Item 1.
Legal Proceedings
We are not currently a party to any legal proceedings that are material to our business or financial condition. From time to time we may become party to various litigation matters and subject to claims that arise in the ordinary course of business.
Item 1A.
Risk Factors
You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes, before making a decision to invest in our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that affect our business. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects could be materially harmed. In that event, the price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We have a history of losses and may not achieve profitability in the future.
We generated a net loss of $17.3 million, $26.5 million and $43.2 million in fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively, and a net loss of
$32.5 million
in the
six months ended July 31, 2017
. As of
July 31, 2017
, we had an accumulated deficit of
$199.4 million
, reflecting our losses recognized historically on a GAAP basis. We will need to generate and sustain increased revenue levels in future periods to become profitable, and, even if we do, we may not be able to maintain or increase our level of profitability. As a result, we may continue to experience operating losses for the indefinite future. Further, we expect our operating expenses to increase over the next several years as we hire additional personnel, expand our distribution channels, develop our technology and new features and face increased compliance costs associated with our growth and entry into new markets and geographies and operations as a public company. If our revenue does not increase to offset these and other potential increases in operating expenses, we may not be profitable in future periods. If we are unable to achieve and sustain profitability, the market price of our common stock may significantly decrease.
We have a limited operating history as a digital knowledge software company, which makes it difficult to predict our future operating results.
We were incorporated in 2006 and originally operated as an advertising services company. Our business has evolved several times since then. For example, we sold our advertising business to IAC/InterActiveCorp in 2012 to focus our operations on becoming a leading digital knowledge software company. Many of the most popular features of our platform have only been launched in the past few years. Our Listings feature was launched in 2011, our Pages feature was launched in 2014, and our Reviews feature was launched in 2016.
As a result of our limited operating history and recent changes to our platform and our sales model, our ability to forecast our future operating results is limited and subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to plan for and model our future growth. The dynamic nature of our business and our industry may make it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects, and as a result our historical performance should not be considered indicative of our future performance. We have encountered and will encounter risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries, such as the risks and uncertainties described herein. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties are incorrect or change due to changes in our industry, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results could differ materially from our expectations and our business could suffer.
We have recently experienced rapid growth and significant changes to our organization and structure and may not be able to effectively manage such growth.
Our headcount and operations have grown substantially in recent years. We increased the number of our full-time employees from over 450 as of January 31, 2016 to over
700
as of
July 31, 2017
and have hired several members of our senior management team in recent years.
We believe that our corporate culture has been a critical component of our success. We have invested substantial time and resources in building our team and nurturing our culture. As we expand our business and operate as a public company, we may find it difficult to maintain our corporate culture while managing our personnel growth. Any failure to manage our anticipated growth and organizational changes in a manner that preserves the key aspects of our culture could hurt our chance for future success, including our ability to recruit and retain personnel and effectively focus on and pursue our corporate objectives.
In addition, to manage the expected growth of our headcount and operations, we will need to continue to improve our information technology infrastructure and our operational, financial and management systems and procedures. We have implemented many of these systems and procedures only recently, and they may not work as we expect or at all. Our anticipated additional headcount and capital investments will increase our costs, which will make it more difficult for us to address any future revenue shortfalls by reducing expenses in the short term.
Finally, in order to successfully manage our rapid growth, our organizational structure has become more complex. We have added personnel and may need to continue to scale and adapt our operational, financial and management controls, as well as our reporting systems and procedures. The expansion of our systems and infrastructure may require us to commit additional financial, operational and management resources before our revenue increases and without any assurances that our revenue will increase. If we fail to successfully manage our growth, we likely will be unable to successfully execute our business strategy, which could have a negative impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.
Failure to adequately expand our sales force will impede our growth.
Our revenue growth is substantially reliant on our sales force. Our sales process is relationship-driven, which requires a significant sales force. While we plan to continue to expand our direct sales force, both domestically and internationally, we have historically had difficulty recruiting a sufficient number of sales personnel. If we are unable to adequately scale our sales force, we will not be able to reach our market potential and execute our business plan.
Identifying and recruiting qualified sales personnel and training them on our products requires significant time, expense and attention. Our financial results will suffer if our efforts to expand and train our direct sales force do not generate a corresponding increase in revenue. In particular, if we are unable to hire, develop and retain talented sales personnel or if new direct sales personnel are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time, we may not be able to realize the expected benefits of this investment or increase our revenue.
We are in the process of expanding our international operations, which exposes us to significant risks.
In 2014, we opened our first office outside the United States, and we intend to continue to expand our operations abroad. Our revenue from non-U.S. operations has grown from an immaterial amount of our total revenue in fiscal year 2015 to more than 6% of our total revenue in fiscal year 2017. Our international expansion has created and will create significant challenges for our management, administrative, operational and financial infrastructure. Operating in international markets requires significant resources and management attention and will subject us to regulatory, economic and political risks in addition to those we already face in the United States. Because of our limited experience with international operations and developing and managing sales in international markets, our international expansion efforts may not be successful.
Some of the specific risks we will face in conducting business internationally that could adversely affect our business include:
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the difficulty of recruiting and managing international operations and the increased operations, travel, infrastructure and legal compliance costs associated with numerous international locations;
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our ability to effectively price our multi-tiered subscriptions in competitive international markets;
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our ability to identify and manage sales partners;
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new and different sources of competition in each country or region;
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potentially greater difficulty collecting accounts receivable and longer payment cycles;
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the need to adapt and localize our products for specific countries, including differences in the location attributes and formats used in each country;
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the need to offer customer support in various languages;
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difficulties in understanding and complying with local laws, regulations and customs in foreign jurisdictions;
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compliance with U.S. laws and regulations for foreign operations, including, without limitation, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act, import and export control laws, tariffs, trade barriers, economic sanctions and other regulatory or contractual limitations on our ability to sell in certain foreign markets, and the risks and costs of non-compliance;
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expanded demands on, and distraction of, senior management;
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difficulties with differing technical and environmental standards, data privacy and telecommunications regulations and certification requirements outside the United States;
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varying levels of internet technology adoption and infrastructure;
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tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, such as quotas and local content rules;
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more limited protection for intellectual property rights in some countries;
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adverse tax consequences;
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fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could increase the price of our products outside of the United States, increase the expenses of our international operations and expose us to foreign currency exchange rate risk;
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currency control regulations, which might restrict or prohibit our conversion of other currencies into U.S. dollars;
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restrictions on the transfer of funds;
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deterioration of political relations between the United States and other countries; and
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political or social unrest or economic instability in a specific country or region in which we operate, which could have an adverse impact on our operations in that location.
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Also, our network service provider fees outside of the United States are generally higher than domestic rates, and our gross margin may be affected and fluctuate as we expand our operations and customer base worldwide.
Our failure to manage any of these risks successfully could harm our international operations, and adversely affect our overall business, operating results and financial condition.
Some of our resellers and PowerListings Network application providers also have international operations and are subject to the risks described above. Even if we are able to successfully manage the risks of international operations, our business may be adversely affected if these resellers and application providers are not able to successfully manage these risks.
Our growth depends in part on the success of our strategic relationships with existing and prospective PowerListings Network application providers.
We have established strategic relationships with over 100 third-party application providers, including Apple Maps, Bing, Cortana, Facebook, Google, Google Maps, Instagram, Siri, Yelp and many others, which comprise our PowerListings Network. These application providers provide us with direct access to update content on their websites and applications. This direct access enables us to control our customers' business listings on the PowerListings Network application providers' websites and applications and to push real-time or nearly real-time updates to those business listings. If we were to lose access to these applications, either in whole or in part, our PowerListings Network would not be as efficient, accurate or competitive.
