Smartsheet Inc. (NYSE:SMAR) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Mark Mader: Yes, I love the question. I think those who sprint towards embedding a standard capability that is non-differentiating, can say that they’re participating. But I actually don’t think it really separates you from the competition. I think the marriage between what is distinct and unique to your offering, paired with generative AI, that’s the magic. So when we think about our assets in digital asset management, whether it’s the generation of images, manipulation of images, that is paired with the brand folder and outfit offerings. When I think about where we see major value unlocked in our world in terms of Smartsheet Proper, I think of the thousands of cases we get every single quarter from people saying, trying to figure out how to design the most advanced formula and logic based workflows in our app.

We’ve already done research. We’ve already generated formulas and logic with the help of generative AI, which we think will be a major design win for customers. So when you think about — it’s not just driving down the cost, it is unlocking a whole new set of population that in the current form, maybe dissuaded from taking that next step. So, I think it’s in the context of the work. People are tracking and designing in Smartsheet, the digital asset. And then the third vector is really all of that inflow we get from our customers into our help center. People trying to — when you look at the percentage of cases that come in, it’s not break-fix, it’s typically grounded in how do I and how do I unlock with generative AI is significant. So the very promising remark that I made in my remarks, ties out to those three vectors that we’re pursuing.

And you’ll see us continue to engage our community and our customers from early adopter program in the coming quarters. And I would say I’m quite bullish for the out years in terms of what that means for our customers.

Pinjalim Bora: Got it, understood. Thank you. And Pete, one question for you on the FCF guide. Obviously, it’s extremely strong, but help me understand kind of the context with respect to stock-based compensation on that. It seems like SBC is growing about 23%, understanding is that hiring is going to — probably going to moderate. Help us understand the FCF guide versus the SBC number, is there a change in kind of comp structure going this fiscal year?

Pete Godbole: So the guide we provided, obviously, shows an improvement in the GAAP margins as well. So you can see a proportionate improvement in the GAAP margins consistent with a non-GAAP margin improvement. And it embeds a stock based compensation element that basically shows it’s being — we’re managing it to be flat year-on year. And we’ve taken the sort of special emphasis and initiatives that we can use to reduce the stock-based compensation. Obviously, there’s a stacking effect that happens in stock compensation of previous historical grants. So we’re very mindful of what we’re adding into the file. And for example, this quarter, we made the change to convert the bonuses we paid to senior employees which used to be in stock to convert them to cash. That’s an example of among many others of how we’re managing stock-based compensation.

Pinjalim Bora: Got it, thank you very much.

Pete Godbole: Sure, Pinjalim.

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