure to effectively manage such client deployments by us or our third-party service providers could adversely impact our business.

Clients have the option of implementing our solution themselves or relying on us to do so on their behalf. In cases where we are asked to deploy our solution for a client, we need to have a substantial understanding of such client’s business so that we can configure our solution in a manner that complements its existing business processes and integrates our solution into its existing systems. It may be difficult for us to manage the timeliness of these deployments and the allocation of personnel and resources by us or our clients. In certain situations, we also work with third-party service providers in the deployment of our solution, and we may experience difficulties managing such third parties. Failure to successfully manage client deployments by us or our third-party service providers could harm our reputation and cause us to lose existing clients, face potential client disputes or limit the rate at which new clients purchase our solution.

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Because we recognize revenue from client subscriptions over the term of the agreement, a significant downturn in our business may not be immediately reflected in our operating results.

We recognize revenue from subscription agreements monthly over the terms of these agreements, which is typically three years. As a result, a significant portion of the revenue we report in each quarter is generated from client agreements entered into during previous periods. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed subscriptions in any one quarter may not impact our financial performance in that quarter, but will negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. If a number of contracts expire and are not renewed in the same quarter, our revenue will decline significantly in that quarter and subsequent quarters. In addition, we may be unable to adjust our fixed costs in response to reduced revenue. Accordingly, the effect of significant declines in sales and market acceptance of our solution may not be reflected in our short-term results of operations.

Certain of our operating results and financial metrics are difficult to predict as a result of seasonality.

We have historically experienced seasonality in terms of when we enter into client agreements for our solution. We sign a significantly higher percentage of agreements with new clients, and renewal agreements with existing clients, in the fourth quarter of each year and a significant portion of these agreements are signed during the last month, and with respect to each quarter, often the last two weeks, of the quarter. This seasonality is reflected to a much lesser extent, and sometimes is not immediately apparent, in our revenue, due to the fact that we recognize subscription revenue over the term of the client agreement, which is generally three years. We expect this seasonality to continue, or possibly increase, in the future, which may cause fluctuations in certain of our operating results and financial metrics, and thus difficulties in predictability.

If we fail to manage our SaaS hosting network infrastructure capacity, our existing clients may experience service outages and our new clients may experience delays in the deployment of our learning and talent management solution.

We have experienced significant growth in the number of users, transactions and data that our hosting infrastructure supports. We seek to maintain sufficient excess capacity in our SaaS hosting network infrastructure to meet the needs of all of our clients. We also seek to maintain excess capacity to facilitate the rapid provision of new client deployments and the expansion of existing client deployments. However, the provision of new hosting infrastructure requires significant lead time. If we do not accurately predict our infrastructure capacity requirements, our existing clients may experience service outages that may subject us to financial penalties, financial liabilities and client losses. If our hosting infrastructure capacity fails to keep pace with increased sales, clients may experience delays as we seek to obtain additional capacity, which could harm our reputation and adversely affect our revenue growth.

Because we generally recognize subscription revenue from our clients over the terms of their agreements but incur most costs associated with generating such agreements upfront, rapid growth in our client base may put downward pressure on our operating income in the short term.

The expenses associated with generating client agreements are generally incurred up front but the resulting subscription revenue is generally recognized over the life of the agreements; therefore, increased growth in the number of our clients will result in our recognition of more costs than revenue during the early periods covered by such agreements, even in cases where the agreements are expected to be profitable for us over their full terms.

Integrated, comprehensive SaaS solutions such as ours represent a relatively recent approach to addressing organizations’ learning and talent management challenges, and we may be forced to change the prices we charge for our solution, or the pricing model upon which they are based, as the market for this type of solution evolves.

Providing organizations with applications to address their learning and talent management challenges through integrated, comprehensive SaaS solutions is a developing market. The market for these solutions is therefore still evolving, and competitive dynamics may cause pricing levels, as well as pricing models generally, to change, as the market matures and as existing and new market participants introduce new types of solutions and different approaches to enable organizations to address their learning and talent management needs. As a result, we may be forced to reduce the prices we charge for our solution or the pricing model on which they are based, and may be unable to renew existing client agreements or enter into new client agreements at the same prices and upon the same terms that we have historically, which could have a material adverse effect on our revenue, gross margin and other operating results.

