Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) 2020 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Palantir Technologies Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Rodney Nelson, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

各位女士、先生，感謝您稍候，歡迎參加 Palantir Technologies 2020 年第三季財報電話會議。（接線員指示）請注意，今天的會議將被錄音。（接線員指示）現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人——投資人關係主管 Rodney Nelson。謝謝。請開始。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and welcome to Palantir's Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Call. We'll be discussing the results announced in our press release issued after the market close and posted on our Investor Relations website. With me on the call today is Shyam Sankar, Chief Operating Officer; Dave Glazer, Chief Financial Officer; and Kevin Kawasaki, Global Head of Business Development. During the call, we will make statements regarding our business that may be considered forward-looking within applicable securities laws, including statements regarding our outlook for the fourth quarter and full year 2020, management's expectations for our future financial and operational performance and other statements regarding our plans, prospects and expectations.

謝謝，接線員。各位下午好，歡迎參加 Palantir 2020 年第三季財報電話會議。我們將討論在收盤後發布並張貼於我們投資人關係網站的新聞稿中所公布的業績結果。今天與我一同參與電話會議的有：營運長 Shyam Sankar；財務長 Dave Glazer；以及全球業務發展主管 Kevin Kawasaki。在本次電話會議中，我們將就本公司業務發表若干聲明，依適用之證券法可能被視為前瞻性陳述，包括關於我們對 2020 年第四季與全年展望、管理層對未來財務與營運表現的預期，以及其他關於我們計畫、前景與期望的陳述。

These statements are not promises or guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause them to differ materially from actual results. Information concerning those risks is available in our earnings press release distributed after market close today and in our SEC filings. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

這些陳述並非承諾或保證，且受風險與不確定性影響，可能導致實際結果與陳述內容出現重大差異。關於這些風險的資訊，載於我們今日收盤後發布的財報新聞稿以及我們向 SEC 提交的文件中。除法律要求外，我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述之義務。

Further, during the course of today's call, we will refer to certain adjusted financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for or in isolation from, GAAP measures. Additional information about these non-GAAP measures, including a reconciliation of non-GAAP to comparable GAAP measures, is included in our press release issued today. Our press release, investor presentation and SEC filings are available on our Investor Relations website at investors.palantir.com. With that, I'll turn it over to Shyam.

此外，在今天電話會議的過程中，我們將提及若干經調整的財務衡量指標。這些非 GAAP 財務衡量指標應與 GAAP 指標一併考量，而不應作為其替代，亦不應單獨孤立解讀。關於這些非 GAAP 指標的更多資訊（包括非 GAAP 與可比 GAAP 指標之調節表），已包含於我們今日發布的新聞稿中。我們的新聞稿、投資人簡報與 SEC 申報文件可於投資人關係網站 investors.palantir.com 查閱。接下來我把時間交給 Shyam。

Thank you, Rodney, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. At Palantir, we build software platforms for institutions whose work is essential to our way of life. Those institutions must be able to function in times of stability as well as crisis and uncertainty. And to do so, they need software that works. We were founded in 2003 and started building software originally for the intelligence community in the United States to assist in counter terrorism investigations and operations.

謝謝你，Rodney，也謝謝各位今天加入我們。在 Palantir，我們為那些其工作對我們生活方式至關重要的機構打造軟體平台。這些機構必須能在穩定時期以及危機與不確定時期都能運作。為此，他們需要真正能運作的軟體。我們成立於 2003 年，最初為美國情報界建置軟體，以協助反恐調查與行動。

We later began working with commercial enterprises. We have 2 principal software platforms: Gotham and Foundry. Gotham, which is our first software platform, was constructed for analysts at defense and intelligence agencies. They were hunting for needles, not in one, but in thousands of haystacks. And they did not have the software they needed to do their jobs. In Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers were mapping networks of insurgence and makers of roadside bombs by hand. Gotham enables users to identify patterns hidden deep within data sets, ranging from signals intelligence sources to reports from confidential informant, and it helps U.S. and allied military personnel respond to those threats.

之後我們開始與商業企業合作。我們有兩大主要軟體平台：Gotham 與 Foundry。Gotham 是我們的第一個軟體平台，為國防與情報機構的分析人員所打造。他們要找的是針，不是在一個，而是在成千上萬個草堆裡。而他們當時並沒有完成工作所需的軟體。在伊拉克與阿富汗，士兵必須手工繪製叛亂組織網路以及路邊炸彈製造者的關聯。Gotham 讓使用者能辨識深藏於資料集中的模式，資料來源涵蓋訊號情報到機密線人的報告，並協助美國及盟軍軍事人員回應這些威脅。

We later found that the challenges faced by commercial institutions when it came to working with data were fundamentally similar, companies routinely struggle to manage, let alone generate, alpha from data involved in large projects. Foundry was built for them. The platform transforms the way in which organizations interact with information by creating a central operating system for their data. Our software is on the front line. And sometimes literally, that means so are we.

後來我們發現，商業機構在資料運用方面所面臨的挑戰，本質上非常相似：企業經常難以管理資料，更遑論在大型專案中從資料中產生 alpha。Foundry 就是為他們而打造。該平台透過為資料建立一個中央作業系統，改變組織與資訊互動的方式。我們的軟體位於第一線——而有時候，字面意義上我們也在第一線。

Gotham's use has now extended beyond intelligence analysis into defense operations and mission planning. And Foundry is becoming the central operating system, not only for individual institutions, but entire industries.

Gotham 的使用如今已從情報分析延伸至國防作戰與任務規劃。而 Foundry 正逐步成為不僅是單一機構、甚至是整個產業的中央作業系統。

Turning to the third quarter. Revenue grew 52% year-over-year, driven by continued expansion within our install base and initial wins at net new 2020 customers. We are distributing our platforms more efficiently than ever as we generated adjusted gross margins of 81% and contribution margin of 56% in the third quarter.

接著談第三季。營收年增 52%，主要由既有客戶基礎的持續擴張，以及 2020 年新增客戶的初期勝利所帶動。我們以史上最高效率分發我們的平台，第三季調整後毛利率達 81%，貢獻毛利率達 56%。

And Palantir has evolved significantly in the last several years, from the development of our second flagship platform Foundry to the acceleration in our government business to the operating leverage from Apollo, our powerful continuous delivery infrastructure, which gives us SaaS operating efficiencies in a very heterogeneous environment.

而 Palantir 在過去幾年也有顯著演進：從我們第二個旗艦平台 Foundry 的開發，到政府業務的加速成長，再到 Apollo（我們強大的持續交付基礎設施）所帶來的營運槓桿；Apollo 讓我們在高度異質的環境中也能具備 SaaS 的營運效率。

In many ways, our business is just getting started, and this is largely a function of the technology that we've developed over these years. And you can really see that based on what's happening in the field. Let me highlight a few wins.

在許多方面，我們的業務才正要開始，而這在很大程度上源自我們多年來所開發的技術。從前線的實際情況，你可以清楚看到這一點。讓我重點分享幾個勝利案例。

An energy super major was able to leverage our ERP suite an hour and in just a few weeks, generate $57 million of cash savings, a meaningful contribution to working capital for a sector that is challenged in the pandemic. The customer has already identified an incremental $315 million in potential savings on top of that. And this project has created lasting changes in the way procurement will operate with a projected annualized savings of $1 billion. We also closed a 5-year $300 million renewal, mid-pandemic, with a large aerospace customer, further reinforcing Foundry as core infrastructure in the operating system of their business.

一家能源超級巨頭能在短短幾週內運用我們的 ERP 套件，在一小時內就產生 5,700 萬美元的現金節省，對於在疫情中面臨挑戰的產業而言，這對營運資金是相當有意義的貢獻。該客戶已在此基礎上再辨識出額外 3.15 億美元的潛在節省。而此專案也為採購運作方式帶來長期改變，預估年化節省可達 10 億美元。我們也在疫情期間完成與一家大型航太客戶的 5 年期 3 億美元續約，進一步強化 Foundry 作為其業務作業系統核心基礎設施的地位。

Aerospace has been significantly challenged in the pandemic, and we see this as a long-term commitment to each other. This is the largest deal we have done in the commercial space, and we anticipate strong contribution margin from a customer of this scale and maturity.

