Item 1. Business
Overview
PagerDuty is a digital operations management platform that manages urgent and mission-critical work for a modern, digital business. We empower teams to respond rapidly to incidents to resolve or avoid customer issues, reduce noise, predict and avoid performance degradation, improve productivity, and accelerate digital transformation.
Today, nearly every business is a digital business. As such, organizations are under pressure to enhance their digital operations in order to meet escalating customer expectations, resolve incidents proactively, and free-up time for innovation projects. This means critical, time sensitive, and unpredictable work needs to be detected and orchestrated.
We collect data and digital signals from virtually any software-enabled system or device and leverage powerful machine learning to correlate, process, and predict opportunities and issues. Using incident response, event management, and automation, we bring together the right people with the right information so they can resolve issues and act on opportunities in minutes or seconds from wherever they are.
PagerDuty was founded to support the DevOps movement by breaking down silos between technical teams, like developers and operators, enabling a culture of accountability and collaboration. Our platform’s initial focus was on the software developers who are the owners and architects of the customers’ digital experience and enterprises’ digital transformation. To drive adoption and earn trust within the developer community, our platform is designed to find, adopt, and scale with a rapid return on investment (“ROI”) for our users.
Since our founding in 2009, we have expanded our capabilities from a single product focused on on-call management for developers to a multi-product platform that crosses silos into IT operations, security, customer service, and executive stakeholder roles across an organization. We have evolved from an on-call tool into the platform for digital operations, which resides at the center of a company’s technology ecosystem.
We have spent more than a decade building deep product integrations to our platform, and our ecosystem now includes over 650 direct integrations to enable our customers to gather and correlate digital signals from any system or device. This allows technical teams to collect digital signals from any system or platform in their environment, and without the effects of context switching. Those same integrations connect with popular collaboration tools and business applications as well as all types of technology stacks to drive automation of work.
We generate revenue primarily from cloud-hosted subscription fees. We also generate revenue from term-license software subscription fees. We have a land-and-expand business model that leads to viral adoption of our products and subsequent expansion. Our online self-service model is the primary mechanism for landing new customers and enabling teams to get started without assistance. We complement our self-service model with high-velocity inside sales focused on small and medium businesses, a commercial team focused on mid-market customers, and a field sales team focused on enterprise customers. Our mid-market and enterprise customers account for the majority of our revenue today. These teams drive expansion to additional users, new use cases, and add-on products, as well as the upsell to higher value plans.
Our business has experienced rapid growth since our inception. For the fiscal years ended January 31, 2022 and 2021, our revenue was $281.4 million and $213.6 million, respectively. We continue to invest in our business and had a net loss of $107.5 million and $68.9 million for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Our Platform and Key Customer Benefits
We have invested aggressively in research and development to build innovative products that deliver value to our customers. Our cloud-native platform is differentiated based on a broad range of attributes:
•Built for real time. Our platform manages today’s complex and contemporary digital services. These are hybrid cloud and microservice based environments that are constantly changing state. That requires managing the entire service lifecycle from collecting data, interpreting digital signals, mobilizing a response when needed, and providing insights—all in real time. There is no concept of queued tickets or queued work on our platform because we are built to understand these situations and solve incidents within seconds or minutes, not hours or days.
•Nearly 13 years’ of data from over 14,500 paying customers. As pioneers in digital operations management, we have a rich repository of machine-generated data and human response data. We utilize our data from every incident and leverage it across our platform, allowing us to build advanced machine-learning capabilities, provide richer contextual insights to teams, and share in-depth analytics, benchmarking, and best practices with our customers.
•Over 650 integrations across the technology ecosystem. We have invested extensively in an ecosystem that includes over 650 integrations, allowing us to harness data from software-enabled systems and devices. We have deep integrations to a range of widely used technologies, such as Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), Datadog, HashiCorp, New Relic, and Splunk, and many integrations such as Atlassian, Microsoft VSTS, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Slack are bi-directional. Our integrations support a broad range of use cases including developers, IT, security, customer service and support, and other business functions. We provide capabilities through which our users can easily build integrations themselves and connect our products with other third-party technologies.
•Breadth of functionality. We provide our customers with a complete platform that spans end-to-end digital operations management needs: harness digital data, make sense of data, automate, respond and engage teams, and analyze and learn from a team’s actions. We have continued to extend our core capabilities around on-call management and modern incident response to include AI Ops and automation. We have embedded machine learning, automation, insights, and best practices across our products to help our customers realize value quickly.
•Proactive. We are leading a shift from efficient response to proactive and predictive action to help teams prevent incidents from occurring.
•Combine process automation and team mobilization. We combine process automation technology with team mobilization to serve up a proposed automation routine to the right responder, with the option to initiate it with the click of a button. This enables tier one responders with easy press-button automation of powerful remediation steps to cut critical minutes out of outages and incidents.
•Secure, resilient, and scalable. Our customers depend on us for their digital operations needs. When their systems fail, we need to be operational. We have built multiple redundancies into our infrastructure, including multiple cloud regions, communications network, and a single DNS provider from a leading cloud provider. We run entirely in production, with no maintenance windows, so our customers can rely on always-on delivery. We have delivered 99.9% uptime to our customers over the past 24 months. Security is a critical customer requirement, and we have adopted governance, access control, and vulnerability testing to support the needs of our most sophisticated customers.
•Designed for the user. Our software is instant on and easy to adopt and use. We provide a simple, self-service onboarding experience so teams can be up and running in minutes. Our products are mobile-first and include intuitive navigation. Customers can easily extend our platform across teams and multiple use cases within an organization.
•Technology agnostic. We are agnostic to our customer’s technology stack and provide them the choice to use the technologies that meet their needs. We are flexible, modular, and open in our approach to building our platform with a powerful API to enable rapid integrations into even the most complex environments. Our open technology and broad range of integrations ensures that we can effectively co-exist with our customer’s technology.
•Enhanced productivity. PagerDuty empowers the full ROI of our customers’ technology stack, using machine learning, automation, auto-remediation, and self-healing to bring together the right people with the right information to generate the appropriate action, in real time, when seconds matter.
The PagerDuty Operations Platform consists of the following products, which empowers teams to address broader digital operations management requirements.
•PagerDuty Modern Incident Response. PagerDuty Modern Incident Response provides a real-time view across the status of a digital service while incorporating noise reduction to remove false positives. When an incident does occur, task automation automates diagnostics and remediation wherever possible. If human intervention is required, it provides advanced incident response capabilities to quickly identify and mobilize the right responders while equipping responders with context, recommendations, and remediation to accelerate resolution of issues.
•PagerDuty Rundeck Automation. PagerDuty Rundeck Automation empowers users with the ability to create automated workflows and runbooks that span different scripts, tools, APIs, and system commands to safely hand off the knowledge required to use these tools correctly and consistently. With this self-service functionality, organizations can safely extend operations privileges to other teams and business units.
•PagerDuty Event Intelligence. PagerDuty Event Intelligence (AI Ops) applies machine learning to correlate and automate the identification of incidents from billions of events. Event Intelligence groups related events into a single incident, performs advanced suppression to prevent notification of non-actionable events, and continuously learns from similar incidents to provide teams better context and insight. Our Event Intelligence capabilities allow teams to reduce manual work and be more productive.
•PagerDuty for Customer Service. PagerDuty for Customer Service makes it easy to orchestrate, automate, and scale your response to customer impacting issues. With real-time data, two-way communication, and a fully integrated tool stack, we provide what our customers need to act as a unit and resolve issues faster. During an incident, customers receive proactive and clear information on service status, resolution activities, and even the ability to escalate, right from within today’s most populated case management platforms.
Our Growth Strategies
•Land new customers. We will continue to target new customers by leveraging our trusted brand and efficient go-to-market strategy that combines self-serve viral adoption with a focused direct sales effort. We will continue to build on our partner ecosystem to drive awareness and adoption of our products. We will continue to target our potential customers with community building and marketing programs that include digital campaigns, our annual user conference, broader industry events, customer marketing activities, and user meet-ups.
•Expand usage within our existing customer base across development, IT operations, security operations, customer service and support, as well as with new user groups such as business and industrial operations. Development and IT professionals often make an initial purchase of our platform for a small number of users and then expand users over time. We will continue to work with customers to demonstrate how additional users can help accelerate organizational benefits. We see significant growth opportunities within the development, IT operations, security operations, and customer service. We intend to increase our inside and field sales and customer success efforts as well as leverage partners to continue to drive adoption across our existing customers.
•Introduce new products and functionality. We will continue to make investments in research and development to bolster our existing products, increase the reach of our integrations, and innovate on our platform. Our expanding portfolio of products provides us additional opportunities to upsell and
cross-sell into our customer base. In addition to internal development, we can expand our product portfolio and offerings through acquisitions.
•Grow our international presence. We intend to build on our success to date and grow our sales outside North America, particularly throughout EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Japan. The self-service, low friction nature of our offering allows us to expand our reach into other regions where we see significant opportunity. Our international operations generated 24% of our revenue in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022.
Our Market Opportunity
Our platform has demonstrated core use cases across development, IT operations, customer service and support, and security operations. We estimated that in 2021, there were approximately 72 million potential users worldwide in the development, IT operations, customer service and support, and security operations segments, comprised of approximately:
•22.0 million development personnel
•20.8 million IT operations personnel
•27.4 million customer service and support personnel
•1.6 million security operations personnel
We estimate our total addressable market is over $36 billion. To calculate our total addressable market, we multiply our estimate of 72 million potential users by our applicable product average revenue per user. We believe that we have less than 1% penetration worldwide within these markets. In addition to our core use cases, we are seeing customers use our platform across their business operations and industrial operations.
Customer Success
We are committed to the success of our customers. This means delivering performance improvements that enable our customers to drive their digital initiatives. The key to delivering recurring value is rapid implementation with a focus on continuous improvement throughout our relationship. We assist our customers by enhancing their ability to operate in real time via cross functional workflows in engineering, IT, security, customer support, executive leadership, and across their entire employee base.
Companies are typically on a digital operations maturity journey that we model in five stages: manual, reactive, responsive, proactive, and preventative. In our view, the majority of organizations are in one of the first three stages, which means issues are primarily discovered only through customer reports.
To assist companies in the advancement of their digital journeys, our Customer Success team is structured to provide expertise through the entire customer lifecycle from onboarding, adoption of our platform, business value realization and renewal. We provide in-depth instructor-led courses to certify our customers and partners on products, technology, and best practices. The support teams respond to our customers’ queries related to our products via a multi-channel environment from no-fee to paid 24/7 support with service-level agreements. Technical industry experts, architects, and consultants assist customers with rapid deployment with workflow optimization and PagerDuty best practices. The renewals team works proactively to reduce churn/downgrade and provide customers with a positive on-time renewal experience.
Research and Development
Our research and development team consists of our user experience, product management, and engineering teams and technical operations. These groups are responsible for the design, development, testing, and delivery of new technologies and features for our platform. They are also responsible for scaling our platform and maintaining our cloud infrastructure. We invest substantial resources in research and development to drive core technology
innovation and bring new products to market. Our distributed research and development efforts enable us to attract the best talent across our multiple locations, including San Francisco, Atlanta, Toronto, London, and Sydney.
Sales and Marketing
We employ a highly efficient go-to-market strategy that combines viral adoption through word of mouth, user-centric content marketing, and grass roots brand development with a high-velocity inside sales model that drives both the initial land of new customers and the subsequent expansion into broader use cases, increased users, and premium functionality. We also target senior IT and business operations management at companies from mid-market to the largest enterprises through inside and field sales strategies to pursue larger-scale deployments.
Our global sales teams focus on both new customer acquisition and up-selling and cross-selling additional products to our existing customers. Our sales teams are organized by geography, consisting of the Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Japan, as well as by target organization size.
We offer a four-tiered range of pricing plans aligned with our customers’ needs and the maturity of their digital operations: Professional, Business, and Digital Operations. Rundeck automation is a stand-alone offering available on a term-license software subscription basis. We also offer a “freemium” plan for less than five users to introduce new users to the PagerDuty platform.
We use diverse marketing tactics to engage with prospective customers, including email marketing, event marketing, digital advertising, social media, public relations, and community initiatives. We also host and present at regional, national, and global events, including our PagerDuty Summit, to engage both customers and prospects, deliver product training, share best practices, and foster community. Our technical leaders and evangelists frequently speak as subject matter experts at market-leading developer events like DevOps Days.
Competition
The market for digital operations management is large, fragmented, and constantly evolving. We primarily replace manual processes, in-house solutions, queued ticketing offerings and software providers that may compete against certain components of our offering. Our primary competitors include Atlassian OpsGenie and Splunk On-Call (formerly VictorOps).
We compete on the basis of a number of factors, including:
•platform functionality and breadth of offering;
•integrations;
•performance, security, scalability, and reliability;
•real-time response, workflow, and automation capabilities;
•focus on modern, contemporary digital services and operations;
•brand recognition, reputation, and customer satisfaction;
•ease of implementation and ease of use, and;
•time-to-value, total cost of ownership, and return on investment.
We believe that we compete favorably with respect to all of these factors and that we are well positioned as a leader in the category of digital operations management.