Existing or future laws and regulations relating to privacy or data security could increase the cost of our solution and subject us or our clients to litigation, regulatory investigations and other potential liabilities.

Our learning and talent management solution enables our clients to collect, manage and store a wide range of data related to every phase of the employee performance and management cycle. The United States and various state governments have adopted or proposed limitations on the collection, distribution and use of personal information. Several foreign jurisdictions, including the European Union and the United Kingdom, have adopted legislation (including directives or regulations) that increase or change the requirements governing data collection and storage in these jurisdictions. If our privacy or data security measures fail to comply with current or future laws and regulations, we may be subject to litigation, regulatory investigations or other liabilities. Moreover, if future

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laws and regulations limit our clients’ ability to use and share employee data or our ability to store, process and share data with our clients over the Internet, demand for our solution could decrease, our costs could increase, and our results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.

Evolving regulation of the Internet or changes in the infrastructure underlying the Internet may adversely affect our financial condition by increasing our expenditures and causing client dissatisfaction.

As Internet commerce continues to evolve, regulation by federal, state or foreign agencies may increase. We are particularly sensitive to these risks because the Internet is a critical component of our business model. In addition, taxation of services provided over the Internet or other charges imposed by government agencies or by private organizations for accessing the Internet may also be imposed. Legislation has been proposed that may impact the way that Internet service providers treat Internet traffic. The outcome of such proposals is uncertain but certain outcomes may negatively impact our business or increase our operating costs. Any regulation imposing greater fees for Internet use or restricting information exchanged over the Internet could result in a decline in the use of the Internet and the viability of Internet-based services, which could harm our business.

In addition, the rapid and continual growth of traffic on the Internet has resulted at times in slow connection and download speeds among Internet users. Our business expansion may be harmed if the Internet infrastructure cannot handle our clients’ demands or if hosting capacity becomes insufficient. If our clients become frustrated with the speed at which they can utilize our solution over the Internet, our clients may discontinue the use of our learning and talent management solution and choose not to renew their contracts with us.

We currently have only a limited number of international offices and may expand our international operations, but we do not have substantial experience in international markets and may not achieve the results that we expect.

We currently have international offices in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Israel, Spain and India, and we may expand our international operations into other countries in the future. International operations involve a variety of risks, including:

We have limited experience in marketing, selling and supporting our products and services abroad. Our limited experience in operating our business internationally increases the risk that any potential future expansion efforts that we may undertake will not be successful. If we invest substantial time and resources to expand our international operations and are unable to do so successfully and in a timely manner, our business and operating results will suffer.

Even if demand for learning and talent management products and services increases generally, there is no guarantee that demand for SaaS solutions like ours will increase to a corresponding degree.

The widespread adoption of our solution depends not only on strong demand for learning and talent management products and services generally, but also for products and services delivered via a SaaS business model in particular. There are still a significant number of organizations that have adopted no talent management functions at all, and it is unclear whether such organizations ever will adopt such functions and, if they do, whether they will desire a SaaS learning and talent management solution like ours. As a result, we cannot assure you that our SaaS learning and talent management solution will achieve and sustain the high level of market acceptance that is critical for the success of our business.

If we fail to develop our brand cost-effectively, our business may suffer.

We believe that developing and maintaining awareness of the Cornerstone OnDemand brand in a cost-effective manner is critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our existing and future solutions and is an important element in attracting new clients. Furthermore, we believe that the importance of brand recognition will increase as competition in our market increases. Successful promotion of our brand will depend largely on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and on our ability to provide reliable and useful services at competitive prices. In the past, our efforts to build our brand have involved significant expenses. Brand promotion

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activities may not yield increased revenue, and even if they do, any increased revenue may not offset the expenses we incurred in building our brand. In addition, the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation shares our company name and any negative perceptions of any kind about the Foundation could adversely affect our brand and reputation. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand, or incur substantial expenses in an unsuccessful attempt to promote and maintain our brand, we may fail to attract enough new clients or retain our existing clients to the extent necessary to realize a sufficient return on our brand-building efforts, and our business could suffer.

We face risks associated with our sales to governmental entities.