航太產業在疫情中受到嚴重衝擊，而我們將此視為彼此之間的長期承諾。這是我們在商業領域完成的最大一筆交易，我們預期對於如此規模與成熟度的客戶，將帶來強勁的貢獻毛利率。

Another commercial example I'd like to focus on is a Q3 net new Fortune 100 U.S. consumer goods company. This customer needed immediate help understanding the impact COVID may have on its employees and its operational facilities. This company was dealing with a surge in positive COVID tests across its employee base and was scrambling to monitor the health and safety of its employees, but also the durability of its operation.

另一個我想聚焦的商業案例，是第三季新增的一家《財富》美國前 100 大消費品公司。該客戶需要立即協助，以了解 COVID 可能對其員工與營運設施造成的影響。這家公司在員工群體中面臨 COVID 陽性檢測結果激增，正急於監控員工的健康與安全，同時也要確保其營運的韌性。

Over the course of an 8-week pilot, we started in July, Foundry allowed this customer to monitor potential infection, alert individual at facilities where potential outbreaks were occurring and quickly triage to limit the virus' spread. This solution allows the customer to annotate CAD-based models of their facilities with data integrated in our platform to track whether specific areas were particularly conducive to outbreak or that the spread was being driven by internal, external factors. And this enabled the customer to reach out to affected individuals and provide medical assistance.

在為期 8 週、我們於 7 月開始的試點期間，Foundry 讓該客戶能監測潛在感染情況，對可能爆發群聚的設施中的個人發出警示，並迅速分級處置以限制病毒擴散。此解決方案讓客戶能在其設施的 CAD 模型上加註整合於我們平台中的資料，以追蹤特定區域是否特別容易引發群聚，或擴散是否由內部、外部因素所驅動。這也使客戶能聯繫受影響的個人並提供醫療協助。

But also, the customer had a long-running project, looking to extract more value out of its supply chain and ERP systems. The firm had invested hundreds of millions of dollars into these solutions, but was struggling to gain the promised economic and competitive advantage from that investment. The customer wanted to use our platform, which they came to appreciate in the context of COVID, to solve core and enduring challenges, specifically to build a real-time buying solution on top of existing investments to make optimized purchasing decisions, such as capitalizing on discounted raw materials when pricing anomalies occur.

此外，該客戶還有一個長期進行的專案，旨在從其供應鏈與 ERP 系統中萃取更多價值。該公司已在這些解決方案上投入數億美元，但仍難以從該投資中獲得原先承諾的經濟與競爭優勢。客戶希望使用我們的平台——他們在 COVID 情境下已體會其價值——來解決核心且長期存在的挑戰，具體而言，是在既有投資之上建立即時採購解決方案，以做出最佳化的採購決策，例如在出現價格異常時把握折扣原物料。

By leveraging various components and modules in Foundry, the customer is able to model a complete view of its supply chain from upstream raw materials to downstream finished goods in a few weeks. This created hundreds of opportunities across this customer supply chain for optimization.

透過運用 Foundry 的各種元件與模組，該客戶能在數週內建立其供應鏈的完整視圖，涵蓋上游原物料到下游成品。這在該客戶的供應鏈中創造了數百個可進行最佳化的機會。

We also signed a recent expansion with a top 5 pharmaceutical company. This firm, like many large pharma companies, is awash in data from thousands of clinical trials. But it's hard to draw conclusions across those trials as data is often siloed in disparate systems of record. Leveraging Foundry, this customer is able to link and interrogate data across more than 2,000 clinical trials, including symptoms, diagnoses and treatments, to unearth valuable findings. Again, across trials, not just in a single isolated study. Our software unlocked the ability to see patient stories at a population level and answer key questions, such as how many patients suffer from a particular condition regardless of which trial they participated in? These insights will help the customer both hypotheses around biomarkers and progressions of certain diseases to optimize research and develop new therapy.

我們也與一家前五大製藥公司簽署了近期的擴約。與許多大型藥廠一樣，該公司擁有來自數千項臨床試驗的大量資料。然而，由於資料往往分散在不同的系統中形成孤島，要跨試驗得出結論並不容易。藉由 Foundry，該客戶能連結並查詢超過 2,000 項臨床試驗的資料，包括症狀、診斷與治療，以挖掘有價值的發現——同樣是跨試驗，而不僅限於單一孤立研究。我們的軟體解鎖了在族群層級檢視病患故事的能力，並回答關鍵問題，例如：不論參與哪一項試驗，有多少病患罹患某種特定病症？這些洞見將協助客戶提出關於生物標記與特定疾病進程的假設，以最佳化研究並開發新的療法。

Turning to our government segment. We continue to pursue our vision of powering U.S. and allied defense to fight current and future threats, from space to mud, and in doing so, becoming the default operating system. We generated several new government wins in the third quarter, including a 2-year $91 million contract with the U.S. Army Research Lab. This customer will be employing both Foundry and Gotham to build out artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. Palantir was selected amongst 999 bids, and our platform will be used to integrate, manage and prepare data for training AI models. Early related work here has shown promising results in delivering next-generation capabilities during a recent warfighter exercise. The Army has leveraged vantage to great effect across various lines of efforts from readiness to financial management. These wins illustrate our expanding partnership with the Army, and we're looking forward to pursuing future programs with both the Army and other branches of the military. In particular, I'd highlight the continued growth of opportunities that we see at U.S. Space Force and U.S. Air Force, which we are investing in.

接著談我們的政府業務部門。我們持續追求以支援美國及盟友防務、對抗當前與未來威脅的願景——從太空到泥地——並在此過程中成為預設的作業系統。我們在第三季取得數項新的政府業務勝利，包括與美國陸軍研究實驗室簽訂為期 2 年、金額 9,100 萬美元的合約。該客戶將同時採用 Foundry 與 Gotham 來建置人工智慧與機器學習能力。Palantir 在 999 份投標中脫穎而出，我們的平台將用於整合、管理並準備資料，以訓練 AI 模型。相關的早期工作在近期一次戰士演訓中，已展現出在交付下一代能力方面的可喜成果。陸軍已在多條工作線上——從戰備到財務管理——有效運用 Vantage。這些勝利顯示我們與陸軍的合作夥伴關係正在擴大，我們也期待與陸軍及其他軍種共同推進未來計畫。特別是，我要強調我們在美國太空軍與美國空軍所看到的機會持續成長，我們也正在加大投資。

Our work serving health care agencies domestically and abroad continues to deliver results. We were selected by NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, or NCATS, for a $36 million contract to support a secure scientific platform environment. NCATS is using Foundry for integration, management, security and analysis across various initiatives supported by the platform, which include cancer and COVID-19 research.

我們在國內外為醫療保健機構提供服務的工作持續帶來成果。我們獲 NIH 的 National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences（NCATS）選定，取得一份 3,600 萬美元的合約，用以支援安全的科學平台環境。NCATS 正使用 Foundry 進行整合、管理、安全控管與分析，涵蓋平台所支援的多項計畫，包括癌症與 COVID-19 研究。

Foundry is powering N3C UNITE, which is the largest COVID-19 clinical data asset in the world with over 1 million patients across more than 30 hospitals, all assembled in Foundry in a few weeks. Foundry is also the infrastructure supporting the complex supply chain and logistics for operational work speed. And this builds on our existing work at CDC, HHS, the NCI and FDA. And it intersects with our commercial work, helping retail pharmacies and drug companies coordinate plans and logistics to successfully deliver vaccines to the population.

Foundry 正在驅動 N3C UNITE——這是全球最大的 COVID-19 臨床資料資產，涵蓋超過 30 家醫院、逾 100 萬名病患，且在短短數週內即於 Foundry 中完成彙整。Foundry 也是支援複雜供應鏈與物流、以提升營運工作速度的基礎設施。這也建立在我們既有於 CDC、HHS、NCI 與 FDA 的工作之上，並與我們的商業業務相互交織，協助零售藥局與製藥公司協調計畫與物流，成功將疫苗配送至民眾。

In the U.K., Foundry has been powering NHS England's response to the pandemic, including the allocation and distribution of more than 2.7 billion items of PPE and other critical equipment.

在英國，Foundry 一直在支援 NHS England 對疫情的應對，包括分配與配送超過 27 億件個人防護裝備（PPE）及其他關鍵設備。

I'd highlight that the President of Colombia recently released a video showing his country's response to the pandemic and the role both Palantir and Amazon Web Services played in rapidly deploying the infrastructure used to manage the situation. This engagement was sourced by Amazon, one of our channel partners.

