Nerdy Inc (NRDY) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. Thank you for attending today's Nerdy Incorporated Q4 2024 earnings call. My name is Cole, and I'll be the moderator for today's call. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion of the call with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end.

午安.感謝您參加今天的 Nerdy Incorporated 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。我叫科爾，我將擔任今天電話會議的主持人。在通話的演示部分，所有線路都將靜音，並在結束時提供問答機會。

I'd now like to pass the conference over to your host TJ Lin, associate general counsel of Nerdy. You may proceed.

現在我想將會議交給主持人、Nerdy 副總法律顧問 TJ Lin。您可以繼續。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for Nerdy's Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. With me are Chuck Cohn, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nerdy; and Jason Pello, Chief Financial Officer.

下午好，感謝您參加 Nerdy 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。和我一起的是 Nerdy 的創辦人、董事長兼執行長 Chuck Cohn；以及財務長 Jason Pello。

Before I turn the call over to Chuck, I'll remind everyone that, this discussion will contain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, expectations with respect to Nerdy's future financial and operating results, strategy, opportunities, plans and outlook. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results.

在我將電話轉給查克之前，我要提醒大家，本次討論將包含前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於對 Nerdy 未來財務和經營業績、策略、機會、計劃和前景的預期。這些前瞻性陳述涉及重大風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與預期結果有重大差異。

Any forward-looking statements are made as of today's date, and Nerdy does not undertake or accept any obligation to publicly release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances, on which any such statement is based. Please refer to the disclaimers in today's shareholder letter announcing Nerdy's fourth quarter results and the company's filings with the SEC for a discussion of the risks. Not all of the financial measures that we will discuss today are prepared in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to today's shareholder letter for reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures.

任何前瞻性陳述均截至今日為止作出，Nerdy 不承擔或接受任何義務公開發布任何前瞻性陳述的更新或修訂，以反映任何預期的變化或任何此類陳述所基於的事件、條件或情況的變化。請參閱今天宣布 Nerdy 第四季度業績的股東信中的免責聲明以及該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以了解風險討論。我們今天要討論的財務指標並非全部都是依照 GAAP 編製的。請參閱今天的股東信，以了解這些非公認會計準則指標的對帳情況。

With that, let me turn the call over to Chuck.

說完這些，讓我把電話轉給查克。

Thanks, T.J., and thank you to everyone for joining us today. In 2024, we unified our consumer and institutional offerings, improved our marketplace technology, and enhanced our all access subscription offerings. We had a strong fourth quarter, where we delivered both revenue and adjusted EBITDA above the high-end of guidance and we're entering 2025 with a stronger platform and are innovating at a faster pace.

謝謝，T.J.，也感謝今天與我們一起的所有人。2024 年，我們統一了消費者和機構產品，改進了市場技術，並增強了全訪問訂閱產品。我們在第四季表現強勁，營收和調整後 EBITDA 都高於預期上限，我們將以更強大的平台邁入 2025 年，並​​以更快的速度進行創新。

Our vertically-integrated quality controlled marketplace manages the entire learning journey, vetting, matching, scheduling, adaptive testing, live tutoring and continuous improvement directly on platform. This closed-loop system drives quality and retention. And in 2025, AI will optimize every step, from personalized lessons and practice problems to real time insights, live instruction and program reporting.

我們的垂直整​​合品質控制市場直接在平台上管理整個學習過程、審查、匹配、安排、自適應測試、現場輔導和持續改進。這個閉環系統可以提高品質和保留率。到 2025 年，人工智慧將優化每一步，從個人化課程和練習問題到即時洞察、現場指導和程序報告。

Our goal is to make our learning experience the default choice for both learners and institutions. With over ten million hours of one-on-one tutoring recorded to date, we're in a position to benefit from AI driven enhancements that will allow us to elevate engagement and drive growth and profitability improvements. We are introducing several AI-powered products to our platform, that allow us to better provide learner and expert support throughout the learning journey.

我們的目標是讓我們的學習經驗成為學習者和機構的預設選擇。到目前為止，我們已經記錄了超過一千萬小時的一對一輔導，我們可以從人工智慧驅動的增強中受益，這將使我們能夠提高參與度並推動成長和獲利能力的提高。我們正在向我們的平台推出幾款人工智慧產品，使我們能夠在整個學習過程中更好地為學習者和專家提供支援。

First, our new AI session playback tool that leverages generative AI to turn each tutoring session into actionable insights for learners, parents, and educators. Our platform now automatically transcribes and summarizes every session, highlighting key concepts and areas of strength or weakness and links directly to the relevant sections of the recorded video.

首先，我們的新 AI 課程回放工具利用生成式 AI 將每次輔導課程轉化為學習者、家長和教育工作者可操作的見解。我們的平台現在會自動轉錄和總結每個環節，突出關鍵概念和優勢或劣勢領域，並直接連結到錄製影片的相關部分。

For consumers, these insights help learners track progress and they give parents a clear view of their investments value. The initial signal is positive with tutoring session usage higher for those exposed to AI session summaries with a 99% positive feedback rate from parents and students. For institutions, teachers gain data-driven insights to refine instruction or interventions, while administrators benefit from transparent reporting.

對於消費者來說，這些見解可以幫助學習者追蹤進度，並讓家長清楚了解他們的投資價值。初步訊號是正面的，接觸過 AI 課程摘要的學生的輔導課程使用率更高，來自家長和學生的正面回饋率達到 99%。對於機構而言，教師可以獲得數據驅動的洞察力來改進教學或乾預措施，而管理人員則可以從透明的報告中受益。

Real time feedback from these summaries also drives compounding improvements across our vertically-integrated platform, allowing us to refine service delivery at a pace not previously possible. As we move throughout the year, we will deepen our AI capabilities for institutions with dynamic exit ticket generation, leverage transcripts to generate homework after each session, and create lesson plans in advance of the next one.

這些摘要的即時回饋也推動了我們垂直整合平台的複合改進，使我們能夠以前所未有的速度改進服務交付。隨著全年的推進，我們將透過動態退出票生成為機構深化我們的人工智慧能力，利用成績單在每次課程後產生家庭作業，並在下一次課程之前製定課程計劃。

We will also add an advanced predictive analytics suite, including cohort level analysis and reporting tools, aiding district leaders in identifying at risk students and providing them clear visibility into program efficacy. We recently released our next generation AI lesson plan and practice problem generators to make creating robust customized standards aligned lesson content in seconds seamless. These tools are now available for both experts for tutoring and with our paid institutional product to teachers and initial signals been positive.

我們還將添加一個先進的預測分析套件，包括隊列層級分析和報告工具，幫助地區領導識別有風險的學生並讓他們清楚地了解專案的效果。我們最近發布了下一代人工智慧課程計劃和練習問題產生器，以便在幾秒鐘內無縫創建符合強大自訂標準的課程內容。這些工具現在可供輔導專家使用，也可以透過我們的付費機構產品供教師使用，初步訊號是正面的。

This year, we will continue to build AI products for teachers and schools that make access to our platform more compelling and increase the value of the AI and software tools provided on the platform. Many of these tools also drive efficiency and benefit us operationally. For instance, by automating content creation, we're reducing operational costs and improving profitability.

今年，我們將繼續為教師和學校打造人工智慧產品，使我們的平台存取更具吸引力，並提高平台上提供的人工智慧和軟體工具的價值。其中許多工具還能提高效率並使我們的營運受益。例如，透過自動化內容創建，我們可以降低營運成本並提高獲利能力。

We recently introduced Tutor Copilot, a product that provides AI driven support that elevates real time instruction, enabling every tutor to deliver personalized high quality sessions. It's embedded in our live learning platform and Tutor Copilot offers instructional suggestions. It generates lessons and practice content, and it helps deepen student engagement. This product's an example of how we integrate AI into the learning experience in a way that enhances rather than replaces the personal touch that learners value. By reducing prep time and streamlining lesson planning, it ensures more time is spent on interactive live instruction.