In order to grow our business, we anticipate that we will need to continue to maintain and potentially expand these relationships. We may be unsuccessful in renegotiating our agreements with these third-party application providers or third-party application providers may insist on fees to access their applications. Additionally, our contracts with these third-party application providers are generally cancelable upon 30 days' notice. We believe we will also need to establish new relationships with third-party application providers, including third-party application providers in new geographic markets that we enter, and third-party application providers that may emerge in the future as leading sources of digital knowledge for end consumers. Identifying potential third-party application providers, and negotiating and documenting relationships with them, requires significant time and resources. Our competitors may be more effective than us in providing incentives to application providers to favor their products or services or to prevent or reduce subscriptions to our products. In addition, the acquisition of a competitor by one of our third-party application providers could result in the termination of our relationship with that third-party application provider, which, in turn, could lead to decreased customer subscriptions. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with third-party application providers, our ability to compete in the marketplace or to grow our revenue could be impaired and our operating results could suffer.
We do not have a long history with our subscription or pricing models and changes could adversely affect our operating results.
We have limited experience with respect to determining the optimal prices and contract length for our platform. As the markets for our features grow, as new competitors introduce new products or services that compete with ours or reduce their prices, or as we enter into new international markets, we may be unable to attract new customers or retain existing customers at the same price or continue to migrate customers to our multi-tiered subscription model. Moreover, large customers, which have historically been the focus of our direct sales efforts, may demand greater price discounts.
As we expand internationally, we also must determine the appropriate price to enable us to compete effectively internationally. In addition, if the mix of features we sell changes, then we may need to, or choose to, revise our pricing. As a result, in the future we may be required to reduce our prices or offer shorter contract durations, which could adversely affect our revenue, gross margin, profitability, financial condition and cash flow.
Our success depends on a fragmented internet environment for finding digital knowledge, particularly information about physical business locations.
We believe that our Knowledge Engine offers value to our customers in part because of the difficulty for a customer to update digital knowledge, particularly about its physical business locations and other attributes across many websites and apps, many of which are owned or controlled by different entities and receive information from a variety of sources. Industry consolidation or technological advancements could result in a small number of websites or applications emerging as the predominant sources of digital knowledge, including information about physical business locations, thereby creating a less fragmented internet environment for purposes of end consumer searches about physical business locations or digital knowledge generally. Additionally, we may enter new geographies with less fragmented internet environments. If most end consumers relied on a few websites or applications for this information, or if reliably accurate information across the most used websites and applications were generated from a single source, the need for digital business listing synchronization and our platform could decline significantly. In particular, if larger providers of
internet services were able to consolidate or control key websites and apps from which end consumers seek digital knowledge, including regarding physical locations, our platform may become less necessary or attractive to our customers, and our revenue would suffer accordingly.
Our platform faces competition in the marketplace. If we are unable to compete effectively, our operating results could be adversely affected.
The market for our features is competitive, rapidly evolving and fragmented, and is subject to changing technology and shifting customer needs. Many vendors develop and market products and services that compete to varying extents with our features, and we expect competition in our market to intensify. Moreover, industry consolidation may increase competition. Additionally, new entrants, specifically application providers, that enter our industry through acquisitions or otherwise, would increase competition in our industry significantly.
We currently face many competitors with a variety of product offerings. These companies have developed, or are developing, products that currently, or in the future are likely to, compete with some or all of our features. Also, a number of potential new competitors may have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, more established customer bases or significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we do. As a result, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer requirements. We could lose customers if our competitors introduce new competitive products, add new features to existing competitive products, acquire competitive products, reduce prices, form strategic alliances with other companies or are acquired by third parties with greater available resources. If our competitors' products, services or technologies become more accepted than our features, if they are successful in bringing their products or services to market earlier than we bring our features to market, or if their products or services are more technologically capable than our features, then our revenue growth could be adversely affected. In addition, some of our competitors offer their products and services at a lower price. If we are unable to achieve our target pricing levels, our margins and operating results could be negatively affected.
Business and professional service providers may not widely adopt our platform to manage the important aspects of their digital knowledge, which would limit our ability to grow our business.
Our ability to grow our business and increase revenue depends on our success in educating businesses and professional service providers about the potential benefits of our cloud-based platform. Cloud applications for organizing and managing digital knowledge, particularly for location and location-related data, have not previously been widely adopted. Concerns about cost, security, reliability and other issues may cause businesses and professional service providers not to adopt our platform. Moreover, businesses and professional service providers who have already invested substantial resources in other digital knowledge and location data management systems or methods may be reluctant to adopt a new approach like ours to supplement or replace existing systems or methods. If businesses and professional service providers do not widely adopt software such as ours, our ability to grow our business will be limited.
Because we recognize revenue from subscriptions for our platform over the term of the subscription, downturns or upturns in new business may not be immediately reflected in our operating results.
We generally recognize revenue from customers ratably over the terms of their agreements, which are typically one year in length but may be up to three years or longer in length. As a result, most of the revenue we report in each quarter is the result of subscription agreements entered into during previous quarters. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed subscriptions in any one quarter may not be reflected in our revenue results for that quarter. Any such decline, however, will negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in sales and market acceptance of our products, and potential changes in our attrition rate, may not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. Our subscription model also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue through additional sales in any period, as revenue from new customers must be recognized over the applicable subscription term.
If customers do not renew their subscriptions for our platform or reduce their subscriptions at the time of renewal, our revenue will decline and our business will suffer.
Our customers have no obligation to renew their subscriptions for our platform after the expiration of their subscription periods. In the normal course of business, some customers have elected not to renew their subscriptions with us. However, because our recent growth has resulted in the rapid expansion of our business and we have changed our subscription model in recent years, we do not have a long history upon which to base forecasts of renewal rates with customers or future operating revenue. Our customers may seek to renew their subscriptions for fewer features, at renegotiated rates, or for shorter contract lengths, all of which could reduce the amount of the subscription. Our renewal rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including limited customer resources, pricing changes, customer satisfaction with our platform, the acquisition of our customers by other companies and deteriorating general economic conditions. If our customers do not renew their subscriptions for our platform or decrease the amounts they spend with us, our revenue will decline and our business will suffer. If our renewal rates fall significantly below the expectations of the public market, equity research analysts or investors, the price of our common stock could also be harmed.
If we are unable to attract new customers, our revenue growth could be slower than we expect and our business may be harmed.
To increase our revenue, we must add new customers. If competitors introduce lower cost or differentiated products or services that are perceived to compete with our features, our ability to sell our features based on factors such as pricing, technology and functionality could be impaired. As a result, we may be unable to attract new customers at rates or on terms that would be favorable or comparable to prior periods, which could negatively affect the growth of our revenue.
If we fail to integrate our platform with a variety of third-party technologies, our platform may become less marketable and less competitive or obsolete and our operating results would be harmed.
Our platform must integrate with a variety of third-party technologies, and we need to continuously modify and enhance our platform to adapt to changes in cloud-enabled hardware, software, networking, mobile, browser and database technologies. Any failure of our platform to operate effectively with future technologies could reduce the demand for our platform, resulting in customer dissatisfaction and harm to our business. If we are unable to respond to these changes in a cost-effective manner, our platform may become less marketable and less competitive or obsolete and our operating results may be negatively affected. In addition, an increasing number of customers are utilizing mobile devices to access the internet and conduct business. If we cannot continue to effectively make our platform available on these mobile devices and offer the information, services and functionality required by enterprises that widely use mobile devices, we may experience difficulty attracting and retaining customers.
If we are unable to successfully develop and market new features, make enhancements to our existing features, or expand our offerings into new market segments, our business, results of operations and competitive position may suffer.
The software industry is subject to rapid technological change, evolving standards and practices, as well as changing customer needs, requirements and preferences. Our ability to attract new customers and increase revenue from existing customers depends, in part, on our ability to enhance and improve our existing features, increase adoption and usage of our platform and introduce new features. We expend significant resources on research and development to enhance our platform and to incorporate additional features, improve functionality or add other enhancements in order to meet our customers' rapidly evolving demands. The success of any enhancements or new features depends on several factors, including timely completion, adequate quality testing, actual performance quality, market-accepted pricing levels and overall market acceptance. We may not be successful in these efforts, which could result in significant expenditures that could impact our revenue or distract management's attention from current offerings.