Intellectual Property
We rely on a combination of trade secrets, patents, copyrights, and trademarks, as well as contractual protections, to establish and protect our intellectual property rights. While we had 14 issued patents and eight patent
applications pending examination in the United States as of January 31, 2022 that, with respect to the issued patents, are expected to have terms ending between 2033 and 2040, and we actively seek patent protection covering inventions originating from our company, we do not believe that we are materially dependent on any one or more of our patents. We pursue the registration of domain names, trademarks, and service marks in the United States and in various jurisdictions outside the United States.
We control access to and use of our proprietary technology and other confidential information through the use of internal and external controls, including contractual protections with employees, contractors, customers, and partners, and our software is protected by U.S. and international intellectual property laws. We require our employees, consultants, and other third parties to enter into confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements and control access to software, documentation, and other proprietary information. Our policy is to require employees and independent contractors to sign agreements assigning to us any inventions, trade secrets, works of authorship, developments, and other processes generated by them on our behalf and agreeing to protect our confidential information. In addition, we generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our vendors and customers.
Although we rely on intellectual property rights, including trade secrets, patents, copyrights, and trademarks, as well as contractual protections to establish and protect our proprietary rights, we believe that factors such as the technological and creative skills of our personnel, creation of new modules, features and functionality, and frequent enhancements to our platform are more essential to establishing and maintaining our technology leadership position.
Regulatory
We are subject to a number of U.S. federal and state and foreign laws and regulations that involve matters central to our business. These laws and regulations may involve privacy, data protection, intellectual property, competition, consumer protection, export taxation, or other subjects. Many of the laws and regulations to which we are subject are still evolving and being tested in courts and could be interpreted in ways that could harm our business. In addition, the application and interpretation of these laws and regulations often are uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate. Because global laws and regulations have continued to develop and evolve rapidly, it is possible that we may not be, or may not have been, compliant with each such applicable law or regulation. For a discussion of risks related to these various areas of government regulation, see “Risk Factors—We are subject to governmental regulation and other legal obligations, particularly those related to privacy, data protection and information security, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business, by resulting in litigation, fines, penalties or adverse publicity and reputational damage that may negatively affect the value of our business and decrease the price of our common stock. Compliance with such laws could also result in additional costs and liabilities to us or inhibit sales of our solutions.”
Geographic Information
For a description of our revenue and long-lived assets by geographic location, see Note 14, “Geographic Information” of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. Human Capital
Our corporate culture is a critical component of our success and we will continue taking steps to help foster innovation, teamwork, diversity, and inclusion. We promote an environment that values the democratization of ideas and the adoption of a DevOps culture internally, resulting in a mindset that is empowering our team to be more innovative, productive, and collaborative. We are continually investing in our global workforce to further drive diversity and inclusion, provide fair and market-competitive pay and benefits to support our employees’ well-being, and foster their growth and development. As of January 31, 2022, we had 950 employees, of which approximately 71% were in the United States and 29% were in our international locations. None of our employees are represented by a labor union with respect to his or her employment. We have not experienced any work stoppages and we consider our relations with our employees to be good.
Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity
At PagerDuty, we seek to enable employees of all backgrounds to be champions, facilitators, and practitioners of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (“ID&E”) everywhere. Regardless of identity, it is important that all our employees feel welcome, safe, and heard. Our ID&E mission is to activate the potential of all employees through systemic and programmatic equity, sustainable community development, and life-altering learning experiences. Our ID&E vision is a people-first, data-driven organization where power is equitably distributed across the mosaic of our employees’ identities.
As we work to meet our diversity goals, it is important that every employee feels accepted, supported, and able to be their authentic self. We do this by creating initiatives to invest in equitable and sustainable communities, which help employees mobilize and take action. Our goal is for PagerDuty to be a people-first organization where opportunity is equitably distributed among all employees. Our Employee Resource Groups (“ERG”)—networks of employees with shared characteristics, interests, and experiences—are a critical element in how we achieve this goal and engage with employees. The ERGs are the cultural backbone of our vibrant community and support our ID&E efforts through education, awareness, and celebration.
Additional information on our diversity and inclusion strategy, and diversity metrics and programs can be found on our website at pagerduty.com/careers/diversity/. Nothing on our website shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K.
Compensation, Benefits, and Well Being
We offer fair, competitive compensation and benefits that support our employees’ overall well-being. To ensure alignment with our short- and long-term objectives, our compensation programs include base pay, short-term incentives, and opportunities for long-term incentives. We offer a wide array of benefits including comprehensive health and welfare insurance, generous paid time-off and leave, and retirement support. We provide emotional well-being services through our Employee Assistance Program and a variety of interactive applications.
Currently, the majority of our employees work remotely in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19 among our employee base and comply with local regulations within the United States and internationally. As we continue to monitor the local regulations related to COVID-19, we have begun to release travel restrictions on business-related travel, allowing certain employees to travel on a voluntary basis. We have extended our paid time off and sick leave benefits for employees directly impacted by COVID-19 or caring for children or a member of their household impacted by COVID-19. In addition, we have provided allowances to our employees to cover expenses related to transitioning to a work from home environment. We also continue to offer local employee assistance programs to employees if needed and have implemented scheduled company-wide paid days off to help employees balance their work and life responsibilities.
Employee Engagement and Development
We invest significant resources to develop our in-house talent and deepen our employees’ skill sets, both to strengthen our company and help further our employees’ personal career goals. We empower our employees to drive their career development and set personal development objectives in partnership with their managers. To strengthen these conversations, we train managers to partner with employees through career conversations so that they can successfully leverage the many tools in place to support them.
In order to ensure we are listening to our employees, we regularly survey our employees to obtain their views and assess employee satisfaction. We use the views expressed in the surveys to influence our people strategy and policies. We also use employee survey information to gain insights into how and where we work.
Social Impact and Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) Initiatives
We launched PagerDuty.org in 2018 to ensure a sustainable contribution to the communities in which we live, work, and service by integrating social impact and environmental, social and governance goals into our business. PagerDuty.org exists to empower those working to make a difference in the world, and to use our technology to help solve intractable challenges. We do so by mobilizing core company assets to help impact organizations deliver on their mission when every moment matters, by deploying high-impact funding that enables partners to advance justice and equitable health outcomes, and by activating employees to create meaningful impact.
A Pledge 1% member since 2017, we commit 1% of equity, 1% of product, and 1% of employee time to advance positive community impact. In June 2018, we fulfilled our equity pledge by issuing a warrant to purchase shares of our common stock to the Tides Foundation to fund our philanthropic giving. The PagerDuty.org Fund works to meet urgent needs faster to advance justice and health through integrated investments of grants, donated product, and employee expertise in our core areas of Time-Critical Health and Just and Equitable Communities. We deployed approximately $1.9 million in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2022, including a portfolio of grants (inclusive of Care Message, WeRobotics, Turn.io) to support equitable COVID-19 Vaccine Access and Delivery, a public-private partnership with COVAX/GAVI and the World Health Organization, and new and follow-on funding to help organizations respond to urgent needs faster to advance health (NexLeaf Analytics, Trek Medics, SIRUM). Through our Just and Equity Communities portfolio, we made investments in community-based approaches to vaccine equity and trust, and launched a new grant making program to empower PagerDuty Employee Resource Groups to fund organizations and issues aligned to their community. Through our Impact Pricing program, we provide discounted pricing to nonprofit organizations and social enterprises globally to ensure they can access PagerDuty’s platform for digital operations. Our volunteer time off policy offers employees 20 hours annually to volunteer, vote, and participate in non-partisan voter engagement efforts and peaceful demonstration. Beginning with new hires, our rewards and recognition programs honor and celebrate the contributions employees make in giving their time, expertise, or capital. Ninety-two percent of our employees participated in volunteering or giving back in 2021.
We made early investments in ESG in 2020, including forming a cross-functional ESG Steering Committee of business leadership, to ensure that how we operate as a business produces positive impact. In 2021 we strengthened this work, conducting our first materiality assessment and first two years of greenhouse gas inventories. We garnered a silver rating by EcoVadis, incorporated ESG into the Board charter with Nominating and Corporate Governance oversight, opened a dedicated ESG role, and are preparing our first ESG disclosures. While
many ESG elements are already in place, we identified areas for further development as we build an integrated cross-company ESG strategy.
To articulate our progress against social impact, equity, and ESG goals and commitments, PagerDuty.org publishes an annual Impact Report. We will track and report annually on our progress against social impact, equity and ESG commitments as we formalize new areas of investment in social impact, inclusion, diversity and equity, and ESG.
Available Information
We make available, free of charge through our website (www.pagerduty.com), our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Securities and Exchange Commission maintains an internet site (http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We announce material information to the public about us, our products and services and other matters through a variety of means, including our website (www.pagerduty.com), the investor relations section of our website (investor.pagerduty.com), our blog (pagerduty.com/blog), press releases, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, public conference calls, and social media, including our Twitter account (twitter.com/pagerduty), the Twitter account @jenntejada and Facebook page (facebook.com/pagerduty), in order to achieve broad, non-exclusionary distribution of information to the public. We encourage investors and others to review the information we make public in these locations, as such information could be deemed to be material information.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Our business involves significant risks, some of which are described below. You should carefully consider the following risks, together with all of the other information in this Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. Any of the following risks could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or prospects, and could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline. Our business, results of operations, financial condition or prospects could also be harmed by risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe are material.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected significant portions of our business and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. We are subject to numerous pandemic-related risks, including those described below. The degree to which COVID-19 impacts our results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including, but not limited to, the duration and severity of the pandemic, the actions taken to contain the virus or treat its impact, vaccination rates, the impact of variants, other actions taken by governments, businesses, and individuals in response to the virus and resulting economic disruption, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. We are similarly unable to predict the extent of the impact of the pandemic on our customers, suppliers, vendors, and other partners, and their financial conditions, but a material effect on these parties could also materially adversely affect us.
Our customers or potential customers, particularly those most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic such as small and medium businesses or those in industries such as transportation, hospitality, retail and energy, have reduced and may in the future reduce their IT spending or delay their digital transformation initiatives, which could materially and adversely impact our business. We have seen and may continue to see a decline in the number of users from individual customers as those customers are required to make workforce reductions. We have also
experienced curtailed customer demand, reduced customer spend and contract duration during the COVID-19 pandemic, which have since normalized, but we may experience these effects again in the future, along with delayed collections, lengthened payment terms and increased competition due to changes in terms and conditions and pricing of our competitors’ products and services that could materially adversely impact our business, results of operations and overall financial performance in future periods.
In addition, due to restrictions on travel and in-person meetings as a result of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, we have converted Summit, our global customer conference series, to virtual events. We have also canceled or shifted other planned events to virtual-only experiences and may determine to alter, postpone or cancel additional customer, employee or industry events in the future. We have typically relied on marketing and promotional events such as Summit and other in-person conferences, events and meetings to facilitate customer sign-ups and generate leads for potential customers, and virtual marketing events and phone or virtual sales interactions may not be as successful as in-person events and meetings. We cannot predict how long, or the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may continue to constrain our marketing, promotional, and sales activities.
The majority of our employees continue to work remotely in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19 among our employee base and to comply with local regulations within the United States and internationally. Our remote workforce poses increased risks to our information technology systems and data, as more of our employees work from home, utilizing network connections outside our premises.
While our revenues, billings and earnings are relatively predictable as a result of our subscription-based business model, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic may not be fully reflected in our results of operations and overall financial performance until future periods. The impact of COVID-19 can also exacerbate other risks discussed in this Risk Factors section and throughout this report, which could in turn have a material adverse effect on us. Developments related to COVID-19 have been unpredictable, and additional impacts and risks may arise that we are not aware of or able to respond to appropriately or quickly.
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 results of operations.
Our results of operations may vary based on the impact of changes in our industry or the global economy on us or our customers and potential customers. Negative conditions in the general economy both in the United States and abroad, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product growth, financial and credit market fluctuations, inflation, international trade relations, political turmoil, natural catastrophes, health epidemics or pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), warfare and terrorist attacks on the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific region, Japan, or elsewhere, could cause a decrease in business investments, including spending on information technology, and negatively affect the growth of our business. Competitors, many of whom are larger and have greater financial resources than we do, may respond to challenging market conditions by lowering prices in an attempt to attract our customers. In addition, the increased pace of consolidation in certain industries may result in reduced overall spending on our products. We cannot predict the timing, strength, or duration of any economic slowdown, instability, or recovery, generally or within any particular industry or how any such event may impact our business.
We have a history of operating losses and may not achieve or sustain profitability in the future.
We were incorporated in 2010 and have experienced net losses since inception. We generated a net loss of $107.5 million, $68.9 million, and $50.3 million for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020 respectively, and as of January 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $348.8 million. While we have experienced significant revenue growth in recent periods, we are not certain whether or when we will obtain a high enough volume of sales to sustain or increase our growth or achieve or maintain profitability in the future. We also expect our costs and expenses to increase in future periods, which could negatively affect our future operating results if our revenue does not increase. In particular, we intend to continue to expend significant funds to further develop our platform, including by introducing new products and functionality, and to expand our inside and field sales teams and customer success team to drive new customer adoption, expand use cases and integrations, and support international expansion. We also face increased compliance costs associated with growth, the expansion of
our customer base, and being a public company. Our efforts to grow our business may be costlier than we expect, and we may not be able to increase our revenue enough to offset our increased operating expenses. We may incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, including the other risks described herein, and unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications and delays, and other unknown events. If we are unable to achieve and sustain profitability, the value of our business and common stock may significantly decrease.