Sales to governmental entities currently account for a small portion of our revenue, but we may increase sales to such entities in the future. The risks associated with doing business with governmental entities include, but are not limited to, the following:

While our experience dealing with governmental entities has so far been limited, to the extent that we become more reliant on contracts with government clients in the future, our exposure to such risks could increase, which, in turn, could adversely impact our business.

If for any reason we are not able to develop enhancements and new features, keep pace with technological developments or respond to future disruptive technologies, our business will be harmed.

Our future success will depend on our ability to adapt and innovate. To attract new clients and increase revenue from existing clients, we will need to enhance and improve our existing solution and introduce new features. The success of any enhancement or new feature depends on several factors, including timely completion, introduction and market acceptance. If we are unable to successfully develop or acquire new features or clouds or enhance our existing solution to meet client needs, our business and operating results will be adversely affected.

In addition, because our solution is designed to operate on a variety of network, hardware and software platforms using Internet tools and protocols, we will need to continuously modify and enhance our solution to keep pace with changes in internet-related hardware, software, communication, browser and database technologies. If we are unable to respond in a timely and cost-effective manner to these rapid technological developments, our solution may become less marketable and less competitive or obsolete and our operating results may be negatively impacted.

Finally, our ability to grow is subject to the risk of future disruptive technologies. If new technologies emerge that are able to deliver learning and talent management solutions at lower prices, more efficiently or more conveniently, such technologies could adversely impact our ability to compete.

We might require additional capital to support business growth, and this capital might not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.

We intend to continue to make investments to support our business growth and may require additional funds to respond to business challenges, including the need to develop new features and clouds or enhance our existing solution, improve our operating infrastructure or acquire complementary businesses and technologies. Accordingly, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our common stock. Any debt financing secured by us in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. In addition, we may not be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired.

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If we fail to adequately protect our proprietary rights, our competitive advantage could be impaired and we may lose valuable assets, generate reduced revenue and incur costly litigation to protect our rights.

Our success is dependent, in part, upon protecting our proprietary technology. We rely on a combination of patents, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secret laws and contractual restrictions to establish and protect our proprietary rights in our products and services. However, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property may be inadequate. We will not be able to protect our intellectual property if we are unable to enforce our rights or if we do not detect unauthorized use of our intellectual property. Despite our precautions, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy our products and use information that we regard as proprietary to create products and services that compete with ours. Some license provisions protecting against unauthorized use, copying, transfer and disclosure of our licensed products may be unenforceable under the laws of certain jurisdictions and foreign countries. Further, the laws of some countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. To the extent we expand our international activities, our exposure to unauthorized copying and use of our products and proprietary information may increase.

We enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and consultants and enter into confidentiality agreements with the parties with whom we have strategic relationships and business alliances. No assurance can be given that these agreements will be effective in controlling access to and distribution of our products and proprietary information. Further, these agreements do not prevent our competitors from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our solution.

Any failure to protect our intellectual property rights could impair our ability to protect our proprietary technology and our brand.

In order to protect our intellectual property rights, we may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect these rights. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights and to protect our trade secrets. Litigation brought to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights could be costly, time consuming and distracting to management and could result in the impairment or loss of portions of our intellectual property. Furthermore, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property rights. Our failure to secure, protect and enforce our intellectual property rights could seriously harm our brand and adversely impact our business.

We may be sued by third parties for alleged infringement of their proprietary rights.

There is considerable patent and other intellectual property development activity in our industry. Our success depends in part upon our not infringing the intellectual property rights of others. However, our competitors, as well as a number of other entities and individuals, may own or claim to own intellectual property relating to our industry or, in some cases, our technology or products. From time to time, such third parties may claim that we are infringing their intellectual property rights, and we may actually be found to be infringing such rights. Any claims or litigation could cause us to incur significant expenses, and if successfully asserted against us, could require that we pay substantial damages or ongoing royalty payments, indemnify our clients or distributors, obtain licenses, modify products, or refund fees, any of which would deplete our resources and adversely impact our business. We have obtained and may in the future obtain licenses from third parties to forestall or settle any potential claims of alleged infringement of our products and technology upon the intellectual property rights of others. In addition, discussions and negotiations with such third parties, whether successful or unsuccessful, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management resources, either of which could seriously harm our business.

Our results of operations may be adversely affected if we are subject to a protracted infringement claim or a claim that results in a significant damage award.

