Twilio Inc (TWLO) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Twilio Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Bryan Vaniman, SVP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

下午好，歡迎參加 Twilio 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）我現在想將電話轉給投資人關係資深副總裁 Bryan Vaniman。請繼續，先生。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Twilio's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Our prepared remarks, earnings press release, investor presentation, SEC filings and a replay of today's call can be found on our IR website at investors.twilio.com. Joining me today are Jeff Lawson, Co-Founder and CEO; Khozema Shipchandler, President, Twilio Communications; and Aidan Viggiano, Chief Financial Officer.

大家下午好，感謝您參加 Twilio 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。我們準備好的評論、收益新聞稿、投資者介紹、SEC 文件以及今天電話會議的重播可以在我們的投資者關係網站 Investors.twilio.com 上找到。今天加入我的是聯合創始人兼首席執行官傑夫·勞森 (Jeff Lawson)； Khozema Shipchandler，Twilio Communications 總裁；以及財務長艾丹‧維吉亞諾 (Aidan Viggiano)。

As a reminder, we will disclose non-GAAP financial measures on this call. Definitions and reconciliations between our GAAP and non-GAAP results can be found in our earnings release and our prepared remarks posted on our IR website. We will also make forward-looking statements on this call, including statements about our future outlook and goals. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described.

提醒一下，我們將在本次電話會議上揭露非公認會計準則財務指標。我們的 GAAP 和非 GAAP 結果之間的定義和調整可以在我們的收益報告和我們發佈在 IR 網站上的準備好的評論中找到。我們還將在本次電話會議中做出前瞻性聲明，包括有關我們未來前景和目標的聲明。此類陳述受到已知和未知的風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與所描述的結果有重大差異。

Many of those risks and uncertainties are described in our SEC filings, including our most recent Form 10-Q. Forward-looking statements represent our beliefs and assumptions only as of the date such statements are made. We disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. And with that, I'll hand it over to Jeff and the team, who will discuss our Q3 results, and then we'll open the call for Q&A.

我們向 SEC 提交的文件（包括我們最新的 10-Q 表格）中描述了許多風險和不確定性。前瞻性陳述僅代表我們截至做出此類陳述之日的信念和假設。除法律要求外，我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。接下來，我將其交給 Jeff 和團隊，他們將討論我們的第三季結果，然後我們將開始問答環節。

Thank you, Bryan, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Twilio delivered a strong third quarter, exceeding our revenue and non-GAAP profitability targets and generating another record quarter of non-GAAP income from operations and free cash flow. All told, we delivered $1.034 billion of revenue, $136 million of non-GAAP income from operations and $195 million of free cash flow. On the back of our strong year-to-date results, we're raising our full year non-GAAP income from operations guidance to $475 million to $485 million.

謝謝布萊恩，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。 Twilio 第三季業績強勁，超出了我們的收入和非 GAAP 獲利目標，並創造了另一個創紀錄的季度非 GAAP 營運收入和自由現金流。總而言之，我們實現了 10.34 億美元的收入、1.36 億美元的非 GAAP 營運收入和 1.95 億美元的自由現金流。憑藉年初至今的強勁業績，我們將全年非 GAAP 營運指導收入提高至 4.75 億美元至 4.85 億美元。

As you can see, the efficiency gains are rapidly showing in our quarterly results, reflecting the fundamental strength of our Communications business, which represented 88% of our revenue in Q3. In fact, our Communications business was recently recognized by Gartner as a leader in the first-ever Magic Quadrant for CPaaS, a terrific recognition, indicative of our attractive market position and the strength of our platform. We continue to focus on opportunities with our Communications go-to-market motion to win new customers, improve our self-service capabilities and drive more cross-sell opportunities across our customer base.

正如您所看到的，效率的提高在我們的季度業績中迅速顯現，反映了我們通訊業務的基本實力，該業務占我們第三季收入的 88%。事實上，我們的通訊業務最近被 Gartner 評為首個 CPaaS 魔力像限中的領導者，這是一次了不起的認可，表明了我們有吸引力的市場地位和我們平台的實力。我們繼續關注通訊市場入市行動的機會，以贏得新客戶、提高我們的自助服務能力並在我們的客戶群中推動更多交叉銷售機會。

We're also forming meaningful partnerships to help us win further market share, including a significant expansion of our SoftBank partnership. We expect these efforts to drive durable, efficient growth in our Communications business moving forward. But the real story is how, over time, we believe we can continue to grow the top line of our Communications business while controlling costs. With our more streamlined cost structure and continued innovation, we are proving every day that this business can be a powerful driver of profit and cash flow for Twilio.