我們最近推出了 Tutor Copilot，這是一款提供人工智慧驅動支援的產品，可提升即時教學，使每位導師都能提供個人化的高品質課程。它嵌入在我們的即時學習平台中，Tutor Copilot 提供教學建議。它產生課程和練習內容，並有助於加深學生的參與。該產品是我們如何將人工智慧融入學習體驗的一個例子，它增強了而不是取代了學習者所重視的個人風格。透過減少準備時間和簡化課程計劃，它確保將更多的時間花在互動現場教學上。

Looking ahead to the rest of 2025, we'll continue to enhance our AI-driven offerings to continue to refine and elevate the tutor and student experience. This year, we're planning to upgrade our AI tutor currently available for consumers and then make it available broadly to institutions. This will empower students and on demand support between live sessions, creating a cohesive learning ecosystem across both consumer and institutional audiences.

展望 2025 年剩餘時間，我們將繼續增強我們的人工智慧驅動產品，以繼續改善和提升導師和學生的體驗。今年，我們計劃升級目前面向消費者的人工智慧導師，然後廣泛提供給機構。這將為學生提供現場課程之間的按需支持，為消費者和機構受眾創建一個有凝聚力的學習生態系統。

We'll also refine our expert learner matching algorithm, incorporating more factors and data for even greater precision and improve match quality and ultimately customer lifetime value. Additionally, we're in the early stages of agentifying processes to increase quality and reduce costs. For instance, if a tutor isn't the right fit after a session, our AI can initiate and complete a replacement within minutes of a session completing, minimizing customer frustration and ensuring exceptional experience. Once we perfect Tutor Copilot, we'll adapt those learnings to launch a Teacher Copilot for our paid institutional platform, further embedding our tools and classrooms.

我們還將改進我們的專家學習者匹配演算法，結合更多因素和數據，以實現更高的精度，提高匹配質量，最終提高客戶終身價值。此外，我們正處於代理化流程的早期階段，以提高品質並降低成本。例如，如果某位導師在課程結束後不再合適，我們的人工智慧可以在課程結束後幾分鐘內啟動並完成替換，最大限度地減少客戶的挫折感並確保卓越的體驗。一旦我們完善了 Tutor Copilot，我們將調整這些學習成果，為我們的付費機構平台推出 Teacher Copilot，進一步嵌入我們的工具和教室。

For consumers, we will focus on driving retention and extending lifetime value through a higher quality and more personalized offering, building on our strong Q4 momentum. Over the past quarter, it's apparent that our progress on foundational marketplace aspects like vetting, matching and scheduling and more has positioned us to now shift greater focus toward AI-driven innovation. These AI products and tools are now advanced enough to drive significant improvements with less effort, while allowing us to compound many small wins across the entire learning journey.

對於消費者，我們將利用第四季度強勁的發展勢頭，專注於透過更高品質、更個人化的產品來提高留存率並延長終身價值。在過去的一個季度中，我們在審查、匹配和安排等基礎市場方面取得的進展顯然使我們現在可以將更多注意力轉向人工智慧驅動的創新。這些人工智慧產品和工具現在已經足夠先進，可以用較少的努力實現顯著的改進，同時讓我們在整個學習過程中累積許多小小的勝利。

Now looking back on 2024, we made significant progress against the three primary themes we laid out last year, including scaling the winning product for every learner. We unified our consumer and institutional platforms to deliver a modern, intuitive and personalized learning experience. This streamlined approach enables faster feature releases, complemented by improved on boarding and activation for new learners. As a result, consumer engagement rose 26% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, and new customer retention improved. Key investments included My Learning Hub and subject portals, which enable easier resource discovery and progress tracking.

現在回顧 2024 年，我們在去年提出的三個主要主題方面取得了重大進展，包括為每個學習者擴展制勝產品。我們統一了消費者和機構平台，以提供現代、直覺和個人化的學習體驗。這種簡化的方法可以更快地發布功能，並改善新學習者的入職和激活。因此，第四季消費者參與度年增 26%，新客戶保留率也有所提高。主要投資包括「我的學習中心」和主題門戶，這使得資源發現和進度追蹤更加容易。

We streamlined on boarding for a simpler path to getting started with a tutor, and we improved tutor matching to pair learners with the right tutor more effectively. We also emphasized learning memberships that focused on weekly tutoring sessions and that's led to quicker first sessions, more frequent tutoring engagement, increased engagement with non-tutoring tools and higher average revenue per member per month, as well as stronger retention.

我們簡化了入職流程，讓學員更輕鬆地開始與導師溝通，並且我們改進了導師匹配功能，以便更有效地將學習者與合適的導師配對。我們也強調了以每週輔導課程為重點的學習會員資格，這使得首次課程更快、輔導參與更頻繁、非輔導工具的參與度更高、每位會員每月的平均收入更高，並且保留率更高。

We expect these changes will drive a return to growth, enhance unit economics and support our path to profitability in 2025. Over the past year, we invested in our institutional go to market strategy and platform to scale varsity tutors for schools, and we expanded the number of learners we can impact.

我們預計這些變化將推動成長的恢復，提高單位經濟效益，並支持我們在 2025 年實現盈利。在過去的一年裡，我們投資了機構的市場策略和平台，以擴大學校的大學導師隊伍，並擴大了我們能夠影響的學習者數量。

We productized and launched access to our platform, ultimately introducing offerings to more than 5 million students across 1,100 school districts. These efforts increased awareness in our company at a larger scale, built trust with K-12 institutions and positioned us as a preferred tutoring partner for districts implementing paid tutoring programs.

我們將產品化並推出了平台存取權限，最終向 1,100 個學區的 500 多萬名學生推出了服務。這些努力在更大範圍內提高了我們公司的知名度，與 K-12 機構建立了信任，並使我們成為實施付費輔導計劃的地區首選的輔導合作夥伴。

In the fourth quarter, 43% of paid contracts and 36% of total bookings value came from school district partners who initially partnered with Varsity Tutors for Schools via access to our platform and then subsequently converted to our paid offerings. On a go forward basis, we'll be shifting our focus toward paid access to the Varsity Tutors platform for any new customers given the significant AI-led product enhancements that are being introduced in 2025.

第四季度，43% 的付費合約和 36% 的總預訂價值來自學區合作夥伴，他們最初透過造訪我們的平台與 Varsity Tutors for Schools 合作，隨後轉換為我們的付費產品。展望未來，鑑於 2025 年將推出的由人工智慧主導的重大產品增強功能，我們將把重點轉向為所有新客戶提供 Varsity Tutors 平台的付費存取。

This past year, we made substantial improvements to modernize several components of our marketplace infrastructure, including scheduling, invoicing, substitution, and other logistics capabilities that we believe will allow us to provide a best in class customer experience. These improvements simplified operations, reduced tutor and marketplace operations costs and simultaneously improved the customer experience.

去年，我們對市場基礎設施​​的幾個組成部分進行了實質性的改進，包括調度、發票、替換和其他物流功能，我們相信這些改進將使我們能夠提供一流的客戶體驗。這些改進簡化了操作，降低了導師和市場營運成本，同時改善了客戶體驗。

We believe the recent advances in AI, provide us with the opportunity to drive further levels of productivity improvement, including through automation of key processes, that will allow us to improve both the customer experience and operational consistency, while also removing substantial costs. In fact, we believe headcount peaked during the back-to-school period in 2024, and we now anticipate that the productivity improvements driven by AI will allow us to scale without hiring in the majority of areas on a go forward basis.

我們相信，人工智慧的最新進展為我們提供了進一步提高生產力水平的機會，包括透過關鍵流程的自動化，這將使我們能夠改善客戶體驗和營運一致性，同時也能降低大量成本。事實上，我們認為員工人數將在 2024 年返校期間達到頂峰，現在我們預計，人工智慧推動的生產力提高將使我們能夠在大多數領域擴大規模而無需招聘。

In closing, we're energized by the rapid pace of innovation that is positioning us to achieve significant progress towards our vision of AI for HI, where artificial intelligence for human interaction and what it can mean for our company. We look forward to providing you with additional updates as we embrace these new AI technologies and fulfill our mission to transform how people learn by meeting the evolving needs of learners in any subject, anywhere and at any time.

最後，快速的創新步伐為我們帶來了活力，使我們能夠在實現 HI 的 AI 願景方面取得重大進展，即人工智慧用於人類互動以及它對我們公司的意義。我們期待在擁抱這些新的人工智慧技術的同時，為您提供更多更新，並履行我們的使命，即透過滿足學習者在任何時間、任何地點、任何學科不斷變化的需求來改變人們的學習方式。

With that, I will turn the call over to Jason to discuss the financials in more detail. Jason?