我想特別提到，哥倫比亞總統近日發布影片，展示該國對疫情的應對，以及 Palantir 與 Amazon Web Services 在快速部署用於管理情勢的基礎設施方面所扮演的角色。此項合作由我們的通路合作夥伴之一 Amazon 引介。

Importantly, we can already see how the pandemic is leading to lasting and systemic transformation of health care in various countries. We have a unique opportunity to power the holistic digital transformation of these organizations with significant improvement in the health and safety of their citizens. It may have started with COVID, but it's not going to end there as the pandemic has revealed a broad swath of challenges and opportunities these institutions are rising to meet. And taken together with our commercial health care work, we believe these developments will have far-reaching positive implications for the future of health care, and we have the opportunity to be at the center of it.

重要的是，我們已經看到疫情正促使多國醫療保健體系出現長期且系統性的轉型。我們有獨特機會為這些組織提供整體性的數位轉型動力，並顯著提升其公民的健康與安全。這或許始於 COVID，但不會止於此，因為疫情揭示了廣泛的挑戰與機會，而這些機構正積極迎接並加以因應。再加上我們在商業醫療保健領域的工作，我們相信這些發展將對醫療保健的未來帶來深遠的正面影響，而我們有機會站在這一切的核心。

Before turning it over to Dave to take us through the numbers, I wanted to touch on our R&D road map. We believe the investments we are making will enable us to drive significant increases in the number of customers that we can acquire and continue to improve our time to value. Our latest R&D investments include enabling our solutions to be fully modular, a take what you want, build on what you have approach for the enterprise.

在交由 Dave 帶我們檢視數字之前，我想先談談我們的研發路線圖。我們相信目前所做的投資，將使我們能大幅提升可獲取的客戶數量，並持續改善價值實現時間（time to value）。我們最新的研發投資包括讓解決方案能完全模組化，採取「想用什麼就取用什麼、在既有基礎上持續建構」的企業導入方式。

We will be hosting product deep dive for investors in the next month or two. So be on the lookout for an announcement coming soon about these sessions. We're going to showcase how our customers use our platforms across industries and across problem spaces, including defense, health care, supply chain and more. We'll also discuss the latest technical development, our road map and upcoming R&D investments. I'll pass it over to Dave.

我們將在接下來一到兩個月為投資人舉辦產品深度解析活動，請留意近期即將發布的相關公告。我們將展示客戶如何在不同產業與不同問題領域使用我們的平台，包括國防、醫療保健、供應鏈等。我們也會討論最新的技術進展、我們的路線圖以及即將進行的研發投資。接下來交給 Dave。

Thanks, Shyam. I'll review our third quarter performance, followed by our outlook for the fourth quarter and full year 2020. Third quarter revenue was $289 million, up 52% year-over-year and over $9 million above the high end of the guidance we provided in connection with the direct listing. Average revenue per customer through the first 9 months of this year was $5.8 million, up 38% versus the year ago period. Average revenue for top 20 customers grew 36% year-over-year through the first 9 months of 2020, totaling $23.6 million. We are seeing greater diversification in our revenue base as our top 20 customers represented 61% of total revenue through the first 9 months of 2020 compared with 68% in the year ago period.

謝謝你，Shyam。我將回顧我們第三季的表現，接著說明第四季與 2020 全年的展望。第三季營收為 2.89 億美元，年增 52%，並較我們在直接上市（direct listing）相關指引所提供區間的上緣高出逾 900 萬美元。今年前 9 個月每位客戶的平均營收為 580 萬美元，較去年同期成長 38%。2020 年前 9 個月前 20 大客戶的平均營收年增 36%，達到 2,360 萬美元。隨著我們的前 20 大客戶在 2020 年前 9 個月占總營收比重為 61%，相較去年同期的 68%，我們看到營收基礎正呈現更高的多元化。

In the third quarter, we closed 15 deals of $5 million or more in total contract value, including 8 deals in excess of $10 million. Top line growth was driven by strong performance across each of our business segments.

第三季我們完成 15 筆總合約價值（total contract value）達 500 萬美元以上的交易，其中包含 8 筆超過 1,000 萬美元的交易。營收成長主要來自各業務部門的強勁表現。

Third quarter commercial revenue grew 35% year-over-year to $127 million, driven by a combination of expansion with existing customers and increasing contributions from new customers. We also closed several large deals across our commercial portfolio in the third quarter, including a $300 million renewal in the aerospace industry and multiple wins, each over $5 million in the consumer, insurance and financial services industries. Especially, in the midst of the pandemic, we continue to prioritize speed of delivery and value creation. While this can lead to lumpiness in our commercial revenue on a quarter-to-quarter basis due to contract timing, we are encouraged by the pipeline we see in our commercial business.

第三季商業營收年增 35% 至 1.27 億美元，主要由既有客戶擴張與新客戶貢獻提升共同帶動。我們在第三季也於商業產品組合中完成數筆大型交易，包括航太產業一筆 3 億美元的續約，以及在消費、保險與金融服務產業的多項勝利，每一項皆超過 500 萬美元。特別是在疫情期間，我們持續優先強調交付速度與價值創造。雖然這可能因合約時點而使商業營收在季度間呈現波動，但我們對商業業務所見的管線感到鼓舞。

Total government revenue rose 68% year-over-year to $163 million, driven primarily by growth in our U.S. government business. As Shyam mentioned, we signed several new government deals in the third quarter, including a 2-year contract with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, an IDIQ award with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and several wins in our international government business as well. At the end of the third quarter, our government deal value, including contracted amounts and contractual options, totaled $1.3 billion.

政府業務總營收年增 68% 至 1.63 億美元，主要由我們的美國政府業務成長所帶動。如 Shyam 所提到，我們在第三季簽下數筆新的政府合約，包括與美國陸軍研究實驗室的 2 年期合約、與 National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences 的 IDIQ 授標，以及我們國際政府業務的多項勝利。第三季末，我們的政府業務交易價值（包含已簽約金額與合約選擇權）合計達 13 億美元。

I will next discuss our margins and expenses on an adjusted basis, which excludes stock-based compensation. We generated adjusted gross margin of 81% in the third quarter, up 1,100 basis points year-over-year and reflecting enhanced automation in the delivery and maintenance of our software platforms as well as reduced cloud hosting expenses. Contribution margin rose to 56% in the third quarter, up roughly 100 basis points sequentially and compared to 15% contribution margin in the year ago quarter, which demonstrates the increased scale and efficiency of our 3-phase business model.

接下來我將以調整後口徑討論我們的毛利與費用（不含以股票為基礎的薪酬）。第三季調整後毛利率為 81%，年增 1,100 個基點，反映我們在軟體平台交付與維護方面自動化程度提升，以及雲端託管費用下降。第三季貢獻毛利率（contribution margin）上升至 56%，較前一季約提升 100 個基點，並相較去年同期 15% 的貢獻毛利率大幅改善，顯示我們三階段商業模式的規模與效率提升。

Now I'm going to turn to operating expenses. For the third quarter, operating expenses were $235 million. Additionally, in the third quarter, we incurred roughly $54 million in expenses related to our direct listing and $18 million in employer payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation.

現在我將談營業費用。第三季營業費用為 2.35 億美元。此外，第三季我們認列約 5,400 萬美元與直接上市相關的費用，以及 1,800 萬美元與以股票為基礎的薪酬相關的雇主薪資稅。

Excluding these expenses, total third quarter adjusted operating expenses would have been $164 million. Sales and marketing expense was $71 million or 25% of revenue, down from 54% of revenue in the year ago quarter, all while growing our direct sales force. The operating leverage in sales and marketing is a result of more efficient customer acquisition and more rapid scaling of our customers through our 3-phase business model and reductions in travel and office expenses. We expect to continue investing in broadening our customer acquisition efforts including growing our account-based sales force and developing channel partnerships.