我們還建立了有意義的合作夥伴關係，以幫助我們贏得更多市場份額，包括顯著擴大我們與軟銀的合作關係。我們期望這些努力能夠推動我們的通訊業務持續、有效率地向前發展。但真正的故事是，隨著時間的推移，我們相信我們可以在控製成本的同時繼續成長通訊業務的收入。憑藉更精簡的成本結構和持續創新，我們每天都在證明這項業務可以成為 Twilio 利潤和現金流的強大驅動力。

As our Communications business continues to successfully execute in an environment where usage volumes are stabilizing, we're also focused on driving improvements in our Data & Applications business. We've been rebuilding our go-to-market function and have seen some initial green shoots, including a modest uptick in bookings in the third quarter. We also continued to receive external validation for the strength of our products, and Segment was once again named the CDP market share leader as of June 2023 and was also named the leader in the IDC CDP MarketScape for financial services. While these early signals are encouraging, there is still more work to be done.

隨著我們的通訊業務繼續在使用量穩定的環境中成功執行，我們也致力於推動資料和應用程式業務的改進。我們一直在重建我們的上市功能，並看到了一些初步的萌芽，包括第三季的預訂量小幅上升。我們的產品實力也持續獲得外部驗證，截至 2023 年 6 月，Segment 再次被評為 CDP 市佔率領導者，並在 IDC CDP MarketScape 金融服務領域被評為領導者。雖然這些早期訊號令人鼓舞，但仍有更多工作要做。

Before I get further into the details of the quarter, I'd like to share that Elena Donio will be transitioning out of her role as President of Twilio Data & Applications and into an advisory role. Elena and I have partnered closely to decide on the best path forward to reaccelerate the business, especially in light of the AI opportunity ahead.

在進一步介紹本季的詳細資訊之前，我想告訴大家，Elena Donio 將從 Twilio 數據與應用程式總裁的職位過渡到顧問職位。 Elena 和我密切合作，決定重新加速業務發展的最佳路徑，特別是考慮到未來的人工智慧機會。

With Elena as an adviser, I will run TD&A in the interim period until we recruit a seasoned leader to lead this part of our business. Thank you to Elena for joining the Twilio team at a critical time for our company and leading us through a difficult but necessary transition. I respect your partnership as a Board member, executive and as an adviser.

在 Elena 的指導下，我將在過渡期間負責 TD&A，直到我們聘請一位經驗豐富的領導者來領導這部分業務。感謝 Elena 在我們公司的關鍵時刻加入 Twilio 團隊，並帶領我們度過了艱難但必要的過渡。我尊重您作為董事會成員、高階主管和顧問的夥伴關係。

As I mentioned, the TD&A business saw a modest improvement in bookings this quarter. However, those are not yet where we want them to be. While this is a very small portion of our business today, only 12% of our revenue in Q3, we believe TD&A overall and the foundations for AI, in particular, are key assets for our future. We are committed to success in this business as we work to reaccelerate growth, drive further progress on our go-to-market scaling efforts and undertake investments to take advantage of the significant AI opportunity.

正如我所提到的，本季 TD&A 業務的預訂量略有改善。然而，這些還沒有達到我們想要的效果。雖然這只是我們今天業務的一小部分，僅占我們第三季營收的 12%，但我們相信整體 TD&A，特別是人工智慧的基礎，是我們未來的關鍵資產。我們致力於在這項業務上取得成功，努力重新加速成長，推動我們的市場推廣工作取得進一步進展，並進行投資以利用重要的人工智慧機會。

We saw a number of exciting customer wins across both Flex and Segment in the quarter that are encouraging and which I'll detail later. And spending time with our customers at SIGNAL events in both San Francisco and London continues to reinforce for me the market demand for and the unmatched capabilities of our software solutions. Speaking of SIGNAL, in August, we revealed CustomerAI, a set of predictive and generative capabilities that pairs customer data with large language models to give companies AI that truly knows their customers.