說完這些，我會把電話轉給傑森，讓他更詳細地討論財務問題。傑森？

Thanks, Chuck, and good afternoon, everyone. As Chuck mentioned, we made significant progress against the three primary goals we laid out for the year. In the fourth quarter, Nerdy delivered revenue of $48 million, above our guidance range of $44 million to $47 million, which represented a decrease of 13% year-over-year from $55.1 million during the same period in 2023.

謝謝，查克，大家下午好。正如查克所提到的，我們在實現今年制定的三個主要目標方面取得了重大進展。第四季度，Nerdy 的營收為 4,800 萬美元，高於我們預期的 4,400 萬美元至 4,700 萬美元區間，較 2023 年同期的 5,510 萬美元年減 13%。

Revenue declined primarily due to lower institutional revenue coupled with lower ARPM and active members in our consumer business.

收入下降主要是由於機構收入下降，加上消費者業務的平均每日收入 (ARPM) 和活躍會員數減少。

Consumer Learning Membership subscription revenue was $39.2 million, representing 82% of total company revenue. As of yearend, active members in ARPM were 37,500 members and $302 respectively, which resulted in an annualized run rate of approximately $136 million from learning memberships at quarter end. Our institutional business delivered revenue of $6.8 million and represented 14% of total company revenue. Varsity Tutors for Schools executed 91 contracts, yielding $4.6 million of bookings. During the quarter, we enabled access to the Varsity Tutors platform for an additional 600,000 students, bringing the total to 5 million students at over 1,100 school districts as of yearend.

消費者學習會員訂閱收入為 3,920 萬美元，占公司總收入的 82%。截至年底，ARPM 的活躍會員人數為 37,500 人，會員收入為 3.02 億美元，季度末學習會員的年化運作率約為 1.36 億美元。我們的機構業務實現了 680 萬美元的收入，占公司總收入的 14%。Varsity Tutors for Schools 簽訂了 91 份合同，預訂金額達 460 萬美元。在本季度，我們為另外 60 萬名學生提供了 Varsity Tutors 平台存取權限，截至年底，該平台覆蓋超過 1,100 個學區，學生總數達到 500 萬名。

And as Chuck mentioned, this strategy to introduce school districts to the platform and ultimately convert them to our fee-based offerings produced 43% of paid contracts and 36% of total bookings value in the fourth quarter. As discussed in our last earnings call, since the start of the fourth quarter, we have moderated our investment in the institutional business to align with a more normalized sales cycle post ESSER and given near-term funding uncertainties. We believe a significant opportunity exists in the institutional space and that the product enhancements we are planning to make for the Unified platform will drive growth in future periods, simplify operations and positively impact financial results in 2025.

正如查克所提到的，將學區引入平台並最終將其轉化為收費服務的策略在第四季度產生了 43% 的付費合約和 36% 的總預訂價值。正如我們在上次收益電話會議上所討論的那樣，自第四季度開始以來，我們已經調整了對機構業務的投資，以適應 ESSER 之後更加正常的銷售週期，並考慮到近期的融資不確定性。我們相信機構領域存在巨大的機遇，我們計劃為統一平台進行的產品增強將推動未來時期的成長，簡化營運並對 2025 年的財務業績產生積極影響。

Moving down to P&L. Gross profit of $31.9 million in the fourth quarter was lower by 19% year-over-year. Gross margin was 66.6% in the fourth quarter compared to gross margin of 71.3% during the same period in 2023. The decrease in gross margin was primarily due to lower ARPM coupled with higher utilization of tutoring sessions across learning memberships in our consumer business.

轉到損益表。第四季毛利為3,190萬美元，較去年同期下降19%。第四季毛利率為 66.6%，而 2023 年同期毛利率為 71.3%。毛利率下降主要是由於平均每千次觀看（ARPM）較低，加上消費者業務學習會員的輔導課程利用率較高。

We also implemented new expert incentives during the fourth quarter, that we believe will drive further engagement with our platform and customer retention improvements. Essentially for each consecutive session with a learner, experts receive an extra $1 per session up to $40 per session. This change is already leading to improvements in time to first session, the number of sessions in the first 30 days, a reduction in tutor replacement rates, and improvements to retention.

我們也在第四季度實施了新的專家激勵措施，我們相信這將進一步推動我們平台的參與度和客戶保留率的提高。基本上，對於與學習者進行的每次連續課程，專家每次課程都會額外獲得 1 美元，最高可達 40 美元。這項變更已經導致首次課程時間的縮短、前 30 天內課程數量的增加、導師替換率的降低以及保留率的提高。

Sales and marketing expenses for the quarter on a GAAP basis were $18.4 million, a decrease of $0.4 million from $18.8 million in the same period in 2023. Non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses, excluding non-cash stock-based compensation, were $17.8 million compared to $18.2 million in the same period in 2023. The decrease in sales and marketing expenses was primarily driven by consumer marketing efficiency gains, where we saw customer acquisition costs decrease by $1.6 million or 10% year-over-year in the fourth quarter.

以 GAAP 計算，本季銷售和行銷費用為 1,840 萬美元，較 2023 年同期的 1,880 萬美元減少 40 萬美元。非公認會計準則銷售和行銷費用（不包括非現金股票薪酬）為 1,780 萬美元，而 2023 年同期為 1,820 萬美元。銷售和行銷費用的減少主要得益於消費者行銷效率的提高，我們發現第四季度客戶獲取成本年減了 160 萬美元，降幅為 10%。

General and administrative expenses for the quarter on a GAAP basis were $29.9 million, a decrease of $0.8 million from $30.7 million in the same period last year. Non-GAAP G&A, excluding non-cash stock-based compensation expenses, was $21.6 million compared to $19.8 million in the same period in 2023. Included in G&A costs were product development costs of $10.4 million. We believe our investments in product development and our platform oriented approach to growth have allowed us to launch and continuously improve our suite of subscription products, simplify operations and enhance our unified platform.

根據 GAAP 計算，本季的一般及行政開支為 2,990 萬美元，較去年同期的 3,070 萬美元減少 80 萬美元。非公認會計準則一般及行政費用（不包括非現金股票薪酬費用）為 2,160 萬美元，而 2023 年同期為 1,980 萬美元。一般及行政費用中包括 1,040 萬美元的產品開發成本。我們相信，我們對產品開發的投資和以平台為導向的成長方式使我們能夠推出並不斷改進我們的訂閱產品套件，簡化營運並增強我們的統一平台。

As Chuck mentioned, we believe that recent advances in AI provide us with the opportunity to drive further levels of productivity improvement. Through the execution of several internal AI-enabled productivity initiatives, we have been able to reduce corporate headcount by approximately 15% during the first quarter of 2025.

正如查克所提到的，我們相信人工智慧的最新進展為我們提供了進一步提高生產力的機會。透過實施多項內部人工智慧生產力計劃，我們能夠在 2025 年第一季將公司員工人數減少約 15%。

The total annualized cash savings from these initiatives is approximately $6 million. We look forward to providing you with additional updates on our progress to increase automation, as we embrace these new technologies and streamline operations.

這些措施每年可節省的現金總額約為 600 萬美元。隨著我們採用這些新技術並簡化運營，我們期待為您提供有關提高自動化進展的更多更新資訊。

Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA loss of $5.5 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024, was above our guidance of negative $7 million to negative $10 million and compared to positive non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of $3 million in the same period during 2023. Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA improvements relative to guidance were primarily driven by higher revenues coupled with benefits from AI-enabled efficiency and operating leverage improvements, partially offset by lower gross margin, due to higher utilization across learning memberships in our consumer business.

截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月，非 GAAP 調整後 EBITDA 虧損為 550 萬美元，高於我們預期的負 700 萬美元至負 1000 萬美元，而 2023 年同期的非 GAAP 調整後 EBITDA 為正 300 萬美元。非公認會計準則調整後的 EBITDA 相對於指引的改善主要得益於更高的收入以及人工智慧帶來的效率和營運槓桿的提高，但由於我們消費者業務中學習會員的利用率更高，毛利率下降部分抵消了這一影響。

Compared to last year, the non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA loss was lower, primarily due to lower revenues and gross margin coupled with investments in the Varsity Tutors for Schools sales organization and product development to drive innovation and support our growth. As of 12/31, the company's principal sources of liquidity were cash and cash equivalents of $52.5 million and we have zero debt. We believe our strong balance sheet provides us with ample liquidity to operate against our plan and pursue growth initiatives.

