Ton Strategy Co (TONX) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the third-quarter 2022 financial results conference call for VERB Technology Company, Inc. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised the call is being recorded at the company's request. On our call today are Rory J. Cutaia, CEO; and Salman Khan, CFO.

下午好，歡迎參加 VERB Technology Company, Inc. 的 2022 年第三季度財務業績電話會議（操作員說明）請注意，應公司的要求，電話正在錄音。今天接聽我們電話的是首席執行官 Rory J. Cutaia；和首席財務官 Salman Khan。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made during this conference call will include forward-looking statements under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involves risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made except as required by law as the underlying facts and circumstances may change. VERB Technology Company disclaims any obligations to update these forward-looking statements as well of those contained in the company's current and subsequent filings with the SEC.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒大家，在本次電話會議中發表的聲明將包括根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款作出的前瞻性聲明，其中涉及可能導致實際結果的風險和不確定性實質上不同。前瞻性陳述僅在作出之日發表，法律要求除外，因為基本事實和情況可能發生變化。 VERB Technology Company 不承擔任何更新這些前瞻性陳述以及公司當前和後續提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中包含的前瞻性陳述的義務。

I would now like to turn the call over to Rory J. Cutaia, CEO. Rory, please go ahead.

我現在想把電話轉給首席執行官 Rory J. Cutaia。羅里，請繼續。

Thank you, moderator, and thanks to everyone for joining us today for our Q3 2022 financial results and business update conference call.

謝謝主持人，也感謝大家今天加入我們，參加我們的 2022 年第三季度財務業績和業務更新電話會議。

So last year at this time, we were really all looking forward with a certain sense of optimism that we might finally be emerging from the devastating effects of the pandemic on our lives and certainly on many businesses; then began 2022. And with it, the beginning of an economic meltdown that by many accounts, has yet to find a bottom. I'm honestly not sure it's possible to overstate the challenges small public companies like us faced this year and continue to face.

所以去年的這個時候，我們真的都懷著某種樂觀的心情期待著我們可能最終會擺脫大流行病對我們生活以及許多企業的毀滅性影響；然後從 2022 年開始。隨之而來的是經濟崩潰的開始，許多人認為這種崩潰尚未見底。老實說，我不確定是否有可能誇大像我們這樣的小型上市公司今年面臨並繼續面臨的挑戰。

One may not be an economist to recognize that as the year progressed, the economy rapidly worsened. Inflation drove a series of Fed rate increases with no near term ended site. The capital markets closed. Share prices dropped. Market caps were crushed. And business plans, operating budgets, and execution strategies needed to be revamped and revised quickly. It was during this environment that we launched several new SaaS products, an entirely new and very promising line of business you all know as MARKET.live.

可能不是經濟學家的人會意識到，隨著時間的推移，經濟迅速惡化。通貨膨脹推動了一系列美聯儲加息，而近期沒有結束點。資本市場關閉。股價下跌。市值被壓垮了。業務計劃、運營預算和執行策略需要快速修改和修訂。正是在這種環境下，我們推出了幾款新的 SaaS 產品，這是一個全新且非常有前途的業務線，大家都知道為 MARKET.live。

So today, I'd like to discuss our financial results during this period. But first, I'd like to address head on what I believe to be the most important questions our shareholders have had, and continue to have about, our business, and particularly those that likely have had the greatest impact on our share price. So in no particular order, as I believe they're all equally important to our shareholders. The top three questions are: number one, Nasdaq share price compliance; number two, our ongoing capital needs; and three, our operating costs.

所以今天，我想討論我們在此期間的財務業績。但首先，我想直面我認為是我們的股東已經並且將繼續對我們的業務提出的最重要的問題，尤其是那些可能對我們的股價影響最大的問題。所以沒有特別的順序，因為我相信它們對我們的股東都同樣重要。前三個問題是：第一，納斯達克股價合規性；第二，我們持續的資本需求；第三，我們的運營成本。

With respect to Nasdaq share compliance, as most of you know, we've continued to trade below the $1 threshold for 180 days. The 180-day period expired last week on November 8; and for the period leading up to that, there was great speculation that the company would either be delisted by Nasdaq, or we would undertake a reverse split in order to regain compliance.

關於納斯達克股票合規性，正如你們大多數人所知，我們已經連續 180 天以低於 1 美元的門檻進行交易。 180 天的期限於上週的 11 月 8 日到期；在那之前的一段時間裡，人們猜測該公司要么被納斯達克退市，要么我們將進行反向拆分以重新合規。

So with respect to that, we recently received formal written confirmation from Nasdaq that we have met the criteria for an additional 180-day period to regain share price compliance. Accordingly, there's no immediate concern of delisting or a reverse split. And while I felt very confident we would meet Nasdaq criteria for granting the additional 180-day period to regain compliance, I needed to wait until the expiration of the first 180-day period before Nasdaq would consider our application for an extension. So for those that question why I didn't make any public announcements about our plans or expectations prior to the expiration of that period, it was that I was prohibited from doing so. I needed to wait for Nasdaq's formal review, consideration and response; to do otherwise, would have put our application for an extension in jeopardy.

因此，就此而言，我們最近收到了納斯達克的正式書面確認，我們已經達到了額外 180 天期限的標準，以恢復股價合規。因此，不存在退市或反向拆分的直接問題。雖然我非常有信心我們會滿足納斯達克的標準，授予額外的 180 天期限以恢復合規，但我需要等到第一個 180 天期限屆滿，然後納斯達克才會考慮我們的延期申請。因此，對於那些質疑為什麼我沒有在該期限到期之前就我們的計劃或期望發表任何公開聲明的人來說，我被禁止這樣做。我需要等待納斯達克的正式審核、考慮和回應；否則，我們的延期申請將處於危險之中。

All right, let's talk next about our capital requirements. Over the past two years, during the extended period of investment in research and development for the suite of new products we recently released including MARKET.live, we averaged negative cash flow from operations of approximately $2.3 million per month. As we completed various elements of development testing on these products, we were able to begin reducing that investment. And as we began this year, we were able to accelerate that reduction in spending, but not eliminated entirely. That meant we needed to raise additional capital to support our operations.

好吧，接下來我們來談談我們的資本要求。在過去的兩年裡，在我們最近發布的包括 MARKET.live 在內的一系列新產品的研發投資延長期間，我們平均每月的負現金流約為 230 萬美元。當我們完成這些產品的開發測試的各種元素時，我們能夠開始減少投資。從今年開始，我們能夠加速削減支出，但並沒有完全消除。這意味著我們需要籌集更多資金來支持我們的運營。

But as I said at the outset of this call, the capital markets were closed and have remained closed. Investors have been waiting on the sidelines for the markets to stabilize; and that stability has remained elusive as the markets have experienced excessive volatility and downward pressure.

但正如我在本次電話會議開始時所說的那樣，資本市場已經關閉，並且一直處於關閉狀態。投資者一直在觀望，等待市場穩定下來。由於市場經歷了過度波動和下行壓力，這種穩定性仍然難以捉摸。

A year ago, as the investment community was excited about our technology and its market potential, I could raise capital in a couple of phone calls. Well, that time has passed for companies like ours. This time around, I've literally spent months working together with our Board, exploring and analyzing one bad proposal after another. Making it that much more challenging and almost impossible was our declining share price, making even a small equity raise highly dilutive.

一年前，由於投資界對我們的技術及其市場潛力感到興奮，我可以通過幾個電話籌集資金。好吧，對於像我們這樣的公司來說，那個時代已經過去了。這一次，我真的花了幾個月的時間與我們的董事會一起工作，探索和分析一個又一個糟糕的提案。使它變得更具挑戰性和幾乎不可能的是我們不斷下跌的股價，即使是小規模的股權融資也具有高度稀釋性。

Through this process, I recognized that I needed to craft the plan that would keep us out of the capital markets for an extended period of time based on the amount I thought I could raise while minimizing, to the extent possible, the enormous dilution any large equity raise would produce a development plan. The plan required two components: additional capital and massive rapid cost reductions across every area of the business.

通過這個過程，我認識到我需要根據我認為可以籌集的金額制定計劃，使我們在較長一段時間內遠離資本市場，同時盡可能減少任何大規模的巨大稀釋股權融資將產生髮展計劃。該計劃需要兩個組成部分：額外資本和跨業務各個領域的大規模快速成本削減。

Due to the share price and dilution issues I touched on a moment ago, I wanted to limit any equity raise to $4 million. And while I knew there was simply no deal that was going to get done without warrants, given our share price, I wanted to avoid doing any equity deal at a steep discount to market. The only deals getting done were pricing at a 25% to 30% discount to market and double warrant; that we couldn't end and I just wouldn't do.