We expect that software product developers will increasingly be subject to infringement claims as the number of products and competitors grows and the functionality of products in different industry segments overlaps. Our competitors or other third parties may challenge the validity or scope of our intellectual property rights. A claim may also be made relating to technology that we acquire or license from third parties. If we were subject to a claim of infringement, regardless of the merit of the claim or our defenses, the claim could:

We depend, in part, on technology of third parties licensed to us for our solution, and the loss or inability to maintain these licenses or errors in the software we license could result in increased costs, reduced service levels or delayed sales of our solution.

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Indemnity provisions in various agreements potentially expose us to substantial liability for intellectual property infringement and other losses.

Our agreements with clients and other third parties may include indemnification provisions under which we agree to indemnify them for losses suffered or incurred as a result of claims of intellectual property infringement, damages caused by us to property or persons, or other liabilities relating to or arising from our products, services, or other contractual obligations. The term of these indemnity provisions generally survives termination or expiration of the applicable agreement. Large indemnity payments could harm our business, operating results and financial condition. From time to time, we are requested by clients to indemnify them for breach of confidentiality with respect to personal data. Although we normally do not agree to, or contractually limit our liability with respect to, such requests the existence of such a dispute with a client may have adverse effects on our client relationships and reputation.

We use open source software in our products, which could subject us to litigation or other actions.

We use open source software in our products and may use more open source software in the future. From time to time, there have been claims challenging the ownership of open source software against companies that incorporate open source software into their products. As a result, we could be subject to suits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our products. In addition, if we were to combine our proprietary software products with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain of the open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software products. If we inappropriately use open source software, we may be required to re-engineer our products, discontinue the sale of our products or take other remedial actions.

We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets due to licensing requirements and subject us to liability if we are not in full compliance with applicable laws.

Our solution is subject to export controls, including the Commerce Department’s Export Administration Regulations and various economic and trade sanctions regulations established by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls, and exports of our solution must be made in compliance with these laws. If we fail to comply with these U.S. export control laws and import laws, including U.S. Customs regulations, we and certain of our employees could be subject to substantial civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export or import privileges; fines, which may be imposed on us and responsible employees or managers; and, in extreme cases, the incarceration of responsible employees or managers. In addition, if our distributors fail to obtain appropriate import, export or re-export licenses or authorizations, we may also be adversely affected through reputational harm and penalties. Obtaining the necessary authorizations, including any required license, for a particular sale may be time-consuming and is not guaranteed, and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. Furthermore, the U.S. export control laws and economic sanctions laws prohibit the shipment of certain products and services to U.S. embargoed or sanctioned countries, governments and persons. Even though we take precautions to prevent our solution from being shipped or provided to U.S. sanctions targets, our solution and services could be shipped to those targets or provided by our distributors despite such precautions. Any such shipment could have negative consequences, including government investigations, penalties and reputational harm. In addition, various countries regulate the import of certain encryption technology, including through import permitting/licensing requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our solution or could limit our clients’ ability to implement our solution in those countries. Changes in our solution or changes in export and import regulations may create delays in the introduction and sale of our solution in international markets, prevent our clients with international operations from deploying our solution or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our solution to certain countries, governments or persons altogether. Any change in export or import regulations, economic sanctions or related laws, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our solution, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our solution to existing or potential clients with international operations. Any decreased use of our solution or limitation on our ability to export or sell our solution would likely adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Fluctuations in the exchange rate of foreign currencies could result in foreign currency gains and losses.

We currently have foreign sales denominated in Great British Pounds, Euros, Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, New Zealand Dollars, Japanese Yen, and Singapore Dollars and may in the future have sales denominated in the currencies of additional countries. In addition, we incur a portion of our operating expenses in Great British Pounds and Euros and, to a much lesser extent, in Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Indian Rupees and Israeli New Shekels. Any fluctuation in the exchange rate of these foreign currencies may negatively impact our business, financial condition and operating results. We have not previously engaged in foreign currency hedging. If we decide to hedge our foreign currency exposure, we may not be able to hedge effectively due to lack of experience, unreasonable costs or illiquid markets.

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We are exposed to fluctuations in the market values of our investments and in interest rates, either of which could impair the market value of our investments and harm our financial results.