與去年相比，非 GAAP 調整後 EBITDA 虧損較低，主要原因是營收和毛利率較低，加上對 Varsity Tutors for Schools 銷售組織和產品開發的投資，以推動創新並支持我們的成長。截至 12 月 31 日，該公司的主要流動資金來源是 5,250 萬美元的現金和現金等價物，且沒有任何債務。我們相信，強勁的資產負債表為我們提供了充足的流動性，使我們能夠按照計劃開展業務並追求成長計劃。

Turning to our business outlook. We are providing first quarter and full year revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2025. For the first quarter, we expect consumer revenues will be positively impacted by improvements in ARPM due to the mix shift towards higher frequency learning memberships and price increases, enacted in our consumer business. We also expect improvements to the user experience, including our earlier mentioned AI products and the implementation of new expert incentives will drive further retention improvements.

談到我們的業務前景。我們提供 2025 年第一季和全年收入以及調整後的 EBITDA 指引。對於第一季，我們預計消費者收入將受到 ARPM 改善的正面影響，這是由於我們的消費者業務轉向更高頻率的學習會員資格和價格上漲。我們也希望使用者體驗的改善，包括我們先前提到的人工智慧產品和新專家激勵措施的實施，將進一步推動保留率的提高。

For the full year, we expect a return to growth in consumer revenues, as the faster pace of product innovation and operational improvement initiatives pull through, leading to accelerating consumer revenue growth each quarter, as we move throughout 2025. Institutional revenue reflects the flow through of lower 2024 bookings into the first half of 2025, coupled with a cautious government funding environment. For the first quarter of 2025, we expect revenue in the range of $45 million to $47 million. For the full year, we expect revenue in the range of $190 million to $200 million.

我們預計，隨著產品創新和營運改善舉措的加速推進，全年消費者收入將恢復成長，從而導致整個 2025 年每季的消費者收入成長都加快。機構收入反映了 2024 年較低的預訂量流入 2025 年上半年，加上謹慎的政府融資環境。對於 2025 年第一季度，我們預計營收將在 4,500 萬美元至 4,700 萬美元之間。我們預計全年營收將在 1.9 億美元至 2 億美元之間。

Turning to adjusted EBITDA guidance. For the first quarter, we expect recent expert incentives coupled with higher utilization in both our consumer and institutional businesses to result in lower gross margin. As we move throughout the year, we expect price increases for new consumer customers enacted during the first quarter will yield sequential quarterly improvements to gross margin. Full year adjusted EBITDA improvements reflect a return to consumer revenue growth coupled with benefits from AI-enabled productivity and operating leverage improvements, partially offset by these tutor incentives.

轉向調整後的 EBITDA 指導。對於第一季度，我們預計近期的專家激勵措施加上消費者和機構業務的利用率提高將導致毛利率下降。隨著全年的推進，我們預計第一季針對新消費者實施的價格上漲將帶來毛利率的逐季改善。全年調整後的 EBITDA 成長反映了消費者收入成長的回歸，以及人工智慧帶來的生產力和營運槓桿的提高，但這些導師激勵措施部分抵消了這一影響。

For the first quarter of 2025, we expect adjusted EBITDA in a range of negative $6 million to negative $8 million and for the full year, we expect adjusted EBITDA in a range of negative $8 million to negative $18 million. We also expect to be adjusted EBITDA and cash flow positive in the fourth quarter of 2025. This would result us ending the year with no debt and cash in the range of $35 million to $40 million, which we believe provides us with ample liquidity to fund the business and pursue growth initiatives.

對於 2025 年第一季度，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 在負 600 萬美元至負 800 萬美元之間，對於全年，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 在負 800 萬美元至負 1800 萬美元之間。我們也預計 2025 年第四季調整後的 EBITDA 和現金流將為正值。這將使我們在年底時沒有債務，並且擁有 3500 萬至 4000 萬美元的現金，我們相信這為我們提供了充足的流動資金來資助業務並推行增長計劃。

In closing, thank you again for your time and for your continued interest in our company. With that, I'll turn it over to the operator for Q&A.

最後，再次感謝您抽出時間並對我們公司的持續關注。說完這些，我將把問題交給操作員進行問答。

Andrew Boone with Citizens JMP

Andrew Boone 與 Citizens JMP

Hi. This is Brianna on for Andrew. Thanks so much for taking my question. As we look towards the guide, can you help us bridge the assumptions on the active learning numbers and ARPM for 1Q and just help us parse through the dynamic there? And then, when looking towards the full year revenue guide based on 1Q, this implies an acceleration throughout the year. Can you help us understand the visibility into the full year and confidence on that outlook?

你好。我是布麗安娜，代替安德魯。非常感謝您回答我的問題。當我們查看指南時，您能否幫助我們彌合第一季主動學習數位和 ARPM 的假設，並幫助我們解析那裡的動態？然後，當查看基於第一季的全年收入指南時，這意味著全年收入將加速成長。您能否幫助我們了解全年的前景和信心？

And then, second question, just what drove the pricing decision for new customers in 1Q? And how should we think about pricing potentially weighing in on member growth for 2025?

然後，第二個問題，是什麼推動了第一季新客戶的定價決策？我們該如何看待定價對 2025 年會員成長的潛在影響？

Absolutely. This is Chuck. I'll try to answer all of this. So we feel really good about Q4. We beat our own expectations by a significant amount on both revenue and EBITDA. We also made good progress on a number of important initiatives related to strengthening the underlying marketplace infrastructure that allows for us to be more efficient and deliver higher quality services consistently. So we felt like the underlying foundation was strengthened and we can start being a little bit more offensive, as it relates to some of the product innovations that we're shipping.

絕對地。這是查克。我會盡力回答所有這些問題。所以我們對第四季感到非常滿意。我們的營收和 EBITDA 都大大超出了我們自己的預期。我們也在加強底層市場基礎設施​​的一系列重要措施上取得了良好進展，這使我們能夠提高效率並持續提供更高品質的服務。因此，我們感覺基礎已經得到加強，我們可以開始採取更具攻擊性的行動，因為這與我們正在推出的一些產品創新有關。

So, a couple of the things that were particularly exciting about the quarter was a lot of the work that we talked about last time on consumer product and activation started pulling through to higher retention, and we saw that elevate both sequentially and year-over-year throughout the quarter and strengthened. And so, we launched tutor incentives, which was something that, historically, we have really not optimized very much and we saw significant changes in behavior that we got really excited about.

因此，本季特別令人興奮的幾件事是，我們上次談到的有關消費產品和激活的許多工作開始帶來更高的保留率，並且我們看到整個季度的保留率環比和同比都有所提升，並且有所加強。因此，我們推出了導師激勵措施，從歷史上看，我們在這方面並沒有進行太多優化，但我們看到行為發生了重大變化，這讓我們感到非常興奮。

So, tutors taking, call it, more than 3 times as much work when they join the platform and then also driving significant utilization that we know pulls through to retention. So entering the start to the year, we saw higher level -- we decided to roll this out broadly given the really, really positive engagement it was driving, and then how that ultimately pulls through to retention. And to start the year, we've seen retention continue to elevate year-over-year, which is something we're really excited about.

因此，當導師加入平台時，他們承擔的工作量是原來的三倍多，而且還能提高利用率，我們知道，這有助於留住學生。因此，進入今年年初，我們看到了更高的水平——我們決定廣泛推廣這一計劃，因為它推動了非常積極的參與，然後最終如何實現保留。今年伊始，我們看到留存率逐年持續上升，這讓我們感到非常興奮。

So that has an impact on gross margin in Q1, but ultimately, we think pays for itself a few months out with the kind of crossover line of contribution profit per customer being, something that as a result of being able to enlist and motivate the tutors on the platform to drive retention. We're pretty excited about how that can ultimately pull through. So we feel like the guide is appropriate and we haven't baked in all that much elevated retention, but the trends continue to improve and we really feel good about kind of the start of the year and where this could go as we continue to test.