由於我剛才提到的股價和稀釋問題，我想將任何股權融資限制在 400 萬美元以內。雖然我知道沒有認股權證就無法完成任何交易，但考慮到我們的股價，我想避免以大幅低於市場的價格進行任何股權交易。唯一完成的交易是定價比市場價低 25% 到 30% 和雙重權證；我們不能結束，我就是不會這樣做。

Ultimately, we were able to close on the $4 million of gross proceeds in a deal priced at the market. And yes, with warrants. While dilutive, because of our share price, it was the best deal available anywhere. We closed that last month, but that was only the first part of my capital raise plans.

最終，我們能夠以市場定價的方式完成 400 萬美元的總收益。是的，有認股權證。雖然稀釋，但由於我們的股價，這是任何地方的最佳交易。我們上個月關閉了它，但這只是我籌資計劃的第一部分。

Last week, we closed on an additional $5 million in gross proceeds, structured as straight unsecured debt, non-convertible, non-variable, 9% interest, an 18-month term, and no payments of any kind for six months. I personally considered that a major coup. Simultaneously, I was working through the implementation of my cost reduction plan, which was completed last week.

上週，我們又獲得了 500 萬美元的總收益，其結構為直接無擔保債務、不可轉換、不變、9% 的利息、18 個月的期限以及六個月內不支付任何形式的款項。我個人認為這是一個重大政變。同時，我正在努力實施上週完成的成本削減計劃。

The plan, which went into effect immediately, included massive cuts in spending across every area of the business. We eliminated vendors, contractors, perks, office space in Utah, marketing spend; and extensive cuts in personnel, which was very, very difficult because I had to lay off some really, really good and talented people. And then in a further effort to reduce expenses and preserve cash, I also cut the monthly cash component of salaries by 25% for every one that earns $150,000 or more a year, including myself and including each member of our Board of Directors.

該計劃立即生效，包括大幅削減業務各個領域的開支。我們取消了供應商、承包商、津貼、猶他州的辦公空間、營銷支出；以及大量裁員，這非常非常困難，因為我不得不解僱一些非常非常優秀和有才華的人。然後，為了進一步減少開支和保留現金，我還將每個年收入 150,000 美元或以上的人的工資中每月現金部分削減 25%，包括我自己和我們董事會的每一位成員。

These savings will have a material impact in the last part of this quarter and certainly into 2023. It reduced our normalized operating expenses dramatically, bringing our operational cash burn down to approximately $1 million a month, giving us a fair amount of runway into next year; by which time, we expect to see significant revenue contributions from our MARKET.live platform before we need to consider any additional capital raises.

這些節省將在本季度末產生重大影響，肯定會持續到 2023 年。它顯著降低了我們的正常運營費用，使我們的運營現金消耗降至每月約 100 萬美元，為我們明年提供了相當多的跑道;到那時，在我們需要考慮任何額外的融資之前，我們希望看到我們的 MARKET.live 平台帶來可觀的收入貢獻。

So I hope this addresses those three questions directly: Nasdaq compliance, capital needs, and operating expenses.

所以我希望這能直接解決這三個問題：納斯達克合規、資本需求和運營費用。

In addition, during this time, we had some strategic opportunities present themselves that I and our Board thought were sufficiently interesting, that we ran a month-long process to select a strategic advisory firm to assist us in evaluating them. And after a fair amount of mutual due diligence and following presentations to our Board, we recently selected and engaged Alantra, a prominent international M&A and strategic advisory firm to work with us on these opportunities.

此外，在這段時間裡，我們遇到了一些我和我們的董事會認為非常有趣的戰略機會，我們進行了為期一個月的流程來選擇一家戰略諮詢公司來幫助我們評估它們。經過大量的相互盡職調查並向我們的董事會進行介紹後，我們最近選擇並聘請了著名的國際併購和戰略諮詢公司 Alantra 與我們合作把握這些機會。

So as you might imagine, it's been a very busy several months executing the launch of MARKET, as well as all of the other plans and initiatives I just discussed.

因此，正如您想像的那樣，執行 MARKET 的啟動以及我剛才討論的所有其他計劃和舉措一直非常忙碌。

While I strive to remain open and transparent -- and I really do, about our company's plans and initiatives, I hope that many of you understand that while we're going through these processes and certainly in the weeks leading up to an earnings call, it becomes really difficult to communicate and respond to questions that come into our investor relations inbox. Because a premature direct and honest answer to the vast majority of these questions would run afoul of the SEC selective disclosure rules.

雖然我努力保持公開和透明——我真的這樣做了，關於我們公司的計劃和舉措，我希望你們中的許多人理解，在我們經歷這些過程時，當然在財報電話會議之前的幾週內，溝通和回答進入我們投資者關係收件箱的問題變得非常困難。因為對其中絕大多數問題的過早直接和誠實的回答將違反美國證券交易委員會的選擇性披露規則。

I think it's also important to mention that following the additional $9 million of gross proceeds from the recent financings, coupled with a fairly massive across-the-board cost-cutting we've now completed, I'm highly confident in our ability to navigate the current economic environment. However, I don't want to give anyone the impression that this is going to be a walk in the park. There remain many challenges ahead, both known and unknown, but we're going into it with our eyes wide open and as prepared as we can possibly be.

我認為還需要提及的是，在最近的融資增加了 900 萬美元的總收益之後，再加上我們現在已經完成的相當大規模的全面成本削減，我對我們的導航能力充滿信心當前的經濟環境。但是，我不想給任何人一種印象，即這將是在公園散步。前面還有許多挑戰，既有已知的也有未知的，但我們將睜大眼睛迎接它，並儘可能做好準備。

All right now, I'm going to turn to MARKET.live, our industry-leading livestream shopping platform and what we believe will be the biggest growth area of our business in 2023. MARKET was launched at the end of July and given the progress we've made, it's actually hard to believe that it's only been live for just over 100 days now.

好吧，現在我要談談 MARKET.live，我們行業領先的直播購物平台，我們認為這將是我們 2023 年業務增長最大的領域。MARKET 於 7 月底推出，並取得了進展我們已經做到了，實際上很難相信它現在只上線了 100 多天。

So let me begin by sharing some performance statistics. During the first 90 days, we acquired 76,000 shoppers on MARKET with continuous growth month-over-month. The number of shoppers does not include viewers who watch our livestream shopping events when we multicast through other social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and others, which brings the total viewership up exponentially.

因此，讓我首先分享一些性能統計數據。在最初的 90 天內，我們在 MARKET 上獲得了 76,000 名購物者，並且逐月持續增長。購物者的數量不包括當我們通過其他社交媒體渠道（如 Facebook、Instagram、YouTube 等）進行直播時觀看我們直播購物活動的觀眾，這使總收視率呈指數級增長。

The average returning registered shoppers rate is 49%, which has grown sequentially month over month. For the first week in November, the returning registered shopper rate was already at 38.5% with three weeks yet to go, so November looks like it will be a nice jump in that metric. The average order value has continued to climb month-over-month, week-over-week; and now, it's approximately $98. The conversion rate for shoppers completing checkout after adding items to their carts has also risen month over month, and it's now at just over 24%. For the 10.10 shopping festival we did for Coresight Research last month, the conversion rate was more than 37%.

平均回頭註冊購物者率為 49%，環比增長。在 11 月的第一周，註冊回頭客率已經達到 38.5%，還有三週時間，因此 11 月看起來該指標將有一個不錯的飛躍。平均訂單價值繼續逐月攀升，逐週攀升；而現在，它大約是 98 美元。購物者在將商品添加到購物車後完成結賬的轉化率也逐月上升，目前剛剛超過 24%。上個月我們為 Coresight Research 做的 10.10 購物節，轉化率超過 37%。

A major selling point for retailers who come on the platform is the dramatically lower rate of returns they experienced through live stream shopping over traditional e-commerce sites. The industry average return rates for e-commerce are approximately 30%. Secondly, we had no returns at all for the 10.10 festival and overall, return rate for all products purchased on market is less than 5% over the past 90 days since launch.