本季度，我們在 Flex 和 Segment 上看到了許多令人興奮的客戶勝利，這些令人鼓舞，我將在稍後詳細介紹。在舊金山和倫敦舉辦的 SIGNAL 活動中與客戶共度時光，進一步增強了我對市場的需求以及我們軟體解決方案無與倫比的功能。說到 SIGNAL，我們在 8 月發布了 CustomerAI，這是一組預測和生成功能，將客戶資料與大型語言模型相結合，為公司提供真正了解客戶的人工智慧。

When I talk to our customers, they all know that AI will fundamentally rewire the core of their companies. Their workforce will need to change. The skills required to deliver their vision will change and importantly, the need for data to power their AI initiatives will grow. This is the initial set of opportunities we are working with customers, using Segment to get their customer data AI-ready and then activating on that data with Twilio Communications.

當我與我們的客戶交談時，他們都知道人工智慧將從根本上重新建構他們公司的核心。他們的勞動力需要改變。實現願景所需的技能將會發生變化，重要的是，支援人工智慧計畫的數據需求將會成長。這是我們與客戶合作的第一批機會，使用 Segment 讓他們的客戶資料為 AI 做好準備，然後透過 Twilio Communications 啟動該資料。

This communications and data flywheel will empower brands to enter the AI race steps ahead of their competitors armed with the AI-ready data, the platform that will allow them to interact with customers informed by that knowledge and enable them to glean more insights from each message, call, and email interaction. We believe this will improve their customer data sets and in doing so, help them deliver more effective, personalized customer communications.

這種通訊和數據飛輪將使品牌能夠憑藉人工智慧就緒數據，領先於競爭對手進入人工智慧競賽，該平台將使他們能夠與了解這些知識的客戶進行互動，並使他們能夠從每個訊息中收集更多見解、電話和電子郵件互動。我們相信這將改善他們的客戶資料集，並幫助他們提供更有效、個人化的客戶溝通。

Our teams have made immense progress over the course of 2023. In just 9 months, we have delivered $360 million in non-GAAP income from operations, and we've begun to generate meaningful levels of free cash flow. We are solidifying a strong foundation that positions us well to drive durable growth, deliver strong profitability and realize the benefits of our CustomerAI strategy over the long term. I'm excited to work more closely with our Data & Applications team to deliver a value proposition around CustomerAI that is truly differentiated to Twilio.

我們的團隊在 2023 年取得了巨大進步。在短短 9 個月內，我們就實現了 3.6 億美元的非 GAAP 營運收入，並且我們已經開始產生有意義的自由現金流水準。我們正在鞏固堅實的基礎，使我們能夠推動持久成長、實現強勁的獲利能力並實現 CustomerAI 策略的長期效益。我很高興能與我們的數據和應用程式團隊更密切合作，圍繞 CustomerAI 提供真正與 Twilio 不同的價值主張。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Khozema to talk about our Communications business.

接下來，我將把它交給科澤馬來談論我們的通訊業務。

Thanks, Jeff. Twilio Communications delivered $907 million in revenue in Q3, up 5% year-over-year on a reported basis and 8% on an organic basis with a non-GAAP gross margin of 49.8%. As a team, we continue to focus on driving efficient growth, landing new logos, cross-selling across our Communications portfolio and generating meaningful non-GAAP profits. And we're executing well against all of these objectives.

謝謝，傑夫。 Twilio Communications 第三季營收 9.07 億美元，以報告計算年增 5%，有機成長 8%，非 GAAP 毛利率為 49.8%。作為一個團隊，我們繼續專注於推動高效成長、推出新商標、跨通訊產品組合進行交叉銷售以及產生有意義的非公認會計準則利潤。我們在所有這些目標上都執行得很好。

We're continuing to push the bounds of innovation, highlighted by our recent new product announcements focused on CustomerAI, including voice intelligence, traffic optimization engine, brand calling, SendGrid engagement quality and Fraud Guard, which are already creating new opportunities for our Communications customers and prospects. For example, our customers can assign preferences for high-priority messages such as one-time passcodes to be delivered leveraging the most timely route, whereas a marketing communication can be delivered via the most cost-effective route.