扣除上述費用後，第三季調整後營業費用合計將為 1.64 億美元。銷售與行銷費用為 7,100 萬美元，約占營收 25%，低於去年同期占營收 54% 的水準，同時我們仍在擴大直銷團隊。銷售與行銷的營運槓桿來自更有效率的客戶獲取、更快速地透過我們的三階段商業模式擴大客戶規模，以及差旅與辦公費用的下降。我們預期將持續投資以擴大客戶獲取工作，包括擴編以客戶為基礎（account-based）的銷售團隊並發展通路合作夥伴關係。

Research and development expense was $57 million or 20% of revenue, down from 32% in the year ago quarter. As delivery and maintenance of our platforms have become more automated, we are realizing greater efficiencies in developing new features and functionality across each of our core platforms, including the modularization effort Shyam discussed, allowing us to reap savings in areas such as travel and related IT expenses. We do plan to continue to grow headcount and expect R&D expenses to grow in absolute dollars moving forward.

研發費用為5,700萬美元，占營收的20%，低於去年同期的32%。隨著我們平台的交付與維護變得更加自動化，我們在各核心平台的新功能與功能性開發上實現了更高效率，包括Shyam所提到的模組化工作，使我們能在差旅及相關IT費用等領域取得節省。我們確實計畫持續增加人力，並預期未來研發費用以絕對金額計將持續成長。

G&A expense was $107 million or 37% of revenue compared with 32% of revenue in the prior year period. This includes $54 million in expenses related to our direct listing. Excluding expenses related to the direct listing and employer payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation, G&A expenses would have been $49 million or 17% of revenue.

一般及行政（G&A）費用為1.07億美元，占營收的37%，相較於去年同期占營收的32%。其中包含與我們直接上市相關的5,400萬美元費用。若排除直接上市相關費用以及與以股票為基礎之薪酬相關的雇主薪資稅，G&A費用將為4,900萬美元，占營收的17%。

Third quarter operating loss, excluding stock-based compensation, was $1 million. After excluding expenses related to our direct listing and employer payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation, third quarter adjusted operating income was $73 million, roughly $11 million ahead of the high end of our prior guidance range. We ended the quarter with total contract liabilities of $622 million. Prior to 2020, we pursued multiyear upfront payments from our customers, leading to significant growth in customer deposits, and often, our cash collections were greater than revenue in any given year.

第三季營業虧損（不含以股票為基礎之薪酬）為100萬美元。若再排除與我們直接上市相關的費用以及與以股票為基礎之薪酬相關的雇主薪資稅，第三季調整後營業利益為7,300萬美元，較我們先前指引區間上緣高出約1,100萬美元。我們在本季末的合約負債總額為6.22億美元。2020年以前，我們向客戶推動多年期預付，導致客戶預收款顯著成長，且在許多年度，我們的現金收款往往高於當年度營收。

As a result, many customers have already paid for 2020 in prior years, which explains the negative cash flow we have seen through the first 9 months. We expect this to begin to normalize over the course of 2021, as we move away from multiyear upfront payments, and we expect free cash flow margin will converge with adjusted operating margin over time. We continue to have strong visibility into future revenues across our customer base, as average contract duration as of September 30 increased to 3.6 years, up from 3.5 years as of June 30.

因此，許多客戶已在前幾年支付了2020年的費用，這也解釋了我們在前9個月所看到的負現金流。我們預期隨著我們逐步遠離多年期預付，這種情況將在2021年逐步正常化，且我們預期自由現金流利潤率將隨時間與調整後營業利潤率趨於一致。我們仍對客戶群的未來營收具有高度能見度，因截至9月30日的平均合約期間增至3.6年，高於截至6月30日的3.5年。

We raised roughly $500 million, primarily stemming from equity investments made by our partner, Sompo Holdings, which closed in June and July. We reduced our total outstanding debt by roughly $100 million in the third quarter. As of September 30, remaining debt is comprised of $200 million term loan under our credit facility, and we also have a $200 million undrawn revolver available to us. We ended the third quarter with $1.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

我們籌集了約5億美元，主要來自合作夥伴Sompo Holdings所進行的股權投資，該投資於6月與7月完成。我們在第三季將未償還總債務減少約1億美元。截至9月30日，剩餘債務包括我們信貸額度下2億美元的定期貸款，此外我們尚有2億美元未動用的循環信用額度可供使用。我們在第三季末持有18億美元的現金及約當現金。

Looking at the business through the lens of our 3-phase model, we continue to see strong progress at each stage. As a reminder, we cohort customers at the end of each year into 1 of 3 distinct phases. Acquire phase customers are customers we have engaged in the pilot base, often at little or no cost to them, which have generated less than $100,000 in revenue in that year. Expand phase customers are those generating greater than $100,000 in revenue in that year, and we invest significantly to scale that customer and grow revenue quickly, resulting in negative contribution margins in the period. Finally, we define scale phase customers as those generating greater than $100,000 in revenue a year as well as positive contribution margins, exhibiting self-sufficient usage and growth with our platforms.

以我們的三階段模型來看業務，我們持續看到各階段皆有強勁進展。提醒一下，我們在每年年底將客戶分群至三個不同階段之一。取得（Acquire）階段客戶是我們在試點基礎上所接觸的客戶，通常對其收費很低或不收費，且該年度產生的營收低於10萬美元。擴張（Expand）階段客戶是該年度營收高於10萬美元的客戶，我們會大量投資以擴大該客戶並快速成長營收，因而在該期間造成負的貢獻毛利率。最後，我們將規模化（Scale）階段客戶定義為年度營收高於10萬美元且貢獻毛利率為正的客戶，展現出在我們平台上的自給自足使用與成長。

Acquire phase customers generated $41 million in revenue through the first 9 months of the year, while contribution from this cohort of customers is rapidly approaching breakeven with a contribution loss of only $4.2 million, a testament to the speed and efficiency with which we're deploying our software and helping our early-stage customers solve critical problems. This compares to just $19 million in revenue through the first 6 months of the year, with a contribution loss of $13.9 million. In addition, through the first 9 months of 2020, we generated $23 million in revenue from new customers that we have acquired in year, meaning, these are customers that have not yet been classified to 1 of our 3-phase customer cohorts. This compares with $8.3 million through the first 9 months of 2019 and represents nearly 200% year-over-year growth.

取得（Acquire）階段客戶在今年前9個月貢獻了4,100萬美元營收，而該客群的貢獻損失僅420萬美元，正快速接近損益兩平，這證明我們部署軟體的速度與效率，以及協助早期客戶解決關鍵問題的能力。相較之下，今年前6個月僅有1,900萬美元營收，貢獻損失為1,390萬美元。此外，在2020年前9個月，我們自當年新取得的客戶產生了2,300萬美元營收，也就是尚未被歸類至三階段客戶群組之一的客戶。相較2019年前9個月的830萬美元，年增近200%。

This is a testament to the speed and efficiency of our platforms and go-to-market as we shrink time to value for our customers and accelerate customers from pilot to conversion. Taken together with continued revenue growth from our acquire phase customers, we believe the rapid growth in revenue from new customers creates a strong basis for future growth to augment the consistent expansion we are generating from our install base of customers in the expand and scale basis.

這證明了我們平台與市場進入（go-to-market）的速度與效率，因為我們縮短客戶實現價值的時間，並加速客戶從試點到轉換。再加上取得（Acquire）階段客戶持續的營收成長，我們相信新客戶營收的快速成長為未來成長奠定了堅實基礎，並可補強我們在擴張（Expand）與規模化（Scale）既有客戶基礎上所持續帶來的一致性擴張。

Turning to the expand phase. We continue to demonstrate strong growth as our customers drive increased adoption of our software to yield greater value. Expand phase customers generated $254 million in revenue in the first 9 months of the year, with contribution margin for these customers at 41%. This is up from $161 million and contribution margin of 35% through the first 6 months of 2020 and a significant advancement from $176.3 million in revenue and negative contribution margin of 43% from the same accounts in full year 2019.

接著看擴張（Expand）階段。我們持續展現強勁成長，因客戶提高對我們軟體的採用以獲得更大價值。擴張階段客戶在今年前9個月產生2.54億美元營收，這些客戶的貢獻毛利率為41%。相較2020年前6個月的1.61億美元與35%的貢獻毛利率有所提升，也較2019全年同一批客戶的1.763億美元營收與負43%的貢獻毛利率有顯著進步。

Finally, we continue to see strong contribution margin from our scale phase customers. These customers generated $452 million in revenue in the first 9 months of the year, with a contribution margin of 69% compared with $296 million in revenue and contribution margin of 68% through the first half of 2020.