對於進入該平台的零售商來說，一個主要賣點是與傳統電子商務網站相比，他們通過直播購物體驗到的退貨率要低得多。電子商務的行業平均退貨率約為 30%。其次，我們在 10.10 節日期間完全沒有退貨，總體而言，自推出以來的過去 90 天內，在市場上購買的所有產品的退貨率低於 5%。

There are more than 350 shoppable recordings of previous live stream events on MARKET and have had almost 20,000 views over the past 90 days. Almost 50% of those views were videos in the accessories and clothing categories, 20% in health and beauty, and 19% in food and food prep. Approximately 50% of registered shoppers watch on mobile devices and approximately 48% watch on desktop devices -- which continues actually to be a surprising stat, as I think most people expect the shoppers would be viewing on mobile.

MARKET 上有超過 350 個以前直播活動的可購買記錄，在過去 90 天內有近 20,000 次觀看。這些觀看次數中近 50% 是配飾和服裝類別的視頻，20% 是健康和美容類別的視頻，19% 是食品和食品準備類別的視頻。大約 50% 的註冊購物者在移動設備上觀看，大約 48% 的註冊購物者在桌面設備上觀看——這實際上仍然是一個令人驚訝的統計數據，因為我認為大多數人都認為購物者會在移動設備上觀看。

In October, Coresight Research, the respected retail consulting firm, selected MARKET.live as one of the platforms for their third annual livestream shopping event that they called 10.10 held on October 10. The event was watched in multiple countries around the world and drew thousands of registered attendees. Among the highly attended live streams were HelloFresh, Halston, 100% Pure, Spiceology, and Fifth & Cherry. HelloFresh had almost 900 attendees for their live stream sessions.

10 月，備受尊敬的零售諮詢公司 Coresight Research 選擇 MARKET.live 作為其第三次年度直播購物活動的平台之一，他們稱之為 10.10，該活動於 10 月 10 日舉行。該活動在全球多個國家/地區觀看，吸引了數千人註冊與會者。 HelloFresh、Halston、100% Pure、Spiceology 和 Fifth & Cherry 是觀看人數最多的直播節目。 HelloFresh 的直播會議有近 900 名與會者。

It was an important milestone for MARKET as the other platform selected was an established live stream shopping application that works as a plug-in to a retailer's existing website. The feedback we received was that the retailers -- even some of the major retailers, thought far and away, MARKET was the preferred site -- the ecosystem of sellers and shoppers was much preferred over a standalone plug-in to your own website; much as a retail store would prefer to be located in the shopping mall. This feedback was reflected in the engagement levels, which were noticeably higher for the streams of MARKET.

這對 MARKET 來說是一個重要的里程碑，因為選擇的另一個平台是一個成熟的直播購物應用程序，可以作為零售商現有網站的插件。我們收到的反饋是，零售商——甚至一些主要零售商，遠遠地認為，MARKET 是首選站點——賣家和購物者的生態系統比您自己網站的獨立插件更受歡迎；就像零售店更願意位於購物中心一樣。這種反饋反映在參與度上，市場流的參與度明顯更高。

The growth of new vendors coming onto the platform remains quite strong, with our sales teams still reporting close rates after a demo of greater than 96% -- and I got to tell you, that's higher than anything I've ever seen in the sales business. And while we continue to build out the ecosystem of buyers and sellers on MARKET, we've begun to be more selective, choosing sellers that have proven sales on other platforms, interesting products, and a robust online following. Through the first 90 days, we have approximately 500 approved sellers in various stages of onboarding on the platform. And approximately half of those now, I think, now have opened stores.

進入該平台的新供應商的增長仍然非常強勁，我們的銷售團隊在演示後仍然報告了超過 96% 的成交率——我得告訴你，這比我在銷售中見過的任何東西都要高商業。在我們繼續在 MARKET 上構建買家和賣家生態系統的同時，我們已經開始更具選擇性，選擇在其他平台上已經證明銷售、有趣的產品和強大的在線追隨者的賣家。在最初的 90 天裡，我們有大約 500 名經過批准的賣家處於平台入職的各個階段。我認為，現在大約有一半已經開設了商店。

Obviously the number of inbound interested parties and interested sellers to beyond the platform is much greater than that, but not every seller is the right fit right now for MARKET. For example, we get a fairly large number of companies every week that sell CBD-based products among other things, which we are precluded from selling on market due to regulatory issues and restrictions under the terms of our credit card processing agreements. But over time, I expect those regulations and restrictions to change. And we'll see -- wish we could see, an explosion of new stores and products for those products -- and some from famous celebrities that are involved in those kinds of bunch of products that want to be on MARKET.

顯然，平台之外的入站感興趣方和感興趣的賣家數量遠不止於此，但並不是每個賣家現在都適合 MARKET。例如，我們每週都有相當多的公司銷售基於 CBD 的產品，但由於監管問題和我們信用卡處理協議條款的限制，我們無法在市場上銷售這些產品。但隨著時間的推移，我預計這些法規和限制會發生變化。我們會看到——希望我們能看到，這些產品的新商店和產品的爆炸式增長——以及一些來自名人的產品，這些名人參與了那些想要上市的產品。

So for the reasons I discussed earlier, we have curtailed our marketing spend for the time being and have begun allocating more of our remaining marketing budget to attracting more shoppers to the site. Just over three weeks ago, we began marketing our creators on MARKET program. As I said in the prior announcement, I really expect this will be the greatest source of growth on MARKET in 2023 and beyond.

因此，出於我之前討論的原因，我們暫時削減了營銷支出，並開始分配更多剩餘的營銷預算來吸引更多購物者訪問該網站。就在三個多星期前，我們開始在 MARKET 計劃中營銷我們的創作者。正如我在之前的公告中所說，我真的希望這將成為 2023 年及以後市場增長的最大來源。

Through this program, YouTube and other social media content creators and influencers can choose their favorite products from a catalog of over 12 million products from literally hundreds of popular brands, and then sell them to their fans and followers through the videos that they already created. They can live stream on MARKET while simultaneously streaming over their existing social media channels in order to engage their existing fans and followers. Participation in the program is initially being offered to creators that complete an application and meet certain criteria, including the size of their social media following.

通過該計劃，YouTube 和其他社交媒體內容創作者和影響者可以從數百個流行品牌的超過 1200 萬種產品目錄中選擇他們最喜歡的產品，然後通過他們已經創建的視頻將它們出售給他們的粉絲和追隨者。他們可以在 MARKET 上直播，同時通過他們現有的社交媒體渠道進行流媒體直播，以吸引他們現有的粉絲和追隨者。該計劃的參與最初提供給完成申請並滿足特定標準的創作者，包括他們的社交媒體追隨者的規模。

Look, if you believe you may qualify, please go to the calling creators tab on market.live and go through the application process -- because once accepted, you'll have access to see really extraordinary user-friendly experience of selecting products from the expansive catalog that can get you up and running and selling in no time. This combination of access to the inventories of these major retailers, together with the back-end technology that produces a seamless fun experience for these creators to select products that can be sold in their videos, is unique to MARKET and has already attracted an impressive list of creators and influencers that have been selected to participate in the program.

看，如果您認為自己有資格，請轉到 market.live 上的呼叫創建者選項卡並完成申請流程——因為一旦被接受，您將有機會看到真正非凡的用戶友好體驗，從內容豐富的目錄可以讓您立即啟動並運行和銷售。這種對這些主要零售商庫存的訪問權限，以及為這些創作者提供無縫有趣體驗以選擇可以在他們的視頻中出售的產品的後端技術的組合，對於 MARKET 來說是獨一無二的，並且已經吸引了令人印象深刻的名單被選中參與該計劃的創作者和影響者。

We expect to add as many as 200 additional retail brands to MARKET that are participating in the creator program in the coming weeks and months. And as many as an additional 1,000 active creators and sellers through 2023. The number of live stream shows is increasing week after week, and we currently have approximately 250 live shopping shows already scheduled through the holiday season and into January with many more expected. These include events that begin on Black Friday and run all-day Friday, Saturday, and through Cyber Monday, among many other themed shows.

我們預計在未來幾周和幾個月內，將有多達 200 個零售品牌加入 MARKET，參與創作者計劃。到 2023 年，還有多達 1,000 名活躍的創作者和賣家。直播節目的數量每週都在增加，目前我們已經安排了大約 250 場直播購物節目，一直持續到假期和 1 月，預計還會有更多。其中包括從黑色星期五開始並在星期五、星期六和網絡星期一全天運行的活動，以及許多其他主題節目。

Our Giving Tuesday show is rapidly building an audience, and we're seeing many more of the world's top brands deciding to participate in that show providing some extraordinary products offer that really just incredible discounts. Recent shows featured jewelry from Baccarat at unheard of discounts. Please check this show out.