Increased emphasis on the sale of new features could distract us from sales of our core platform, negatively affecting our overall sales. We have invested and expect to continue to invest in new businesses, products, features, services, and technologies. Such endeavors may involve significant risks and uncertainties, including insufficient revenue from such investments to offset any new liabilities assumed and expenses associated with these new investments, inadequate return of capital on our investments, distraction of management from current operations, and unidentified issues not discovered in our due diligence of such strategies and offerings that could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such investments and incur unanticipated liabilities. Because these new strategies and offerings are inherently risky, no assurance can be given that they will be successful.
Even if we are successful in these endeavors, diversifying our platform offerings will bring us more directly into competition with other providers that may be better established or have greater resources than we have. Our new features or enhancements could fail to attain sufficient market acceptance for many reasons, including:
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delays in introducing new, enhanced or modified features;
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failure to accurately predict market demand or end consumer preferences;
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defects, errors or failures in any of our features or our platform;
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introduction of competing products;
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poor business conditions for our customers or poor general macroeconomic conditions;
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changes in legal or regulatory requirements, or increased legal or regulatory scrutiny, adversely affecting our platform;
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failure of our brand promotion activities or negative publicity about the performance or effectiveness of our existing features; and
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disruptions or delays in the availability and delivery of our platform.
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There is no assurance that we will successfully identify new opportunities or develop and bring new features to market on a timely basis, or that products and technologies developed by others will not render our platform obsolete or noncompetitive, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results and compromise our ability to generate revenue. If our new features or enhancements do not achieve adequate acceptance in the market, or if our new features do not result in increased sales or subscriptions, our brand and competitive position will be impaired, our anticipated revenue growth may not be achieved and the negative impact on our operating results may be particularly acute because of the upfront technology and development, marketing, advertising and other expenses we may incur in connection with the new feature or enhancement.
If we fail to adapt and respond effectively to rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and changing customer needs or requirements, our platform may become less competitive.
Our future success depends on our ability to adapt and innovate our platform. To attract new customers and increase revenue from existing customers, we need to continue to enhance and improve our offerings to meet customer needs at prices that our customers are willing to pay. Such efforts will require adding new functionality and responding to technological advancements, which will increase our research and development costs. If we are unable to develop new features that address our customers' needs, or to enhance and improve our platform in a timely manner, we may not be able to maintain or increase market acceptance of our platform. Our ability to grow is also subject to the risk of future disruptive technologies. Access and use of our platform is provided via the cloud, which, itself, was disruptive to the previous enterprise software model. If new technologies emerge that are able to deliver software and related applications at lower prices, more efficiently, more conveniently or more securely, such technologies could adversely affect our ability to compete.
If customers do not expand their use of our platform beyond their current subscriptions, our ability to grow our business and operating results may be adversely affected.
Most of our customers currently subscribe to packages that do not include all of our features. Our ability to grow our business depends in part on our ability to encourage current and future customers to subscribe to our higher priced packages with more extensive features. If we fail to achieve market acceptance of new features, or if a competitor establishes a more widely adopted platform, our revenue and operating results will be harmed.
Because our platform is sold to enterprises that often have complex operating environments, we may encounter long and unpredictable sales cycles, which could adversely affect our operating results in a given period.
Our ability to increase revenue and achieve profitability depends, in large part, on widespread acceptance of our platform by enterprises. As we target our sales efforts at these customers, we face greater costs, longer sales cycles and less predictability in completing some of our sales. As a result of the variability and length of the sales cycle, we have only a limited ability to forecast the timing of sales. A delay in or failure to complete sales could harm our business and financial results, and could cause our financial results to vary from period to period. Our sales cycle varies widely, reflecting differences in potential customers' decision-making processes, procurement requirements and budget cycles, and is subject to significant risks over which we have little or no control, including:
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customers' budgetary constraints and priorities;
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the timing of customers' budget cycles;
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the need by some customers for lengthy evaluations prior to purchasing products; and
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the length and timing of customers' approval processes.
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Our typical direct sales cycles for more substantial enterprise customers can often be long, and we expect that this lengthy sales cycle may continue or could even increase. Longer sales cycles could cause our operating results and financial condition to suffer in a given period. If we cannot adequately scale our direct sales force, we will experience further delays in signing new customers, which could slow our revenue growth.
A portion of our revenue is dependent on a few customers.
In fiscal years 2016 and 2017, our top five customers, which included third-party resellers, accounted for approximately 22% and 18%, respectively, of our revenue. We anticipate that sales of our platform to a relatively small number of customers will continue to account for a significant portion of our revenue in future periods. If we were to lose any of our significant customers, our revenue could decline and our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. These negative effects could be exacerbated by customer consolidation, changes in technologies or solutions used by customers, changes in demand for our features, selection of suppliers other than us, customer bankruptcies or customer departures from their respective industries, pricing competition or deviation from marketing and sales methods away from physical location retailing, any one of which may result in even fewer customers accounting for a high percentage of our revenue and reduced demand from any single significant customer.
In addition, some of our customers have used, and may in the future use, the size and relative importance of their purchases to our business to require that we enter into agreements with more favorable terms than we would otherwise agree to, to obtain price concessions, or to otherwise restrict our business.
A significant portion of our revenue is dependent on third-party resellers, the efforts of which we do not control.
We are dependent on the efforts of third parties who resell our packages for a significant portion of our revenue. We currently work with more than 3,000 resellers. In fiscal years 2015 and 2016, one reseller, Dex Media, accounted for 12% and 10% of our revenue, respectively. No single customer accounted for more than 10% of our revenue for fiscal year 2017 or the
six months ended July 31, 2017
. We do not control the efforts of these resellers. If they fail to market or sell our platform successfully, merge or consolidate with other businesses, declare bankruptcy or depart from their respective industries, our business could be harmed. In June 2017, Dex Media announced it had acquired and merged with YP Holdings ("Dex-YP Merger"), which is also a reseller customer of ours. In August 2017, we signed a revised agreement with the newly combined company, and we expect to continue our relationship. Our revenue from the combined company represents less than 10% of our total revenue. While the Dex-YP Merger may have an impact on our revenue, we do not believe that this impact will be material. Also, we may expend significant resources managing these reseller relationships. Further, in some international markets, we grant resellers the exclusive right to sell our features. If resellers to whom we have granted exclusive rights fail to successfully market and sell our platform in their assigned territories, then we may be unable to adequately address sales opportunities in that territory. If we are unable to maintain or replace our contractual relationships with resellers, efficiently manage our relationships with them or establish new contractual relationships with other third parties, we may fail to retain subscribers or acquire potential new subscribers and may experience delays and increased costs in adding or replacing subscribers that were lost, any of which could materially affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
Our revenue growth rate in recent periods may not be indicative of our future performance.
We experienced revenue growth rates of 50% from fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2016, 38% from fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2017, and
38%
from the
three months ended July 31, 2016
to the
three months ended July 31, 2017
. Our historical revenue growth rates are not indicative of future growth, and we may not achieve similar revenue growth rates in future periods. You should not rely on our revenue for any prior quarterly or annual periods as an indication of our future revenue or revenue growth. Our operating results may vary as a result of a number of factors, including our ability to execute on our business strategy and compete effectively for customers and business partners and other factors that are outside of our control. If we are unable to maintain consistent revenue or revenue growth, our stock price could be volatile, and it could be difficult to achieve or maintain profitability.
A security breach, network attack or information security incident could delay or interrupt service to our customers, result in the unauthorized access to, or use, modification or publishing of customer content or other information, harm our reputation or subject us to significant liability.
We are vulnerable to computer viruses, break-ins, phishing attacks, attempts to overload our servers with denial-of-service or other attacks and similar disruptions from unauthorized use of our computer systems. Any such attack, or any information security incident from any other source affecting us or our services providers, including through employee error or misconduct, could lead to interruptions, delays, website or application shutdowns, loss of data or unauthorized access to, or use or acquisition of, personal information, confidential information or other data that we or our services providers process or maintain.