最後，我們持續看到規模化（Scale）階段客戶帶來強勁的貢獻毛利率。這些客戶在今年前9個月產生4.52億美元營收，貢獻毛利率為69%；相較2020年上半年營收2.96億美元、貢獻毛利率68%。

Turning to our outlook. We are raising our full year 2020 revenue guidance to a range of $1.070 billion to $1.072 billion, up from $1.050 billion to $1.060 billion previously and representing year-over-year growth of 44%. We are also increasing full year adjusted operating income guidance to a range of $130 million to $136 million, which excludes stock-based compensation and related employer payroll taxes as well as direct listing related costs.

接著談展望。我們將2020年全年營收指引上調至10.70億至10.72億美元，先前為10.50億至10.60億美元，代表年增44%。我們也將全年調整後營業利益指引上調至1.30億至1.36億美元，該數字排除以股票為基礎之薪酬及相關雇主薪資稅，以及直接上市相關成本。

For the fourth quarter, we expect revenue in a range of $299 million to $301 million, representing year-over-year growth of 30% to 31%, given our exceptionally strong Q4 2019 revenue. We expect fourth quarter adjusted operating income of $44 million to $50 million, which excludes stock-based compensation and related employer payroll taxes. For the full year 2021, we remain encouraged by the pace of growth we are seeing in our subscription base and the acceleration we are seeing in revenue from acquire phase and new customers that provide solid foundation for future growth. As a result, we continue to expect full year 2021 year-over-year revenue growth to be greater than 30%.

就第四季而言，我們預期營收介於2.99億至3.01億美元，考量2019年第四季營收異常強勁，這代表年增30%至31%。我們預期第四季調整後營業利益為4,400萬至5,000萬美元，該數字排除以股票為基礎之薪酬及相關雇主薪資稅。對於2021年全年，我們仍對訂閱基礎的成長速度以及取得（Acquire）階段與新客戶營收加速感到鼓舞，這為未來成長提供了穩固基礎。因此，我們仍預期2021年全年營收年增將高於30%。

With that, we'll open up the call for Q&A.

接下來，我們將開放問答（Q&A）。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Brent Thill with Jefferies.

（接線員指示）我們的第一個問題來自Jefferies的Brent Thill。

The government business has shown incredible strength this year. I think many are curious about how you think about the pipeline and the residual kind of carryover from the government business. And maybe if you could also address a big investor concern around the administration change. If that happens, does that have any impact on what you guys see in the government pipeline?

政府業務今年展現出驚人的強勁表現。我想很多人都好奇你們如何看待政府業務的案源（pipeline）以及某種延續性的結轉效應（carryover）。另外也想請你們回應投資人一個很大的疑慮：政府換屆。如果真的發生，是否會對你們在政府案源中所看到的情況造成任何影響？

Thank you, Brent. Yes, the government business had a great quarter. I'd say both segments are performing quite well. We're excited about the pipeline of the government business. Of course, there's the contract that we just closed with the U.S. Army. There's a number of big capture pursuits in the pipeline, things that we've mentioned previously, opportunities like DCGS, Capability Drop 2. There's a lot more behind that, that we expect. There are a couple of more programs of record that we're up for potentially in 2021. And we're investing far beyond just the Army, Space Force, the Navy, Air Force, so very robust pipeline, but that's just DoD. Like honestly, there's been enormous acceleration for a part of a business that was pretty small 18 months ago in health care. The work that we've done with the FDA, CDC, HHS, the NIH has really accelerated. And it's created enormous opportunities for us.

謝謝你，Brent。是的，政府業務本季表現非常出色。我會說兩個業務部門的表現都相當好。我們對政府業務的案源感到振奮。當然，我們剛與美國陸軍簽下合約。案源中還有多個大型競標/爭取（capture）項目，我們之前也提過，例如DCGS、Capability Drop 2等機會。其後還有更多我們所預期的機會。2021年我們可能還會參與另外幾個正式建案（programs of record）。而且我們的投資遠不僅限於陸軍，還包括太空軍、海軍、空軍，因此案源非常強勁，但那只是國防部（DoD）。坦白說，在醫療保健領域，這塊在18個月前還相當小的業務已出現巨大的加速。我們與FDA、CDC、HHS、NIH所做的工作確實加速推進，並為我們創造了巨大的機會。

And while many of those opportunities certainly accelerated because of COVID, it may have started there, it's very clear it's not going to end there. We're seeing opportunities for large systemic transformation in health care in the U.S. but also abroad, COVID-exposed opportunities for improvement, and I think governments are going to invest there.

而且，雖然其中許多機會確實因 COVID 而加速，可能是從那裡開始的，但很明顯不會在那裡結束。我們看到美國醫療保健領域以及海外都存在大型系統性轉型的機會；COVID 暴露了改進的機會，我認為各國政府將會在那裡投入資金。

And in terms of your other question around administration change. Look, for the 17 years that we've been around, we've served every administration in the U.S. We've worked with 5 administrations in the U.K., 4 administrations in France and 2 in Germany. We -- our users and the folks who buy our software, they've worked with many more because they are actually career civil servants. And so we don't expect any change really as a result of this.

至於你另一個關於政府換屆的問題。你看，我們成立至今 17 年，在美國服務過每一屆政府。我們在英國與 5 屆政府合作過，在法國與 4 屆政府合作過，在德國與 2 屆政府合作過。我們——我們的使用者以及購買我們軟體的人，他們其實合作過更多屆，因為他們是職業公務員。因此，我們不預期這件事會帶來任何實質變化。

Our next question comes from [Mark Landy] with Morgan Stanley.

我們下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 [Mark Landy]。

This is actually Keith Weiss in for [Mark]. Looking at the metrics on sort of the new customers that were acquired in the first 9 months is up 175% year-on-year. Really impressive new customer adds. Can you talk to us a little bit about how much of that comes from sort of the ramping efforts and building out the direct sales force? So is that starting to have a positive impact? And maybe if you could help us, kind of mark-to-market, where are you with that effort in terms of like sales teams or whatnot? And how you expect that to roll out on a going-forward basis?

其實我是 Keith Weiss 代替 [Mark] 提問。從指標來看，前 9 個月新增客戶數年增 175%。新增客戶非常亮眼。你們能否談談其中有多少來自於加速推進的努力，以及擴建直銷團隊？所以這是否開始產生正面影響？另外也請協助我們做個現況盤點（mark-to-market），在這項工作上你們目前進展到哪裡，例如銷售團隊規模或其他方面？以及你們預期未來會如何持續推進？

And then maybe just one on operating margins. Really nice sort of uplift in operating margins this year, even though you're building out the direct sales force. Can you drill down a little bit more and help us understand kind of where those expense savings come from? And how much of that is going to be kind of -- you guys aren't traveling as much this year because of the COVID environment and we should expect that to come back into the income statement on a go-forward basis?

另外再問一個關於營業利潤率的問題。今年營業利潤率提升得很不錯，即使你們正在擴建直銷團隊。你能否再深入一點，幫我們理解這些費用節省主要來自哪裡？其中有多少是因為 COVID 環境下今年你們出差變少了——而我們應該預期未來這部分會回到損益表中？

Great. Thanks, Keith. So first, the -- what we're doing with the account-based sales force. So we've talked a bit about this. We've been building the team starting with really the beginning of last year. And in hindsight, I think our main mistake was that we should have done more. It's worked very well for us last year and into this year. So we're increasing this effort. We've talked about tripling our total headcount there today, a fairly small part of the company. So we're going to continue to invest here because it's working. And you can see some of the results in some of our general categories or new accounts that we've closed this year, accounts in the acquire phase, growing revenue and the expand and scale phases really performing.

很好。謝謝你，Keith。首先，關於我們在做的以客戶為中心（account-based）的銷售團隊。我們已經談過一些。我們從去年年初就開始建置這個團隊。事後看來，我認為我們最大的錯誤是應該做得更多。這項做法在去年以及今年都對我們非常有效。因此我們正在加大投入。我們也提過，計畫把那邊的總人數擴增到目前的三倍——目前仍是公司中相對小的一部分。我們會持續在這裡投資，因為它確實有效。你也可以從我們今年在一些通用類別或新簽帳戶的成果看到：處於 acquire 階段的帳戶、收入成長，以及 expand 與 scale 階段的表現都很強。

But what's really working here, I think, is a little bit more of a technology and a product story. Our speed to value for customers is getting much faster. And there are many reasons, but I'm going to highlight two. First is Foundry modules and software-defined data integration.