Our recent rapid growth may not be indicative of our future growth, and if we continue to grow rapidly, we may not be able to manage our growth effectively. Our rapid growth also makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.
Our revenue was $281.4 million, $213.6 million, and $166.4 million for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020, respectively. Although we have recently experienced significant growth in our revenue, even if our revenue continues to increase, we expect that our revenue growth rate will decline in the future as a result of a variety of factors, including the maturation of our business. Overall growth of our revenue depends on a number of factors, including our ability to:
•price our digital operations platform effectively so that we are able to attract new customers and expand sales to our existing customers;
•expand the functionality and use cases for the products we offer on our platform;
•maintain or increase the rates at which customers purchase and renew subscriptions to our platform;
•provide our customers with customer support that meets their needs;
•continue to introduce our products to new markets outside of the United States;
•successfully identify and acquire or invest in businesses, products, or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our platform; and
•increase awareness of our brand on a global basis and successfully compete with other companies.
We may not successfully accomplish any of these objectives, which makes it difficult for us to forecast our future operating results. If the assumptions that we use to plan our business are incorrect or change in reaction to changes in our market, or if we are unable to maintain consistent revenue or revenue growth, our stock price could be volatile, and it may be difficult to achieve and maintain profitability. You should not rely on our revenue for any prior quarterly or annual periods as any indication of our future revenue or revenue growth.
In addition, we expect to continue to expend substantial financial and other resources on:
•sales and marketing, including a significant expansion of our sales organization;
•our technology infrastructure, including systems architecture, scalability, availability, performance, and security;
•product development, including investments in our product development team and the development of new products and new functionality for our platform;
•acquisitions or strategic investments;
•international expansion; and
•general administration, including increased legal, accounting, and compliance expenses associated with being a public company.
These investments may not result in increased revenue growth in our business. If we are unable to increase our revenue at a rate sufficient to offset the expected increase in our costs, our business, financial position, and results of operations will be harmed, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability over the long term.
Additionally, we may encounter unforeseen operating expenses, difficulties, complications, delays, and other unknown factors that may result in losses in future periods. If our revenue growth does not meet our expectations in future periods, our financial performance may be harmed, and we may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.
We operate in an emerging and evolving market, which may develop more slowly or differently than we expect. If our market does not grow as we expect, or if we cannot expand our platform to meet the demands of this market, our revenue may decline, fail to grow or fail to grow significantly, and we may incur additional operating losses.
The market for digital operations management solutions, particularly enterprise-grade solutions, is in an early stage of development, and it is uncertain whether this market will develop, and even if it does develop, how rapidly it will develop, how much it will grow, or whether our platform will be widely adopted. Our success will depend, to a substantial extent, on the widespread adoption of our platform as an alternative to existing solutions or adoption by customers that are not using any such solutions at all. Some organizations may be reluctant or unwilling to use our platform for a number of reasons, including concerns about additional costs, uncertainty regarding the reliability and security of cloud-based offerings, or lack of awareness of the benefits of our platform. Our ability to expand sales of our platform depends on several factors, including potential customer awareness of our platform; the timely completion, introduction, and market acceptance of enhancements to our platform or new products that we may introduce; our ability to attract, retain, and effectively train inside and field sales personnel; our ability to develop or maintain integrations with partners; the effectiveness of our marketing programs; the costs of our platform; and the success of our competitors. If we are unsuccessful in developing and marketing our platform, or if organizations do not perceive or value the benefits of our platform as an alternative to legacy systems, the market for our platform might not continue to develop or might develop more slowly than we expect, either of which would harm our growth prospects and operating results.
If we are unable to attract new customers, our revenue growth will be adversely affected.
To increase our revenue, we must continue to attract new customers and increase sales to new customers. As our market matures, product and service offerings evolve, and competitors introduce lower cost or differentiated products or services that are perceived to compete with our platform, our ability to sell subscriptions for our products could be impaired. Similarly, our subscription sales could be adversely affected if customers or users within these organizations perceive that features incorporated into competitive products reduce the need for our products or if they prefer to purchase other products that are bundled with solutions offered by other companies, including our partners, that operate in adjacent markets and compete with our products. As a result of these and other factors, we may be unable to attract new customers, which could have an adverse effect on our business, revenue, gross margins, and other operating results, and accordingly, on the trading price of our common stock.
If we are unable to retain our current customers or sell additional functionality and services to them, our revenue growth will be adversely affected.
To increase our revenue, in addition to selling to new customers, we must retain existing customers and convince them to expand their use of our platform across their organizations — in terms of increasing the number of users, subscribing for additional functionality, and broadening the user base across multiple departments and business units. Our ability to retain our customers and increase the amount of their subscriptions could be impaired for a variety of reasons, including customer reaction to changes in the pricing of our products or the other risks described herein. As a result, we may be unable to renew our subscriptions with existing customers or attract new business from existing customers, which would have an adverse effect on our business, revenue, gross margins, and other operating results, and accordingly, on the trading price of our common stock.
Our ability to sell additional functionality and services to our existing customers may require more sophisticated and costly sales efforts, especially as we target larger enterprises and more senior management who make these purchasing decisions. Similarly, the rate at which our customers purchase additional products and services from us depends on a number of factors, including general economic conditions and the pricing of the additional product functionality and services. If our efforts to sell additional functionality and services to our customers are not successful, our business and growth prospects would suffer.
Our customers have no obligation to renew their subscriptions with us after the expiration of their subscription period. Our subscriptions with our customers are typically one year in duration but can range from monthly to multi-year. In order for us to maintain or improve our results of operations, it is important that our customers renew their subscriptions with us on the same or more favorable terms. We cannot accurately predict renewal or expansion rates given the diversity of our customer base, in terms of size, industry, and geography. Our renewal and expansion rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including customer spending levels, customer dissatisfaction with our products and services, decreases in the number of users at our customers, changes in the type and size of our customers, pricing changes, competitive conditions, the acquisition of our customers by other companies, and general economic conditions. If our customers do not renew their subscriptions with us, or if they reduce their subscription amounts at the time of renewal, our revenue and other results of operations will decline and our business will suffer. If our renewal or expansion rates fall significantly below the expectations of the public market, securities analysts, or investors, the trading price of our common stock would likely decline.
We derive a significant majority of all of our revenue from a single platform.
Sales of subscriptions to our incident response offerings account for a significant majority of all of our revenue. We expect these subscriptions to account for a large portion of our revenue for the foreseeable future. As a result, our operating results could suffer due to:
•any decline in demand for our incident response product;
•the failure of our broader platform and other products to achieve market acceptance;
•the market for our digital operations platform not continuing to grow, or growing more slowly than we expect;
•the introduction of products and technologies that serve as a replacement or substitute for, or represent an improvement over, our platform and products;
•technological innovations or new standards that our platform and products do not address;
•sensitivity to current or future prices offered by us or our competitors; and
•our inability to release enhanced versions of our platform and products on a timely basis.
Our inability to renew or increase sales of subscriptions to our platform or market and sell additional products and functionality, or a decline in prices of our platform subscription levels, would harm our business and operating results more seriously than if we derived significant revenue from a variety of products. In addition, if the market for our platform and products grows more slowly than anticipated, or if demand for our digital operations platform does not grow as quickly as anticipated, whether as a result of competition, pricing sensitivities, product obsolescence, technological change, unfavorable economic conditions, uncertain geopolitical environment, budgetary constraints of our customers, or other factors, our business, results of operations, and financial condition would be adversely affected.
The markets in which we participate are competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be harmed.
The market for digital operations solutions, particularly enterprise-grade solutions, is highly fragmented, competitive, and constantly evolving. We face substantial competition from in-house solutions, open source software, manual processes, and software providers that may compete against certain components of our offering, as well as established and emerging software providers. With the introduction of new technologies and market entrants, we expect that the competitive environment will remain intense going forward. Some of our actual and potential competitors have been acquired by other larger enterprises and have made or may make acquisitions or may enter into partnerships or other strategic relationships that may provide more comprehensive offerings than they individually had offered or achieve greater economies of scale than us. For example, companies that compete with certain components of our offerings include Atlassian through its acquisition of OpsGenie, Splunk through its
acquisition of VictorOps, and parts of ServiceNow’s product suite. In addition, new entrants not currently considered to be competitors may enter the market through product development, acquisitions, partnerships, or strategic relationships. As we look to market and sell our platform to potential customers with existing internal solutions, we must convince their internal stakeholders that our platform is superior to their current solutions.
We compete on the basis of a number of factors, including:
•platform functionality and breadth of offering;
•integrations;
•performance, security, scalability, and reliability;
•real-time response, workflow, and automation capabilities;
•focus on modern, contemporary digital services and operations;
•brand recognition, reputation, and customer satisfaction;
•ease of implementation and ease of use; and
•time-to-value, total cost of ownership, and return on investment.
Our competitors vary in size and in the breadth and scope of the products and services offered. Many of our competitors and potential competitors have greater name recognition, longer operating histories, more established customer relationships and installed customer bases, larger marketing budgets, and greater resources than we do. Further, other potential competitors not currently offering competitive solutions may expand their product offerings to compete with our platform, or our current and potential competitors may establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties that may further enhance their resources and product and services offerings in our addressable market. Our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, and customer requirements. An existing competitor or new entrant could introduce new technology that reduces demand for our platform. In addition to product and technology competition, we face pricing competition. Some of our competitors offer their solutions at a lower price, which has resulted in pricing pressures. Some of our larger competitors, such as Atlassian and Splunk, have the operating flexibility to bundle competing solutions with other offerings, including offering them at a lower price or for no additional cost to customers as part of a larger sale of other products.
In addition, because of the characteristics of open-source software, there may be fewer technology barriers to entry in the open-source market by new competitors. One of the characteristics of open-source software is that, subject to specified restrictions, anyone may modify and redistribute the existing open-source software and use it to compete in the marketplace. Such competition can develop with a smaller degree of overhead and lead time than required by traditional proprietary software companies. New open-source-based platform technologies and standards are consistently being developed and can gain popularity quickly. Improvements in open source could cause customers to replace software purchased from us with their internally-developed, integrated and maintained open-source software. It is possible for competitors with greater resources than ours to develop their own in-house solution and make it available on an open-source basis to organizations that would otherwise be potential customers of ours, potentially reducing the demand for our products and putting price pressure on our offerings.
For all of these reasons, we may not be able to compete successfully against our current or future competitors, and this competition could result in the failure of our platform to continue to achieve or maintain market acceptance, any of which would harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
The nature of our business exposes us to inherent liability risks.
Our platform and related products, including our Event Intelligence and Rundeck Automation, are designed to provide quick, reliable alerts, to communicate information frequently during critical business events, such as information relevant to mitigating the damaging effects of system problems, and to automatically remediate systems
problems. Due to the nature of such products, we are potentially exposed to greater risks of liability for solution or system failures than may be inherent in other businesses. Although substantially all of our subscription agreements contain provisions limiting our liability to our customers, we cannot assure you that these limitations will be enforced nor that the costs of any litigation related to actual or alleged omissions or failures would not have a material adverse effect on us even if we prevail. Further, certain of our insurance policies and the laws of some states may limit or prohibit insurance coverage for punitive or certain other types of damages or liability arising from gross negligence, and we cannot assure you that we are adequately insured against the risks that we face.
We expect fluctuations in our financial results, making it difficult to project future results, and if we fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors with respect to our operating results, our stock price and the value of your investment could decline.
Our operating results have fluctuated in the past and are expected to fluctuate in the future due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. As a result, our past results may not be indicative of our future performance. In addition to the other risks described herein, factors that may affect our operating results include the following:
•health epidemics or pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, influenza and other highly communicable diseases or viruses;
•fluctuations in demand for or pricing of our platform;
•our ability to attract new customers;
•our ability to retain our existing customers;
•customer expansion rates;
•the pricing and quantity of subscriptions renewed;
•the timing of our customer purchases;
•fluctuations or delays in purchasing decisions in anticipation of new products or product enhancements by us or our competitors;
•changes in customers’ budgets and in the timing of their budget cycles and purchasing decisions;
•potential and existing customers choosing our competitors’ products or developing their own solutions in-house;
•our ability to control costs, including our operating expenses;
•the amount and timing of payment for operating expenses, particularly research and development and sales and marketing expenses, including commissions;
•the amount and timing of non-cash expenses, including stock-based compensation, goodwill impairments, and other non-cash charges;
•the amount and timing of costs associated with recruiting, training, and integrating new employees and retaining and motivating existing employees;
•the effects of acquisitions and their integration;
•general economic conditions, both domestically and internationally, as well as economic conditions specifically affecting industries in which our customers participate;
•the impact of new accounting pronouncements;
•changes in the competitive dynamics of our market, including consolidation among competitors or customers;
•significant security breaches of, technical difficulties with, or interruptions to, the delivery and use of our platform; and
•awareness of our brand and our reputation in our target markets.