For example, in December 2015, we suffered a denial-of-service attack, which resulted in the inability for some of our customers to access our platform for several hours. If we experience additional compromises to our security that result in performance or availability problems, the complete shutdown of our platform or the loss of, or unauthorized access to, personal information or other types of confidential information, our customers or application providers may assert claims against us for credits, refunds or other damages, and may lose trust and confidence in our platform. Additionally, security breaches or other unauthorized access to, or use or acquisition of, personal information or other types of confidential information that we or our services providers maintain, could result in claims against us for identity theft or other similar fraud claims, governmental enforcement actions, litigation, fines and penalties or adverse publicity, and could cause our customers and partners to lose trust in us, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business, reputation, operating results and financial condition. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems change frequently, often are not recognized until launched against a target and may originate from less regulated countries, we may be unable to proactively address these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.
In addition, customers' and application providers' accounts and listing pages hosted on our platform could be accessed by unauthorized persons for the purpose of placing illegal, abusive or otherwise unauthorized content on their respective websites and applications. If an unauthorized person obtained access to a customer's account, such person could update the customer's business information with abusive content. This type of unauthorized activity could negatively affect our ability to attract new customers and application providers, deter current customers and application providers from using our platform, subject us to third-party lawsuits, regulatory fines, indemnification requests or additional liability under customer contracts, or other action or liability, any of which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
In connection with the preparation of our consolidated financial statements in recent years, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are not able to remediate the material weaknesses and otherwise maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, the reliability of our financial reporting, investor confidence in us and the value of our common stock could be materially and adversely affected.
As a public company, we are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such internal controls. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and, beginning with our second annual report following our initial public offering, which will cover our fiscal year ending January 31, 2019, provide a management report on internal control over financial reporting. Under standards established by the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis.
In connection with the audits of the fiscal year 2016 and 2017 consolidated financial statements, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified two material weaknesses in our controls. The first material weakness pertained to controls over the revenue recognition process resulting from a lack of logical access controls over our revenue system and the lack of review controls with regard to manual revenue adjustments. Specifically, we did not have adequate:
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policies and controls to restrict access to customer accounts and accounting records;
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policies to amend customer agreements; and
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controls around determining service start dates.
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We also identified a significant reliance on manual processes in our customer order entry procedures. We are working to remediate the material weakness and have taken steps to improve our internal control environment, including implementing procedures and controls designed to improve our revenue recognition process. Specifically, we are:
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implementing IT controls to prevent unauthorized access or changes to our business applications;
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implementing additional preventative controls around the contracting and provisioning processes;
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implementing additional detective controls around the revenue recognition process, including analytical reviews to assess completeness and accuracy of revenue; and
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documenting, assessing and testing our internal control over financial reporting as part of our efforts to comply with Section 404.
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Also in connection with our audits of the fiscal year 2016 and 2017 consolidated financial statements, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified a second material weakness, primarily related to the lack of review and oversight over the financial close. We determined that we had insufficient financial statement close processes and procedures, including the classification and presentation of expenses. We are taking steps to remediate this weakness, including having hired senior accounting personnel in our internal audit group and controller's group with a focus on SEC reporting and technical accounting.
We cannot at this time estimate how long it will take to remediate these material weaknesses, and we may not ever be able to remediate the material weaknesses. If we are unable to successfully remediate the material weaknesses and otherwise to establish and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, the reliability of our financial reporting, investor confidence in us and the value of our common stock could be materially and adversely affected. Additionally, the process of designing and implementing internal control over financial reporting required to comply with Section 404 is time consuming, costly and complicated. In addition, we may discover other control deficiencies in the future, and we cannot assure you that we will not have a material weakness in future periods.
Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable and timely financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to reasonably detect and prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. For as long as we are an "emerging growth company" under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404. We could be an "emerging growth company" until January 31, 2023. An independent assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting could detect problems that our management's assessment might not. Undetected material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting could lead to financial statement restatements and require us to incur the expense of remediation. Deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are identified in such assessments may be deemed to be material weaknesses or may require prospective or retroactive changes to our financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement.
We may acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management's attention, result in additional dilution to our stockholders and otherwise disrupt our operations and adversely affect our operating results.
We have in the past acquired and may in the future seek to acquire or invest in businesses, features or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our platform, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. The pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated.
Although we have previously acquired businesses, we have limited acquisition experience. If we acquire additional businesses, we may not be able to integrate the acquired personnel, operations and technologies successfully or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition. We also may not achieve the anticipated benefits from the acquired business due to a number of factors, including:
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unanticipated liabilities associated with the acquisition;
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difficulty incorporating acquired technology and rights into our platform and of maintaining quality and security standards consistent with our brand;
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inability to generate sufficient revenue to offset acquisition or investment costs;
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incurrence of acquisition-related costs;
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difficulties and additional expenses associated with supporting legacy products and hosting infrastructure of the acquired business;
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difficulty converting the customers of the acquired business into our customers;
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diversion of management's attention from other business concerns;
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adverse effects to our existing business relationships as a result of the acquisition;
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potential loss of key employees;
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use of resources that are needed in other parts of our business; and
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use of substantial portions of our available cash to consummate the acquisition.
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In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, which must be assessed for impairment at least annually. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
Acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our operating results. If an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our business, operating results and financial condition may suffer.
Assertions by third parties of infringement or other violations by us of their intellectual property rights could result in significant costs and harm our business and operating results.
Patent and other intellectual property disputes are common in our industry. Some companies, including some of our competitors, own large numbers of patents, copyrights and trademarks, which they may use to assert claims against us. In addition, because patent applications can take years to issue and are often afforded confidentiality for some period of time, there may currently be pending applications, unknown to us, that later result in issued patents that could cover one or more of our features.
Third parties may in the future assert claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property rights against us. If asserted, we cannot assure you that an infringement claim will be successfully defended. Certain third parties have substantially greater resources than we have and may be able to sustain the costs of intellectual property litigation for longer periods of time than we can. A successful claim against us could require that we pay substantial damages or ongoing royalty payments, prevent us from offering our platform, or require that we comply with other unfavorable terms. We may also be obligated to indemnify our customers or business partners or pay substantial settlement costs, including royalty payments, in connection with any such claim or litigation and to obtain licenses, modify applications or refund fees, which could be costly. Even if we were to prevail in such a dispute, any litigation regarding our intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming and divert the attention of our management and key personnel from our business operations.
We could incur substantial costs in protecting or defending our intellectual property rights, and any failure to protect our intellectual property could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our success depends, in part, on our ability to protect our proprietary methods and technologies. There can be no assurance that the particular forms of intellectual property protection that we seek, including business decisions about when to file trademark applications and patent applications, will be adequate to protect our business. We intend to continue to file and prosecute patent
applications when appropriate to attempt to protect our rights in our proprietary technologies. However, there can be no assurance that our patent applications will be approved, that any patents issued will adequately protect our intellectual property, that the scope of the claims in our issued patents will be sufficient or have the coverage originally sought, that our issued patents will provide us with any competitive advantages, or that such patents will not be challenged by third parties or found by a judicial authority to be invalid or unenforceable.
We could be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, determine the validity and scope of our proprietary rights or those of others, or defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Such litigation may fail, and even if successful, could be costly, time-consuming and distracting to management and could result in a diversion of significant resources. 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 or alleging that we infringe the counterclaimant's own intellectual property. An adverse determination of any litigation or defense proceedings could put our intellectual property at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our related pending patent applications at risk of not being issued. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential or sensitive information could be compromised by disclosure in the event of litigation. During the course of litigation there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock.
Any of our patents, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights could be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation. Furthermore, there can be no guarantee that others will not independently develop similar products, duplicate any of our products or design around our patents.
We also rely, in part, on confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, advisors, customers and others in our efforts to protect our proprietary technology, processes and methods. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of our confidential information, and it may be possible for unauthorized parties to copy our software or other proprietary technology or information, or to develop similar software independently without our having an adequate remedy for unauthorized use or disclosure of our confidential information. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information, and in these cases we would not be able to assert any trade secret rights against those parties. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.
In addition, the laws of some countries do not protect intellectual property and other proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. To the extent we expand our international activities, our exposure to unauthorized copying, transfer and use of our proprietary technology or information may increase. For example, many foreign countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against third parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, patents may provide limited or no benefit. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate. In addition, changes in the law and legal decisions by courts in the United States and foreign countries may affect our ability to obtain adequate protection for our technology and the enforcement of intellectual property.