我們的 Giving Tuesday 節目正在迅速吸引觀眾，我們看到更多世界頂級品牌決定參加該節目，提供一些非凡的產品，提供真正令人難以置信的折扣。最近的節目以前所未有的折扣展示了 Baccarat 的珠寶。請檢查這個節目。

This month also marks the beginning of many of the new creator shows, including one by a very popular producer, writer, creator, with more than 100,000 active social followers, who also happens to be a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. And also, we'll see the premiere of some of the original shoppable entertainment content produced specifically for MARKET that I've spoken about previously that we expect to air at the end of this month.

這個月也標誌著許多新的創作者節目的開始，其中包括一位非常受歡迎的製作人、作家、創作者，擁有超過 100,000 名活躍的社交粉絲，他也恰好是前體育畫報泳裝模特。而且，我們將看到一些專門為 MARKET 製作的原創可購物娛樂內容的首映式，我之前已經說過，我們預計將在本月底播出。

I'm really very proud of the MARKET.live team for the extraordinary progress we've made in just the past 90 --100-plus days since launch. But net revenue from MARKET is growing -- but as we've just said, three months of operation, it's still just a nominal component of our total revenue. So we won't begin breaking out market revenue and reporting it separately just yet.

我真的為 MARKET.live 團隊感到非常自豪，因為我們在過去的 90 到 100 多天內取得了非凡的進步。但來自 MARKET 的淨收入正在增長——但正如我們剛才所說，三個月的運營，它仍然只是我們總收入的名義組成部分。所以我們不會開始打破市場收入並單獨報告它。

Okay. So let me turn to our SaaS business report. As I've discussed in our previous earnings call, we are -- and remain, I believe, the leading provider of enablement applications for the direct sales industry, displacing previous market leaders and would-be competitors; just as we said we would when we entered the space in 2019.

好的。那麼讓我轉向我們的 SaaS 業務報告。正如我在之前的財報電話會議上所討論的那樣，我相信，我們現在是——並且仍然是直銷行業支持應用程序的領先供應商，取代了之前的市場領導者和潛在的競爭對手；正如我們在 2019 年進入該領域時所說的那樣。

Beginning at the end of the second quarter of this year, we expanded our suite of sales enablement tools with the release of the new innovative sales applications I told you that we had in development in prior conference calls. These products, including verbLIVE 2.0 and Pulse, will not only enhance our leadership position in the direct sales space, but put us that much further ahead of the handful of would-be VERB competitors.

從今年第二季度末開始，我們通過發布新的創新銷售應用程序擴展了我們的銷售支持工具套件，我告訴過你我們在之前的電話會議中正在開發中。這些產品，包括 verbLIVE 2.0 和 Pulse，不僅會加強我們在直銷領域的領導地位，還會使我們遠遠領先於少數潛在的 VERB 競爭對手。

I'm also happy to announce that we are beginning to get traction among our existing direct sales clients who seek to adopt MARKET.live as a corporate advanced communication tool for recruitment and lead generation, as well as for an extension of their marketing and distribution strategies. Consistent with the guidance we've previously provided, we began to see the increased recurring SaaS revenue from these new products in the third quarter.

我也很高興地宣布，我們開始吸引我們現有的直銷客戶，他們尋求採用 MARKET.live 作為企業高級溝通工具，用於招聘和潛在客戶生成，以及擴展他們的營銷和分銷策略。與我們之前提供的指導一致，我們開始看到第三季度這些新產品的經常性 SaaS 收入有所增加。

However, it was offset by some of the contraction we've experienced in the second quarter. Like most business sectors experienced this year, our data show that the direct sales industry had a downturn in the number of active sales reps between the first quarter and the third. And since we bill our direct sales enterprise clients based on the number of active reps they have in any given billing period, when they experienced a downturn, it's reflected in our revenue.

然而，它被我們在第二季度經歷的一些收縮所抵消。與今年經歷的大多數業務部門一樣，我們的數據顯示，直銷行業在第一季度和第三季度之間的活躍銷售代表數量有所下降。由於我們根據直銷企業客戶在任何給定計費期內的活躍代表數量向他們收費，因此當他們經歷低迷時，這會反映在我們的收入中。

Accordingly, despite adding more new clients in Q3 than we did in Q2, our SaaS revenue came in virtually flat. In order to address this problem, we began moving all of our effective clients to a flat-rate pricing model based on their average monthly billings over the course of the year. This has proven to be a win-win for our clients and for us. They now have predictable monthly SaaS expense, and we've now removed the volatility from our SaaS revenue and established a stable recurring revenue stream based upon which we can build as we add new clients every single month.

因此，儘管我們在第三季度增加了比第二季度更多的新客戶，但我們的 SaaS 收入幾乎持平。為了解決這個問題，我們開始將所有有效客戶轉移到基於一年中平均每月賬單的固定費率定價模型。事實證明，這對我們的客戶和我們來說都是雙贏的。他們現在有可預測的每月 SaaS 費用，我們現在已經消除了 SaaS 收入的波動性，並建立了穩定的經常性收入流，我們可以在每個月增加新客戶時以此為基礎建立穩定的經常性收入流。

I expect we'll see the results of the new pricing model in the fourth quarter of this year and continuing throughout 2023. Fortunately, we now expect to see the trend reversing with more reps joining direct sales companies, no doubt driven in part by current economic conditions.

我預計我們將在今年第四季度看到新定價模式的結果，並持續到 2023 年。幸運的是，隨著更多銷售代表加入直銷公司，我們現在預計趨勢會發生逆轉，這無疑在一定程度上受到了當前的推動經濟情況。

Before I turn it over to our CFO, Salman Khan, for a more detailed review of our third quarter financial results, let me briefly touch on our new professional sports unit vertical. In Q4 2021, we launched our professional sports unit built on a VERB team's sales enablement platform. We started with the announcement of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Q4 2021. And since then, we've added many new professional sports teams to the platform and built an impressive sales pipeline of professional sports teams both in the US and other countries.

在我將其轉交給我們的首席財務官 Salman Khan 以更詳細地審查我們第三季度的財務業績之前，讓我簡要介紹一下我們新的垂直專業體育部門。 2021 年第四季度，我們推出了建立在 VERB 團隊銷售支持平台上的專業體育部門。我們從 2021 年第四季度宣布匹茲堡企鵝隊開始。從那時起，我們在平台上添加了許多新的職業運動隊，並在美國和其他國家/地區建立了令人印象深刻的職業運動隊銷售渠道。

In addition to the Pittsburgh Penguins, we announced the Florida Panthers, the Phoenix Suns, and the Detroit Pistons. And last week, we announced the addition of the Pittsburgh Pirates, our first Major League Baseball team. Now this win was particularly valuable because following the extremely successful Pirates's test launch of the platform earlier this year, they were able to obtain approval from Major League Baseball Advanced Media for league-wide use of the platform, opening the door for our sales team to sign many more Major League Baseball teams. It remains my continuing expectation that some of these teams will adopt MARKET.live as part of their fan engagement strategies.

除了匹茲堡企鵝隊，我們還宣布了佛羅里達黑豹隊、菲尼克斯太陽隊和底特律活塞隊。上週，我們宣布加入匹茲堡海盜隊，這是我們的第一支美國職棒大聯盟球隊。現在這次勝利特別有價值，因為繼今年早些時候 Pirates 對該平台的極其成功的測試啟動之後，他們能夠獲得美國職業棒球大聯盟 Advanced Media 的批准，在聯盟範圍內使用該平台，為我們的銷售團隊打開了大門簽下更多的美國職棒大聯盟球隊。我仍然期望其中一些團隊將採用 MARKET.live 作為其粉絲參與策略的一部分。

I'll now turn it over to our CFO, Salman Khan, for more detail around our reported financial performance. Salman?

我現在將其轉交給我們的首席財務官 Salman Khan，以了解有關我們報告的財務業績的更多詳細信息。薩爾曼？

Thank you, Rory, and good afternoon, everyone.

謝謝你，羅里，大家下午好。

I'd like to review our financial performance as reported in our Form 10-Q filed today, November 14, for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022. I may reiterate or provide more color around some of the data points where we shared with you. The following compares the company's results of operations for the third quarter of 2022, with the third quarter of 2021.