At December 31, 2011, we had $85.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, which primarily consisted of money market funds backed by United States Treasury Bills. In the future, we may invest in short-term marketable securities with maturities of up to one year. Investments are subject to general credit, liquidity, market and interest rate risks, which have been exacerbated by unusual events such as the financial and credit crisis, bankruptcy filings in the United States and the recent debt-ceiling debate, which in turn have affected various sectors of the financial markets and led to global credit and liquidity issues.

Because the market value of fixed-rate debt securities may be adversely impacted by a rise in interest rates, our future investment income may fall short of expectations if interest rates rise. In addition, we may suffer losses if we are forced to sell securities that have experienced a decline in market value because of changes in interest rates. Currently, we do not use financial derivatives to hedge our interest rate exposure.

The fair value of investments may change significantly due to events and conditions in the credit and capital markets. Any investment securities that we hold, or the issuers of such securities, could be subject to review for possible downgrade. Any downgrade in these credit ratings may result in an additional decline in the estimated fair value of our investments. Changes in the various assumptions used to value these securities and any increase in the perceived market risk associated with such investments may also result in a decline in estimated fair value.

In the event of adverse conditions in the credit and capital markets, and to the extent we make future investments, our investment portfolio may be impacted, and we could determine that some or all of our investments experienced an other-than-temporary decline in fair value, requiring impairment, which could adversely impact our financial position and operating results.

Changes in financial accounting standards or practices may cause adverse, unexpected financial reporting fluctuations and affect our reported results of operations.

A change in accounting standards or practices can have a significant effect on our reported results and may even affect our reporting of transactions completed before the change is effective. New accounting pronouncements and varying interpretations of accounting pronouncements have occurred and may occur in the future. Changes to existing rules or the questioning of current practices may adversely affect our reported financial results or the way we conduct our business. For example, we retrospectively adopted the amended guidance for revenue recognition for arrangements with multiple deliverables on January 1, 2009, which had a material impact on our financial position and results of operations.

Risks Related to Tax Issues

We are a multinational organization faced with increasingly complex tax issues in many jurisdictions, and we could be obligated to pay additional taxes in various jurisdictions.

As a multinational organization, we are subject to taxation in several jurisdictions around the world with increasingly complex tax laws, the application of which can be uncertain. The amount of taxes we pay in these jurisdictions could increase substantially as a result of changes in the applicable tax principles, including increased tax rates, new tax laws or revised interpretations of existing tax laws and precedents, which could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and results of operations. In addition, the authorities in these jurisdictions could review our tax returns and impose additional tax, interest and penalties, and the authorities could claim that various withholding requirements apply to us or our subsidiaries or assert that benefits of tax treaties are not available to us or our subsidiaries, any of which could have a material impact on us and the results of our operations.

Taxing authorities could reallocate our taxable income among our subsidiaries, which could increase our consolidated tax liability.

We conduct operations world-wide through subsidiaries in various tax jurisdictions pursuant to transfer pricing arrangements between our subsidiaries. If two or more affiliated companies are located in different countries, the tax laws or regulations of each country generally will require that transfer prices be the same as those between unrelated companies dealing at arms’ length and that contemporaneous documentation is maintained to support the transfer prices. While we believe that we operate in compliance with applicable transfer pricing laws and intend to continue to do so, our transfer pricing procedures are not binding on applicable tax authorities. If tax authorities in any of these countries were to successfully challenge our transfer prices as not reflecting arms’ length transactions, they could require us to adjust our transfer prices and thereby reallocate our income to reflect these revised transfer prices, which could result in a higher tax liability to us. In addition, if the country from which the income is reallocated does not agree with the reallocation, both countries could tax the same income, resulting in double taxation. If tax authorities were to allocate income to a higher tax jurisdiction, subject our income to double taxation or assess interest and penalties, it would increase our consolidated tax liability, which could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards to reduce future tax payments may be limited if we experience a change in ownership, or if taxable income does not reach sufficient levels.

Under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change” (generally defined as a greater than 50% change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three year period), the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset its post-change income may be limited. We may experience ownership changes in the future and subsequent shifts in our stock ownership. As a result, we may be limited in the portion of net operating loss carryforwards that we can use in the future to offset taxable income for U.S. Federal income tax purposes.