我們正在繼續推動創新的界限，最近發布的專注於CustomerAI 的新產品突出了這一點，包括語音智慧、流量優化引擎、品牌呼叫、SendGrid 參與品質和詐欺防護，這些已經為我們的通訊客戶創造了新的機會和前景。例如，我們的客戶可以為高優先級訊息分配偏好，例如利用最及時的路線傳遞一次性密碼，而行銷傳播則可以透過最具成本效益的路線傳遞。

We continue to demonstrate solid traction in our ability to drive growth with a more efficient cost structure. Our go-to-market model has been streamlined, and we've had success in expanding our ISV and global technology partnerships. As a result, we are seeing momentum with landing large new logos across our Communications product portfolio and through focused cross-selling efforts. In fact, roughly half of our expansion deals in North America were in non-messaging use cases.

我們持續展現出透過更有效率的成本結構推動成長的強大能力。我們的進入市場模式得到了簡化，並且我們在擴大 ISV 和全球技術合作夥伴關係方面取得了成功。因此，我們看到了在我們的通訊產品組合中採用大型新徽標以及透過集中交叉銷售努力的勢頭。事實上，我們在北美的擴張交易中大約有一半是在非訊息用例中。

A couple of cross-sell wins to highlight from Q3 include a long-standing Communications customer in the financial services industry who adopted Verify to replace their legacy solution for identity and security. Additionally, a leading Latin American e-commerce platform added Twilio Interactive Voice Response while also expanding their voice business with us. We saw encouraging results in our voice business overall in the quarter.

第三季值得強調的幾項交叉銷售勝利包括金融服務業的長期通訊客戶，該客戶採用了Verify 來取代其傳統的身份和安全解決方案。此外，一家領先的拉丁美洲電子商務平台增加了 Twilio Interactive Voice Response，同時也與我們一起拓展了他們的語音業務。本季我們的語音業務整體取得了令人鼓舞的成果。

We also landed several new logos in Q3, beginning with one of the largest European airlines who chose Twilio Programmable Messaging based on our reliability and superior compliance standards to streamline their customer feedback workflows. Similarly, a global hotel brand chose Twilio's account security capabilities to serve their millions of app users, again citing our ability to navigate global regulatory and compliance while delivering a seamless customer experience. And finally, a leading AI company adopted Verify Pro, which allows customers to consume Verify as a subscription with upfront payments.

我們也在第三季推出了多個新商標，首先是歐洲最大的航空公司之一基於我們的可靠性和卓越的合規標準選擇了 Twilio Programmable Messaging，以簡化其客戶回饋工作流程。同樣，一家全球酒店品牌選擇 Twilio 的帳戶安全功能來為其數百萬應用程式用戶提供服務，再次證明我們有能力應對全球監管和合規性，同時提供無縫的客戶體驗。最後，一家領先的人工智慧公司採用了Verify Pro，它允許客戶將Verify作為預付款訂閱。

We're continuing to broaden our go-to-market footprint, leveraging our market leadership position to drive wins with ISVs and global technology leaders. In Q3, we signed a landmark agreement with SoftBank. SoftBank will offer Twilio services through its sales channels in Japan, which have a strong domestic customer base to draw upon. SoftBank will also provide 24/7 support for Japanese customers. This is an exciting expansion of our partnership with SoftBank, and we will continue to pursue strategic partnerships to efficiently capture additional market share.

我們將繼續擴大我們的市場覆蓋範圍，利用我們的市場領導地位來推動與 ISV 和全球技術領導者的合作。第三季度，我們與軟銀簽署了一項具有里程碑意義的協議。軟銀將透過其在日本的銷售管道提供 Twilio 服務，該管道擁有強大的國內客戶群可供利用。軟銀也將為日本客戶提供 24/7 的支援。這是我們與軟銀合作夥伴關係的一次令人興奮的擴展，我們將繼續尋求戰略合作夥伴關係，以有效地佔領更多的市場份額。

We're also focused on improving our self-serve motion and automation efforts so customers can more easily purchase, build and grow with us. In the near term, we are expecting to bring more purchasing, billing and contract management capabilities into the Twilio console where customers can seamlessly adopt new products and expand usage. In addition, our teams will continue to automate compliance requirements and phone number provisioning that allow new customers to onboard much more quickly.