Any of these and other factors, or the cumulative effect of some of these factors, may cause our results of operations to vary significantly. In addition, we expect to continue to incur significant additional expenses due to the increased costs of operating as a public company. If our annual results of operations fall below the expectations of investors and securities analysts who follow our stock, the price of our common stock could decline substantially, and we could face costly lawsuits, including securities class action suits.
Because we recognize revenue from the majority of our subscriptions over the term of the relevant agreement, downturns or upturns in sales are not immediately reflected in full in our operating results.
We recognize revenue for our cloud-hosted software subscription fees over the term of our subscription agreement, and our subscriptions are generally one year in duration but can range from monthly to multi-year. As a result, much of our revenue is generated from cloud-hosted software subscriptions entered into during previous periods. Consequently, a decline in demand for our platform or a decline in new or renewed subscriptions in any one quarter may not significantly reduce our revenue for that quarter but could negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Our revenue recognition model also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue through the sale of additional cloud-hosted software subscriptions in any period, as revenue from customers is recognized over the applicable term of their cloud-hosted subscriptions.
Seasonality may cause fluctuations in our sales and operating results.
The first fiscal quarter of each year is usually our lowest billings and bookings quarter. In fact, billings and bookings during our first fiscal quarter are typically lower than the prior fiscal fourth quarter. We believe that this results from the procurement, budgeting, and deployment cycles of many of our customers, particularly our enterprise customers. We expect that this seasonality will continue to affect our billings, bookings, and other operating results in the future as we continue to target larger enterprise customers.
If we fail to adapt and respond effectively to rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, changing regulations, and changing customer needs, requirements, or preferences, our products may become less competitive.
The market in which we compete is relatively new and subject to rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, and changing regulations, as well as changing customer needs, requirements, and preferences. The success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to adapt and respond effectively to these changes on a timely basis. If we were unable to continue enhancing and evolving our digital operations platform or delivering new products that keep pace with rapid technological and regulatory change, or if new technologies emerge that are able to deliver competitive value at lower prices, more efficiently, more conveniently, more reliably, or more securely than our products, our business, results of operations, and financial condition would be adversely affected.
If we fail to maintain and enhance our brand, our ability to expand our customer base will be impaired and our business, results of operations, and financial condition may suffer.
We believe that maintaining and enhancing the PagerDuty brand is important to support the marketing and sale of our existing and future products to new customers and expand sales of our platform to existing customers. We also believe that the importance of brand recognition will increase as competition in our market increases. Successfully maintaining and enhancing our brand will depend largely on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, our ability to provide reliable products that continue to meet the needs of our customers at competitive prices, our ability to maintain our customers’ trust, our ability to continue to develop new functionality and use cases, and our ability to successfully differentiate our platform and products from competitive products and services. Additionally,
the performance of our partners may affect our brand and reputation if customers do not have a positive experience with our partners’ services. Our brand promotion activities may not generate customer awareness or yield increased revenue, and even if they do, any increased revenue may not offset the expenses we incur in building our brand. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand, our business could suffer.
Failure to effectively develop and expand our marketing and sales capabilities could harm our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products.
Our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our digital operations platform will depend to a significant extent on our ability to expand our marketing and sales organizations. We plan to continue expanding our direct sales force and partners, both domestically and internationally. We also plan to dedicate significant resources to sales and marketing programs, including inbound marketing and online advertising. The effectiveness of these programs has varied over time and may vary in the future due to competition for key search terms, changes in search engine use, changes in the search algorithms used by major search engines and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“EU GDPR”), the United Kingdom’s GDPR (“U.K. GDPR”) and other similar privacy initiatives. All of these efforts will require us to invest significant financial and other resources. Our business and operating results will be harmed if our sales and marketing efforts do not generate significant increases in revenue. We may not achieve anticipated revenue growth from expanding our sales force if we are unable to hire, develop, integrate, and retain talented and effective sales personnel, if our new and existing sales personnel, on the whole, are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time, or if our sales and marketing programs are not effective.
If we are unable to enhance and improve our platform or develop new functionality or use cases, our revenue may not grow.
Our ability to increase sales will depend in large part on our ability to enhance and improve our platform, introduce new functionality in a timely manner, and develop new use cases for our platform. Any new functionality that we develop or acquire needs to be introduced in a timely and cost-effective manner in order to achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenue. If we are unable to enhance our platform or develop new functionality to keep pace with rapid technological and regulatory change, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
If our products fail to perform properly due to defects or similar problems, and if we fail to develop enhancements to resolve any defect or other problems, we could lose customers, become subject to service performance or warranty claims, or incur other significant costs.
Our operations are dependent upon our ability to prevent system interruption. Our platform for digital operations is built on a modern modular technology stack that is inherently complex and may contain material defects or errors, which may cause disruptions in availability or other performance problems. We have from time to time experienced service outages and found defects in our platform. We may experience additional outages or discover additional defects in the future that could result in data unavailability or unauthorized access to, or loss or corruption of, our customers’ data. We may not be able to detect and correct defects or errors before implementing our platform. Consequently, we or our customers may discover defects or errors after our platform has been deployed.
The occurrence of any defects, errors, disruptions in service, or other performance problems with our software, whether in connection with day-to-day operations, upgrades, or otherwise, could result in:
•loss of customers;
•lost or delayed market acceptance and sales of our products;
•delays in payment to us by customers;
•injury to our reputation and brand;
•legal claims, including warranty and service level agreement claims, against us; or
•diversion of our resources, including through increased service and warranty expenses or financial concessions, and increased insurance costs.
The costs incurred in correcting any material defects or errors in our software or other performance problems may be substantial and could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
As we continue to pursue sales to new and existing mid-market and enterprise customers, our sales cycle, forecasting processes, and deployment processes may become more unpredictable and require greater time and expense.
While we rely predominantly on self-service purchases to establish new customer relationships, our inside and field sales teams target expansion opportunities with existing mid-market and enterprise customers. Sales to new and existing mid-market and enterprise customers involve risks that may not be present or that are present to a lesser extent with sales to smaller organizations. As we seek to increase our sales to mid-market and enterprise customers, we face more complex customer requirements, substantial upfront sales costs, less predictability, and, in some cases, longer sales cycles than we do with smaller customers. With mid-market and enterprise customers, the decision to subscribe to our platform frequently may require the approval of multiple management personnel and more technical personnel than would be typical of a smaller organization, and accordingly, sales to mid-market and enterprise customers may require us to invest more time educating these potential customers. Purchases by mid-market and larger enterprise customers are also frequently subject to budget constraints and unplanned administrative, processing, and other delays, which means we may not be able to come to agreement on the subscription terms with enterprises. Our ability to successfully sell our platform to mid-market and larger enterprise customers is also dependent upon the effectiveness of our sales force, including new sales personnel, who currently represent the majority of our sales force. In addition, if we are unable to increase sales of our platform to mid-market and larger enterprise customers while mitigating the risks associated with serving such customers, our business, financial position, and operating results may be adversely affected.
If we cannot maintain our company culture as we grow, our success and our business may be harmed.
We believe our culture has been a key contributor to our success to date and that the critical nature of the platform that we provide promotes a sense of greater purpose in our employees. Failure to preserve our culture negatively affects our ability to retain and recruit personnel, which is critical to our growth, and to effectively focus on and pursue our corporate objectives. As we continue to grow, we may find it difficult to attract and retain qualified diverse talent if we do not maintain a culture that is reflective of our talent. Thus, our company culture is a business imperative and critical to our competitive position within our industry. If we fail to maintain our company culture, our business and competitive position may be adversely affected.
If we lose key members of our management team or are unable to attract and retain executives and employees we need to support our operations and growth, our business may be harmed.
Our success and future growth depend upon the continued services of our management team and other key employees. From time to time, there may be changes in our management team resulting from the hiring or departure of executives and key employees, which could disrupt our business. Our senior management and key employees are employed on an at-will basis. We currently do not have “key person” insurance on any of our employees. Certain of our key employees have been with us for a long period of time and have fully vested stock options or other long-term equity incentives that may become valuable and may be sold in the public markets, generating significant proceeds, which may reduce their motivation to continue to work for us. The loss of one or more of our senior management, particularly Jennifer Tejada, our Chief Executive Officer, or other key employees could harm our business, and we may not be able to find adequate replacements. We cannot ensure that we will be able to retain the services of any members of our senior management or other key employees, that we have adequate succession plans in place or that we would be able to timely replace members of our senior management or other key employees should any of them depart.
The failure to attract and retain additional qualified personnel and any restrictions on the movement of personnel could prevent us from executing our business strategy and growth plans.
To execute our business strategy, we must attract and retain highly qualified personnel. Competition for executive officers, software developers, sales personnel, and other key employees in our industry is intense and increasing. In particular, we compete with many other companies for software developers with high levels of experience in designing, developing, and managing cloud-based software, as well as for skilled sales and operations professionals. While the market for such personnel is particularly competitive in Silicon Valley, it is also competitive in other markets where we maintain operations, including Canada. Although uncertain at this time, the current administration's position on the regulatory environment related to immigration may continue with implementation of regulations introduced by the previous administration, limiting the availability of H1-B and other visas. This may impact our ability to recruit, hire, retain or effectively collaborate with qualified skilled personnel, including in Canada, which could adversely impact our business, operating results and financial condition. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we do and can frequently offer such personnel substantially greater compensation than we can offer. In addition, we may fail to identify, attract, and retain talented employees who support our corporate culture that we believe fosters innovation, teamwork, diversity, and inclusion, and which we believe is critical to our success. If we fail to identify, attract, develop, and integrate new personnel, or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our growth prospects would be severely harmed.
The estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the market in which we compete achieves the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts, including those we have generated ourselves, are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. The variables that go into the calculation of our market opportunity are subject to change over time, and there is no guarantee that any particular number or percentage of addressable users or companies covered by our market opportunity estimates will purchase our products at all or generate any particular level of revenue for us. Any expansion in our market depends on a number of factors, including the cost, performance, and perceived value associated with our platform and those of our competitors. Even if the market in which we compete meets the size estimates and growth forecasted, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if 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. Accordingly, the forecasts of market growth should not be taken as indicative of our future growth.
Our security measures have on occasion in the past been, and may in the future be, compromised. If our, our customers’, or our third-party providers’ security measures are compromised, or unauthorized access to the data of our customers or their employees, customers, or other constituents is otherwise obtained, our platform may be perceived as not being secure, our customers may be harmed and may curtail or cease their use of our platform, our reputation and business would be damaged, we may incur significant liabilities, our business operations could be disrupted, and the value of our business and common stock may decrease.
Our business involves the processing, storage and transmission of proprietary, sensitive, or confidential data of our customers and their employees and customers, including personal information. We may use third-party service providers and subprocessors to help us deliver services and process information on our behalf. Our ability to monitor these third parties’ information security practices is limited, and these third parties may not have adequate information security measures in place. If we, our service providers, or other relevant third parties have experienced or in the future experience, any security incident that result in, any data loss, deletion or destruction, unauthorized access to, loss of, unauthorized acquisition or disclosure of, or inadvertent exposure disclosure of, proprietary, sensitive, or confidential data, or any compromise related to the security, confidentiality, integrity or availability of our (or their) information technology, software, services, communications or data, it may result in litigation, indemnity obligations, interruption to our business operations, and other possible liabilities, as well as negative publicity, which would damage our reputation and business, impair our sales, and harm our customers.
Cyber incidents and malicious internet-based activity continue to increase generally, and providers of cloud-based services have frequently been targeted by such attacks. These cybersecurity challenges, including threats to our own IT infrastructure or those of our customers or third-party providers, may take a variety of forms including but not limited to malware (including as a result of advanced persistent threat intrusions), social engineering attacks (including through phishing), ransomware, man-in-the-middle attacks, session hijacking, denial-of-service (such as credential stuffing), supply-chain attacks, password attacks, personnel misconduct or error, viruses, worms and other malicious software programs or cybersecurity attacks, and “mega breaches” targeted against cloud-based services and other hosted software, which could be initiated by individual or groups of hackers or sophisticated cyber criminals. A cybersecurity incident or breach could result in disclosure of confidential information and intellectual property, or cause production downtimes and compromised data. We may be unable to anticipate or prevent techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems because they change frequently and often are not detected until after an incident has occurred. As we increase our customer base and our brand becomes more widely known and recognized, third parties may increasingly seek to compromise our security controls or gain unauthorized access to our sensitive corporate information or our customers’ data. We may be required to expend significant resources, fundamentally change our business activities and practices, or modify our services, software, operations or information technology to protect against security breaches and to mitigate, detect, and remediate actual and potential vulnerabilities.
Ransomware attacks, including those perpetrated by organized criminal threat actors, nation-states, and nation-state-supported actors, are becoming increasingly prevalent and severe – and can lead to significant interruptions in our operations, loss of data and income, reputational harm, and diversion of funds. Extortion payments may alleviate the negative impact of a ransomware attack, but we may be unwilling or unable to make such payments due to, for example, applicable laws or regulations prohibiting such payments. Similarly, supply-chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity.