We cannot be certain that our means of protecting our intellectual property and proprietary rights will be adequate or that our competitors will not independently develop similar technology. If we fail to meaningfully protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Our platform utilizes open source software, and any failure to comply with the terms of one or more of these open source licenses could negatively affect our business.
Our platform utilizes software governed by open source licenses. The terms of various open source licenses have not been interpreted by United States courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to market our platform. By the terms of certain open source licenses, we could be required to release the source code of our proprietary software, and to make our proprietary software available under open source licenses, if we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a specified manner. In the event that portions of our proprietary software are determined to be subject to an open source license, we could be required to publicly release the affected portions of our source code, or to re-engineer all or a portion of software, each of which could reduce or eliminate the value of our platform. In addition to risks related to license requirements, usage of open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or controls on the origin of the software. Many of the risks associated with usage of open source software cannot be eliminated and could negatively affect our business.
We employ third-party licensed software for use in or with our platform, and the inability to maintain these licenses or errors in the software we license could result in increased costs, or reduced service levels, which could adversely affect our business.
Our platform incorporates certain third-party software obtained under licenses from other companies. We anticipate that we will continue to rely on such third-party software and development tools in the future. Although we believe that there are commercially reasonable alternatives to the third-party software we currently license, this may not always be the case, or it may be difficult or costly to replace. In addition, integration of the software used in our platform with new third-party software may require significant work and require substantial investment of our time and resources. Also, to the extent that our platform depends upon the successful operation of third-party software in conjunction with our software, any undetected errors or defects in this third-party software could prevent the deployment or impair the functionality of our platform, delay new feature introductions, result in a failure of our platform and injure our reputation. Our use of additional or alternative third-party software would require us to enter into license agreements with third parties.
We are subject to general litigation that may materially adversely affect us.
From time to time, we may be involved in disputes or regulatory inquiries that arise in the ordinary course of business. We expect that the number and significance of potential disputes may increase as our business expands and our company grows larger. While our agreements with customers limit our liability for damages arising from our platform, we cannot assure you that these contractual provisions will protect us from liability for damages in the event we are sued. Although we carry general liability insurance coverage, our insurance may not cover all potential claims to which we are exposed or may not be adequate to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, require significant amounts of management time, and result in the diversion of significant operational resources. Because litigation is inherently unpredictable, we cannot assure you that the results of any of these actions will not have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.
We are subject to governmental regulation and other legal obligations, including those related to privacy, data protection and information security, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business. Compliance with such laws could also impair our efforts to maintain and expand our customer base, and thereby decrease our revenue.
We receive, store and process personal information and other data from and about customers, including resellers, partners and, in limited instances, end users of our services, in addition to our employees and services providers. Also, in connection with future feature offerings, we may receive, store and process additional types of data, including personally identifiable information, related to end consumers. Our handling of data is subject to a variety of laws and regulations, including regulation by various government agencies, such as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, and various state, local and foreign agencies. Our data handling also is subject to contractual obligations and industry standards.
The U.S. federal and various state and foreign governments have adopted or proposed limitations on the collection, distribution, use and storage of data relating to individuals, including the use of contact information and other data for marketing, advertising and other communications with individuals and businesses. In the United States, various laws and regulations apply to the collection, processing, disclosure, and security of certain types of data. Additionally, the FTC and many state attorneys general are interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws as imposing standards for the online collection, use, dissemination and security of data. The laws and regulations relating to privacy and data security are evolving, can be subject to significant change and may result in ever-increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions.
In addition, several foreign countries and governmental bodies, including the European Union, have laws and regulations dealing with the handling and processing of personal information obtained from their residents, which in certain cases are more restrictive than those in the United States. Laws and regulations in these jurisdictions apply broadly to the collection, use, storage, disclosure and security of various types of data, including data that identifies or may be used to identify an individual, such as names, email addresses and in some jurisdictions, Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses. Such laws and regulations may be modified or subject to new or different interpretations, and new laws and regulations may be enacted in the future. Within the European Union, legislators recently adopted the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which, when effective in 2018, will replace the 1995 European Union Data Protection Directive and supersede applicable EU member state legislation. The GDPR includes more stringent operational requirements for processors and controllers of personal data and imposes significant penalties for non-compliance. We have certified under the U.S.-European Union Privacy Shield with respect to our transfer of certain personal data from the European Union to the United States.
We also handle credit card and other personal information. Due to the sensitive nature of such information, 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. Notwithstanding these policies, we could be subject to liability claims by individuals and customers whose data resides in our databases for the misuse of that information. If we fail to meet appropriate compliance levels, this could negatively impact our ability to utilize credit cards as a method of payment, and/or collect and store credit card information, which could disrupt 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 or data security, may result in governmental investigations and enforcement actions, 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 expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws, regulations and industry standards relating to privacy, data protection, marketing, consumer communications and information security in the United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and we cannot determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. 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 features 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 features. If our policies, procedures, or measures relating to privacy, data protection, marketing, or customer communications fail to comply with laws, regulations, policies, legal obligations or industry standards, we may be subject to governmental enforcement actions, litigation, regulatory investigations, fines, penalties and negative publicity and could cause our application providers, customers and partners to lose trust in us, which could materially affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
The reliability of our network and support infrastructure will be critical to our success. Sustained failures or outages could lead to significant costs and service disruptions, which could negatively affect our business, financial results and reputation.
Our reputation and ability to attract, retain, and serve our customers and application providers are dependent upon the reliable performance of our platform and our underlying technical and network infrastructure. Our customers access our platform through our website and related technologies. We rely on internal systems and third-party vendors, including data center, bandwidth and telecommunications equipment providers, to maintain the availability of our platform. Our primary data center is in New Jersey, and our backup data center is in Texas. If these data centers become unavailable to us without sufficient advance notice, we would likely experience delays in delivering our platform until we could migrate to an alternate data center provider. Our disaster recovery program contemplates transitioning our platform to our backup center in the event of a catastrophe, but we have not yet fully tested the procedure, and our platform may be unavailable, in whole or in part, during any transition procedure.
We have experienced, and will in the future experience, interruptions, outages and other performance problems. Such disruptions may be due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of customers and partners accessing our platform simultaneously and inadequate design. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within an acceptable period of time. If we do not accurately predict our infrastructure requirements, our existing customers may experience service outages that may subject us to financial penalties, financial liabilities and customer losses. If our operations infrastructure fails to keep pace with increased sales, customers may experience delays as we seek to obtain additional capacity, which could materially affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
Natural disasters and other events beyond our control could adversely affect us.
Natural disasters or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations and the global economy, and thus could have a strong negative effect on us. Our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, fire, power shortages, pandemics and other events beyond our control. Although we maintain crisis management and disaster response plans, such events could make it difficult or impossible for us to continue operations, and could decrease demand for our platform. Our data centers are located in New Jersey and Texas, making our business particularly susceptible to natural disasters in those areas. Any natural disaster affecting our data centers could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
Real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our software, or in the software or systems of our third-party applications providers and partners, could materially and adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.
Our features are highly technical and complex. Our software has previously contained, and may now or in the future contain, undetected errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities. Some errors in our software may only be discovered after the software has been deployed. Any errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities discovered in our software after it has been deployed could result in damage to our reputation, loss of customers, partners or application providers, loss of revenue or liability for damages.
In addition, the proper functioning of our platform is dependent on the ability of our PowerListings Network application providers and partners to maintain the availability and proper functioning of their software integrations with our systems and also is dependent on the ability of our third-party applications providers to maintain the availability and proper functioning of their websites and applications on which business listing information is published for customers. For example, a number of our PowerListings Network application providers provide us with an Application Program Interface, or API, on which our ability to interface with that provider is based. If our PowerListings Network application providers do not maintain the availability and proper functioning of their software, APIs, websites and applications, our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially affected.
We depend on our senior management team and the loss of our chief executive officer, president or one or more key employees could adversely affect our business.