但我認為真正奏效的，其實更像是一個技術與產品的故事。我們為客戶帶來價值的速度（speed to value）正在變得更快。原因很多，但我想強調兩點。第一是 Foundry 模組與軟體定義的資料整合（software-defined data integration）。

We -- Shyam talked briefly about a customer mentioned earlier that started using our ERP suite. And they've already saved over $50 million, and they were able to use the software in just a few hours. And this is important to highlight because what used to take weeks of complex data integration and ontology building can now be automated. And this is because of the advancements we've made in software-defined data integration. And that was an example in sort of the large industrial complex, a consumer goods company used that same ERP suite, connected it to our Vertex Foundry module to simulate their supply chain, and it's now helping them run their business more efficiently.

我們——Shyam 先前簡要提到一位客戶，開始使用我們的 ERP 套件。他們已經節省超過 5,000 萬美元，而且只花了幾個小時就能使用這套軟體。這點很重要，因為過去需要數週、複雜的資料整合與本體（ontology）建置，現在可以自動化。這是因為我們在軟體定義資料整合方面的進展。那是一個大型工業體系的例子；另有一家消費品公司使用同一套 ERP 套件，將其連接到我們的 Vertex Foundry 模組來模擬供應鏈，現在正幫助他們更有效率地營運。

So the same thing here. The software is really driving more of the work. That means time to value is faster and that equals more efficient sales. And by the way, I guess, this recent example was actually sourced by one of our more recent account salespeople. So big congrats to you and -- that team out there. You guys all know who you are. So these advancements are big opportunities for sales teams. There are also opportunities for channel partners who seem to be very excited about this. That's the Foundry modules.

所以同樣的道理，軟體正在真正驅動更多工作。這代表價值實現時間更短，也就等於更有效率的銷售。順帶一提，我想這個近期案例其實是由我們較新的某位客戶銷售人員所開發的。所以恭喜你——以及那邊的團隊。你們都知道自己是誰。這些進展對銷售團隊而言是很大的機會。對於看起來也非常興奮的通路夥伴而言，同樣也是機會。這就是 Foundry 模組。

And we haven't talked a lot about channel partners, but I suspect we will in future periods. And so then I'll hand it back to Dave for the conversation about the operating margin.

我們並沒有談太多通路夥伴，但我猜我們在未來的期間會談到。接下來我把話交回 Dave，來談營業利潤率。

Thanks, Kevin. So I'll sort of just revisit our long-term targets for margins, retargeting adjusted gross margin of [35%] plus contribution margin by 70% plus and adjusted operating margin of 35% plus. In terms of adjusted operating margin -- adjusted operating income, we raised our 2020 full year guidance to $133 million at the midpoint. And when you're looking at sort of our adjusted operating income, you can see that COVID accelerated a lot of change across the company. And this is -- it really resulted us in leveraging a lot of our previous R&D investments in things like Apollo.

謝謝，Kevin。我先回顧一下我們的長期利潤率目標：調整後毛利率 35% 以上、貢獻利潤率 70% 以上，以及調整後營業利潤率 35% 以上。就調整後營業利潤率——調整後營業利益而言，我們把 2020 全年指引在中位數上調至 1.33 億美元。當你看我們的調整後營業利益時，你會看到 COVID 加速了公司內部許多變化。而這——實際上讓我們能夠更充分槓桿化先前在 Apollo 等項目的研發投資。

And so while there was a lot of change that happened with COVID, and you're going to see a lot of that sticking, and -- but with that said, we're going to continue to invest. As Kevin talked about, we're going to continue to invest in our direct sales force, continue to build out products, sort of like Apollo, continue to get that operating leverage. And we'll continue to see top line growth continue to outpace expense growth.

因此，雖然 COVID 帶來了很多變化，而且你會看到其中很多會持續下去——但即便如此，我們仍會持續投資。正如 Kevin 所說，我們會持續投資直銷團隊，持續打造像 Apollo 這樣的產品，持續取得營運槓桿。我們也會持續看到營收成長（top line growth）繼續快於費用成長。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Alex Zukin with RBC.

（接線員指示）我們下一個問題來自 RBC 的 Alex Zukin。

Congrats on a great first quarter. You mentioned a little bit about modularizing the platform componentry and something that you're going to talk about in here in the short -- in the near term. Can you talk about what kind of motion is that going to unlock? Why you're doing that now? What do you -- and where do you expect that to have a bigger impact on commercial or federal sales?

恭喜第一季表現很棒。你提到一些關於將平台元件模組化（modularizing the platform componentry），以及你們在短期——近期會談到的內容。你能談談這將解鎖什麼樣的推進方式（motion）嗎？為什麼現在要做？以及你預期它會在商業或聯邦銷售哪一端帶來更大的影響？

And then just a financial question. If we think -- remind us a little bit about the seasonality of the business. And as we look to next year around top line growth specifically, how should we think about revenue linearity, specifically maybe 4Q to 1Q and then beyond?

再來一個財務問題。請提醒我們一下這個業務的季節性。如果我們看明年、特別是營收成長（top line growth），我們應該如何看待營收的線性度（revenue linearity），尤其是第四季到第一季，以及之後的走勢？

Great. Thanks, Alex. So just to back up a little bit, thinking about Foundry here. We've built this over the last 5 years. We've built this end-to-end platform. And we've been investing significantly in the R&D to do that. And so -- and that really paid off. In the first 3 weeks of COVID, we started 83 new engagements. And we could do that because we had a solution that customers could start using in a matter of a few hours that can solve scaled problems in an end-to-end sort of way. And that has a premium in a crisis, and crisis have always been a tailwind for our business, whether it's the global financial crisis or ISIS attacks in Europe in '15 and '16 or the present-day pandemic.

很好。謝謝你，Alex。先稍微退一步，談談 Foundry。我們在過去 5 年打造了它，建置了一個端到端的平台。我們也為此在研發上投入了大量資源。而這——確實獲得回報。在 COVID 的前三週，我們啟動了 83 個新的合作案（engagements）。我們之所以能做到，是因為我們有一個解決方案，客戶在幾個小時內就能開始使用，並且能以端到端的方式解決規模化問題。在危機中，這種能力具有溢價，而危機一向是我們業務的順風因素，無論是全球金融危機、2015 與 2016 年歐洲的 ISIS 襲擊，或是當前的疫情。

But we also recognize that many customers have made investments in IT capabilities that they are more or less happy with. And so by modularizing the offering, we're able to let them take what they need from the offering, but then build on what they already have. And that allows us to have a kind of a more nuanced land and expand motion over time. It changes the offering in a way that you can -- you have more flexibility on the price point and how you -- it gives you a new way of going to market with channel partners.

但我們也認知到，許多客戶已經在 IT 能力上做了投資，對現況或多或少感到滿意。因此，透過將產品模組化，我們能讓他們從產品中取用所需的部分，同時在既有基礎上再建構。這使我們能隨時間推進一種更細緻的「先落地再擴張」（land and expand）模式。它也以一種方式改變了產品，使你——在定價點與你如何——它讓你在與通路夥伴的市場進入策略上有了新的做法。

So we think it actually opens up a lot of opportunities. Customers are pretty excited about that. We've seen opportunities to leverage those modules already with new customer and the new -- at both -- and on the pipeline side, but even new customers where we're actually implementing and converting. And yes, I think that it's -- and I also -- I guess, the last part of your question, I would expect to see this both in government and commercial.

所以我們認為這其實開啟了很多機會。客戶對此相當興奮。我們已經看到有機會在新客戶上運用這些模組——在兩方面——以及在管線端，但甚至也包括那些我們正在實施與轉換的新客戶。是的，我認為這——而且我也——我想你問題的最後一部分，我預期這會同時出現在政府與商業領域。

And I'll touch base a little bit on the guidance for 2021. So 93% of our customers -- or 93% of our revenue is from existing customers, recurring and growing. So we're very focused on bringing on new accounts because that creates a starting point for this land and expand dynamic. But again, 93% coming from existing customers, recurring and growing. A little bit more -- a few more numbers there, I think, are important to focus on. Average revenue per customer through the first 9 months of this year grew 38% compared to last year. Average revenue for our top 20 customers grew 36% compared to last year. And for both these numbers, still 3 months to go here.