Many governments have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals of data security incidents or unauthorized transfers involving certain types of personal data. Such notifications are costly, and the notifications or the failure to comply with requirements to provide them could lead to adverse consequences. In addition, some of our customers contractually require notification by us of any data security incident. Accordingly, security incidents experienced by our competitors, our customers, us, or our service providers may lead to public disclosures, which may lead to widespread negative publicity. Any security compromise in our industry, whether actual or perceived, could harm our reputation, erode customer confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures, negatively affect our ability to attract new customers, cause existing customers to elect not to renew their subscriptions, and subject us to third-party lawsuits, regulatory fines, or other action or liability, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
While we maintain general liability insurance coverage and coverage for errors or omissions, we cannot assure you that such coverage would be adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages with respect to claims alleging compromises of customer data or that such coverage will continue to be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or results in changes to our insurance policies (including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements), could have an adverse effect on our business.
We make numerous statements in our privacy policies and terms of service, through our certifications to privacy standards and in our marketing materials, providing assurances about the security of our platform, including detailed descriptions of the security measures we employ. Should any of these statements be untrue or become untrue, even through circumstances beyond our reasonable control, we may face claims of misrepresentation or deceptiveness by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, state and foreign regulators, and private litigants, and may face interruptions of or required changes of our business practices, the diversion of resources and the attention of management from our business, discontinuance of necessary data processing activities or other remedies, which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We rely upon free trials of our products and other inbound lead-generation strategies to drive our sales and revenue. If these strategies fail to continue to generate sales opportunities or trial users do not convert into paying customers, our business and results of operations would be harmed.
We rely upon our marketing strategy of offering a 14-day free trial and “freemium” plan, a free version of PagerDuty, for less than five users and an open source version of Rundeck Automation as well as other inbound, lead-generation strategies to generate new sales opportunities. Most of our customers start with the free version of our products. These strategies may not be successful in continuing to generate sufficient sales opportunities necessary to increase our revenue. A subset of users never convert from the trial version of a product to a paid version of such product. Further, we often depend on individuals within an organization who initiate the trial versions of our products being able to convince decision makers within their organization to convert to a paid version. Many organizations have complex and multi-layered purchasing requirements. To the extent that these users do not become, or are unable to convince others to become, paying customers, we will not realize the intended benefits of this marketing strategy, and our ability to grow our revenue will be adversely affected.
Interruptions or delays in performance of our service could result in customer dissatisfaction, damage to our reputation, loss of customers, limited growth, and reduction in revenue.
We currently serve our customers using third-party cloud providers, including those operated by AWS. Our customers need to be able to access our platforms at any time, without interruption or degradation of performance. In some cases, third-party cloud providers run their own platforms that we access, and we are, therefore, vulnerable to their service interruptions. We therefore depend on our third-party cloud providers’ ability to protect their data centers against damage or interruption from natural disasters, power or telecommunications failures, criminal acts, and similar events. In the event that our data center arrangements are terminated, or if there are any lapses of service or damage to a data center, we could experience lengthy interruptions in our service as well as delays and additional expenses in arranging new facilities and services. Even with current and planned disaster recovery arrangements, including the existence of redundant data centers that become active during certain lapses of service or damage at a primary data center, our reputation and business could be harmed.
Design and mechanical errors, spikes in usage volume, and failure to follow system protocols and procedures could cause our IT systems and infrastructure to fail, resulting in interruptions in our digital operations platform. We have from time to time in the past experienced service disruptions, and we cannot assure you that we will not experience interruptions or delays in our service in the future. Any interruptions or delays in our service, whether caused by our products, third-parties, natural disasters, the effect of climate change (such as drought, flooding, wildfires, increased storm severity, and sea level rise), security breaches, or otherwise, could harm our relationships with customers and cause our revenue to decrease or our expenses to increase. Also, in the event of damage or interruption, our insurance policies may not adequately compensate us for any losses that we may incur. These factors in turn could further reduce our revenue, subject us to liability, and cause us to issue credits or cause customers to fail to renew their subscriptions, any of which could adversely affect our business.
If we do not or cannot maintain the compatibility of our platform with third-party applications that our customers use in their businesses, or with those of our partners, our revenue and growth prospects will decline.
The functionality and popularity of our platform depend, in part, on our ability to integrate our platform with third-party applications, tools, and software. These third-parties may change the features of their technologies, restrict our access to their applications, tools or other software or alter the terms governing their use in a manner that is adverse to our business and our ability to market and sell our digital operations platform. Such third parties could also develop features and functionality that limit or prevent our ability to use these third-party technologies in conjunction with our platform, which would negatively affect adoption of our platform and harm our business. If we fail to integrate our platform with third-party applications, tools, or other software that our customers use, use publicly available APIs for our integrations, or expose APIs for our customers to use, we may not be able to offer the functionality that our customers require, which would negatively affect our results of operations and growth prospects.
Further, we are subject to requirements imposed by mobile application stores such as those operated by Apple and Google, who may change their technical requirements or policies in a manner that adversely impacts the way in which we or our partners collect, use and share data from users. Similarly, new technical requirements and policies that our partners put in place or are subject to could impact our ability to operate as expected in certain jurisdictions. If we do not comply with these requirements, we could lose access to the application store and users, and our business would be harmed.
The success of our business depends on our customers’ continued and unimpeded internet access.
Our customers must have internet access in order to use our platform. Some internet service providers may take measures that affect their customers’ ability to use our platform, such as degrading the quality of the data packets we transmit over their lines, giving those packets lower priority, giving other packets higher priority than ours, blocking our packets entirely, or attempting to charge their customers more for using our platform.
In January 2018, the Federal Communications Commission, or the FCC, repealed the “network neutrality” rules adopted during the Obama Administration, which barred internet service providers from blocking or slowing down access to online content, protecting services like ours from such interference. The 2018 decision was largely affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, subject to a remand to consider several issues raised by parties that supported network neutrality, and in November 2020 the FCC affirmed its decision to repeal the rules. Petitions for reconsideration of this decision are pending. President Biden supported restoration of the network neutrality rules during his Presidential campaign, and such action is supported by the current Democratic FCC commissioners. In addition, a number of states have adopted or are adopting or considering legislation or executive actions that would regulate the conduct of broadband providers. A federal court judge denied a request for injunction against California’s state-specific network neutrality law, and as a result, California began enforcing that law. Trade associations representing internet service providers appealed the district court’s ruling denying the preliminary injunction, and the appeal was denied on January 28, 2022. This decision could be appealed to the full court of appeals or the Supreme Court, or the parties could return to the trial court for further proceedings to determine whether a permanent injunction should be granted. We cannot predict whether the FCC order or other state initiatives will be enforced, modified, overturned, or vacated by legal action of the court, federal legislation, or the FCC.
To the extent internet service providers, absent network neutrality rules, attempt to interfere with our services, extract fees from us to make our platform available, or otherwise engage in discriminatory practices, our business could be adversely impacted. Within such a regulatory environment, we could experience discriminatory or anti-competitive practices that could impede our domestic and international growth, cause us to incur additional expense, or otherwise negatively affect our business. At the same time, re-adoption of network neutrality rules could affect the services used by us and our customers by restricting the offerings made by internet service providers or reducing their incentives to invest in their networks. Such actions could limit or reduce the quality of internet access services and have an adverse impact on the quality of the services we provide to our customers.
We provide service-level commitments under our cloud-hosted subscription agreements. If we fail to meet these contractual commitments, we could be obligated to provide credits for future service or face subscription termination with refunds of prepaid amounts, which would lower our revenue and harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
All of our cloud-hosted subscription agreements contain service-level commitments. If we are unable to meet the stated service-level commitments, including failure to meet the uptime and delivery requirements under our customer subscription agreements, we may be contractually obligated to provide these customers with service credits which could significantly affect our revenue in the periods in which the uptime or delivery failure occurs and the credits are applied. We could also face subscription terminations, which could significantly affect both our current and future revenue. Any service-level failures could also damage our reputation, which could also adversely affect our business and results of operations.
If we fail to offer high-quality support, our business and reputation could suffer.
Our customers rely on our customer support personnel to resolve issues and realize the full benefits that our platform provides. High-quality support is also important for the renewal and expansion of our subscriptions with existing customers. The importance of our support function will increase as we expand our business and pursue new customers. If we do not help our customers quickly resolve issues and provide effective ongoing support, our ability to maintain and expand our subscriptions to existing and new customers could suffer, and our reputation with existing or potential customers would be harmed.
We may not be able to scale our business quickly enough to meet our customers’ growing needs, and if we are not able to grow efficiently, our operating results could be harmed.
As usage of our digital operations platform grows and as the breadth of the use cases for our products expands, we will need to devote additional resources to improving and maintaining our infrastructure and integrating with third-party applications. In addition, we will need to appropriately scale our internal business systems and our services organization, including customer support and professional services, to serve our growing customer base.
Any failure of or delay in these efforts could result in impaired system performance and reduced customer satisfaction, resulting in decreased sales to new customers, lower subscription renewal rates by existing customers, the issuance of service credits, or requested refunds, which would hurt our revenue growth and our reputation. Even if we are successful in these efforts, they will be expensive and complex, and require the dedication of significant management time and attention. We could also face inefficiencies or service disruptions as a result of our efforts to scale our internal infrastructure. We cannot be sure that the expansion and improvements to our internal infrastructure will be effectively implemented on a timely basis, if at all, and such failures would adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Our current operations are international in scope, and we plan further geographic expansion, creating a variety of operational challenges.
A component of our growth strategy involves the further expansion of our operations and customer base internationally. In each of the fiscal years ended January 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020 customers outside of the United States generated 24%, 24%, and 22%, respectively, of our revenue. We currently have offices in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom (U.K.), and the United States. We are continuing to adapt to and develop strategies to address international markets, but there is no guarantee that such efforts will have the desired effect. As of January 31, 2022, approximately 29% of our full-time employees were located outside of the United States. We expect that our international activities will continue to grow for the foreseeable future as we continue to pursue opportunities in existing and new international markets, which will require significant dedication of management attention and financial resources.
Our current and future international business and operations involve a variety of risks, including:
•changes in a specific country’s or region’s political or economic conditions;
•health epidemics or pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, influenza and other highly communicable diseases or viruses;
•continuing uncertainty regarding social, political, immigration, and tax and trade policies in the U.S. and abroad, including as a result of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (“EU”);
•the need to adapt and localize our products for specific countries;
•greater difficulty collecting accounts receivable and longer payment cycles;
•potential changes in trade relations, regulations, or laws;
•unexpected changes in laws, regulatory requirements, or tax laws;
•more stringent regulations relating to privacy and data security and the unauthorized use of, or access to, commercial and personal information, particularly in Europe;
•differing and potentially more onerous labor regulations, especially in Europe, where labor laws are generally more advantageous to employees as compared to the United States, including deemed hourly wage and overtime regulations in these locations;
•challenges inherent in efficiently managing, and the increased costs associated with, an increased number of employees over large geographic distances, including the need to implement appropriate systems, policies, benefits, and compliance programs that are specific to each jurisdiction;
•difficulties in managing a business in new markets with diverse cultures, languages, customs, legal systems, alternative dispute systems, and regulatory systems;
•increased travel, real estate, infrastructure, and legal compliance costs associated with international operations;
•currency exchange rate fluctuations and the resulting effect on our revenue and expenses, and the cost and risk of entering into hedging transactions if we chose to do so in the future;
•limitations on our ability to reinvest earnings from operations in one country to fund the capital needs of our operations in other countries;
•laws and business practices favoring local competitors or general market preferences for local vendors;
•limited or insufficient intellectual property protection or difficulties enforcing our intellectual property;
•political instability, including military actions;
•terrorist activities;
•exposure to liabilities under anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, U.S. bribery laws, the UK Bribery Act, and similar laws and regulations in other jurisdictions; and
•adverse tax burdens and foreign exchange controls that could make it difficult to repatriate earnings and cash.
Political actions, including trade protection and national security policies of U.S. and foreign government bodies, such as tariffs, import or export regulations, trade and economic sanctions, quotas or other trade barriers and restrictions could affect our ability to fulfill our contractual obligations and have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, NATO deployed additional military forces to Eastern Europe, and the United States, European Union, and other nations announced various sanctions against Russia. The invasion of Ukraine and the retaliatory measures that have been taken, and could be taken in future, by the United States, NATO, and other countries have created global security concerns that could result in a regional conflict and otherwise have a lasting impact on regional and global economies, any or all of which could adversely affect our business.
If any of the above risks materializes, it could harm our business and prospects. In addition, 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 further expand our international operations and are unable to do so successfully and in a timely manner, our business and operating results will suffer.
Our international operations may subject us to potential adverse tax consequences.
We are expanding our international operations to better support our growth into international markets. Our corporate structure and associated transfer pricing policies contemplate future growth in international markets, and
consider the functions, risks, and assets of the various entities involved in intercompany transactions. The amount of taxes we pay in different jurisdictions may depend on the application of the tax laws of the various jurisdictions, including the United States, to our international business activities, changes in tax rates, new or revised tax laws or interpretations of existing tax laws and policies, and our ability to operate our business in a manner consistent with our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements. The taxing authorities of the jurisdictions in which we operate may challenge our methodologies for pricing intercompany transactions pursuant to our intercompany arrangements or disagree with our determinations as to the income and expenses attributable to specific jurisdictions. If such a challenge or disagreement were to occur, and our position was not sustained, we could be required to pay additional taxes, interest, and penalties, which could result in one-time tax charges, higher effective tax rates, reduced cash flows and lower overall profitability of our operations. Our financial statements could fail to reflect adequate reserves to cover such a contingency.