我想回顧一下我們在今天（11 月 14 日）提交的 10-Q 表格中報告的截至 2022 年 9 月 30 日的第三季度的財務業績。我可能會重申或提供我們分享的一些數據點的更多顏色你。以下將公司 2022 年第三季度與 2021 年第三季度的經營業績進行比較。

SaaS recurring subscription revenue, a component of total digital revenue, was approximately $1.9 million. A modest increase, which as Rory said, virtually flat [over] the same period last year. Non-SaaS digital revenue was $0.2 million versus $0.5 million for the same period last year, which was a record quarter for the non-SaaS digital revenue. Total digital revenue was $2 million versus $2.4 million for the same period last year, primarily due to the record non-SaaS digital revenue we experienced in that quarter as I just discussed.

SaaS 經常性訂閱收入是數字總收入的一部分，約為 190 萬美元。適度增長，正如羅里所說，與去年同期幾乎持平。非 SaaS 數字收入為 20 萬美元，而去年同期為 50 萬美元，這是非 SaaS 數字收入創紀錄的季度。數字總收入為 200 萬美元，而去年同期為 240 萬美元，這主要是由於我剛才討論的那個季度我們經歷了創紀錄的非 SaaS 數字收入。

SaaS recurring subscription revenue as a percentage of total revenue was 85% compared with 64% for the same period last year, and up from 82% for our last quarter. Total digital revenue as a percentage of total revenue was 92% compared with 81% for the same period last year, up from 90% in the second quarter of 2022.

SaaS 經常性訂閱收入佔總收入的百分比為 85%，而去年同期為 64%，高於上一季度的 82%。數字總收入佔總收入的百分比為 92%，而去年同期為 81%，高於 2022 年第二季度的 90%。

Total revenue was $2.2 million versus $2.9 million for the same period last year, primarily due to decrease in the low margin non-digital revenue business we continue to exit. Cost of revenue across all products was $0.7 million, an improvement of 32% over the same period last year and an improvement of 12% over Q2 2022, reflecting planned cost reductions and a continuing shift towards the company's digital business and away from the lower margin non-digital business. Given the cost reductions Rory referenced earlier in his comments, we expect to report further improvements in our SaaS cost of revenue for Q4 and beyond.

總收入為 220 萬美元，而去年同期為 290 萬美元，這主要是由於我們繼續退出的低利潤非數字收入業務減少。所有產品的收入成本為 70 萬美元，比去年同期增長 32%，比 2022 年第二季度增長 12%，反映出計劃中的成本削減以及公司繼續轉向數字業務並擺脫較低的利潤率非數字業務。鑑於 Rory 在他的評論前面提到的成本降低，我們預計將報告我們第四季度及以後的 SaaS 收入成本的進一步改善。

Gross margin across all products was 66%, an improvement over the 63% for the same period last year and over the 65% first Q2 2022. Research and development expenses were $1.4 million as compared to $3.5 million for the same period last year, reflecting an improvement of 61% due to planned cost reductions and continued improvement of 30% over last quarter for our SaaS business, offset by new expenditures attributable solely to MARKET.

所有產品的毛利率為 66%，高於去年同期的 63% 和 2022 年第一季度的 65%。研發費用為 140 萬美元，去年同期為 350 萬美元，反映由於計劃中的成本削減和 30% 的持續改進，我們的 SaaS 業務增長了 61%，這被完全歸因於 MARKET 的新支出所抵消。

General and administrative expenses were $7 million as compared to $6.1 million for the same period last year, reflecting a modest 6% increase over Q2 of 2022, attributable for the most to one-time expenses incurred in connection with Shopfest and the launch of MARKET.live. Modified EBITDA improved by $1.7 million or 25% when compared with the same period last year. Modified EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure, and I refer you to our press release distributed today for more information and greater specificity around our modified EBITDA analysis.

一般和行政費用為 700 萬美元，去年同期為 610 萬美元，較 2022 年第二季度溫和增長 6%，其中大部分是與 Shopfest 和 MARKET 推出相關的一次性費用。居住。與去年同期相比，修正後的 EBITDA 增加了 170 萬美元或 25%。修改後的 EBITDA 是一項非 GAAP 衡量標準，我建議您參閱我們今天發布的新聞稿，以了解更多信息和關於我們修改後的 EBITDA 分析的更具體信息。

Now, let me share the financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, in comparison with the same period in 2021. SaaS recurring subscription revenue was $5.8 million, an increase of 19% over the same period last year. Total digital revenue was $6.3 million, an increase of 6% from the same period last year. Total revenue was $7.3 million, a decrease of 7% over the same period last year, attributable in large part to our decision to exit the low-margin non-digital business discussed previously.

現在，讓我分享截至 2022 年 9 月 30 日止九個月的財務業績，與 2021 年同期相比。SaaS 經常性訂閱收入為 580 萬美元，比去年同期增長 19%。數字總收入為 630 萬美元，比去年同期增長 6%。總收入為 730 萬美元，比去年同期下降 7%，這在很大程度上歸因於我們決定退出之前討論的低利潤非數字業務。

Cost of revenue was $2.5 million, an improvement of 26% over the same period last year, reflecting the impact of planned cost reductions and a shift towards the company's digital business and away from the lower margin non-digital business. Research and development expenses were $4.3 million as compared to $9.6 million for the same period last year, reflecting an improvement of 55% attributable to the planned cost reductions previously discussed.

收入成本為 250 萬美元，比去年同期增長 26%，反映了計劃中的成本削減的影響以及公司向數字業務的轉變以及從利潤率較低的非數字業務轉移的影響。研發費用為 430 萬美元，而去年同期為 960 萬美元，反映出由於先前討論的計劃成本削減而增加了 55%。

General and administrative expenses were $20.6 million, which actually represents an improvement of $1.1 million, offset for the most part by the one-time costs incurred in connection with Shopfest and the launch of MARKET as discussed previously. Modified EBITDA improved by $4.9 million or 24% when compared to the same period last year. Once again, modified EBITDA is a non-GAAP measurement, and I refer you to our press release distributed today for more information and greater specificity around our modified EBITDA analysis.

一般和行政費用為 2060 萬美元，實際上增加了 110 萬美元，大部分被與 Shopfest 和 MARKET 的推出相關的一次性成本所抵消，如前所述。與去年同期相比，修正後的 EBITDA 增加了 490 萬美元或 24%。再一次，修改後的 EBITDA 是一種非 GAAP 衡量標準，我建議您參閱我們今天發布的新聞稿，以了解有關我們修改後的 EBITDA 分析的更多信息和更具體的信息。

Cash totaled $0.9 million as of September 30, 2022, essentially the same as December 31, 2021. However, the company added approximately $9 million of gross proceeds in cash through a registered direct offering with institutional investors, which resulted in gross proceeds of $4 million on October 25, 2022. And through an unsecured non-convertible 9% fixed interest rate promissory note, which resulted in gross proceeds of $5 million on November 7, 2022.

截至 2022 年 9 月 30 日，現金總額為 90 萬美元，與 2021 年 12 月 31 日基本相同。但是，公司通過與機構投資者的註冊直接發售增加了約 900 萬美元的現金總收益，總收益為 400 萬美元2022 年 10 月 25 日。並通過無擔保、不可轉換的 9% 固定利率本票，導致 2022 年 11 月 7 日的總收益為 500 萬美元。

I refer you to our Form 10-Q filed today for complete details around these financings. I'd now like to turn the call back over to the operator for Q&A.

我建議您參閱我們今天提交的 10-Q 表格，了解有關這些融資的完整詳細信息。我現在想把電話轉回給接線員進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Brian Kinstlinger, Alliance Global.

（操作員說明）Brian Kinstlinger，Alliance Global。

Hi, guys. Good evening and thanks for all the details. With the cost cutting you've discussed, is there any impact in your ability to lend MARKET festivals and what's the schedule for such event? And lastly, with the lower marketing budget you described, how does it impact MARKET if it's not running MARKET festivals?

嗨，大家好。晚上好，謝謝你提供的所有細節。通過您討論的成本削減，您借出 MARKET 節日的能力是否有任何影響，此類活動的時間表是什麼？最後，由於您描述的營銷預算較低，如果不舉辦 MARKET 節日，它會對 MARKET 產生怎樣的影響？

It will not impact at all running the MARKET festivals. And as I -- I think I alluded to in my comments a few moments ago, we already have 250 live stream events that have been confirmed and scheduled for the balance of this year through the holiday season. And we don't anticipate any impact on our ability to do that and continue to do that.

