PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRO) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

I think similarly, a lot of the innovation that Andres was talking about, especially in some of the new capabilities that we’ve done with our AI is also going to be something that’s going to be very important for us, as companies look more and more to AI to grow their business and make themselves more efficient, they’re going to be looking for different capabilities that can do that. And our engineering team has done a great job to date and they’ve got several other things that they have lined up to do that as well. So I mean, it’s pretty basic, right? It’s basically build products that you think customers are going to get value from and then package it and sell it in a way that they can consume it and get value from it and then expand from it.

Parker Lane: And then Andres, one for you. I think the second focus area you talked about for ’24 was the expansion of the marketplace. Can you talk a little bit about how widespread the adoption of those 140 solutions are amongst your client base today? And with the expansion of that marketplace, what sort of impact do you expect that to have on the top line in the coming years?

Andres Reiner: Yes, great question, Parker. So I would tell you, today, little, impact of the current customer base because we’re launching that marketplace and we’re adding more and more solutions. If you think about our platform transition in 2021, which first layout the platform strategy and the marketplace is a key component. And you’re seeing now we’re going to continue to add new packages on our platform that are easy to activate for customers that bring more value. So we see that as a key component of our strategy of getting to the rule of 40 and driving accelerated growth into 2026. The other component that I wanted to add that I think is very strategic for us to get there is our focus on AI, not just providing AI for our customers, but infusing AI into every aspect of our business.

We’re really looking at setting the standard for how AI is using the enterprise from every area. Think about from marketing, from sales, legal, all the way into implementations, customer success and across every aspect of the organization, we want to equip our teams to really thrive in the generation of AI. And I think you’re going to continue to see us lean in to drive efficiencies, while we’re driving the latest innovations in AI for our customers with easier adoption that’s going to help to drive growth. At the same time, we’re driving process and automation internally to make us more scalable for the future. So I think those are the two key strategic components that get us to the rule of 40.

Operator: And our next question comes from Nehal Chokshi with Northland Capital Markets.

Nehal Chokshi: Zero in subscription revenue growth here for Q1 guiding at 13% year-over-year growth, for full year guidance 13% year-over-year growth, which then implies relatively flat year-over-year growth profile as you go across quarters. Yes, Stefan, you talked about how typically, you don’t have great visibility beyond six quarters. And so what gives you confidence to guide effectively to still 13% year-over-year growth on the subscription revenue on the back half?

Stefan Schulz: Yes. One of the major benefits to seeing our travel industry start to see a better result is the fact that we get longer visibility into the future because, as you know, we don’t always get to recognize that revenue upon execution. So we have a much longer tail and a better vision into the future when we have those types of contracts because the revenue recognition gets delayed and we kind of have a vision of when that’s going to happen. So that’s really the biggest reason for it is lining up deals that we can see coming online as we go throughout the year.

Nehal Chokshi: And then just going back to this rule 40 guidance for counter 26, which is consistent with what you guys talked about from your May 2023 Investor Day. The cadence with which you index up the rule 40 score per year needs to accelerate significantly from ’24, ’25 to ’26. Do you remain confident that acceleration and that cadence of the incremental rule 40 score can indeed transpire?