我們也致力於改善我們的自助服務和自動化工作，以便客戶可以更輕鬆地購買、建造和與我們一起成長。在短期內，我們預計將更多的採購、計費和合約管理功能引入 Twilio 控制台，客戶可以無縫地採用新產品並擴大使用範圍。此外，我們的團隊將繼續自動化合規性要求和電話號碼配置，使新客戶能夠更快加入。

As a reminder, we previously made a commitment to our carrier partners to only permit registered U.S.-bound 10DLC, SMS and MMS traffic effective August 31, 2023. I'm very pleased with our success in executing against our 10DLC registration deadline and exceeding our initial goals. Thus far, we've been able to register virtually all of this traffic, which has enabled us to mitigate much of the revenue risk we had anticipated for the second half of the year. We now expect the revenue impact in Q4 to be minimal in light of the amount of registered traffic going into the quarter. This is an improvement from the potential headwind of up to 300 basis points that we previously referenced.

謹此提醒，我們之前向我們的運營商合作夥伴做出承諾，自2023 年8 月31 日起僅允許已註冊的前往美國的10DLC、短信和彩信流量。我很高興我們成功地在10DLC 註冊截止日期前執行並超越了我們的要求最初的目標。到目前為止，我們已經能夠註冊幾乎所有這些流量，這使我們能夠減輕我們預計的今年下半年的大部分收入風險。鑑於本季的註冊流量，我們現在預計第四季度的收入影響將很小。這比我們之前提到的高達 300 個基點的潛在阻力有所改善。

Similar to our efforts in registering U.S.-bound 10DLC, SMS and MMS traffic, we will also be requiring our customers to register U.S.-bound traffic from toll-free phone numbers as of today, November 8. We expect the revenue impact in Q4 and beyond to be immaterial. Our Q3 dollar-based net expansion rate for Communications was 101% and 104%, excluding crypto customers. Similar to last quarter, new customers are driving a greater portion of the overall growth, while crypto and social and messaging headwinds mask the success we are seeing with our cross-sell and expansion opportunities. Churn continues to remain relatively stable, and we are seeing year-over-year volume growth across many industries.

與我們在註冊前往美國的10DLC、SMS 和MMS 流量方面所做的努力類似，我們也將要求我們的客戶從今天（11 月8 日）起註冊通過免費電話號碼前往美國的流量。我們預計這會對第四季和第四季的收入產生影響。超越是非物質的。我們第三季通訊業務以美元計算的淨擴張率為 101% 和 104%（不包括加密貨幣客戶）。與上個季度類似，新客戶推動了整體成長的大部分，而加密貨幣、社交和訊息傳遞的逆風掩蓋了我們在交叉銷售和擴張機會中所看到的成功。客戶流失率持續保持相對穩定，我們看到許多行業的銷售量較去年同期成長。

I'm proud of the execution that our team demonstrated in the third quarter. Leading the charge on compliance and enacting our 10DLC registration deadline was no small feat. We continue to focus on streamlining our go-to-market, including improving our self-serve motion and capitalizing on cross-sell opportunities across Communications. We are seeing encouraging results, and there is still further opportunity to improve, so I'm confident we will be able to make sustained progress over the coming quarters. And with that, I'll turn it back to Jeff to talk about the TD&A business.

我對我們團隊在第三季所展現的執行力感到自豪。引領合規性並制定我們的 10DLC 註冊截止日期絕非易事。我們繼續專注於簡化我們的市場推廣，包括改善我們的自助服務並利用通訊領域的交叉銷售機會。我們看到了令人鼓舞的結果，並且仍有進一步改進的機會，因此我相信我們將能夠在未來幾季取得持續進展。說到這裡，我將把話題轉回 Jeff 來談談 TD&A 業務。

Thanks, Khozema. Turning to TD&A's results. Our primary focus continues to be reaccelerating growth. In Q3, this business unit delivered $127 million in revenue, up 9% year-over-year with a non-GAAP gross margin of 79.8%. The evolution of our TD&A business is ongoing. And while we've seen some initial encouraging signals from our go-to-market rebuild efforts, we need to translate early proof points to further bookings reacceleration.

謝謝，科澤馬。轉向 TD&A 的結果。我們的首要重點仍然是重新加速成長。第三季度，該業務部門營收 1.27 億美元，年增 9%，非 GAAP 毛利率為 79.8%。我們的 TD&A 業務正在不斷發展。雖然我們從上市重​​建工作中看到了一些初步的令人鼓舞的信號，但我們需要將早期的證據轉化為進一步的預訂加速。

This business deserves to grow faster and has all the ingredients to do so. I believe that reconstituting our old go-to-market playbook was necessary but not enough. We have to continue to evolve it as well, given a rapidly changing market. Now that we have the selling team in place, I'll be working with our go-to-market leadership to accelerate further changes to our playbooks, taking into account recent learnings.