我也稍微談一下 2021 年的指引。我們 93% 的客戶——或 93% 的營收——來自既有客戶，具備經常性並持續成長。因此我們非常專注於導入新帳戶，因為那會為這種「先落地、再擴張」的動態建立起點。但再說一次，93% 來自既有客戶，經常性且成長中。再補充幾個我認為重要的數字。到今年前 9 個月為止，每位客戶的平均營收較去年成長 38%。我們前 20 大客戶的平均營收較去年成長 36%。而這兩個數字都還有 3 個月尚未計入。

We've also reduced our customer concentration. Our top 20 customers are going from 68% of our total revenue to 61% of the total revenue through the first 9 months of 2020.

我們也降低了客戶集中度。我們前 20 大客戶的營收占比，從總營收的 68% 降至 2020 年前 9 個月的 61%。

Touching just briefly on the seasonality question, I think it's important. One thing you might be pointing out and focused on is that we had a very strong fourth quarter in 2019. It was about 20% sequential growth. So what you're seeing a little bit here in 2020 is that smoothing out a little bit. And so -- and what you've also seen is our guidance raising a little bit to 44% for the full year.

簡要回應一下季節性問題，我認為這很重要。你可能指出並關注的一點是，我們在 2019 年第四季非常強勁，約有 20% 的季增。因此你在 2020 年看到的部分情況，是這種表現稍微被平滑化了。另外——你也看到我們把全年指引小幅上調到 44%。

Our next question comes from Chris Merwin with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛（Goldman Sachs）的 Chris Merwin。

I wanted to ask about the commercial business. It looks like it grew 35% in the quarter, which I think was well above the growth rate you had for last year. I know you had a very significant $300 million renewal in the quarter. Was that the main driver of the acceleration? Or was it the other wins that you called out as well? And how should we be thinking about the sustainability of that higher growth rate for the commercial business in the near term here?

我想問一下商業業務。看起來本季成長 35%，我認為這遠高於你們去年商業業務的成長率。我知道你們本季有一筆非常重大的 3 億美元續約。那是加速成長的主要驅動因素嗎？還是也包括你們提到的其他勝出案？另外，短期內我們應該如何看待商業業務較高成長率的可持續性？

Yes. It's been a great couple of quarters on the commercial side here. I think the drivers are really a diversified set of new deals that if you we look at the renewal here, that's really looking at '21 revenue and beyond. So we should look at that towards future periods. And so the work we've done with the U.S. consumer goods company, the work that we've done with other manufacturing companies, U.S. and abroad, the work that we've done in Japan, all of these things are building into the commercial business. And we expect to continue to close deals in this area. One thing we are leaning into significantly, as the second wave of the pandemic seems to be upon us here, is helping our customers and so we're very aggressive about getting started, working immediately. We can deploy our solution within hours and can have a meaningful impact on the durability of their operation within hours to days.

是的。商業端這裡連續幾季表現都很不錯。我認為驅動因素其實是一組相當多元的新交易。如果我們看這次續約，那主要反映的是 2021 年及之後的營收，所以應該把它放在未來期間來看。因此，我們與美國消費品公司的合作、與其他製造業公司（美國與海外）的合作、以及我們在日本所做的工作，這些都在推動商業業務。我們也預期會持續在這個領域成交。隨著疫情第二波似乎正在到來，我們正大幅加碼的一件事是協助客戶，因此我們非常積極地立即啟動、立刻投入。我們可以在數小時內部署解決方案，並在數小時到數天內對其營運韌性產生實質影響。

And so we're leaning in very hard to doing that and figuring out the specifics around payment and timing and all that stuff later. It's a great opportunity for Foundry to really be the core operating system that delivers in a big moment. It's what we spent the last 5 years investing our R&D in, and the software is there to meet that moment.

因此我們非常用力地投入這件事，至於付款與時程等細節就先放到之後再釐清。這是讓 Foundry 真正成為核心作業系統、在關鍵時刻交付成果的絕佳機會。這正是我們過去 5 年投入研發的方向，而軟體也已經準備好迎接那個時刻。

Great. And maybe just a follow-up on the commercial as well. I think you touched on it briefly before, but I wanted to ask about how the sales motion is evolving. I know there's a lot of use cases for commercial, a growing number of use cases for commercial. But in terms of making these customers aware of the power of the platform, is that really going to be a direct sales effort? Or could we see some more investments in growing the partner ecosystem just given, I'm sure, the complexity that the issues that a lot of the commercial customers are facing?

很好。再追問一下商業端。我想你之前有稍微提到，但我想問銷售動作是如何演進的。我知道商業端有很多使用情境，而且使用情境數量還在增加。但就讓這些客戶了解平台威力而言，這主要會是直銷團隊的工作嗎？還是我們可能會看到你們加大投資、擴大合作夥伴生態系？畢竟我想很多商業客戶面臨的問題都相當複雜。

Sure. So the direct sales force is -- we're continuing to invest in doing quite well there. I think it's a little early here, but we're sort of feeling somewhat optimistic about the early work with some of the channel partners. We've seen some early success. I think we'll be talking more about that going forward. And I think particularly in the commercial market, it's certainly true that the more we do, and oftentimes just the faster we do it, it opens up a lot more opportunities for us. And it's something that you'll hear more about with Foundry modules, is that the customer is really able to have sort of much more opinion, not only on how they use Foundry, but what specific pieces of Foundry they would like to use.

當然。所以直銷團隊方面——我們會持續投資，而且目前做得相當不錯。我覺得現在還稍早，但我們對與部分通路夥伴的早期合作感到有些樂觀。我們已看到一些初步成功，我想未來會談得更多。尤其在商業市場，確實是我們做得越多，而且往往做得越快，就會為我們打開更多機會。你也會在 Foundry 模組上聽到更多：客戶其實能有更強的主導性，不僅在於如何使用 Foundry，也包括他們想使用 Foundry 的哪些特定部分。

So instead of being required to use the full Foundry stack, the customer can now choose only the part they need, so they can build on what else it is that they have. And that gives us a lot of flexibility. It gives us flexibility on pricing, but also, it does open this big, Shyam, mentioned sort of window for channel partners who seem to be quite excited about that. So look to hear more about Foundry modules. We plan to show as much of this as we're able to in the upcoming presentations.

因此，客戶不再被要求使用完整的 Foundry 堆疊，而是可以只選擇他們需要的部分，並在既有系統之上建置。這給了我們很大的彈性：在定價上有彈性，同時也確實打開了一個很大的——Shyam 提到的——窗口，讓對此相當興奮的通路夥伴可以參與。所以請期待聽到更多關於 Foundry 模組的內容。我們計畫在接下來的簡報中，盡可能展示我們能展示的部分。

Our next question comes from Brad Zelnick with Credit Suisse.

下一個問題來自瑞士信貸（Credit Suisse）的 Brad Zelnick。

And congrats to you all on a nice, strong quarter out of the gate. My one question is actually pretty simple. I just wanted to ask about contract duration, which I think you disclosed at 3.6 years this quarter. Maybe you can comment on how that's trended year-on-year and how you expect that might trend forward into calendar '21.

也恭喜各位一開始就交出漂亮且強勁的一季。我只有一個很簡單的問題：我想問合約期間（contract duration），我記得你們本季披露為 3.6 年。能否談談它在年對年上的趨勢，以及你們預期在 2021 年曆年會如何變化？

So we're pretty happy with sort of getting additional visibility on the revenue here. I think when we're thinking about 2021, then we're really sort of looking at the portion and success we're having with the breakdown of the 3-phase model. And when we looked at just new customers that we've acquired in a year, that group has grown nearly 200%, Dave mentioned this compared to last year.

我們對於能在營收上取得更多可見度感到相當滿意。我認為在思考 2021 年時，我們主要在看三階段模型拆解後的那一部分，以及我們在其中取得的成效。當我們只看一年內新取得的客戶時，那個群組幾乎成長了 200%，Dave 也提到這點，與去年相比。

The acquire phase has grown over 100% just the last 3 months. And the interesting thing about the acquire phase is that there are a lot more accounts in here that are not yet customers. In other words, there are many accounts that are in pilot phase that we believe will grow over time into the expand and scale phases, and you're seeing some of this in the growth of the acquirer and the new account phases. So these are kind of the early land portion going into our model here.