因此，這會對第一季的毛利率產生影響，但最終，我們認為，透過每位客戶的交叉貢獻利潤，幾個月後就能收回成本，這是因為能夠招募和激勵平台上的導師來提高留任率。我們對最終能否實現這一目標感到非常興奮。因此，我們覺得該指南是合適的，我們還沒有考慮到太多的提高保留率，但趨勢正在繼續改善，我們對今年的開始以及隨著我們繼續測試，這種情況可能會如何發展感到非常滿意。

So, separately, we increased prices about 20% in totality, which we thought was appropriate given some of the value that we've been adding to the platform and the way that we've enhanced it, including, but not limited to both the tutor incentives and the quality improvements that we've made in the underlying marketplace infrastructure where we're matching customers on average to a much higher quality and better match for them, as well as then some of the ongoing product and personalization capabilities that we've rolled out, like the GenAI summarization, like the other content and tools, like Tutor Copilot.

因此，我們另外將價格總共提高了約 20%，考慮到我們一直在為平台增加的一些價值以及我們對其進行增強的方式，我們認為這是合理的，包括但不限於導師激勵措施和我們在底層市場基礎設施​​中所做的質量改進，我們平均為客戶匹配更高質量、更合適的匹配，以及我們正在推出的一些產品和個性化功能，例如 Tutorlot和其他工具，例如 Tutor 內容以及

There's investments that we made behind them, and they're providing real value, and the customers are indicating that they actually value these. And so, we think that the pricing increases are appropriate and warranted and we feel good about those.

我們在它們背後進行了投資，它們提供了真正的價值，客戶也表示他們確實重視這些投資。因此，我們認為價格上漲是適當且合理的，我們對此感到滿意。

And then, as we move throughout the year, you're basically blending into on average a higher ARPM base throughout the year and that kind of combined with, what we think are good customer acquisition trends, positive in February on acquired revenue, for instance, combined with that elevated retention, those are things that we feel good about, as we move throughout the year and will drive that acceleration.

然後，隨著我們全年的發展，您基本上會融入全年平均更高的 ARPM 基數，再加上我們認為良好的客戶獲取趨勢，例如 2 月份獲得的收入呈積極態勢，再加上保留率的提高，這些都是讓我們感到滿意的事情，隨著全年的發展，這些都會推動這一加速。

Super helpful. Thank you so much.

超有幫助。太感謝了。

Separately we increased prices of about 20% in totality which we thought was appropriate. Given some of the value that we've been adding to the platform, the way that we've enhanced it, including but not limited to both the tutor incentives and the quality improvements that we've made in the underlying marketplace infrastructure we're matching.

另外，我們總共將價格提高了約 20%，我們認為這是合適的。鑑於我們一直在為平台增加的一些價值，以及我們對其進行增強的方式，包括但不限於導師激勵和我們在所匹配的底層市場基礎設施​​中所做的品質改進。

Customers on average to a much higher quality and better match for them as well as then some of the ongoing product and personalization capabilities that we've rolled out like the GenAI summarization like the other content and tools like Tutor copilot, there's investments that we made behind them and they're providing real value and the customers are indicating that they actually value these and so we think that the pricing increases are appropriate and warranted and feel good about those and.

平均而言，客戶可以獲得更高品質、更匹配的產品，以及我們推出的一些持續產品和個人化功能，例如 GenAI 摘要、其他內容和工具（例如 Tutor copilot），我們在它們背後進行了投資，它們提供了真正的價值，客戶表示他們確實重視這些，因此我們認為價格上漲是適當的、合理的，我們對此感到滿意。

Super helpful. Thank you so much.

超有幫助。太感謝了。

Ross Sandler with Barclays

巴克萊銀行的羅斯桑德勒

Hi, guys. It's Ross Sandler on for Ross Sandler. Chuck, how is the new AI products impacting retention in the consumer business? And then second one is sort of a follow-up, but Jason or Chuck, either one, could you just explain the gross margin and the higher utilization dynamic that happened in the fourth quarter? And it sounds like that's going to improve across the next few quarters. Could you just kind of explain what's going on and then why it's improving? Thank you.

嗨，大家好。羅斯桑德勒 (Ross Sandler) 為羅斯桑德勒 (Ross Sandler) 上場。查克，新的人工智慧產品對消費者業務的保留有何影響？然後第二個問題有點像後續問題，但 Jason 或 Chuck，您能否解釋一下第四季度的毛利率和更高的利用率動態？聽起來這種情況在接下來的幾季會有所改善。您能否解釋一下發生了什麼以及為什麼情況會改善？謝謝。

Sure. So, there's a couple of different ways. So, it allows for us to better assess quality, improve match quality. We know those things both pull through to better retention. There's features that more directly impact a day-to-day customer experience like the Tutor Copilot, so tutors are able to show up to sessions and be more prepared in general, same with lesson plan generation and practice tools.

當然。因此，有幾種不同的方法。因此，它使我們能夠更好地評估質量，並提高匹配質量。我們知道，這些因素都會提高留存率。有些功能會更直接地影響日常客戶體驗，例如 Tutor Copilot，這樣導師就可以參加課程並做好更充分的準備，課程計畫產生和練習工具也是如此。

Those are all things that allow for, on average, the sessions to be more productive, more personalized, more relevant, and also for experts themselves to have higher effective hourly pay, because they spend less time prepping but are able to actually deliver higher quality life lessons.

所有這些都使得課程平均而言更加高效、更加個人化、更加相關，同時也使得專家本身能夠獲得更高的有效小時工資，因為他們花費更少的時間準備，但實際上能夠提供更高品質的生活課程。

And you take that and you combine it with some of the features like the GenAI summarization that actually allow for parents to see the value in particular of their kids' lessons and very, very quickly, let's say a 60 to 90 minute lesson instead of having to watch the whole thing, which can be tedious, immediately see the value and better understand what's been accomplished.

然後你把它和一些功能結合起來，比如 GenAI 摘要，這實際上可以讓父母看到他們孩子的課程的價值，並且非常非常快地看到，比如說一節 60 到 90 分鐘的課程，而不必觀看整個課程，這可能很乏味，立即看到價值並更好地理解已經完成的內容。

And that's something where the engagement is really high. It's pulling through to customers, making it farther along in their journey from the first week to the second week to the third week to the fourth week to the fifth week, and so on.

這是參與度非常高的事。它正在吸引客戶，使他們的旅程從第一周到第二週、第三週、第四週、第五週等等走得更遠。

And so, that's something where, we're really excited about how both the product that we launched as well as subsequent improvements we'll be able to make that could get really, really cool, in terms of being able to see some of the insights that come with it. Those are things that are just allowing us for allowing us to communicate and demonstrate the outcomes and value that much more efficiently to consumers.

因此，我們真的很高興看到我們推出的產品以及我們能夠做出的後續改進會變得非常非常酷，因為我們能夠看到隨之而來的一些見解。這些只是讓我們能夠更有效地向消費者溝通並展示成果和價值。

They're also able to, watch it and jump to the right spot more efficiently. There's a whole host of different ways that, we think that particular product can be really, really compelling. But the whole idea is that, it's less work, you get more value, it's easier, it's more personalized and we kind of remove friction at every point in a way that really delights people.

他們還能夠更有效地觀看並跳到正確的位置。我們認為，有許多不同的方法可以讓特定的產品變得非常引人注目。但整體理念是，它減少了工作量，卻帶來了更多的價值，它變得更加簡單，更加個性化，而且我們以一種真正讓人愉悅的方式消除了每一點上的摩擦。

Yes. And then I'll speak to the gross margin and the utilization. I just said, like to start by saying we love seeing higher utilization on the platform, higher levels of activation, higher levels of first time to first session, the number of sessions in month one and month two, across new customer cohorts based on all the UX work that we did over the course of the last two quarters is really starting to pull through.

是的。然後我會談談毛利率和利用率。我剛才說了，首先我們要說的是，我們很高興看到平台的利用率更高、激活率更高、首次會話次數更高、第一個月和第二個月的會話次數更高，基於我們在過去兩個季度中所做的所有用戶體驗工作，新客戶群的會話次數確實開始顯現。

We always have seen historically that higher levels of engagement and utilization, drive higher levels of retention and we're seeing that. We noted it in the letter and on the call that it's up 26%. That does impact gross margins, although we think it benefits contribution profit dollars over the long run, because customers will stay with us for a longer period of time when they're having a great experience on the platform.

從歷史上看，我們一直看到，更高的參與度和利用率會推動更高水準的保留，我們也看到了這一點。我們在信函和電話中指出，它上漲了 26%。這確實會影響毛利率，但我們認為從長遠來看這有利於貢獻利潤，因為當客戶在平台上獲得良好的體驗時，他們會在我們這裡停留更長時間。

The other thing on gross margin is, the tutor incentives that we are investing in are across all customers. And so, there's a significant impact in the first quarter, to that gross margin. But as the new prices take hold for new customers and blend in over the course of the year, you'll see sequential improvements in gross margin, as we move across the year.