它不會影響市場節日的運行。正如我 - 我想我剛才在評論中提到的那樣，我們已經確認並安排了 250 場直播活動，這些活動將在今年餘下的時間裡一直持續到假期。我們預計不會對我們這樣做和繼續這樣做的能力產生任何影響。

So you don't see impact -- which is okay, I'm just curious. There's no impact to the cost cuts impact of in any way, shape or form for that MARKET business is how you see it. Is that right?

所以你看不到影響——沒關係，我只是好奇。對市場業務的任何方式、形狀或形式的成本削減影響都沒有影響，這就是您的看法。是對的嗎？

I don't anticipate a major impact. And I will say this, we did cut back our marketing budget, and some of that budget had previously been allocated to bringing in vendors on to MARKET.live. We've launched now the creator program where we believe we'll probably get the most new vendors and hopefully they'll be bringing in a lot of the shoppers and buyers from their respective followings. The cut in our marketing budget won't have any impact on that at all.

我預計不會產生重大影響。我要說的是，我們確實削減了營銷預算，其中一些預算之前已分配給將供應商引入 MARKET.live。我們現在已經啟動了創作者計劃，我們相信我們可能會獲得最新的供應商，並希望他們會從各自的追隨者中吸引大量購物者和買家。我們營銷預算的削減不會對此產生任何影響。

But I will say -- in the spirit of complete transparency, as I mentioned previously, this is a numbers game. And if we had greater money to expand on marketing to bring in more vendors and to bring in more shoppers, we would anticipate greater performance. So no question about that. But I think at the current levels, I think we could be just fine.

但我會說——本著完全透明的精神，正如我之前提到的，這是一場數字遊戲。如果我們有更多的資金來擴大營銷以吸引更多的供應商並吸引更多的購物者，我們就會期待更好的表現。所以毫無疑問。但我認為在目前的水平上，我認為我們可能會很好。

Okay. Now, I realized you've said -- you've only been about 100 days, so it's super early. First, I thought the brands we're going to do a lot of the marketing themselves and not you, but I'm wondering -- and I realized you're building the ecosystem and demonstrating your KPI so more vendors come. When should investors expect this is going to start to scale in terms of revenue? I realize today, it's pretty small, $0.5 million a quarter. And what are the leading indicators that we would see that we expect that be around the corner?

好的。現在，我意識到你說過——你才大約 100 天，所以現在還為時尚早。首先，我認為我們將自己而不是你做很多營銷的品牌，但我想知道 - 我意識到你正在構建生態系統並展示你的 KPI，以便更多供應商來。投資者應該預計這將在何時開始擴大收入？我今天意識到，它非常小，每季度 50 萬美元。我們預計即將到來的領先指標是什麼？

I think as we get into the second quarter of next year, which is actually not that far off, one of the indicators that we'll be sharing is the GMV -- the gross merchandise value sold on the platform; of which a percentage goes directly to our revenue. And actually our bottom line there, since our costs are relatively low. That's what I think we'll begin to see some of the kinds of information that -- in addition to obviously what I've already shared, that investors would be interested in.

我認為，當我們進入明年第二季度時，實際上已經不遠了，我們將分享的指標之一是 GMV——平台上銷售的商品總價值；其中一部分直接用於我們的收入。實際上我們的底線在那裡，因為我們的成本相對較低。這就是我認為我們將開始看到的一些信息——除了我已經分享的顯然是投資者會感興趣的信息。

Okay. And then switching gears to the SaaS business. First, can you discuss client churn? Not necessarily the type where a customer loses sales reps, but instead, the business relationship maybe decides not to use your technology. And then if you can maybe give an enterprise customer count if it's relevant in your SaaS business maybe versus a year ago?

好的。然後轉向 SaaS 業務。首先，你能談談客戶流失嗎？不一定是客戶失去銷售代表的類型，而是業務關係可能決定不使用您的技術。然後，如果與一年前相比與您的 SaaS 業務相關，您是否可以提供企業客戶數量？

So with respect to churn, there's two ways, I think you might look at that. The first is the churn within our customers' own business among their sales reps. And in the direct sales industry, that churn is pretty meaningful. It's probably somewhat greater than most sales-based organizations. And that does impact us as I mentioned just a little bit ago. And that's with regard to those specific contracts that we have, where we are being paid not just the base rate from the enterprise itself, but also a percentage of the number of reps on the platform. So as they lose reps and don't replenish them, that does have an impact on us. And we've seen that happen.

所以關於流失，有兩種方法，我想你可能會看看。首先是客戶自身業務中銷售代表的流失。在直銷行業，這種流失非常有意義。它可能比大多數基於銷售的組織都要大一些。正如我剛才提到的那樣，這確實影響了我們。這是關於我們擁有的那些特定合同，我們不僅從企業本身獲得基本費率，而且還獲得平台上代表數量的一定百分比。因此，當他們失去代表並且不補充他們時，這確實對我們產生了影響。我們已經看到這種情況發生了。

As I mentioned a little bit ago, what we've done to address it is recently implemented flat-rate pricing. And that's based upon the average monthly spend that we get -- that our customers make with us, so that it was easy for them to adopt. And that seems to have gone over really well because, as I said, they're able to have a more reliable sense of what their SaaS business is going to cost them. And for us, as I said, it takes the volatility out of it.

正如我剛才提到的，我們為解決這個問題所做的是最近實施的統一定價。這是基於我們獲得的平均每月支出——我們的客戶與我們一起進行的，因此他們很容易採用。這似乎進展順利，因為正如我所說，他們能夠更可靠地了解他們的 SaaS 業務將使他們付出什麼代價。正如我所說，對我們來說，它消除了波動性。

So as they may be down for a few months with fewer reps, it doesn't impact us because we're going to stay at that flat rate number. So as we add new customers each month, we'll be adding on top of a pretty good firm base. And I think that removing that volatility is going to make a really big difference for us.

因此，由於他們可能會因為更少的代表而下降幾個月，這不會影響我們，因為我們將保持在那個統一的費率數字上。因此，當我們每個月增加新客戶時，我們將在一個非常穩固的基礎上增加。而且我認為消除這種波動性會對我們產生很大的影響。

Now talking about the other element of churn, which is how many customers do we lose in any particular period of time. I will tell you that our churn rate historically is less than 8%. So our retention rates are like 92% and above, which is, I think, pretty good. And I hope that answers your question.

現在談論流失的另一個因素，即我們在任何特定時間段內失去了多少客戶。我會告訴你，我們的客戶流失率歷史上低於 8%。因此，我們的保留率大約為 92% 及以上，我認為這相當不錯。我希望這能回答你的問題。

Yeah, it does. The last question I have is -- again back to the cost tightening, which I think is should be well received. How do we think though, that impacts customer acquisition on the SaaS business?

是的，確實如此。我的最後一個問題是 - 再次回到成本緊縮，我認為應該受到歡迎。但是，我們如何看待這會影響 SaaS 業務的客戶獲取？

Our pipeline is pretty strong. It's not going to impact anything that we're seeing at least out over the next several months. And look, we'd like to be able the spend a ton more on marketing because we see a direct correlation to the amount that we spend in ads on lead generation. But we have to live in the real world. The reality is the markets are bad, the economy is bad. Access to capital is incredibly restrictive and restrained. We have to cut back on everything and give ourselves the runway so that we're not back in the capital markets again.

我們的管道非常強大。它不會影響我們至少在未來幾個月內看到的任何東西。看，我們希望能夠在營銷上花費更多，因為我們看到與我們在潛在客戶生成廣告上花費的金額直接相關。但我們必須生活在現實世界中。現實是市場不好，經濟不好。獲得資本的途徑極其受限。我們必須削減一切，給自己跑道，這樣我們就不會再次回到資本市場。

So to say that it's going to have zero impact would be disingenuous. But I believe that it's not something material that anyone's going to notice here in the near term.

所以說它將產生零影響是不誠實的。但我相信這不是任何人在短期內都會注意到的重要內容。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Ed Woo, Ascendiant Capital.

Ed Woo，Ascendiant Capital。

As you add more and more sports team -- congratulations on that, are the economics to you guys getting better with each new team?

隨著你增加越來越多的運動隊——對此表示祝賀，你們每支新球隊的經濟效益是否都在提高？

I think we've now hit that breakpoint, and we're initially -- what we were doing is a trading services for these teams to allow them to adopt and use the platform and confirm for themselves that it indeed creates enormous value for them. So now we're past that. I think we've got five or six of these teams on now and with the most recent one, where we now have entree into Major League Baseball and our application is now approved for use by all of those teams.