We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could negatively affect our operating results.
Our sales contracts are primarily denominated in U.S. dollars, and therefore, substantially all of our revenue is not subject to foreign currency risk. However, a strengthening of the U.S. dollar could increase the real cost of our platform to our customers outside of the United States, which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, an increasing portion of our operating expenses are incurred and an increasing portion of our assets are held outside the United States. These operating expenses and assets are denominated in foreign currencies and are subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates. If we are not able to successfully hedge against the risks associated with currency fluctuations, our operating results could be adversely affected.
Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
As of January 31, 2022, we had federal net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards in the amount of $396.8 million. Beginning in 2030, $56.3 million of the federal NOLs will begin to expire. The remaining $340.5 million will carry forward indefinitely. As of January 31, 2022, we had state and foreign net operating loss carryforwards in the amount of $21.2 million, and $1.9 million, respectively, which begin to expire in 2030. In general, under Section 382 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs to offset future taxable income. If we undergo an ownership change, our ability to utilize NOLs could be limited by Section 382 of the Code. Future changes in our stock ownership, many of which are outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. Furthermore, our ability to utilize NOLs of companies that we have acquired or may acquire in the future may be subject to limitations. Under current U.S. tax law, federal NOL carryforwards generated in tax years ending on or prior to December 31, 2017 are only permitted to be carried forward for 20 years. Federal NOL carryforwards generated in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such federal NOLs is limited to 80% of taxable income. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states have imposed or will impose similar limitations on the use of NOLs. For these reasons, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of the NOLs prior to expiration, even if we were to achieve profitability, which may adversely affect our results of operations.
Changes in our effective tax rate or tax liability may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
Our effective tax rate could increase due to several factors, including:
•changes in the relative amounts of income before taxes in the various jurisdictions in which we operate that have differing statutory tax rates;
•changes in tax laws, tax treaties, and regulations or the interpretation of them;
•changes to our assessment about our ability to realize our deferred tax assets that are based on estimates of our future results, the prudence and feasibility of possible tax planning strategies, and the economic and political environments in which we do business;
•the outcome of current and future tax audits, examinations, or administrative appeals; and
•limitations or adverse findings regarding our ability to do business in some jurisdictions.
Any of these developments could adversely affect our results of operations.
Our reported financial results may be adversely affected by changes in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”), is subject to interpretation by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”), the SEC and various bodies formed to promulgate and interpret appropriate accounting principles. A change in these principles or interpretations could have a significant effect on our reported results of operations and financial condition and could affect the reporting of transactions already completed before the announcement of a change.
If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect, our results of operations could be adversely affected.
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates.” The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, and equity, and the amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Significant estimates and judgments involve stock-based compensation expense, the fair value of the employee stock purchase plan (the “ESPP”) expense, period of benefit for amortizing deferred contract costs, the determination of the allowance for credit losses, and the provision for income taxes, including related valuation allowance and uncertain tax positions, among others. Our results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the trading price of our common stock.
We may not be able to successfully manage the growth of our business if we are unable to improve our internal systems, processes, and controls.
We need to continue to improve our internal systems, processes, and controls to effectively manage our operations and growth. We may not be able to successfully implement and scale improvements to our systems and processes in a timely or efficient manner or in a manner that does not negatively affect our operating results. In addition, our systems and processes may not prevent or detect all errors, omissions, or fraud. We may experience difficulties in managing improvements to our systems, processes, and controls in connection with the implementation of third-party software or otherwise, which could impair our ability to provide products to our customers in a timely manner, limit us to smaller deployments of our products, increase our technical support costs or cause us to be unable to timely and accurately report our financial results in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC. In addition, we may experience material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Our independent registered public accounting firm is required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and may, during the evaluation and testing process of our internal controls, identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting.
In addition, we rely on hardware and infrastructure purchased or leased from third parties and software licensed from third parties to operate critical business functions. Our business would be disrupted if any of this third-party hardware, software, and infrastructure becomes unavailable on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Furthermore, any errors or defects in third-party hardware, software, or infrastructure, or delays or complications with respect to the transition of critical business functions from one third-party product to another, could result in errors or a failure of our platform, which could harm our business and results of operations.
Our management team has limited experience managing a public company.
Our management team has limited experience managing a publicly traded company, interacting with public company investors and securities analysts, and complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. These obligations and constituents require significant attention from our management team and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We could incur substantial costs in protecting or defending our proprietary rights, and any failure to adequately protect such rights could impair our competitive position and result in the loss of valuable intellectual property rights, reduced revenue and costly litigation.
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 provisions in an effort to establish and protect our proprietary rights. However, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property may be inadequate. While we have been issued patents in the United States and have additional patent applications pending, we may be unable to obtain patent protection for the technology covered in our patent applications. In addition, any patents that are issued may not provide us with competitive advantages or may be successfully challenged by third parties. Any of our patents, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights may be challenged or circumvented by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation. There can be no assurance that others will not independently develop similar products, duplicate any of our products, design around our patents, or register our trademarks. Furthermore, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability, and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain. 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 products may be unenforceable under the laws of jurisdictions outside the United States. In addition, certain countries into which we might expand our business might require us, as examples, to do business through an entity that is partially owned by a local investor, to make available our technologies to state regulators, or to grant license rights to local partners in a manner not required by the jurisdictions in which we currently operate. As we expand our international activities, our exposure to reverse engineering of our technologies and unauthorized copying and use of our products and proprietary information, as well as unauthorized use of our trademarks, 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 or in avoiding misuse of proprietary information or intellectual property. Further, these agreements do not prevent our competitors or partners from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our platform.
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 inability to protect our proprietary technology against unauthorized copying or use, as well as any costly litigation or diversion of our management’s attention and resources, could impair or delay additional sales, renewals or customer adoption of our platform, impair the functionality of our platform, delay introductions of new products, result in our substituting inferior or more costly technologies into our platform, or injure our reputation. 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. Moreover, policing unauthorized use of our technologies, trade secrets, and intellectual property may be difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in the United States and where mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property rights may be weak. If we fail to meaningfully protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Any future litigation against us could be costly and time-consuming to defend.
We have in the past and may in the future become subject to legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business, such as claims brought by our customers in connection with commercial disputes or employment claims made by our current or former employees. Litigation might result in substantial costs and may divert management’s attention and resources, which might seriously harm our business, overall financial condition, and operating results. Insurance might not cover such claims, might not provide sufficient payments to cover all the costs to resolve one or more such claims, and might not continue to be available on terms acceptable to us. A claim brought against us that is uninsured or underinsured could result in unanticipated costs, thereby reducing our operating results and leading analysts or potential investors to reduce their expectations of our performance, which could reduce the trading price of our stock.
We have in the past, and may in the future be, subject to intellectual property disputes, which are costly and may subject us to significant liability and increased costs of doing business.
We have in the past and may in the future become subject to intellectual property disputes. Lawsuits are time-consuming and expensive to resolve and they divert management’s time and attention. Although we carry general liability insurance, our insurance may not cover potential claims of this type or may not be adequate to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed. We cannot predict the outcome of lawsuits and cannot assure you that the results of any such actions will not have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, or financial condition.
Our industry is characterized by the existence of a large number of patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual and proprietary rights. From time to time, we may be required to defend against litigation claims based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. Our technologies may not be able to withstand any third-party claims against their use. In addition, many companies have the capability to dedicate substantially greater resources than we do to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. Any litigation may also involve patent holding companies or other adverse patent owners that have no relevant product revenue, and therefore, our patents may provide little or no deterrence as we would not be able to assert them against such entities or individuals. If a third party is able to obtain an injunction preventing us from accessing third-party intellectual property rights, or if we cannot license or develop alternative technology for any infringing aspect of our business, we would be forced to limit or stop sales of our software or cease business activities related to such intellectual property. Any inability to license third-party technology in the future would have an adverse effect on our business or operating results and would adversely affect our ability to compete. We may also be contractually obligated to indemnify our customers in the event of infringement of a third party’s intellectual property rights. Responding to such claims, regardless of their merit, can be time consuming, costly to defend, and damaging to our reputation and brand.
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. From time to time, there have been claims challenging the ownership of open source software against companies that incorporate it into their products. As a result, we could be subject to lawsuits 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, although we employ open source software license screening measures, if we were to combine our proprietary software products with open source software in a certain manner we could, under certain open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software products. If we inappropriately use or incorporate open source software subject to certain types of open source licenses that challenge the proprietary nature of our products, we may be required to re-engineer such products, discontinue the sale of such products or take other remedial actions, each of which could reduce the value of our platform and technologies and materially and adversely affect our ability to sustain and grow our business.
Indemnity provisions in various agreements potentially expose us to substantial liability for intellectual property infringement, data protection, and other losses.
Our agreements with customers 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, inadequate data protection, damages caused by us to property or persons, or other liabilities relating to or arising from our platform or other contractual obligations. Some of these indemnity agreements provide for uncapped liability and some indemnity provisions survive termination or expiration of the applicable agreement. Large indemnity payments could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Although we normally contractually limit our liability with respect to such obligations, we may still incur substantial liability, and we may be required to cease use of certain functions of our platform or products as a result of any such claims. Any dispute with a customer with respect to such obligations could have adverse effects on our relationship with that customer and other existing or new customers, harming our business and results of operations. In addition, although we carry general liability insurance, our insurance may not be adequate to cover our indemnification obligations or to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed or otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages with respect to claims alleging compromises of customer data, and any such coverage may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms or at all.
We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, and similar laws, and non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal or civil liability and harm our business.
We are subject to the FCPA, U.S. domestic bribery laws, the UK Bribery Act, and other anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly to generally prohibit companies, their employees and their third-party intermediaries from authorizing, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or benefits to recipients in the public or private sector. As we increase our international sales and business and sales to the public sector, we may engage with business partners and third-party intermediaries to market our services and to obtain necessary permits, licenses, and other regulatory approvals. In addition, we or our third-party intermediaries may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party intermediaries, our employees, representatives, contractors, partners, and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities.
While we have policies and procedures to address compliance with such laws, we cannot assure you that all of our employees and agents will not take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. As we increase our international sales and business, our risks under these laws may increase.
Detecting, investigating, and resolving actual or alleged violations of anti-corruption laws can require a significant diversion of time, resources, and attention from senior management. In addition, noncompliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery, or anti-money laundering laws could subject us to whistleblower complaints, investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, enforcement actions, fines, damages, other civil or criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension or debarment from contracting with certain persons, reputational harm, adverse media coverage, and other collateral consequences. If any subpoenas or investigations are launched, or governmental or other sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal proceeding, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be materially harmed. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a materially significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees.
We are subject to evolving and increasingly stringent laws, regulations, contractual obligations, and other legal obligations, particularly those related to privacy, data protection, and information security, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business, subject us to litigation, fines, penalties, or adverse publicity and reputational damage, or otherwise adversely affect the value of our business and decrease the price of our common stock. Compliance with such laws could also result in additional costs and liabilities to us or inhibit sales of our solutions.
We and our customers are subject to numerous domestic and foreign laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection, and information security that govern the collection, use, storage, disclosure, and processing of personal information, including health and financial information, and other information. These laws and regulations are evolving, are subject to significant change, and may result in increasing our exposure to regulatory and public scrutiny, regulatory enforcement actions, litigation, penalties, and sanctions.
Further, privacy, data protection, and information security laws and regulations may be modified or subject to new or different interpretations, and new laws and regulations may be enacted in the future.
An increasing number of foreign laws and regulations apply to privacy, data protection, and information security. For example, the EU GDPR, the U.K. GDPR, Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais or “LGPD”) (Law No. 13,709/2018), Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) and Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (“CASL”), and China’s Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”) impose strict requirements for processing the personal information of individuals. European legislative proposals and existing laws and regulations apply to cookies and similar tracking technologies, electronic communications, and marketing. In the EU and the UK, regulators are increasingly focusing on compliance with requirements related to the online behavioral advertising ecosystem. It is anticipated that the ePrivacy Regulation and national implementing laws will replace the current national laws that implement the ePrivacy Directive that governs electronic communications. Compliance with these laws may require us to make significant operational changes, limit the effectiveness of our marketing activities, divert the attention of our technology personnel, adversely affect our margins, and subject us to liabilities. Furthermore, there is a proposed regulation in the EU related to artificial intelligence (“AI”) that, if adopted, could impose onerous obligations related to the use of AI-related systems that may require us to change our business practices. Under the EU GDPR and U.K. GDPR, government regulators may impose restrictions or injunctions on data processing, and fines of up to 20 million euros (£17.5 million for the U.K. GDPR) or 4% of annual global revenue, whichever is greater. Further, individuals may initiate litigation related to our processing of their personal data.