Our success depends largely upon the continued services of our key executive officers. In particular, two of our co-founders, Howard Lerman and Brian Distelburger, who serve as our Chief Executive Officer and President, respectively, are critical to our vision, strategic direction, feature innovation, culture and overall business success. We also rely on our leadership team in the areas of research and development, marketing, sales, services and general and administrative functions. From time to time, there may be changes in our executive management team resulting from the hiring or departure of executives, which could disrupt our business. We do not have employment agreements with our executive officers or other key personnel that require them to continue to work for us for any specified period and, therefore, they could terminate their employment with us at any time. The loss of one or more of our executive officers or key employees could have a serious adverse effect on our business.
The failure to attract and retain additional qualified personnel could prevent us from executing our business strategy.
To execute our business strategy, we must attract and retain highly qualified personnel. 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 information technology, sales, marketing, legal and accounting professionals, and we may not be successful in attracting and retaining the professionals we need. In the future, we may experience difficulty in hiring and difficulty in retaining highly skilled employees with appropriate qualifications. We face intense competition for qualified individuals from numerous software and other technology companies. Competition for qualified personnel is particularly intense in the New York area. We may incur significant costs to attract and retain qualified personnel, and we may lose new employees to our competitors or other technology companies before we capitalize the benefit of our investment in recruiting and training them.
In addition, in making employment decisions, particularly in the software industry, job candidates often consider the value of the stock options or other equity incentives they are to receive in connection with their employment. If the price of our stock declines, or experiences significant volatility, our ability to attract or retain key employees will be adversely affected. Also, as employee options vest and lock-ups expire, we may have difficulty retaining key employees. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our growth prospects could be severely harmed.
If we fail to offer high-quality customer support, our business and reputation may suffer.
High-quality education, training and customer support is important for the successful retention of existing customers. Providing this education, training and support requires that our support personnel have specific knowledge and expertise of our platform, making it more difficult for us to hire qualified personnel and to scale up our support operations. The importance of high-quality customer support will increase as we expand our business and pursue new customers. If we do not provide effective and timely ongoing support, our ability to sell additional features to, or to retain, existing customers may suffer, and our reputation with existing or potential customers may be harmed.
If we fail to continue to develop our brand, our business may suffer.
We believe that continuing to develop and maintain awareness of our brand is critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our platform and is an important element in attracting and retaining customers. Efforts to build our brand may involve significant expense and may not generate customer awareness or increase revenue at all, or in an amount sufficient to offset expenses we incur in building our brand. In addition, we sell our features to companies in a number of industries, including healthcare, financial and retail. If we are not successful in building our brand, we may become identified with a single industry, which could make it more difficult for us to penetrate other industries.
Promotion and enhancement of our brand will depend largely on our success in being able to provide high quality, reliable and cost-effective features. If customers do not perceive our platform as meeting their needs, or if we fail to market our platform effectively, we will likely be unsuccessful in creating the brand awareness that is critical for broad customer adoption of our platform.
Adverse economic conditions or reduced technology spending may adversely impact our business.
Our business depends on the overall demand for technology and on the economic performance of our current and prospective customers. In general, worldwide economic conditions may remain unstable, and these conditions would make it difficult for our customers, prospective customers and us to forecast and plan future business activities accurately, and they could cause our customers or prospective customers to reevaluate their decision to purchase our features. Weak global economic conditions, or a reduction in technology spending even if economic conditions stabilize, could adversely impact our business and results of operations in a number of ways, including longer sales cycles, lower prices for our platform, fewer subscriptions and lower or no growth.
Unanticipated changes in our effective tax rate may impact our financial results.
We are subject to income taxes in the United States and various jurisdictions outside of the United States, and we are in the process of expanding our international operations. Our effective tax rate could fluctuate due to changes in the mix of earnings and losses in countries with differing statutory tax rates. Our tax expense could also be impacted by changes in non-deductible expenses, changes in accounting principles, expiration or non-utilization of net operating losses, changes in excess tax benefits related to
exercises and vesting of stock-based expense, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities and our ability to utilize them and the applicability of withholding taxes. While we regularly evaluate new information that may change our judgment resulting in recognition, derecognition or change in measurement of a tax position taken, there can be no assurance that the final determination of any examinations will not have an adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.
We may have additional tax liabilities, which could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition.
Significant judgments and estimates are required in determining the provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities. We generally conduct our international operations through wholly-owned subsidiaries and report our taxable income in various jurisdictions worldwide based upon our business operations in those jurisdictions. The amount of taxes we pay may depend on the application of the tax laws of 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. Our tax expense may be impacted if our intercompany transactions, which are required to be computed on an arm's-length basis, are challenged and successfully disputed by the tax authorities. In determining the adequacy of income taxes, we assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes that could result if our tax positions were challenged by the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, and other tax authorities. The tax authorities in the United States and other countries where we do business regularly examine our income and other tax returns. The ultimate outcome of these examinations cannot be predicted with certainty. Should the IRS or other tax authorities assess additional taxes as a result of examinations, we may be required to record charges that would adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Adverse tax laws or regulations could be enacted or existing laws could be applied to us or our customers, which could increase our costs and adversely affect our business.
The application of federal, state, local and international tax laws to services provided electronically is evolving. New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be enacted at any time, possibly with retroactive effect, and could be applied solely or disproportionately to services provided over the internet. These enactments could adversely affect our sales activity due to the inherent cost increase the taxes would represent and ultimately result in a negative impact on our operating results and cash flows.
In addition, existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us, possibly with retroactive effect, which could require us or our customers to pay additional tax amounts, as well as require us or our customers to pay fines or penalties and interest for past amounts. If we are unsuccessful in collecting such taxes from our customers, we could be held liable for such costs.
Certain jurisdictions in which we do not collect sales and use, value added or similar taxes may assert that such taxes are applicable, which has resulted or could result in tax assessments, penalties and interest, to us or our customers for past amounts, and we may be required to collect such taxes in the future. Such tax assessments, penalties and interest, or future requirements may adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
As of January 31, 2017, we had gross U.S. federal and tax-effected state net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, of $119.6 million and $5.2 million, respectively, due to prior period losses. In general, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an ownership change, which is generally defined as a greater than 50-percentage-point cumulative change by value in the equity ownership of certain stockholders over a rolling three-year period, is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs to offset post-change taxable income. Our existing NOLs may be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes, and if we undergo an ownership change our ability to utilize NOLs could be further limited by Section 382 of the Code. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which may be 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 may acquire in the future may be subject to limitations. There is also a risk that due to regulatory changes, such as suspensions on the use of NOLs, or other unforeseen reasons, our existing NOLs could expire or otherwise be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. For these reasons, we may not be able to realize a tax benefit from the use of our NOLs, even if we attain profitability.
Our reported financial results may be adversely affected by changes in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
Generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP, are subject to interpretation by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or 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 financial results and could affect the reporting of transactions completed before the announcement of a change.
In particular, in May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in ASC 605, Revenue Recognition. The core principle of ASU 2014-09 is that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. As an "emerging growth company" the
JOBS Act allows us to delay adoption of new or revised accounting pronouncements applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are made applicable to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period under the JOBS Act, including with respect to ASU 2014-09. As a result, we will not be required to apply ASU 2014-09 until February 1, 2019.
Our estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the market in which we compete achieves our forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. Even if the market in which we compete meets the size estimates and growth we forecast, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Our management team has limited experience managing a public company.
Our chief executive officer has limited experience managing a public company, interacting with public company investors and complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. While our chief financial officer and certain other executives have such experience, our management team, as a whole, may not successfully or efficiently manage the ongoing transition to being a public company subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the federal securities laws and the continuous scrutiny of securities analysts and investors. These new obligations and constituents will require significant attention from our senior management, particularly from our chief executive officer, and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
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 penalties or significant fines and harm our business and reputation.