我認為我們現在已經達到了那個斷點，我們最初 - 我們正在做的是為這些團隊提供交易服務，讓他們能夠採用和使用該平台，並自己確認它確實為他們創造了巨大的價值。所以現在我們已經過去了。我想我們現在有五六支這樣的球隊，最近的一支，我們現在已經進入美國職業棒球大聯盟，我們的申請現在已被批准供所有這些球隊使用。

Now I think we turn up the economics on that. So I'm really, really excited about that because for those of you who really don't know how this process works with Major League Baseball, they really have a very tight control on the kinds of things in terms of advertising and marketing that their sports teams are committed to do. So cracking that and now being approved, I've got great expectations for it.

現在我認為我們可以提高經濟效益。所以我對此真的非常非常興奮，因為對於那些真的不知道這個過程如何與美國職業棒球大聯盟合作的人來說，他們確實對他們的廣告和營銷方面的事情進行了非常嚴格的控制運動隊致力於做。如此破解，現在被批准，我對此寄予厚望。

Great. And what about international opportunities for international sports team. Have you guys -- are you guys going to be pursuing that at scale?

偉大的。國際運動隊的國際機會又如何呢？你們有沒有——你們打算大規模地追求它嗎？

We have been in discussions with the sports teams throughout Europe and it's slow. The sales cycle on that is slow. We've actually had some of our sales reps spend a bit of time in Europe meeting with teams directly. So looks promising. Trying to negotiate the best terms. And when we've got something to announce around that, you can count on us sharing that news.

我們一直在與整個歐洲的運動隊進行討論，但進展緩慢。銷售週期很慢。實際上，我們的一些銷售代表在歐洲花了一些時間直接與團隊會面。所以看起來很有希望。試圖談判最好的條款。當我們有什麼要宣布的時候，你可以指望我們分享這個消息。

Great. Thanks for answering my question and I wish you guys good luck.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題，祝你們好運。

Thank you very much, Ed.

非常感謝，埃德。

(Operator Instructions) Martin Saltzman, AFM investments.

（操作員說明）Martin Saltzman，AFM 投資。

Hey, guys, and congratulations on all the great developments you guys are doing. Sympathetic, Rory, to the comments you made about the economy because as we were on your call, Amazon just announced that they're laying off 10,000 people. So that does scary a bit, especially going into the holidays.

嘿，伙計們，祝賀你們所做的所有偉大的發展。羅里，對你對經濟發表的評論表示同情，因為在我們接聽你的電話時，亞馬遜剛剛宣布他們將裁員 10,000 人。所以這確實有點嚇人，尤其是在假期裡。

Here's a couple of thoughts I had and questions -- and I have a lot of people that follow me, and I've had a lot of e-mails and people call me and ask me questions. One question was, how better can you get MARKET out there as a household word? And how can you get it out there faster? One of my clients brought this up because all I see VERB on Facebook. He says they have a minimal amount of likes. He says, but if people were to comment, the algorithms would change, and more and more people would probably take note of it. How do we get that going and are you in agreement with that?

這是我的一些想法和問題——我有很多人關注我，我收到了很多電子郵件，人們打電話給我並問我問題。一個問題是，如何更好地讓 MARKET 成為家喻戶曉的詞？你怎樣才能更快地把它拿出來？我的一位客戶提出這個問題是因為我在 Facebook 上看到的都是 VERB。他說他們的點贊數很少。他說，但如果人們發表評論，算法就會改變，越來越多的人可能會注意到這一點。我們如何做到這一點，你同意嗎？

Well, I think it's hard to disagree with anything that you say, Martin. Quite honestly. But with respect to how the algorithms work, I don't purport to be an expert on that. But I believe what you stated is correct. And we do that every day. We have a team, and they analyze that, and they analyze the how algorithms are constantly changing and how to get around that to create the greatest level of exposure.

嗯，我認為很難不同意你所說的任何事情，馬丁。老實說。但關於算法的工作原理，我並不聲稱自己是這方面的專家。但我相信你說的是正確的。我們每天都這樣做。我們有一個團隊，他們對此進行分析，他們分析算法如何不斷變化以及如何繞過它以創造最大程度的曝光率。

But I think to answer the first part of your question, some of it directly, I think that it's inevitable that MARKET.live becomes a household name. As I look forward, I really don't see any reason that that wouldn't happen. Live streaming and live stream shopping in particular, just over the past six months, has become really top of mind in so many different places, in so many different news outlets at a far greater rate than I honestly would have expected at this point in time.

但我想直接回答你問題的第一部分，其中一些直接回答，我認為 MARKET.live 成為家喻戶曉的名字是不可避免的。展望未來，我真的看不出有任何理由不會發生這種情況。直播和直播購物，尤其是在過去的六個月裡，已經成為許多不同地方、許多不同新聞媒體的頭等大事，其速度遠遠超過我在這個時間點的真實預期.

I mean it was only a few weeks ago where Good Morning America, of all places, featured a whole segments telling their viewers that they should seek out live stream shopping platforms for the holiday shopping. So it's happening. And as people begin to look livestream shopping platforms, there's really not that many of them out there. Yeah, there's a zillion online e-commerce platforms and sites, but there really aren't that many live stream shopping platforms. And certainly, at least in my opinion, none that come close to the kind of value proposition that MARKET represents not only for shoppers but also for for sellers.

我的意思是，就在幾週前，早安美國在所有地方都有一個完整的片段告訴他們的觀眾他們應該尋找直播購物平台來進行假日購物。所以它正在發生。隨著人們開始關注直播購物平台，實際上並沒有那麼多。是的，有無數的在線電子商務平台和網站，但實際上沒有那麼多直播購物平台。當然，至少在我看來，沒有一個能接近 MARKET 不僅為購物者而且為賣家所代表的那種價值主張。

So again, I think it's inevitable that we get there. And I'm going to do everything I can to accelerate that.

所以，我認為我們不可避免地會到達那裡。我將盡我所能來加快這一進程。

I appreciate that. And I like your enthusiasm there. Now I've been getting calls that said [nauseam], and I don't know why people want to concentrate on it so much. But I am getting people asking me on the SaaS side of your business. Back when maybe the first quarter, you might have talked about Google and how they might integrate just like how Microsoft Outlook did. Can you comment at all on that?

我很感激。我喜歡你在那裡的熱情。現在我一直接到說 [噁心] 的電話，我不知道為什麼人們這麼想專注於它。但是有人問我關於您業務的 SaaS 方面的問題。回到第一季度的時候，您可能已經談論過 Google 以及它們如何像 Microsoft Outlook 那樣進行整合。你能對此發表評論嗎？

Yes. When we developed the integration with Microsoft Outlook, we're pretty optimistic about it. And based upon that level of optimism and a lot of development work that we've already done, which is still usable for Gmail. We have put plans in motion -- in fact, had already begun a fair amount of development work for the integration with the Gmail.

是的。當我們開發與 Microsoft Outlook 的集成時，我們對此非常樂觀。基於這種樂觀程度和我們已經完成的大量開發工作，這些工作仍然可用於 Gmail。我們已經啟動了計劃——事實上，已經開始了與 Gmail 集成的大量開發工作。

But as we move forward, we realized that the adoption rates that we thought we would get were not really as great in terms of materializing as we thought they could be. And we realized, in order to make that happen, we're going to need to spend quite a bit more money in marketing and promotion. Now, it was a great application and I think it had great implications. But this is around the time that we were getting ready to really pull the trigger and accelerate our development on MARKET and get it out into commercial use.

但是隨著我們的前進，我們意識到我們認為我們會獲得的採用率在具體化方面並沒有我們想像的那麼好。我們意識到，為了實現這一目標，我們需要在營銷和促銷方面投入更多資金。現在，這是一個很棒的應用程序，我認為它具有很大的意義。但這是我們準備真正扣動扳機並加速我們在 MARKET 上的開發並將其投入商業使用的時候。

And to be perfectly honest, we have limited resources. We want to not get into the capital markets and just keep taking money, we want to be very judicious about what we're going to spend money on and I needed to make a choice. Should I spend more money in promoting and marketing the Outlook, and then presumably Gmail after that? Or should I cut back on that and focus on what I believed -- and certainly what our Board and the rest of our team here believed that MARKET would be a far greater value proposition, far greater value creation opportunity than both Outlook and Google?