Certain jurisdictions have enacted data localization laws and cross-border personal information transfer laws, which could make it more difficult to transfer information across jurisdictions (such as transferring or receiving personal information that originates in the EU). Existing mechanisms that may facilitate cross-border personal information transfers may change or be invalidated. For example, absent appropriate safeguards or other circumstances, the EU GDPR generally restricts the transfer of personal information to countries outside of the European Economic Area (“EEA”), such as the United States, which the European Commission does not consider as providing an adequate level of protection of personal information. The European Commission recently released a set of Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”) that are designed to be a mechanism by which entities can transfer personal information out of the EEA. Currently, the SCCs are a valid mechanism to transfer personal information, but impose obligations onto parties relying on them such as to conduct transfer impact assessments to determine whether additional security measures are necessary to protect the transferred personal information. Moreover, due to potential legal challenges, uncertainty exists regarding whether the SCCs will remain a valid mechanism for transfers of personal information out of the EEA. In addition, laws in Switzerland and the UK similarly restrict transfers of personal information outside of those jurisdictions. If we are unable to implement a valid mechanism for personal information transfers to the United States or other countries, we will face increased exposure to regulatory actions, substantial fines, and injunctions against processing or transferring personal information from Europe and other countries, and we may be required to increase our data processing capabilities in Europe and other countries at significant expense. Inability to transfer personal information from Europe or other countries may decrease demand for our products and services if affected customers seek alternatives that do not involve such transfers.
Additionally, other countries outside of Europe have enacted or are considering enacting similar cross-border data transfer restrictions and laws requiring local data residency and restricting cross-border data transfer, which could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services and operating our business. For example, Brazil’s LGPD and China’s PIPL broadly regulates the processing of personal information and impose compliance obligations and penalties comparable to those of the EU GDPR.
Domestically, states have also begun to introduce more comprehensive privacy legislation. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) affords consumers expanded privacy protections. The CCPA gives California residents, among other things, expanded rights to access and require deletion of their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA also provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that may increase data breach litigation. The CCPA will be expanded substantially on January 1, 2023, when the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”) becomes fully operative. The CPRA, among other things, establishes a new California Protection Agency to implement and enforce the CPRA, which is expected to increase the risk of enforcement actions.
The CCPA marks a trend toward more stringent privacy, data protection, and information security legislation in the United States. The CCPA has prompted proposals for new federal and state privacy legislation that, if passed, could increase our potential liability, increase our compliance costs and adversely affect our business. For example, recently Virginia passed the Consumer Data Protection Act and Colorado passed the Colorado Privacy Act, both of which differ from the CPRA and become effective in 2023. If we become subject to new privacy, data protection, and information security laws at the state level, the risk of enforcement action against us could increase because we may become subject to additional obligations, and the number of individuals or entities that can initiate actions against us may increase (including individuals and state actors). Additionally, several states and localities have enacted measures related to the use of AI and machine learning in products and services.
The scope and interpretation of the laws and regulations that are or may be applicable to us are often uncertain and may be conflicting, particularly laws outside the United States, as a result of the rapidly evolving regulatory framework for privacy issues worldwide. For example, laws relating to the liability of providers of online services for activities of their users and other third parties are currently being tested by a number of claims, including actions based on invasion of privacy and other torts, unfair competition, copyright and trademark infringement, and other theories based on the nature and content of the materials searched, the ads posted, or the content provided by users. As a result of the laws that are or may be applicable to us, and due to the nature of the information we collect, we have implemented policies and procedures to preserve and protect our data and our customers’ data against loss, misuse, corruption, misappropriation caused by systems failures, unauthorized access, or misuse. If our policies, procedures, or measures relating to privacy, data protection, information security, marketing, or customer communications fail to comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies, legal obligations, or industry standards, we may be subject to governmental enforcement actions, litigation, regulatory investigations, fines, penalties, and negative publicity, which could cause our application providers, customers and partners to lose trust in us, and have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.
In addition to our legal obligations, our contractual obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and information security have become increasingly stringent due to changes in privacy, data protection and data security and the expansion of our service offerings. Certain privacy, data protection and data security laws, such as the EU GDPR, the U.K. GDPR and the CCPA, require our customers to impose specific contractual restrictions on their service providers.
Further, privacy advocates and industry groups may propose new and different self-regulatory standards that may apply to us. Because the interpretation and application of privacy, data protection, and information security laws, regulations, rules, and other standards are still uncertain, it is possible that these laws, rules, regulations, and other actual or alleged legal obligations, such as contractual or self-regulatory obligations, may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our existing data management practices or the functionality of our platform. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, lawsuits and other claims, we could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or modify our products and services, which could have an adverse effect on our business.
Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with laws, regulations, policies, legal, or contractual obligations, industry standards, or regulatory guidance relating to privacy, data protection, or information security may result in governmental investigations and enforcement actions (including, for example, restrictions or prohibitions on data processing imposed by EU data protection supervisory authorities), litigation, fines and penalties, or adverse publicity, and could cause our customers and partners to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and business. We may be forced to implement new measures to reduce our exposure to this liability. This may require us to expend substantial resources or to discontinue certain products, which would negatively affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. We may also be contractually obligated to indemnify our customers in the event of our breach of privacy, data protection, and information security laws. In addition, the increased attention focused upon liability issues as a result of lawsuits and legislative proposals could harm our reputation or otherwise adversely affect the growth of our business. Furthermore, any costs incurred as a result of this potential liability could harm our operating results.
Future laws, regulations, standards, and other obligations or any changed interpretation of existing laws or regulations could impair our ability to develop and market new functionality and maintain and grow our customer base and increase revenue. Future restrictions on the collection, use, sharing, or disclosure of data or additional requirements for express or implied consent of our customers, partners, or end consumers for the use and disclosure of such information could require us to incur additional costs or modify our platform, possibly in a material manner, and could limit our ability to develop new functionality.
Failure to comply with governmental laws and regulations could harm our business.
Our business is subject to regulation by various federal, state, local, and foreign governments. For example, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 restricts telemarketing and the use of automatic text messages without proper consent. The scope and interpretation of the laws that are or may be applicable to the delivery of text messages and other communications are continuously evolving and developing. If we do not comply with these laws or regulations or if we become liable under these laws or regulations due to the failure of our customers to comply with these laws by obtaining proper consent, we could face direct liability. In certain jurisdictions, these regulatory requirements may be more stringent than those in the United States. Noncompliance with applicable regulations or requirements could subject us to investigations, sanctions, enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, fines, damages, civil and criminal penalties, injunctions, or other collateral consequences. If any governmental sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and an increase in professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could harm our business, reputation, results of operations, and financial condition.
Increased government scrutiny of the technology industry could negatively affect our business.
The technology industry is subject to intense media, political and regulatory scrutiny, which exposes us to government investigations, legal actions, and penalties. Various regulatory agencies, including competition, consumer protection, and privacy authorities, have active proceedings and investigations concerning multiple technology companies. Although we are not currently subject to any such investigations, if investigations targeted at other companies result in determinations that practices we follow are unlawful, including practices related to use of machine- and customer-generated data or AI, we could be required to change our products and services or alter our business operations, which could harm our business. Legislators and regulators also have proposed new laws and regulations intended to restrain the activities of technology companies. If such laws or regulations are enacted, they could have impacts on us, even if they are not intended to affect our company. In addition, the introduction of new products, expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions, or other actions that we may take may subject us to additional laws, regulations, or other government scrutiny. The increased scrutiny of certain acquisitions in the technology industry also could affect our ability to enter into strategic transactions or to acquire other businesses. Compliance with new or modified laws and regulations could increase our cost of conducting the business, limit the opportunities to increase our revenues, or prevent us from offering products or services.
We also could be harmed by government investigations, litigation, or changes in laws and regulations directed at our business partners, or suppliers in the technology industry that have the effect of limiting our ability to do
business with those entities or that affect the services we can obtain from them. For example, the U.S. government recently has taken action against companies operating in China intended to limit their ability to do business in the U.S. or with U.S. companies. There can be no assurance that our business will not be materially adversely affected, individually or in the aggregate, by the outcomes of such investigations, litigation or changes to laws and regulations in the future.
Our sales to government entities and highly regulated organizations are subject to a number of challenges and risks.
We sell to U.S. federal, state, and local, as well as foreign, governmental agency customers, as well as to customers in highly regulated industries such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, insurance, healthcare, and life sciences. Sales to such entities are subject to a number of challenges and risks. Selling to such entities can be highly competitive, expensive, and time-consuming, often requiring significant upfront time and expense without any assurance that these efforts will generate a sale. Government contracting requirements may change and in doing so restrict our ability to sell into the government sector until we have attained the revised certification. Government demand and payment for our offerings are affected by public sector budgetary cycles and funding authorizations, with funding reductions or delays adversely affecting public sector demand for our offerings.
Further, governmental and highly regulated entities may demand contract terms that differ from our standard arrangements and may require expensive and time-consuming compliance efforts. Such entities may have statutory, contractual, or other legal rights to terminate contracts with us or our partners due to a default or for other reasons. Any such termination may adversely affect our reputation, business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we violate the controls.
Our platform is subject to U.S. export controls, including the Export Administration Regulations, and we incorporate encryption technology into certain of our products. These encryption products and the underlying technology may be exported outside of the United States only with the required export authorizations, including by license, a license exception, or other appropriate government authorizations, including the filing of an encryption classification request or self-classification report.
Furthermore, our activities are subject to U.S. economic sanctions laws and regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control that prohibit the shipment of most products and services to embargoed jurisdictions or sanctioned parties without the required export authorizations. Obtaining the necessary export license or other authorization for a particular sale may be time-consuming and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. We have had a limited export compliance program. While we have implemented additional precautions to prevent our products from being exported in violation of these laws, including obtaining authorizations for our encryption products and implementing IP address blocking and screenings against U.S. government and international lists of restricted and prohibited persons, we cannot guarantee that the precautions we take will prevent violations of export control or economic sanctions regulations. Violations of U.S. sanctions or export control regulations can result in significant fines or penalties and possible incarceration for responsible employees and managers.
If our channel partners fail to obtain appropriate import, export, or re-export licenses or permits, we may also be adversely affected through reputational harm, as well as other negative consequences, including government investigations and penalties.
Also, various countries, in addition to the United States, regulate the import and export of certain encryption and other technology, including import and export licensing requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our products or could limit our end-customers’ ability to implement our products in those countries. Changes in our products or future changes in export and import regulations may create delays in the introduction of our platform in international markets, prevent our end-customers with international operations from deploying our platform globally or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products to certain countries, governments, or persons altogether. From time to time, various governmental agencies have proposed additional regulation of encryption technology, including the escrow and government recovery of private encryption keys. Any change in export or import regulations, economic sanctions or related legislation, increased export and import
controls, or change in the countries, governments, persons, or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our platform by, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our products to, existing or potential end-customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our platform or limitation on our ability to export or sell our products would adversely affect our business, operating results, and growth prospects.
Servicing our debt may require a significant amount of cash. We may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our indebtedness, and we may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle for cash conversions of our convertible senior notes due 2025, or Notes, or to repurchase the Notes for cash upon a fundamental change, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
In June 2020, we completed the private offering of Notes, issuing an aggregate principal amount of $287.5 million 1.25% convertible senior notes due 2025. The interest rate is fixed at 1.25% per annum and is payable semi-annually in arrears on January 1 and July 1 of each year, beginning on January 1, 2021. Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on, or to refinance our indebtedness, including the Notes, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive, and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not generate cash flows from operations in the future that are sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flows, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt, or obtaining additional debt financing or equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance any future indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations. In addition, any of our future debt agreements may contain restrictive covenants that may prohibit us from adopting any of these alternatives.
Holders of the Notes have the right to require us to repurchase their Notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change (as defined in the indenture governing the Notes) at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any. Upon conversion, unless we elect to deliver solely shares of our common stock to settle such conversion (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the Notes being converted. We may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases in connection with such conversion and our ability to pay may additionally be limited by law, by regulatory authority, or by agreements governing our existing and future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase the Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the indenture governing the Notes or to pay any cash payable on future conversions as required by such indenture would constitute a default under such indenture. A default under the indenture or the fundamental change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our existing and future indebtedness. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the Notes or make cash payments upon conversions thereof.
In addition, our indebtedness, combined with our other financial obligations and contractual commitments, could have other important consequences. For example, it could;
• make us more vulnerable to adverse changes in general U.S. and worldwide economic, industry, and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;
•limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and our industry;
•place us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors who have less debt;
•limit our ability to borrow additional amounts for funding acquisitions, for working capital, and for other general corporate purposes; and
•make an acquisition of our company less attractive or more difficult.
Any of these factors could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. In addition, if we incur additional indebtedness, the risks related to our business and our ability to service or repay our indebtedness would increase.
The conditional conversion feature of the Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
In the event the conditional conversion feature of the Notes is triggered, holders of Notes will be entitled to convert the Notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.
Transactions relating to our Notes may affect the value of our common stock.
The conversion of some or all of the Notes would dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders to the extent we satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering shares of our common stock upon any conversion of such Notes. Our Notes may become in the future convertible at the option of their holders under certain circumstances. If holders of our Notes elect to convert their Notes, we may settle our conversion obligation by delivering to them a significant number of shares of our common stock, which would cause dilution to our existing stockholders.