We are subject to anti-corruption and anti-bribery and similar laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or the FCPA, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and possibly other anti-corruption, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees and agents from promising, authorizing, making, offering, soliciting or accepting improper payments or other benefits to or from government officials and others in the private sector. As we increase our international sales and business, particularly in countries with a low score on the Corruptions Perceptions Index by Transparency International, and increase our use of third-party business partners such as sales agents, distributors, resellers, or consultants, our risks under these laws may increase. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees, representatives, contractors, business partners and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. While we have policies and procedures in this area, we cannot guarantee that improprieties committed by our employees or third parties will not occur. Noncompliance with these laws could subject us to investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension or debarment from contracting with certain persons, the loss of export privileges, whistleblower complaints, 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 litigation, 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 and compliance costs and other professional fees. In certain cases, enforcement authorities may even require us to appoint an independent compliance monitor, which can result in added costs and administrative burdens. Any investigations, actions or sanctions or other previously mentioned harm could have a material negative effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.
We are subject to governmental export and import controls and economic sanctions laws that could impair our ability to compete in international markets and subject us to liability if we are not in full compliance with applicable laws.
Our business activities are subject to various restrictions under U.S. export and import controls and trade and economic sanctions laws, including U.S. customs regulations, the U.S. Commerce Department's Export Administration Regulations and economic and trade sanctions regulations maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The U.S. export control laws and U.S. economic sanctions laws include prohibitions on the sale or supply of certain products and services to U.S. embargoed or sanctioned countries, governments, persons and entities and also require authorization for the export of certain encryption items. In addition, various countries regulate the import of certain encryption technology, including through import permitting and licensing requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our services or could limit our customers' ability to implement our services in those countries. Although we take precautions to prevent our platform from being provided in violation of such laws, our platform may have been in the past, and could in the future be, provided inadvertently in violation of such laws, despite the precautions we take. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we and certain of our employees could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export or import privileges, monetary penalties, and, in extreme cases, imprisonment of responsible employees for knowing and willful violations of these laws. Obtaining the necessary authorizations, including any required license, for a particular transaction may be time-consuming, is not guaranteed, and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities. In addition, changes in our platform or changes in applicable export or import regulations may create delays in the introduction and sale of our products in international markets, prevent our customers with international operations from
deploying our products or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products to certain countries, governments or persons altogether. Any change in export or import regulations, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such regulations, could also result in decreased use of our products or in our decreased ability to export or sell our products to existing or potential customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our products or limitation on our ability to export or sell our products would likely adversely affect our business. Although we take precautions to prevent transactions with U.S. sanction targets, we could inadvertently provide our platform to persons prohibited by U.S. sanctions. Violations of export and import regulations and economic sanctions could result in negative consequences to us, including government investigations, penalties and reputational harm.
Changes in laws and regulations related to the internet or changes in internet infrastructure itself may diminish the demand for our platform and could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
The future success of our business depends upon the continued use of the internet. Federal, state or foreign government bodies or agencies have in the past adopted, and may in the future adopt, laws or regulations affecting the use of the internet as a commercial medium. In addition, government agencies or private organizations have imposed and may impose additional taxes, fees or other charges for accessing the internet, generally. These laws or charges could limit the use of the internet or decrease the demand for internet-based solutions. In addition, the use of the internet as a business tool could be adversely affected due to delays in the development or adoption of new standards and protocols to handle increased demands of internet activity, security, reliability, cost, ease-of-use, accessibility and quality of service. The performance of the internet and its acceptance as a business tool has been adversely affected by "viruses", "worms" and similar malicious programs. If the use of the internet is reduced as a result of these or other issues, then demand for our platform could decline, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
We face exposure to movements in currency exchange rates, which may cause our revenue and operating results to differ materially from expectations. Our operating results could be negatively affected depending on the amount of expense denominated in foreign currencies. As exchange rates vary, revenue, cost of revenue, operating expenses and other operating results, when re-measured, may differ materially from expectations. In addition, our operating results are subject to fluctuation if our mix of U.S. and foreign currency denominated transactions and expenses changes in the future. Although we may apply certain strategies to mitigate foreign currency risk, these strategies might not eliminate our exposure to foreign exchange rate fluctuations and would involve costs and risks of their own, such as ongoing management time and expertise, external costs to implement the strategies and potential accounting implications. Additionally, as we anticipate growing our business further outside of the United States, the effects of movements in currency exchange rates will increase as our transaction volume outside of the United States increases.
Our credit facility contains restrictive covenants that may limit our operating flexibility.
Our credit facility contains restrictive covenants that limit our ability to transfer or dispose of assets, merge with other companies or consummate certain changes of control, acquire other companies, open new offices that contain a material amount of assets, pay dividends, incur additional indebtedness and liens and enter into new businesses. We therefore may not be able to engage in any of the foregoing transactions unless we obtain the consent of the lender or terminate the credit facility, which may limit our operating flexibility. In addition, our credit facility is secured by all of our assets, other than our intellectual property, and requires us to satisfy certain financial covenants. There is no guarantee that we will be able to generate sufficient cash flow or sales to meet these financial covenants or pay the principal and interest on any such debt. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that future working capital, borrowings or equity financing will be available to repay or refinance any such debt. Any inability to make scheduled payments or meet the financial covenants on our credit facility would adversely affect our business.
We may require additional capital to support our business, and this capital might not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
We intend to continue to make investments to support our business and may require additional funds. In particular, we may seek additional funds to develop new features and enhance our existing features, expand our operations, including our sales and marketing organizations and our presence outside of the United States, improve our infrastructure or acquire complementary businesses, technologies, services, features and other assets. Accordingly, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds. If we raise additional funds through future issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our common stock. Any debt financing that we may secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities. We may not be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth, scale our infrastructure, develop feature enhancements and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired, and our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected.
If the assumptions we use to estimate the size of our total addressable market are inaccurate, our future growth may be affected.
We calculate the size of our estimated total addressable market based on the number of potential business locations and points of interest in the world that we believe could benefit from our platform. We use data published by Google Maps as well as internally generated data and assumptions regarding our ability to generate revenue from those locations. We have not independently verified the estimate of locations published by Google Maps and cannot assure you of its accuracy or completeness. In addition, our estimated market size is based on estimated annual revenue per location of $100, which would be lower than the average revenue per location of $134, calculated using our total revenue of $124.3 million in fiscal year 2017 divided by our worldwide locations managed of 925,000 as of January 31, 2017. For the purposes of this calculation, we estimated a more conservative average revenue per location than our historical average to account for the anticipated effects of entering new markets that may not generate the same revenue per location as our existing markets. For example, when we first enter a new geographic market, we may initially provide discounts to customers to gain market traction. The amount and effect of these discounts may vary greatly by geography and size of market.
Our estimate of our total addressable market does not include other opportunities, including but not limited to:
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professional service providers located in multiple locations, such as individual doctors that provide services at multiple locations;
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locations that have multiple service providers, such as several insurance agents that are located in the same office;
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events that vary by location and schedule; and
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While we believe the information on which we base our estimated market size is generally reliable, such information is inherently imprecise. In addition, our expectations, assumptions and estimates of future opportunities are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in this "Risk Factors" section. If third-party or internally generated data prove to be inaccurate or we make errors in our assumptions based on that data, our future growth rate may be affected. In addition, these inaccuracies or errors may cause us to misallocate capital and other business resources, all of which would harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock and Our Status as a Public Company
Our quarterly results may fluctuate significantly and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business.
Our quarterly results of operations, including the levels of our revenue, gross margin and profitability, as well as our cash flows and deferred revenue balances, may vary significantly in the future, and period-to-period comparisons of our operating results and key metrics may not be meaningful. Accordingly, the results of any one quarter should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Although we have not historically experienced meaningful seasonality, our quarterly financial results and metrics may fluctuate as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control and, as a result, may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business. These fluctuations may negatively affect the value of our common stock. Factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly results include:
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our ability to attract new customers;
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our ability to execute on our business strategy;
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the addition or loss of large customers, including resellers, including through acquisitions or consolidations;
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the timing of recognition of revenue;
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the amount and timing of operating expenses;
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network outages and security breaches;
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general economic, industry and market conditions;
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customer renewal rates;
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pricing changes upon any renewals of customer agreements;
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changes in our pricing policies or those of our competitors;
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the timing and success of new feature introductions by us or our competitors or any other change in the competitive dynamics of our industry, including consolidation among competitors, customers or application providers;
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the timing of expenses related to the development or acquisition of technologies or businesses and potential future charges for impairment of goodwill from acquired companies; and
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If securities or industry analysts do not initiate, publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our stock adversely, or if our actual results differ significantly from our guidance, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If few securities analysts commence coverage of us, or if industry analysts cease coverage of us, the trading price for our common stock would be negatively affected. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our common stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our common stock would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our common stock could decrease, which might cause our common stock price and trading volume to decline.