這項業務值得更快地發展，並且擁有實現這一目標的所有要素。我認為重建我們舊的上市策略是必要的，但還不夠。鑑於市場瞬息萬變，我們還必須繼續發展它。現在我們的銷售團隊已經就位，我將與我們的市場領導層合作，結合最近的經驗教訓，加速對我們的策略進行進一步的改變。

At this stage, we continue to see increased churn and contraction in TD&A, reflecting the current dynamic environment and issues some of our customers are experiencing in growth with their businesses. Despite this market dynamic, we're still continuing to land exciting new customer deals across both Flex and Segment. We saw several Flex customers win this quarter, including a competitive 7-figure deal with a leading insurance company, which was looking to migrate not only agents off of their legacy on-premises solution, but also their IVR and messaging and chat, ultimately consolidating all contact center flows onto Twilio.

在此階段，我們繼續看到 TD&A 的流失和收縮增加，反映了當前的動態環境以及我們的一些客戶在業務成長中遇到的問題。儘管市場充滿活力，我們仍在繼續在 Flex 和 Segment 領域達成令人興奮的新客戶交易。我們看到幾個Flex 客戶在本季度贏得了勝利，其中包括與一家領先的保險公司達成的7 位數的競爭性協議，該公司不僅希望將座席從其遺留的本地解決方案中遷移出來，而且也希望將他們的IVR 以及訊息傳遞和聊天功能遷移出去，最終整合所有聯絡中心都流向 Twilio。

We also signed a cross-sell deal with Sweetwater, a musical instruments retailer. A long-time Twilio customer of voice, messaging and email, Sweetwater is now actively bringing all of their agents under the Flex platform from their previous on-premises vendor. Sweetwater is a great example of a company who came to Twilio as a communications customer looking to deliver a bespoke experience to their customers and has since gone all-in on the Twilio platform because of the customizability of the experience they're able to deliver across our solutions.

我們也與樂器零售商 Sweetwater 簽署了交叉銷售協議。作為 Twilio 語音、訊息傳遞和電子郵件領域的長期客戶，Sweetwater 現在正在積極將其所有代理商引入其先前的本地供應商的 Flex 平台下。 Sweetwater 是一個很好的例子，這家公司作為通訊客戶來到 Twilio，希望為其客戶提供客製化體驗，並且由於他們能夠提供跨平台體驗的可自訂性，因此全力投入 Twilio 平台。我們的解決方案。

Turning to Segment. At SIGNAL London last week, we announced that we have processed more than 12 trillion data events in the last 12 months and resolved those data points into over 100 billion customer profiles on behalf of brands. And we can do all of that in milliseconds. This is the basis of our market share leadership recognition and underscores the need for a real-time CDP in the market, which Segment delivers.

轉向細分。上週在倫敦 SIGNAL 展會上，我們宣佈在過去 12 個月內處理了超過 12 兆個數據事件，並代表品牌將這些數據點解析為超過 1,000 億個客戶檔案。我們可以在幾毫秒內完成所有這些。這是我們市場份額領先地位得到認可的基礎，並強調了市場對即時 CDP 的需求，而這一點正是 Segment 所提供的。

In Q3, the Segment team signed a deal with a leading fintech company and long-standing Communications customer who is driving a product-led growth initiative. Their first use case is leveraging Segment to process real-time transactional data across all of their data systems in order to identify cross-sell opportunities, all in real-time.

在第三季度，該部門團隊與一家領先的金融科技公司和長期通訊客戶簽署了一項協議，該客戶正在推動以產品為主導的成長計畫。他們的第一個用例是利用 Segment 處理所有數據系統中的即時交易數據，以便即時識別交叉銷售機會。

We also established a new relationship with a software company in the construction space. As the company has been very acquisitive historically, they needed to consolidate data from multiple disparate systems to build a 360-degree view of the customer to inform their marketing journeys. We also inked a deal with a leading global toy company that will be using Segment's Reverse ETL capabilities with Databricks to offer their millions of customers real-time personalization across their most popular apps and games.