關於毛利率的另一件事是，我們投資的導師激勵措施面向所有客戶。因此，第一季的毛利率受到了顯著影響。但隨著新價格在一年中逐漸被新客戶接受和融入，你會看到毛利率在一年中不斷提高。

So, I've got gross margin of 60% in Q1, 64% in Q2, and in the back half, we're in the 66% range as those price improvements pull through. And just from a funnel metrics perspective, we feel good about those price improvements that we've incorporated this past month in February, ARPM is over $400 and we think that the customer remains healthy.

因此，第一季的毛利率為 60%，第二季為 64%，而隨著價格改善的實施，下半年的毛利率將達到 66% 左右。僅從漏斗指標的角度來看，我們對上個月（2 月）實施的價格改進感到滿意，ARPM 超過 400 美元，我們認為客戶仍然健康。

Bryan Smilek with JPMorgan

摩根大通的 Bryan Smilek

Hi. This is Niraj on from Bryan. Just wanted to understand on VTS, are you starting to see returns from the localization of the sales force? And more broadly, can you give us an update on the competitive landscape?

你好。我是來自 Bryan 的 Niraj。只是想了解 VTS，您是否開始看到銷售團隊在地化帶來的回報？更廣泛地說，您能否向我們介紹一下競爭格局的最新情況？

Would you mind repeating your question, please?

您介意重複一下您的問題嗎？

Yes. on Varsity Tutors, are you starting to see returns from the localization of the sales force? And more broadly, can you give us an update on the competitive landscape?

是的。對於 Varsity Tutors 來說，您是否開始看到銷售人員在地化帶來的回報？更廣泛地說，您能否向我們介紹一下競爭格局的最新情況？

Certainly. So, one of the things that, we've done over the course of the past year is build out our all access product, so that we can actually offer subscription offerings that allow for us to make available all those different solutions, products and schools that, in large part, we built first of our consumer business but have broad applicability within VTS.

當然。因此，我們在過去一年中所做的事情之一就是建立我們的全訪問產品，以便我們能夠實際提供訂閱服務，使我們能夠提供所有不同的解決方案、產品和學校，在很大程度上，我們首先建立了消費者業務，但在 VTS 中具有廣泛的適用性。

And so one of the things that, you know, we've done is now take recently a number of these different GenAI capabilities and include them in an offering that will now be paid subscription offering, that we will be selling into school districts and available for many of the 1,000 school districts that signed up for the free offering a year ago, as well as any net new customers, that being kind of the default product that they're opted into with the ability to pair that with high dosage tutoring offerings.

因此，您知道，我們最近所做的事情之一就是將許多不同的 GenAI 功能納入到付費訂閱服務中，我們將向學區銷售該產品，並向一年前註冊免費服務的 1,000 個學區中的許多學區以及任何淨新客戶開放，這是他們選擇的默認產品，可以將其與高劑量的輔導服務配對。

And we think it's really compelling, and particularly as you think about the insights components, that ability to look at it over cohorts of students, be able to get predictive insights into when intervention's appropriate, is something that we think is going to be really, really compelling.

我們認為這確實引人注目，特別是當你考慮到洞察力部分時，能夠觀察學生群體，能夠預測何時進行幹預，我們認為這將非常非常引人注目。

So kind of given some of the uncertainty surrounding government funding right now, one of the things that we did throughout Q4 and Q1 was that, reduce that go to market team function to kind of right size for the near-term uncertainty, which we think is appropriate and is reflected in the guide. And we're going to let the product enhancements that have recently rollout and will continue to rollout drive a lot of that growth.

因此，考慮到目前政府資金存在的一些不確定性，我們在第四季度和第一季所做的事情之一就是將市場團隊職能縮減到適合短期不確定性的規模，我們認為這是合適的，並且反映在指南中。我們將透過最近推出的和將繼續推出的產品增強功能來推動這一成長。

We think the product is about to get, like, way more compelling and already has. And it puts us in a position where we have a highly-differentiated next generation AI-enhanced tutoring platform and intervention platform that school districts will find really compelling and some of the initial signals quite positive.

我們認為該產品即將變得更具吸引力，目前已經如此。這使我們擁有一個高度差異化的下一代人工智慧增強輔導平台和介入平台，學區會發現它非常引人注目，而且一些初步訊號非常積極。

So the competition has been. There were a number of competitors that went, under or reduced size in Q4 and many of these were in the kind of chat-based tutoring world, not in live like we do. But we think we're in a position to be a great partner for school districts over time and that the enhancements to the platform, many of which we're building for consumer and that are extensible to institutional, are going to be really, really compelling.

競爭一直如此。第四季度，許多競爭對手的規模都出現了下滑，其中許多都是基於聊天的輔導領域，而不是像我們一樣進行現場輔導。但我們認為，隨著時間的推移，我們將能夠成為學區的優秀合作夥伴，並且平台的增強功能（其中許多功能都是為消費者構建的，並且可以擴展到機構）將非常非常引人注目。

So, we've taken a conservative stance in the cost structure given some of the uncertainty, but we think that we've preserved the innovation capacity, and again as some of these product enhancements hit, have a very compelling upside potential. So, we're excited about that.

因此，考慮到一些不確定性，我們在成本結構上採取了保守的立場，但我們認為我們保留了創新能力，而且隨著一些產品增強功能的推出，我們將擁有非常引人注目的上行潛力。因此，我們對此感到很興奮。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Jason Tilton with Canaccord Genuity

Canaccord Genuity 的 Jason Tilton

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. Following up on one of the earlier questions, it sounds like the early signs from these new AI tools have been really encouraging. I'm wondering how much of a benefit have you contemplated from these tools, within your fiscal 2025 outlook, both on the revenue side and on the expense side?

午安.感謝您回答這個問題。接下來是之前的問題，聽起來這些新人工智慧工具的早期跡象確實令人鼓舞。我想知道，在您的 2025 財年展望中，您在收入方面和支出方面考慮了這些工具帶來多少好處？

On the expense side, we're kind of fully reflecting the costs in our plan that we would expect to incur. We're also expecting and including in the plan heavy levels of utilization, just to be conservative, as it relates to gross margin. And we think that, we've taken line of sight forecast on the retention side that we feel good about, but there's the potential to outperform as some of those product enhancements hit and we're excited about the extent to which they're resonating. So, we are not, in the plan baking on a lot of upside and are encouraged to start the year with the fact that retention is up quite a bit year over year and improving, but there's a potential that should we continue to execute that that could exceed and be a good guide.

在費用方面，我們在計劃中充分反映了我們預計會產生的成本。我們也預期並將高利用率納入計畫中，只是為了保守起見，因為這與毛利率有關。我們認為，我們已經對保留方面做出了視線預測，我們對此感到滿意，但隨著一些產品增強功能的推出，我們有可能取得更好的表現，我們對它們產生的共鳴程度感到興奮。因此，我們並沒有在計劃中期待太多好處，而是在年初就看到了留存率逐年大幅上升且不斷改善的事實，但如果我們繼續執行，留存率有可能超越預期並成為一個良好的指引。

The only thing I'd add is a lot of the cost associated with AI internally will drive substantial customer activation, and process automation, which we think will be self funding over the course of the year.

我唯一想補充的是，內部與人工智慧相關的大量成本將推動大量客戶啟動和流程自動化，我們認為這些成本將在今年內實現自籌資金。

Alex Sklar with Raymond James

亞歷克斯·斯克拉和雷蒙德·詹姆斯

Hi, Jessica on for Alex. So kind of follow-up on all these questions and we're really excited hearing about all the AI initiatives you guys have. As you're thinking about your growth expectations, what would you rank kind of, as the key drivers for returning to growth or just like executing with customers? Or, you think it's like the increasing ARPU you've talked about or you think it's your increasing asset member space or just what factors how would you rank them? How do you see that all shaking out with the growth expectations?