In addition, from time to time, we may release earnings guidance or other forward-looking statements in our earnings releases, earnings conference calls or otherwise regarding our future performance that represent our management's estimates as of the date of release. Some or all of the assumptions of any future guidance that we furnish may not materialize or may vary significantly from actual future results. Any failure to meet guidance or analysts' expectations could have a material adverse effect on the trading price or trading volume of our common stock.
The market price of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile and may decline. Market volatility may affect the value of an investment in our common stock and could subject us to litigation.
Technology stocks have historically experienced high levels of volatility. The market price of our common stock has been and may continue to be subject to wide fluctuations in response to many risk factors listed in this section, and others beyond our control, including:
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actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and operating results;
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changes in projected operational and financial results;
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addition or loss of significant customers;
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changes in laws or regulations applicable to our platform;
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actual or anticipated changes in our growth rate relative to our competitors;
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announcements of technological innovations or new offerings by us or our competitors;
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announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital-raising activities or commitments;
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additions or departures of key personnel;
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changes in our financial guidance or securities analysts' estimates of our financial performance;
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discussion of us or our stock price by the financial press and in online investor communities;
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reaction to our press releases and filings with the SEC;
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changes in accounting principles;
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announcements related to litigation;
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fluctuations in the valuation of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;
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sales of our common stock by us or our stockholders;
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share price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading volume levels of our shares;
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the expiration of any contractual lock-up periods; and
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general economic and market conditions.
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Furthermore, in recent years, the stock markets has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies, and technology companies in particular. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively impact the market price of our common stock. If the market price of our common stock declines, you may not realize any return on your investment in us and may lose some or all of your investment.
In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management's attention from other business concerns, which could also harm our business.
Future sales and issuances of our capital stock or rights to purchase capital stock could result in dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our stock price to decline.
We may issue additional securities. Our certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue up to
500,000,000
shares of common stock and up to
50,000,000
shares of preferred stock. Future sales and issuances of our capital stock or rights to purchase our capital stock could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders. We may sell common stock, convertible securities and other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner as we may determine from time to time. If we sell any such securities in subsequent transactions, the ownership of existing stockholders will be diluted, possibly materially. New investors in subsequent transactions could also gain rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of existing holders of our common stock.
We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.
We may not declare or pay cash dividends on our capital stock in the near future. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not expect to declare or pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. Consequently, stockholders must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment.
The price of our common stock could decline if there are substantial sales of our common stock, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers and significant stockholders, or if there is a large number of shares of our common stock available for sale and the market perceives that sales will occur. We have
90,152,709
shares of our common stock outstanding as of
July 31, 2017
. All shares held by our directors and officers and substantially all of our stockholders and holders of options and warrants, other than shares of common stock issued in our initial public offering, are currently restricted from resale as a result of a contractual "lock-up" restriction. These shares will become available to be sold 181 days after the date of our initial public offering, with earlier sales permitted at the discretion of the representatives of the underwriters. Shares held by directors, executive officers and other affiliates will be subject to volume limitations under Rule 144 under the Securities Act.
Substantial blocks of our total outstanding shares may be sold into the market when the lock-up period ends. If there are substantial sales of shares of our common stock, or the market perception that such sales may occur, the price of our common stock could decline.
In addition, we have and may in the future file registration statements registering the issuance of shares of common stock subject to outstanding options under our equity incentive plans and the shares reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans. Shares registered on the Form S-8 registration statement would be eligible for sale to the public, subject to certain legal and contractual limitations. The market price of the shares of our common stock could decline as a result of the sale of a substantial number of our shares of common stock in the public market or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell their shares.
Additionally, certain existing holders of our common stock and outstanding warrants, or their transferees, will have rights, subject to specified conditions, to require us to file one or more registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. If we were to register the resale of these shares, they could be freely sold in the public market. If these additional shares are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the trading price of our common stock could be adversely affected.
The concentration of our stock ownership will likely limit your ability to influence corporate matters, including the ability to influence the outcome of director elections and other matters requiring stockholder approval.
Upon the closing of our IPO, our executive officers, directors and the holders of more than 5% of our outstanding common stock in the aggregate beneficially owned approximately 82% of our common stock. As a result, these stockholders, acting together, will have significant influence over all matters that require approval by our stockholders, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. Corporate actions might be taken even if other stockholders oppose them. This concentration of ownership might also have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of our company that other stockholders may view as beneficial.
Delaware law and provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make a merger, tender offer or proxy contest difficult, thereby depressing the trading price of our common stock.
Our status as a Delaware corporation may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control, even if a change of control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that may make the acquisition of our company more difficult, including the following:
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a classified board of directors with three-year staggered terms, which could delay the ability of stockholders to change the membership of a majority of our Board of Directors;
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a prohibition on cumulative voting in the election of our directors;
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the requirement that our directors may only be removed for cause;
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the ability of our Board of Directors to issue shares of preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer;
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the right of our Board of Directors to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of our Board of Directors or the resignation, death or removal of a director;
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a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders;
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the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our entire Board of Directors, the chairman of our Board of Directors or our chief executive officer, which could delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;
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the requirement for the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of our voting stock, voting together as a single class, to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to the management of our business or our amended and restated bylaws, which may inhibit the ability of an acquirer to effect such amendments to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt; and
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advance notice procedures with which stockholders must comply to nominate candidates to our Board of Directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders' meeting, which may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer's own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.
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In addition, as a Delaware corporation, we are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. The provisions of Section 203 may prohibit large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, from merging or combining with us for three years after achieving that ownership threshold. A Delaware corporation may opt out of this provision by express provision in its original certificate of incorporation or by amendment to its certificate of incorporation or bylaws approved by its stockholders. However, we have not opted out of this provision.
These and other provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law could make it more difficult for stockholders or potential acquirers to obtain control of our Board of Directors or initiate actions that are opposed by our then-current Board of Directors, including delaying or impeding a merger, tender offer, or proxy contest involving our company. The existence of these provisions could negatively affect the price of our common stock and limit opportunities for you to realize value in a corporate transaction.
We are incurring significantly increased costs and devoting substantial management time to operate as a public company.
As a public company, we are incurring significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. For example, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are required to comply with the applicable requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange, including the establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and changes in corporate governance practices. Compliance with these requirements has increased our legal and financial compliance costs and has made some activities more time consuming and costly. In addition, our management and other personnel devote substantial time to our public company requirements, which diverts attention from operational and other business matters. We also expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which will increase when we are no longer an emerging growth company, as defined by the JOBS Act. We have and will continue to hire additional accounting and financial staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge and maintain an internal audit function. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur as a result of operating as a public company or the timing of such costs.
We are an emerging growth company, and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure and governance requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.
For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.
We will remain an emerging growth company and may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until the earliest of (i) the end of the fiscal year in which the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the
preceding July 31, which is the end of our second fiscal quarter, (ii) the end of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of $1.07 billion or more during such fiscal year, (iii) the date on which we issue more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt in a three-year period or (iv) January 31, 2023.
We are an emerging growth company, and we have elected to use the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards otherwise applicable to public companies, which may make our common stock less attractive to investors.
As an emerging growth company, the JOBS Act allows us to delay adoption of new or revised accounting pronouncements applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are made applicable to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period under the JOBS Act. As a result, our consolidated financial statements may not be comparable to the financial statements of issuers who are required to comply with the effective dates for new or revised accounting standards that are applicable to public companies, which may make our common stock less attractive to investors.