我們也與建築領域的一家軟體公司建立了新的合作關係。由於該公司在歷史上一直非常積極收購，因此他們需要整合來自多個不同系統的數據，以建立 360 度的客戶視圖，為他們的行銷旅程提供資訊。我們還與一家全球領先的玩具公司簽署了一項協議，該公司將使用 Segment 的反向 ETL 功能和 Databricks 為數百萬客戶提供最受歡迎的應用程式和遊戲的即時個人化服務。

What's most exciting is that Segment will give hundreds of employees access to advanced customer data models and insights to help improve the customer experience for a globally recognized brand. This exciting deal was won with a great GSI partner as well. We think this is a repeatable partner model and look forward to continuing to invest in our partner ecosystem around Segment.

最令人興奮的是，Segment 將使數百名員工能夠存取先進的客戶資料模型和見解，以幫助改善全球知名品牌的客戶體驗。這筆令人興奮的交易也是與出色的 GSI 合作夥伴一起贏得的。我們認為這是一個可重複的合作夥伴模式，並期待繼續投資於我們圍繞細分市場的合作夥伴生態系統。

Segment's capabilities are foundational to CustomerAI. We've already announced the general availability of our first TD&A CustomerAI product, Predictions, which allows customers to create hyper-targeted audiences based on predictive traits like lifetime value, likelihood to churn or the propensity to take an action such as making a purchase, subscribing, et cetera. We have more than 100 customers using Predictions already and they're quickly seeing results.

Segment 的功能是 CustomerAI 的基礎。我們已經宣布推出首款 TD&A CustomerAI 產品 Predictions，該產品允許客戶根據終身價值、流失可能性或採取購買等行動的傾向等預測特徵來創建超級目標受眾，訂閱等。我們已經有 100 多家客戶在使用 Predictions，他們很快就看到了成果。

One company has seen their cost of customer acquisition fall by 85% with more targeted advertising based on propensity to convert predictions. Another company saw a 2x improvement across all funnel metrics for their e-mail campaigns, including opens, click-throughs, et cetera, based on product recommendation predictions.

一家公司根據預測轉換傾向進行更有針對性的廣告，其客戶獲取成本下降了 85%。另一家公司根據產品推薦預測，其電子郵件活動的所有漏斗指標（包括開啟次數、點擊率等）都提高了 2 倍。

Our early customers show that engagement is multiplying and costs are rapidly declining, and that's just the first of several CustomerAI capabilities that we're working on bringing to market. Our short-term goal is to help customers see how the coming AI use cases require better customer data, something that Segment can provide today. Our long-term goal is to provide unprecedented automation, cost savings and better customer relationships thanks to AI.

我們的早期客戶表明，參與度正在成倍增加，成本正在迅速下降，而這只是我們正在努力將其推向市場的多項 CustomerAI 功能中的第一個。我們的短期目標是幫助客戶了解未來的人工智慧用例如何需要更好的客戶數據，而 Segment 目前可以提供這些數據。我們的長期目標是透過人工智慧提供前所未有的自動化、成本節約和更好的客戶關係。

So we are seeing significant customer wins within TD&A and our investments in AI products are generating significant customer interest. We have more work to do, and I intend to get closer to our field teams, our product teams, and most importantly, our customers to build on our foundation and deliver on the incredible potential of this business. I'll now turn it over to Aidan to walk through the financials in more detail.

因此，我們看到 TD&A 贏得了大量客戶，我們對人工智慧產品的投資正在產生巨大的客戶興趣。我們還有更多的工作要做，我打算與我們的現場團隊、產品團隊，最重要的是，與我們的客戶建立更密切的關係，以鞏固我們的基礎並發揮這項業務的巨大潛力。我現在將把它交給艾丹，讓他更詳細地介紹財務狀況。

Thank you, Jeff. We continue to build a strong financial foundation for Twilio. We exceeded our Q3 revenue guidance and delivered another record quarter of non-GAAP income from operations and free cash flow. We came into the year targeting $250 million to $350 million of non-GAAP income from operations and have exceeded that goal in 3 quarters, delivering $360 million year-to-date.