Risks Related to Ownership of our Common Stock

An active trading market for our common stock may not be sustained, and the trading price of our common stock may be volatile.

Our shares of common stock began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market on March 17, 2011. Given the limited trading history of our common stock, there is a risk that an active trading market for our common stock will not be sustained, which could put downward pressure on the market price of our common stock and thereby affect the ability of our stockholders to sell their shares. In addition, the trading price of our common stock has at times been volatile and could continue to be subject to significant fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. For example, after opening at $13.00 per share upon the commencement of our initial public offering, our common stock has experienced an intra-day trading high of $23.50 per share and an intra-day trading low of $11.50 per share. In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for technology companies in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the companies operating in such markets. The market price of our common stock may be similarly volatile, and investors in our common stock may experience a decrease in the value of their shares, including as a result of factors unrelated to our operating performance and prospects. The price of our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a number of factors, including:

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish misleading or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our stock or publishes incorrect or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. In addition, if one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

We incur significant costs and demands upon management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies, which could adversely affect our operating results.

As a newly public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting and corporate governance requirements. These requirements include compliance with Section 404 and other provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and the NASDAQ Global Market. Our management team is adapting to the requirements of being a public company. If these requirements divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, complying with these rules and regulations has substantially increased our legal and financial compliance expenses, has made some activities more time-consuming and costly, and may in the future require us to reduce costs in other areas of our business or increase the prices of our solution, which could negatively impact our business.

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Our principal stockholders have a controlling influence over our business affairs and may make business decisions with which our stockholders disagree and which may adversely affect the value of our stockholders’ investment.

As of December 31, 2011, our executive officers, directors and their affiliates beneficially owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, 19,640,067 shares of common stock in the aggregate (including shares of common stock subject to options and warrants exercisable within 60 days of December 31, 2011), or approximately 40% of our outstanding shares. As a result, if some of these persons or entities act together, they will have the ability to control matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election and removal of directors, amendments to our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and the approval of any business combination. These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by other stockholders. This concentration of ownership may also have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of our company or discouraging others from making tender offers for our shares, which could prevent our stockholders from receiving a premium for their shares.

The issuance of additional stock in connection with acquisitions, our stock incentive plans, warrants or otherwise will dilute all other stockholdings.

Our certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue up to 1,000,000,000 shares of common stock and up to 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock with such rights and preferences as may be determined by our board of directors. Subject to compliance with applicable rules and regulations, we may issue all of these shares that are not already outstanding without any action or approval by our stockholders. We intend to continue to evaluate strategic acquisitions in the future. We may pay for such acquisitions, partly or in full, through the issuance of additional equity.

Any issuance of shares in connection with our acquisitions, the exercise of stock options or warrants, the vesting of restricted stock units or otherwise would dilute the percentage ownership held by existing investors.

We do not expect to declare any dividends in the foreseeable future.

We do not anticipate declaring any cash dividends to holders of our common stock in the foreseeable future. In addition, our existing credit facilities prohibit us from paying cash dividends, and any future financing agreements may prohibit us from paying any type of dividends. Consequently, investors may need to sell all or part of their holdings of our common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our common stock.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and Delaware law may delay or prevent an acquisition of our company.

Our certificate of incorporation, bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of us or changes in our management. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws include provisions that:

These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our management.

In addition, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which limits the ability of stockholders owning in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock to merge or combine with us.

Any provision of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.

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To the extent that our pre-tax income or loss is relatively small, our ability to conclude that a control deficiency is not a material weakness or that an accounting error does not require a restatement could be adversely affected.

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, our management is required to assess the impact of control deficiencies based upon both quantitative and qualitative factors, and depending upon that analysis we classify such identified deficiencies as either a control deficiency, significant deficiency or a material weakness. One element of our analysis of the significance of any control deficiency is its actual or potential financial impact. This assessment will vary depending on our level of pre-tax income or loss. For example, a smaller pre-tax income or loss will increase the likelihood of a quantitative assessment of a control deficiency as a significant deficiency or material weakness.

To the extent that our pre-tax income or loss is relatively small, if management or our independent registered public accountants identify an error in our interim or annual financial statements, it is more likely that such an error may be determined to be a material weakness or be considered a material error that could, depending upon the complete quantitative and qualitative analysis, result in our having to restate previously issued financial statements.