Acquire（取得）階段在過去 3 個月成長超過 100%。而 acquire 階段有趣之處在於，這裡面有更多帳戶其實還不是客戶。換句話說，有許多帳戶仍在試點（pilot）階段，我們相信它們會隨時間成長，進入 expand（擴張）與 scale（規模化）階段；你也能在 acquire 與新帳戶階段的成長中看到一些跡象。因此，這些算是我們模型中「落地」部分的早期階段。

The expand phase accounts, we did $254 million through the first 9 months of the year, and those accounts did a 41% contribution margin. So for some context, this same group did $176 million and a negative contribution margin of negative 43% in 2019. So that's 44% growth already for this year, and we still have 3 months to go. And again, worth kind of focusing on here, this account group went from negative 43% contribution margin to positive 41%, while growing revenue at this rate. And then the last portion, I think, should focus on is the scale phase customers. Scale phase accounts generated $452 million of revenue through the first 9 months of the year, contribution margin of just below 70%.

在 expand（擴張）階段的帳戶方面，我們在今年前 9 個月做到 2.54 億美元，而這些帳戶的貢獻毛利率（contribution margin）為 41%。作為對照，同一群組在 2019 年做到 1.76 億美元，且貢獻毛利率為負 43%。因此今年到目前為止已經成長 44%，而且還有 3 個月尚未計入。同樣值得聚焦的是：在以這樣的速度成長營收的同時，這個帳戶群組的貢獻毛利率從負 43% 轉為正 41%。最後一部分我認為應該關注的是 scale（規模化）階段客戶。Scale 階段帳戶在今年前 9 個月產生 4.52 億美元營收，貢獻毛利率略低於 70%。

At the limit, we think all accounts should be in the scale phase, and that scale phase should grow. And we're seeing this in the performance of the contribution margin in both the expand and acquire phases. So it looks like we will see growth in the scale category.

在極限情況下，我們認為所有帳戶都應該處於規模化階段，而且該規模化階段應該持續成長。我們也在擴張與獲取階段的貢獻毛利表現中看到了這一點。因此，看起來我們將會看到規模化類別的成長。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Tyler Radke with Citi.

（接線員指示）下一個問題來自花旗（Citi）的 Tyler Radke。

Shyam, I wanted to ask a couple of questions to you, and I thought it was pretty interesting, one of your comments on just saying that you wish you'd invested faster or sooner in the direct sales force. And I guess, I'm curious now that you've kind of been able to look at the successful investments, just how are you thinking about growing overall headcount from here. I think the original target was for somewhat muted headcount growth in 2020, I think, maybe 4% to 5%. But given some of the successes and some of the things you're investing in with the Foundry modules, how are you thinking about growing headcount going forward?

Shyam，我想問你幾個問題。我覺得很有意思的是，你其中一個評論提到你希望自己在直銷團隊上的投資能更快或更早。我想知道，現在你已經能回頭看這些成功的投資，你對於接下來整體人員編制的成長是怎麼思考的。我記得原先的目標是在 2020 年人員編制成長相對溫和，大概是 4% 到 5%。但考量到一些成功經驗，以及你們在 Foundry 模組上的投資，你們未來對人員編制成長的規劃是什麼？

And then just had a quick follow-up on the Foundry modules. How do you think that kind of changes the competitive environment for you guys? Do you think you're going to be kind of going up against some of these data and analytics point tools and kind of the best-of-breed vendors there? Maybe just give us a sense for how that changes your competitive landscape as well.

另外，關於 Foundry 模組我還有個簡短追問。你認為這會如何改變你們的競爭環境？你們是否會開始與一些資料與分析的點狀工具（point tools）以及那裡的最佳單點供應商（best-of-breed vendors）正面競爭？也請你們談談這對你們競爭版圖的影響。

Yes. On the first question -- thanks, Tyler. So on the first question, I think we were -- what we're very confident is that top line will continue to grow much faster than operating expenses. You're right, if we find opportunities to invest, we're going to take them. But right now, I'd reiterate what we're kind of expecting around 4-or-so percent headcount growth. The -- one of the things that's in there that kind of might make that 4% seem low, but it's actually -- we're getting so much more efficient, right? What we've been able to do with our sales and marketing spend, and even though we're hiring into our direct sales force here, in some sense, it looks like sales and marketing is going down, which isn't actually what's happening. We're actually doing more sales and marketing, but we're just much more efficient at delivering it based on the investments we made around Apollo and software-defined data integration. And so I think we're getting just a big benefit from there. We're able to do a lot more with the same humans that we do have. And so we're seeing some of that benefit.

是的。先回答第一個問題——謝謝你，Tyler。關於第一個問題，我們非常有信心的是，營收（top line）將會持續以遠快於營業費用的速度成長。你說得對，如果我們看到投資機會，我們會把握。但就目前而言，我會重申我們大致預期的人員編制成長約為 4% 左右。——其中有一點可能會讓這個 4% 看起來偏低，但其實是——我們的效率正在大幅提升，對吧？我們在銷售與行銷支出上所能做到的事情，即使我們正在擴編直銷團隊，某種程度上看起來銷售與行銷好像在下降，但實際上並不是如此。我們其實做了更多的銷售與行銷，只是基於我們在 Apollo 與軟體定義資料整合（software-defined data integration）方面的投資，我們在交付上變得更有效率。因此我認為我們從中獲得了很大的效益。我們能用現有的人力做更多事情，所以我們正在看到其中一部分的效益。

And in terms of Foundry modules in a competitive landscape. We think there are a couple of things that we're doing on the modules, at least that we keep hearing from customers that are really unique. I think customers will continue to pick those. The important part here is working with the customer to find what investments they really believe in that they've already made, ensuring that the architecture that we're putting forth fits with their plans, their road map going forward. And so I think of it much less as a competitive situation in terms of what the customer is evaluating this best-of-breed tool versus that tool. It's really about, look, I have things I'm happy with. I really believe in your solution. But I want to be able to leverage the investments I've already made.

至於 Foundry 模組在競爭版圖中的定位。我們認為在模組上我們做了幾件事——至少我們一直從客戶那裡聽到——是非常獨特的。我想客戶會持續選擇那些。這裡的重點在於與客戶合作，找出他們真正相信、且已經投入的投資，並確保我們提出的架構能符合他們的計畫與未來的路線圖。因此，我較少把它視為一種競爭情境：客戶在評估這個最佳單點工具或那個工具。更重要的是：我有一些我很滿意的既有方案；我也非常相信你們的解決方案；但我希望能夠運用我已經做過的投資。

And that's going to help us win a lot more. It's going to help the direct sales force to be more effective. It means that channel partners have a proposition that they can succeed with, both because it will integrate with their existing offerings. But because also the channel has to do less to really get this to work for the customer in terms of their enterprise architecture planning.

而這將幫助我們贏得更多案子。它也會讓直銷團隊更有效率。這意味著通路夥伴有一個他們能成功推動的價值主張（proposition），一方面因為它能與他們既有的產品整合；另一方面也因為通路在讓這套方案為客戶運作起來時，需要做的事情更少，尤其是在客戶的企業架構規劃方面。

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the allotted time for questions. I will now turn the call back over to the Palantir management for closing remarks.

各位女士先生，我們已到達提問時間的結束。我現在把電話交回 Palantir 管理團隊作結語。

Well, thank you all so much for joining us for our first quarterly conference call. We hope to have many more with this group here. I would like to end by just thanking all of our employees, past and present. It's the commitment to do the hard thing that we see from them all the time, and it's so inspiring. They built this company over years and years of hard work. And when the crisis came, when the pandemic came, they were ready. They met their moment. So thank you guys so much. Thank you all.

非常感謝各位參加我們的第一次季度電話會議。我們希望未來能與在座各位有更多次的電話會議。最後我想感謝我們所有的員工，不論是過去或現在。從他們身上，我們一直看到那種願意去做困難事情的承諾，這非常鼓舞人心。他們用多年多年的努力建立了這家公司。當危機來臨、當疫情來臨時，他們已經準備好了。他們把握住了屬於他們的時刻。所以非常感謝大家。謝謝各位。

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以掛線。