老實說，我們的資源有限。我們不想進入資本市場，只是繼續拿錢，我們想非常明智地決定我們要把錢花在什麼上面，我需要做出選擇。我是否應該花更多的錢來推廣和營銷 Outlook，然後大概是 Gmail？或者我應該減少這一點並專注於我的信念——當然還有我們的董事會和我們團隊的其他成員認為 MARKET 將是一個比 Outlook 和谷歌更大的價值主張，更大的價值創造機會？

So we have to cut back on that and focus accordingly. I hope that answered your question.

所以我們必須減少這一點並相應地關注。我希望這回答了你的問題。

Yeah. No, it does. And I respect that, look, Google's sexy name. When you start saying you're embedded with Google, it does mean a lot. But obviously you're spending the money the way you feel it needs to be spent.

是的。不，確實如此。我尊重谷歌這個性感的名字。當您開始說您已融入 Google 時，這確實意味著很多。但很明顯，你是按照你認為需要花錢的方式來花錢的。

I have to ask two more things. One here has to do with influencers and creators. I guess what I'm trying to figure out is creators are the people who make these products, and they have their followings. Are there any influencers that are courting or that are trying and looking to court you? I mean, how have they heard about MARKET?

我還要問兩件事。其中之一與有影響力的人和創作者有關。我想我想弄清楚的是，創作者是製造這些產品的人，他們有自己的追隨者。是否有任何有影響力的人正在向您示好或正在試圖向您示好？我的意思是，他們是如何聽說 MARKET 的？

Of course, absolutely. And you'll see those beginning this month. And then as they're getting ready to launch and do their shows, we'll be promoting that. Of course, we are relying pretty extensively on the influencers and creators themselves promoting it. After all, we're choosing them among all those that come in and want to be on us. We're choosing them based upon the size of their following -- and their commitment, by the way, which is part of the agreement that they entered into with us. Their commitment that they're going to promote it a certain number of times a week to their following, and that's really kind of a big deal.

當然，絕對。你將從本月開始看到這些。然後，當他們準備好推出和製作他們的節目時，我們將對此進行宣傳。當然，我們非常依賴有影響力的人和創作者自己來推廣它。畢竟，我們是在所有進來並希望加入我們的人中選擇他們。我們根據他們的追隨者人數選擇他們——順便說一句，他們的承諾是他們與我們達成的協議的一部分。他們承諾他們將每周向他們的追隨者推廣一定次數，這確實是一件大事。

And I think that's something that I think Brian Kinstlinger from AGP sort of alluded to in some of his questions before. Yeah, we are counting very, very heavily on the creators and the influencers, and certainly the retailers to promote this. And thereby reduce the need for our own marketing budget to promote the growth of MARKET.

我認為這是 AGP 的 Brian Kinstlinger 之前在他的一些問題中提到的。是的，我們非常非常依賴創作者和影響者，當然還有零售商來推廣這一點。從而減少對我們自己的營銷預算的需求，以促進市場的增長。

That's a really good point. I'm glad you give me an opportunity to stress that.

這是一個非常好的觀點。我很高興你給我機會強調這一點。

No, thank you. And this is one sort of is a newer thing that you have here on your bullet points on your release about this advisory group, Alantra. And I just started thinking myself, assist you in evaluating strategic opportunities.

不，謝謝。這是一種較新的東西，在你發布的關於這個諮詢小組 Alantra 的要點上。而我自己也剛剛開始思考，協助你評估戰略機會。

So I just had a thought -- and you could tell me if I'm off base or you can't answer it, what have you. Are you, at all, thinking about partnerships throughout the world, for instance? Okay. Let's say you partner with somebody to market MARKET in Europe, or Africa, or the Middle East. Another words, just develop strategic partnerships because maybe it's too hard to do it all yourself -- conquer the world yourself. Maybe there's a way to do it, partnerships.

所以我只是有一個想法——你可以告訴我我是否偏離了基地或者你不能回答，你有什麼。例如，您是否正在考慮在全球範圍內建立合作夥伴關係？好的。假設您與某人合作在歐洲、非洲或中東進行市場營銷。換句話說，只是發展戰略合作夥伴關係，因為也許自己做這一切太難了——自己征服世界。也許有辦法做到這一點，夥伴關係。

I'm not sure that I could answer that without running afoul of the rules here. And in any event, it would be premature. So I'm sorry, I can't really provide more information than that. But I will tell you that we have historically received all kinds of inbound inquiries for partnerships and other kinds of strategic relationships. And some of them, right out of the gate, don't make any sense. And they're easy to just dismiss. And others require further thought analysis, consultation with the Board, and sometimes, outside experts.

我不確定我能否在不違反此處規則的情況下回答這個問題。無論如何，現在還為時過早。所以很抱歉，我真的無法提供比這更多的信息。但我會告訴你，我們過去曾收到過各種關於合作夥伴關係和其他類型戰略關係的入境諮詢。其中一些剛出門就沒有任何意義。他們很容易被解僱。而其他人則需要進一步的思想分析、諮詢董事會，有時還需要諮詢外部專家。

And more recently, there has been reason to take some of these things much more seriously. And so doing, bring in people that are experts far beyond my own expertise and that of our Board members or even as an enhancement to our respective expertise in these areas. And so we held what is called a beauty contest, where you have a number of different bankers come to you and present their services, and we did that. And presentations were made to the Board, and the Board selected Alantra. And we've engaged to them and they are at work.

最近，有理由更加認真地對待其中的一些事情。這樣一來，就可以引進遠遠超出我和我們董事會成員專業知識的專家，甚至可以增強我們在這些領域的各自專業知識。所以我們舉行了所謂的選美比賽，許多不同的銀行家來找你展示他們的服務，我們做到了。並向董事會做了介紹，董事會選擇了 Alantra。我們已經與他們訂婚，他們正在工作。

I can't unfortunately share anything more than that right now. But you know that as soon as I can, I absolutely will.

不幸的是，我現在不能分享更多。但你知道，只要我能，我絕對會的。

I understand. And yeah, I certainly don't want to compromise you or anybody else. I don't think I have any other questions for today. I noticed on your MARKET site, your platform, you have the seller list back up there, which is, I think, very important for people to see who is a vendor. I appreciate that. So thank you for doing that, and I wish you all the best in the holiday shopping season.

我明白。是的，我當然不想讓你或其他任何人妥協。我認為我今天沒有任何其他問題。我注意到在你的 MARKET 網站上，你的平台上，你有賣家列表，我認為這對於人們了解誰是供應商非常重要。我很感激。因此，感謝您這樣做，祝您在假日購物季一切順利。

Thank you, Martin. I do want to just respond to that last point you made about the sales thing because we took that off because we had made some updates to the site and then you're able to go to a different area, the navigation bar and see all of that information. So it wasn't that you could see it, it just -- I think we put it where it belongs on other kinds of e-commerce sites. Typical. However, we did get a fair amount of feedback about that.

謝謝你，馬丁。我只想回應你關於銷售的最後一點，因為我們取消了它，因為我們對網站進行了一些更新，然後你可以轉到不同的區域，導航欄並查看所有內容該信息。所以不是你可以看到它，它只是 - 我認為我們把它放在它屬於其他類型的電子商務網站的地方。典型的。但是，我們確實收到了相當多的反饋。

And I want to credit our team here that what you people say and the kinds of comments and criticisms that come in matters to us. We pay attention to it. And we went and put it back because it seem to make people more comfortable and happy and we do that. And that's really what we're about here.

我要感謝我們的團隊，你們所說的以及各種評論和批評對我們很重要。我們關注它。我們去把它放回去，因為它似乎讓人們更舒適和快樂，我們就這樣做了。這就是我們在這裡的真正目的。

But thank you again for the good wishes and same to you and yours. And I think that -- do we have anymore?

但再次感謝您對您和您家人的良好祝愿。我認為——我們還有嗎？

No, sir. There are no other questions.

不，先生。沒有其他問題。

Okay. I wish everyone well through the holiday season. Obviously, we're all experiencing some difficulties through this crazy, crazy world. But I feel pretty optimistic that we're all going to come through it just fine. And all of our expectations certainly in our hard work, and your patience will be rewarded. I really appreciate to everyone hanging in there with us. Thank you.

好的。祝大家假期愉快。顯然，在這個瘋狂、瘋狂的世界中，我們都遇到了一些困難。但我感到非常樂觀，我們都會順利度過難關。我們所有的期望都來自於我們的辛勤工作，您的耐心將會得到回報。我真的很感謝和我們在一起的每個人。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for this afternoon. We would like to thank you all for participating and ask you to please disconnect your lines.

女士們，先生們，今天下午的電話會議到此結束。我們要感謝大家的參與，並請您斷開線路。