嗨，傑西卡代替亞歷克斯。因此，請繼續關注這些問題，我們很高興聽到你們所有的人工智慧計劃。當您考慮成長預期時，您會將哪些因素列為恢復成長或與客戶共同執行的關鍵驅動因素？或者，您認為這就像您談到的 ARPU 不斷增加一樣，或者您認為這是您不斷增加的資產會員空間，或者只是哪些因素您會如何對它們進行排名？您如何看待這一切與成長預期之間的關聯？

Yes. So we feel good about the kind of top-of-funnel trends and the fact that we're heading in the right direction, our products are resonating more, conversion related metrics are improving and that looks healthy and improving. The rate of retention in relative terms is a bigger driver, because it's up and accelerating more year-over-year. And that combined with higher prices, higher ARPM, then blends up over time. So you have higher paying customers, who are getting better retained over time, which drives the return to growth. So, we feel good about that dynamic and then the relationship between the product enhancements and the continued work that we're doing and that then pulling through to retention and growth.

是的。因此，我們對這種漏斗頂端趨勢感到滿意，並且我們正朝著正確的方向前進，我們的產品引起了更多共鳴，轉化相關指標正在改善，而且看起來很健康並且在不斷改善。相對而言，留存率是一個更大的驅動力，因為它的上升速度逐年加快。再加上更高的價格和更高的 ARPM，隨著時間的推移，就會逐漸融合。因此，您擁有付費更高的客戶，這些客戶隨著時間的推移會得到更好的保留，從而推動成長的回報。因此，我們對這種動態以及產品增強與我們正在進行的持續工作之間的關係感到滿意，而這種關係有助於保留和成長。

And then, Jessica, just to add to that, those drivers Chuck mentioned, retention, acquisition funnel metrics, those all continue to expand in the guide, as we move throughout the year. And so, sequentially within the consumer business, you'll see continued growth each quarter, as we move throughout the year. That also takes into account the seasonality of our business. And then, on the institutional side, we had lower bookings in the second half of 2024, which we talked about on the last call during the back-to-school season. That will carry into the first half of the year, where we'll also be negative on the institutional side. And then, as we move into the back-to-school period that business will return to growth.

然後，傑西卡，補充一點，查克提到的那些驅動因素，保留率、獲取渠道指標，隨著我們全年的發展，這些都會在指南中繼續擴展。因此，隨著我們全年的發展，在消費者業務中，你會看到每季都持續成長。這也考慮到了我們業務的季節性。然後，從機構方面來看，我們在 2024 年下半年的預訂量較低，我們在開學季的上次電話會議上談到了這一點。這種趨勢將持續到今年上半年，我們對機構方面也會持負面態度。然後，隨著我們進入返校期，業務將恢復成長。

Got it. Super helpful. Really quick follow-up as well. When you say, I think your headcount have peaked during the back-to-school period in 2024 and you're saying all this AI productivity. Are you planning on just, like, keeping a stable headcount going forward, or do are you displaying natural attrition, to do with work while you still get efficiency from AI?

知道了。超有幫助。後續跟進也非常迅速。當您說，我認為您的員工人數在 2024 年返校期間達到頂峰，並且您說的是所有這些人工智慧生產力。您是否計劃在未來保持穩定的員工人數，或者您是否會進行自然減員，以便在仍能從人工智慧中獲得效率的同時開展工作？

Probably the latter. I mean, we're seeing meaningful improvements in team productivity. And across most teams, we wouldn't expect to backfill kind of natural attrition. And we've set expectations there internally. And we feel like it's appropriate and healthy, and we're giving our teams the tools and capabilities they need to be super productive. And, we feel good about that kind of general trend. And, as folks contract out of the organization, and we think we'll just get progressively more efficient throughout the course of the year on both the variable and fixed side.

可能是後者。我的意思是，我們看到團隊生產力有了顯著的提升。在大多數團隊中，我們不會期望填補這種自然減員的情況。我們已經在內部設定了期望。我們認為這是合適且健康的，我們正在為我們的團隊提供提高生產力所需的工具和能力。而且，我們對這種整體趨勢感到滿意。而且，隨著人們從組織中脫離出來，我們認為我們將在全年的可變和固定方面逐步提高效率。

Yes. I think it's important to note, like, we'll be able to continue to scale without commensurate levels of new variable headcount on a go forward basis. And then, maybe just to touch on the fixed headcount change that we made during the last two weeks, that's been completed. We've preserved all of our innovation capacity and we feel really good about the go forward team, as we move throughout 2025.

是的。我認為值得注意的是，我們將能夠繼續擴大規模，而無需在未來增加相應數量的新員工。然後，也許只是談談我們在過去兩週內所做的固定員工人數變動，該變動已經完成。我們保留了所有的創新能力，我們對前進的團隊感到非常滿意，我們將邁向 2025 年。

Yi Fu Lee with Cantor Fitzgerald

李逸夫與坎托·菲茨杰拉德

Thank you for taking my question and congrats on the stabilizing finish to 2024. So my first question is multipart. It's in regards to the AI-driven products, whether it be summary insights, lesson plans or copilot. I was wondering if Chuck or Jason, you could comment on how do you balance between like the human interaction side versus using too much automation to drive out the human aspect of it? And then can you comment on the back-end technology? How do you build this? What is the technology back-end you use to build this product?

感謝您回答我的問題，並祝賀 2024 年取得穩定進展。所以我的第一個問題是多部分的。它與人工智慧驅動的產品有關，無論是總結見解、課程計劃還是副駕駛。我想知道 Chuck 或 Jason，你們能否評論一下如何在人機互動方面與使用過多的自動化來驅除人性化方面之間取得平衡？那麼您能評論一下後端技術嗎？你如何建構它？您使用什麼技術後端來建構該產品？

And lastly, for this particular question is the go-to-market. Do you intend to like invest more to train folks to, I guess, sell these new products? And then, I have one more follow-up with Jason on the financial side.

最後，對於這個特定的問題，就是進入市場。您是否打算投入更多資金來培訓員工銷售這些新產品？然後，我還要就財務方面與 Jason 進行一次跟進。

Sure. So, we've long ago, I think in 2017 for the first time, I believe we got the trademark in 2020 for AI for HI, artificial intelligence through human interaction, and the concept of giving superpowers to both experts and learners in a way that actually enhances the experience.

當然。所以，我們很久以前，我想是在 2017 年第一次，我相信我們在 2020 年獲得了 HI 的 AI 商標，即透過人機互動實現的人工智慧，以及以一種真正增強體驗的方式賦予專家和學習者超能力的概念。

So our guiding North Star here is that, product enhancements, whether it be AI or something else, need to add value to the experience. In many cases, we're able to better personalize the experience. You're getting hyper-customized content and recommendations. It's removing friction, and you're getting a more relevant tutor paired with you.

因此，我們的指導方針是，產品增強，無論是人工智慧還是其他什麼，都需要為體驗增加價值。在很多情況下，我們能夠更好地個性化體驗。您將獲得高度客製化的內容和建議。它消除了摩擦，並且您將獲得與您更相關的導師。

We're able to identify and vet in a scalable way increasingly higher quality tutors. We're able to serve up hyper personalized lesson plans, based upon what you actually studied and met with on the previous time that removes friction, increases the tutor's effective hourly rate and reduces time spent prepping or creating problems in sessions so that the actual like instructional time goes up.

我們能夠以可擴展的方式識別和審查越來越高品質的導師。我們能夠根據您先前實際學習和遇到的內容，提供高度個人化的課程計劃，從而消除摩擦，提高導師的有效小時費率，並減少準備或在課程中製造問題所花費的時間，從而增加實際的教學時間。

So we think, like, these are all collectively positive and significant enhancements where you're not trading off one for the other, that they're multiplicative and that we're able to allow for humans to do what humans do best with technology and AI surrounding them. There's more than 10 million hours of live tutoring that have happened on our platform.

因此，我們認為，這些都是積極且重要的增強，它們之間不會相互抵消，而是具有乘法效應，我們能夠讓人類利用周圍的技術和人工智慧來做人類最擅長的事情。我們的平台上已有超過 1000 萬小時的現場輔導。

And unlike a lot of other marketplaces out there, the entire experience happens on platform in that actual session. And so, we're able to use our learnings from that to then personalize the experience in a way that, we think is hyper relevant and leverage custom LLMs that allow for us to get kind of incremental personalization, and recommendations in ways that are highly additive.