In addition, in connection with the pricing of the Notes, we entered into the Capped Calls with certain financial institutions, or the Option Counterparties. The Capped Calls are expected generally to reduce the potential dilution to our common stock upon any conversion or settlement of the Notes and/or offset any cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount of converted Notes, as the case may be, with such reduction and/or offset subject to a cap.
In connection with establishing their initial hedges of the Capped Calls, the Option Counterparties or their respective affiliates entered into various derivative transactions with respect to our common stock and/or purchased shares of our common stock concurrently with or shortly after the pricing of the Notes.
From time to time, the Option Counterparties or their respective affiliates may modify their hedge positions by entering into or unwinding various derivative transactions with respect to our common stock and/or purchasing or selling our common stock or other securities of ours in secondary market transactions prior to the maturity of the Notes (and are likely to do so following any conversion of the Notes, any repurchase of the Notes by us on any fundamental change repurchase date, any redemption date, or any other date on which the Notes are retired by us, in each case, if we exercise our option to terminate the relevant portion of the Capped Calls). This activity could cause a decrease and/or increased volatility in the market price of our common stock.
We do not make any representation or prediction as to the direction or magnitude of any potential effect that the transactions described above may have on the price of the Notes or our common stock. In addition, we do not make any representation that the Option Counterparties will engage in these transactions or that these transactions, once commenced, will not be discontinued without notice.
We are subject to counterparty risk with respect to the Capped Calls.
The Option Counterparties are financial institutions, and we will be subject to the risk that any or all of them might default under the Capped Calls. Our exposure to the credit risk of the Option Counterparties will not be secured by any collateral. Past global economic conditions have resulted in the actual or perceived failure or financial difficulties of many financial institutions. If an Option Counterparty becomes subject to insolvency proceedings, we will become an unsecured creditor in those proceedings with a claim equal to our exposure at that time under the Capped Calls with such Option Counterparty. Our exposure will depend on many factors but,
generally, an increase in our exposure will be correlated to an increase in the market price and in the volatility of our common stock. In addition, upon a default by an Option Counterparty, we may suffer adverse tax consequences and more dilution than we currently anticipate with respect to our common stock. We can provide no assurances as to the financial stability or viability of the Option Counterparties.
We have acquired, and may in the future acquire, other businesses, which could require significant management attention, disrupt our business, or dilute stockholder value.
As part of our business strategy, we have acquired, and may in the future acquire, other companies, employee teams, or technologies to complement or expand our products, obtain personnel, or otherwise grow our business. For example, in the third quarter of fiscal year 2021 we acquired Rundeck, a leading provider of DevOps automation for enterprise. 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 consummated.
We have limited experience making acquisitions. We may not be able to find suitable acquisition candidates and we may not be able to complete acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. If we do complete acquisitions, we may not ultimately strengthen our competitive position or achieve the anticipated benefits from such acquisitions, due to a number of factors, including:
•acquisition-related costs, liabilities, or tax impacts, some of which may be unanticipated;
•difficulty integrating and retaining the personnel, intellectual property, technology infrastructure, and operations of an acquired business;
•ineffective or inadequate, controls, procedures, or policies at an acquired business, including cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities;
•multiple product lines or services offerings, as a result of our acquisitions, that are offered, priced, and supported differently;
•potential unknown liabilities or risks associated with an acquired business, including those arising from existing contractual obligations or litigation matters;
•inability to maintain relationships with key customers, suppliers, and partners of an acquired business;
•lack of experience in new markets, products or technologies;
•diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns; and
•use of resources that are needed in other parts of our business.
In addition, a significant portion of the purchase consideration of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill. We review goodwill for impairment at least annually. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to record impairment charges based on this assessment, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
We may not be able to integrate acquired businesses successfully or effectively manage the combined company following an acquisition. If we fail to successfully integrate acquisitions, or the people or technologies associated with those acquisitions, the results of operations of the combined company could be adversely affected. Any integration process will require significant time, resources, and attention from management, and may disrupt the ordinary functioning of our business, and we may not be able to manage the process successfully, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Any acquisition we complete could be viewed negatively by users, developers, partners, or investors, and could have adverse effects on our existing business relationships. In addition, we may not successfully evaluate or
utilize acquired technology or accurately forecast the financial impact of an acquisition transaction, including accounting charges.
We may have to pay a substantial portion of our available cash, incur debt, or issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisitions, each of which could affect our financial condition or the value of our capital stock. The sale of equity to finance any such acquisitions could result in dilution to our stockholders. If we incur more debt, it would result in increased fixed obligations and would also subject us to covenants or other restrictions that could impede our ability to flexibly operate our business.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
Our stock price may be volatile, and the value of our common stock may decline.
The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile and may fluctuate or decline substantially as a result of a variety of factors, some of which are beyond our control, including:
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results or financial condition;
•variance in our financial performance from expectations of securities analysts;
•changes in the pricing of subscriptions to our platform and products;
•changes in our projected operating and financial results;
•changes in laws or regulations applicable to our platform and products;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant business developments, acquisitions, or new offerings;
•our involvement in litigation;
•future sales of our common stock by us or our stockholders;
•changes in senior management or key personnel;
•the trading volume of our common stock;
•changes in the anticipated future size and growth rate of our market; and
•general economic and market conditions.
Broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political, regulatory, and market conditions, including the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, may also negatively impact the market price of our common stock. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their securities have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future, which could result in substantial expenses and divert our management’s attention.
Future sales of our common stock in the public market could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that such sales may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock.
Under our investors’ rights agreement, certain stockholders can require us to register shares owned by them for public sale in the U.S. In addition, we filed a registration statement to register shares reserved for future issuance under our equity compensation plans. As a result, subject to the satisfaction of applicable exercise and/or vesting
periods, the shares issued upon exercise of outstanding stock options or upon settlement of outstanding RSU awards will be available for immediate resale in the U.S. in the open market.
Furthermore, a substantial number of shares of our common stock is reserved for issuance upon the exercise of the Notes. If we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation on the Notes solely in shares of our common stock upon conversion of the Notes, we will be required to deliver the shares of our common stock, together with cash for any fractional share, on the second business day following the relevant conversion date.
We may issue our shares of common stock or securities convertible into our common stock from time to time in connection with financings, acquisitions, investments, or otherwise. Any such issuance could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and cause the trading price of our common stock to decline.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish unfavorable or inaccurate research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
Our stock price and trading volume following is heavily influenced by the way analysts and investors interpret our financial information and other disclosures. Further, 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. We do not have any control over these analysts. A limited number of analysts are currently covering our company. If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, downgrade our common stock, or publish negative reports about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If the number of analysts that cover us declines, demand for our common stock could decrease and our common stock price and trading volume may decline.
Even if our common stock is actively covered by analysts, we do not have any control over the analysts or the measures that analysts or investors may rely upon to forecast our future results. Over-reliance by analysts or investors on any particular metric to forecast our future results may result in forecasts that differ significantly from our own. Regardless of accuracy, unfavorable interpretations of our financial information and other public disclosures could have a negative impact on our stock price. If our financial performance fails to meet analyst estimates, for any of the reasons discussed above or otherwise, or one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our common stock or change their opinion of our common stock, our stock price would likely decline.
We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future and, as a result, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our common stock.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock, and we do not intend to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.
We may require additional capital to support the growth of our business, and this capital might not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
We have funded our operations since inception primarily through equity financings, debt financing, and sales of subscriptions to our products. We cannot be certain when or if our operations will generate sufficient cash to fully fund our ongoing operations or the growth of our business. We intend to continue to make investments to support our business, which may require us to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds. Additional financing may not be available on terms favorable to us, if at all. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to invest in future growth opportunities, which could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition. If we incur additional debt, the debt holders would have rights senior to holders of common stock to make claims on our assets, and the terms of any debt could restrict our operations. Furthermore, if we issue additional equity securities, stockholders will experience dilution, and the new equity securities could have rights senior to those of our common stock. Because our decision to issue securities in the future will depend on numerous considerations, including factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, or nature of any future issuance of debt or equity securities. As a result, our stockholders bear the risk of future issuance of debt or equity securities reducing the value of our common stock and diluting their interests.
Concentration of ownership of our common stock among our existing executive officers, directors, and principal stockholders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.
Our executive officers, directors and current beneficial owners of 5% or more of our common stock beneficially own a significant percentage of our outstanding common stock. These persons, acting together, will be able to significantly influence all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election and removal of directors and any merger or other significant corporate transactions. The interests of this group of stockholders may not coincide with the interests of other stockholders.
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and distract our management, which could make it difficult to manage our business.
As a public company, we are required to comply with various regulatory and reporting requirements, including those required by the SEC. Complying with these reporting and other regulatory requirements is time-consuming and will continue to result in increased costs to us and could have a negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We are subject to the requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of the New York Stock Exchange, and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies. As a result, we are required to devote significant management effort and incur additional expenses, which include higher legal fees, accounting and related fees and fees associated with investor relations activities, among others, to ensure compliance with the various reporting requirements. These requirements may also place a strain on our systems and processes. The Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting. To maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, we may need to commit significant resources, hire additional staff and provide additional management oversight. We have been and will be continuing to implement additional procedures and processes for the purpose of addressing the standards and requirements applicable to public companies. Sustaining our growth as a public company also requires us to commit additional management, operational and financial resources to identify new professionals to join our company and to maintain appropriate operational and financial systems to adequately support expansion. These activities may divert management’s attention from other business concerns, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may continue to incur as a result of being a public company or the timing of such costs.
If our internal control over financial reporting or our disclosure controls and procedures are not effective, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results, prevent fraud or file our periodic reports in a timely manner, which may cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information and may lead to a decline in our stock price.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires that we maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. In particular, we must perform system and process evaluation, document our controls and perform testing of our key control over financial reporting to allow management and our independent public accounting firm to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Our testing, or the subsequent testing by our independent public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses. If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner, or if we or our accounting firm identify deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, the market price of our stock would likely decline and we could be subject to lawsuits, sanctions or investigations by regulatory authorities, including SEC enforcement actions, and we could be required to restate our financial results, any of which would require additional financial and management resources.
We continue to invest in more robust technology and in more resources in order to manage those reporting requirements. Implementing the appropriate changes to our internal controls may distract our officers and employees, result in substantial costs and require significant time to complete. Any difficulties or delays in implementing these controls could impact our ability to timely report our financial results. For these reasons, we
may encounter difficulties in the timely and accurate reporting of our financial results, which would impact our ability to provide our investors with information in a timely manner. As a result, our investors could lose confidence in our reported financial information, and our stock price could decline.
In addition, any such changes do not guarantee that we will be effective in maintaining the adequacy of our internal controls, and any failure to maintain that adequacy could prevent us from accurately reporting our financial results.
We will continue to incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to compliance with our public company responsibilities and corporate governance practices.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of the New York Stock Exchange, and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies. Our management and other personnel devote a substantial amount of time to compliance with these requirements. Moreover, we will continue to incur significant legal, accounting, and other expenses complying with these rules and regulations. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we will incur as a public company or the specific timing of such costs.
We are obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting, and any failure to maintain the adequacy of these internal controls may adversely affect investor confidence in our company and, as a result, the value of our common stock.
We are required to furnish a report by management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. This assessment includes disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, our independent registered public accounting firm is required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our compliance with these requirements will continue to require that we incur substantial accounting expenses and expend significant management efforts.
During the evaluation and testing process of our internal controls, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to certify that our internal control over financial reporting is effective. We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition or results of operations. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the New York Stock Exchange, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.
Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of our common stock.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws include provisions that:
•authorize our board of directors to issue, without further action by the stockholders, shares of undesignated preferred stock with terms, rights, and preferences determined by our board of directors that may be senior to our common stock;
•require that any action to be taken by our stockholders be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting and not by written consent;
•specify that special meetings of our stockholders can be called only by our board of directors, the chairperson of our board of directors, or our chief executive officer;
•establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting, including proposed nominations of persons for election to our board of directors;
•establish that our board of directors is divided into three classes, with each class serving three-year staggered terms;
•prohibit cumulative voting in the election of directors;
•provide that our directors may be removed for cause only upon the vote of sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66 2/3%) of our outstanding shares of common stock;
•provide that vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by a majority of directors then in office, even though less than a quorum; and
•require the approval of our board of directors or the holders of at least sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66 2/3%) of our outstanding shares of common stock to amend our bylaws and certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation.
These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of 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 generally, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any “interested” stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an “interested” stockholder. Any of the foregoing provisions could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, and they could deter potential acquirers of our company, thereby reducing the likelihood that you would receive a premium for your shares of our common stock in an acquisition.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and, to the extent enforceable, the federal district courts of the United States of America as the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which restricts our stockholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law:
•any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf,
•any action asserting a breach of a fiduciary duty,
•any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or our amended and restated bylaws, or
•any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine.
The provisions do not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Although the Delaware Supreme Court recently held that such exclusive forum provisions are facially valid, courts in other jurisdictions may find such provisions to be unenforceable. These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees. If a court were to find either choice of forum provision
contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.