與許多其他市場不同的是，整個體驗都是在實際會話的平台上進行的。因此，我們可以利用從中獲得的經驗，以我們認為高度相關的方式個性化體驗，並利用定制的 LLM，使我們能夠獲得某種增量個性化，並以高度附加的方式提供建議。

And we think that that vertical integration of the marketplace is really unique. And we're responsible for guaranteeing quality, but then benefit from the lifetime value extension. And that's a dynamic that we think is really powerful and is set to compound in the months and years ahead, as we basically improve every step of that kind of customer journey and optimize it.

我們認為，市場的垂直整合確實是獨一無二的。我們負責確保質量，然後從終身價值的延長中受益。我們認為這是一種非常強大的動力，並且在未來幾個月和幾年內將會增強，因為我們基本上會改善這種客戶旅程的每一步並對其進行優化。

We think that can really sink and all those kind of 5%, 10%, 20% little improvements in different steps add up to something that can be really, really meaningful. And the hit rate, is such, like, there's a lot of work that you asked about the underlying infrastructure that's been put in place. We first started using machine learning for matching algorithms back in 2017 and put in place a lot of the underlying infrastructure for both the data engineering side and warehousing as well as then how we ultimately train models.

我們認為這確實可以發揮作用，並且不同步驟中 5%、10%、20% 的微小改進加起來可以產生非常非常有意義的效果。命中率是這樣的，就像您問到的關於已經到位的底層基礎設施的大量工作一樣。我們早在 2017 年就開始使用機器學習進行匹配演算法，並為資料工程和倉儲以及最終如何訓練模型建立了大量底層基礎設施。

And we're in a position, where we can run quickly to take advantage of some of the latest technologies. So there's a whole host of different technologies that we use, but that kind of underlying data infrastructure allows for us to personalize efficiently and move quickly. And we feel like we're now about to hit our groove in that regard.

我們目前所處的位置可以快速利用一些最新技術。因此，我們使用了大量不同的技術，但這種底層資料基礎設施使我們能夠有效地進行個人化並快速行動。我們感覺我們在這方面現在已經快要達到最佳狀態了。

The only thing I'd add to that from a go-to-market perspective is these AI tools support not only students and experts, but they also support teachers and administrators at schools. So, we're covering off the entirety of the ecosystem from a user base, which we think helps to drive that go-to-market motion across both the consumer base and the institutional base.

從行銷角度來看，我唯一要補充的是，這些人工智慧工具不僅支援學生和專家，也支援學校的教師和管理人員。因此，我們從用戶群的角度涵蓋了整個生態系統，我們認為這有助於推動消費者群和機構群的上市運動。

One thing that we are going to do as we move into 2025, as it relates to platform access, we will have a paid tier, because of all the advancements we'll have within AI, as it relates to the institutional space. So, that will be new, but otherwise, we think that it just overall enhances the value proposition that we can provide to all of our customers on the one side of the marketplace and then experts certainly on the other side.

進入 2025 年，我們要做的一件事是，由於與機構領域相關的人工智慧領域的所有進步，我們將有一個付費層級，因為它與平台存取有關。所以，這將是新的，但除此之外，我們認為它總體上增強了我們可以為市場一方的所有客戶以及另一方的專家提供的價值主張。

Yes. And you asked about training on the institutional side for our sales organization. Certainly, some is required and I don't want to trivialize that, but many of these are very intuitive customer-facing tools, where the value that they provide is easily understood.

是的。您詢問了我們銷售組織的機構方面的培訓情況。當然，有些是必要的，我不想輕視這一點，但其中許多都是非常直觀的面向客戶的工具，它們提供的價值很容易理解。

So, the summarization, the insights, you can actually see the session, you can read it, you understand intuitively what's happening. How it's produced on the back-end, frankly, doesn't really matter from the customer's perspective, but they're able to experience these products and immediately see the value, which we are hopeful will make them far more sellable, sooner.

因此，透過總結和見解，您實際上可以看到會話，可以閱讀它，可以直觀地了解正在發生的事情。坦白說，從客戶的角度來看，後端如何生產並不重要，但他們能夠體驗這些產品並立即看到其價值，我們希望這將使它們更快地變得更具銷售力。

Okay. And then, Jason, just on the follow-up --

好的。然後，傑森，接下來是——

We're excited about how this is going to enhance productivity, will offer better us to get better program efficiency for schools and generally just provide way more robust reporting and value and build deeper relationships with districts. And one of the great things is we had to build many of these tools for our consumer business, first, we're now able to then leverage them in the institutional business. So we'll build it real quickly.

我們很高興這將如何提高生產力，將更好地幫助我們提高學校的計畫效率，並且通常提供更強大的報告和價值，並與學區建立更深的關係。其中一件很棒的事情是，我們首先為我們的消費者業務建立了許多這樣的工具，現在我們能夠在機構業務中利用它們。所以我們會很快建造它。

Extremely clear. So it's more like internal organic. You guys built this right before the OpenAI, trades, so it's more internal. Got it. And then, Jason, in terms of the financial model, I want to ask a question. You guys gave a lot of commentary on the outlook on the prepared remarks.

非常清晰。所以它更像是內部有機體。你們是在 OpenAI 交易之前建立這個的，所以它更加內部化。知道了。然後，傑森，就財務模型而言，我想問一個問題。你們對準備好的發言的前景發表了很多評論。

I was wondering if you could give us a little bit more guidance on the split between institution and consumer. We just want to get the model right in terms of seasonality. It sounds like consumer is going to grow a little bit for the 2025 quarter-over-quarter, but it sounds like from your commentary that, the institutional side is going to be a little pressure.

我想知道您是否可以就機構和消費者之間的分歧為我們提供更多指導。我們只是想讓模型在季節性方面表現正確。聽起來 2025 年消費者的季度環比增長會略有增加，但從您的評論來看，機構方面會面臨一些壓力。

We just want to know the split, that's what we can model properly. And also, Jason, you also mentioned that obviously using AI, you guys get more operating leverage, right? I was wondering, I know it's too early, you already got to EBITDA negative for this year. I was wondering when will this AI, help you to achieve faster breakeven time? And that's it for me. Thank you very much, guys.

我們只想知道分裂，這就是我們可以正確建模的。而且，傑森，你還提到，顯然使用人工智慧，你們可以獲得更多的營運槓桿，對嗎？我想知道，我知道現在還太早，今年的 EBITDA 已經為負數了。我想知道這個人工智慧什麼時候能幫助你更快達到收支平衡？對我來說就是這樣。非常感謝你們，夥伴們。

Yes, good questions. Thanks Yi. On the mix shift between institutional and consumer, we would expect institutional to be about 15% this year of the total. And that business, given the uncertainty of government-funding that exists in the market today, we have that business largely flat from a bookings perspective year-over-year.

是的，好問題。謝謝 Yi。在機構投資者和消費者投資者之間的結構轉變方面，我們預計今年機構投資者將占到總額的 15% 左右。鑑於目前市場上存在的政府資助的不確定性，從預訂量的角度來看，我們的業務與去年同期相比基本持平。

And then when you think about the GAAP revenue and how that flows through, I mentioned this a little bit earlier on the call, the first half will be down and then you'll start to see some sequential improvement, as we move into the back-to-school period. And then, maybe just shifting to AI and profitability, I think you see it in the fixed headcount side, where we don't feel like we need to backfill roles as attrition occurs.

然後，當您考慮 GAAP 收入及其流程時，我在電話會議上早些時候提到過這一點，上半年收入將會下降，然後隨著我們進入返校期，您將開始看到一些連續的改善。然後，也許只是轉向人工智慧和盈利能力，我想你會在固定員工人數方面看到這一點，我們不覺得我們需要在人員流失發生時填補職位。

We'll have very limited open new roles in the company. And all of our engineers, as an example, one of them told me the other day a project that would generally take them 60 hours actually took him only six hours.

我們公司開放的新職位非常有限。以我們所有的工程師為例，其中一位工程師前幾天告訴我，一個通常需要 60 個小時才能完成的專案實際上只花了 6 個小時。

So, the level of improvements in productivity, whether it's depending on which LLM they're using is substantial and those just accrue to the company's benefit from a profitability perspective.

因此，生產力的提高水平（無論是否取決於他們使用哪種 LLM）都是巨大的，並且從盈利角度來看，這些只會為公司帶來利益。

There are no further questions in the queue, so this will conclude today's call. Thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect your line.

目前沒有其他問題，今天的電話會議就此結束。謝謝大家的參與。現在您可以斷開線路了。