謝謝你，傑夫。我們繼續為 Twilio 建立堅實的財務基礎。我們超越了第三季的收入指引，並創下了非公認會計原則營運收入和自由現金流季度收入的紀錄。我們今年的目標是實現 2.5 億至 3.5 億美元的非 GAAP 營運收入，並在三個季度內超過了這一目標，年初至今實現了 3.6 億美元。

Our results demonstrate our ability and commitment to drive meaningful levels of profitability in our business over time. Third quarter revenue was $1.034 billion up 5% and 8% year-over-year on a reported and organic basis, respectively. As a reminder, this compares to second quarter revenue of $1.013 billion after adjusting for the $25 million of revenue from our divested ValueFirst and IoT businesses.

我們的業績證明了我們有能力並致力於隨著時間的推移推動我們的業務實現有意義的盈利水平。第三季營收為 10.34 億美元，按報告收入和有機收入分別年增 5% 和 8%。提醒一下，相較之下，在對我們剝離的 ValueFirst 和 IoT 業務的 2500 萬美元收入進行調整後，第二季的收入為 10.13 億美元。

Communications revenue was $907 million, up 5% year-over-year on a reported basis and 8% on an organic basis. Data & Applications revenue was $127 million, up 9% year-over-year. We continue to see stabilization in volumes across our usage-based products throughout the quarter. We also executed well against our 10DLC registration goal, mitigating revenue risk. Both of these factors helped drive our revenue beat in Q3.

通訊收入為 9.07 億美元，報告營收年增 5%，有機收入成長 8%。數據與應用收入為 1.27 億美元，較去年同期成長 9%。我們整個季度基於使用的產品的銷售持續保持穩定。我們也很好地實現了 10 個 DLC 註冊目標，降低了收入風險。這兩個因素都有助於推動我們第三季的營收成長。

As we referenced during our Q2 earnings call, our Q3 revenue growth rate was negatively impacted by headwinds from customers in the crypto industry. Total Q3 organic revenue growth excluding crypto customers was 11% year-over-year. While the impact has started to moderate, we still expect about 200 basis points of crypto-related revenue headwinds in Q4, down from 370 basis points in Q2 and 290 basis points in Q3.

正如我們在第二季財報電話會議中所提到的，我們第三季的營收成長率受到加密貨幣產業客戶的不利影響。不包括加密貨幣客戶的第三季總有機收入年增 11%。雖然影響已開始減弱，但我們仍預期第四季加密貨幣相關收入逆風約為 200 個基點，低於第二季的 370 個基點和第三季的 290 個基點。

Our Q3 dollar-based net expansion rate was 101%. As Khozema mentioned, dollar-based net expansion for communications was 101% or 104% excluding crypto customers. Dollar-based net expansion for data and applications was 96%, driven primarily by instances of higher contraction and churn among segment customers.

我們第三季以美元計算的淨擴張率為 101%。正如 Khozema 所提到的，以美元計算的通訊淨擴張率為 101% 或 104%（不含加密貨幣客戶）。數據和應用程式的按美元計算的淨擴張率為 96%，這主要是由於細分客戶的收縮和流失率上升所致。

We continue to see some customers experiencing growth slowdowns and facing cost-cutting initiatives in their own businesses, given the current macro environment. We delivered non-GAAP gross profit in Q3 of $553 million, growing 11% year-over-year and representing a non-GAAP gross margin of 53.5%. That was up 270 basis points year-over-year and up 120 basis points quarter-over-quarter, driven by messaging termination mix and product mix within Communications.

鑑於當前的宏觀環境，我們繼續看到一些客戶的業務成長放緩，並面臨成本削減措施。我們第三季的非 GAAP 毛利為 5.53 億美元，年增 11%，非 GAAP 毛利率為 53.5%。在通訊領域的訊息終端組合和產品組合的推動下，這一數字年增 270 個基點，較上季成長 120 個基點。

Gross margins also benefited from our recent divestitures. Non-GAAP gross margins for our Communications and Data & Applications segments were 49.8% and 79.8%, respectively. Q3 non-GAAP income from operations came in meaningfully ahead of expectations at $136 million, representing a non-GAAP operating margin of 13.2%. This was due to our revenue beat and our continued focus on driving more efficiencies across the business.

毛利率也受益於我們最近的資產剝離。我們的通訊和數據與應用部門的非 GAAP 毛利率分別為 49.8% 和 79.8%。第三季非 GAAP 營運收入大幅超出預期，達到 1.36 億美元，非 GAAP 營運利潤率為 13.2%。這是由於我們的收入成長以及我們持續致力於提高整個業務的效率。

Q3 GAAP loss from operations was $109 million, which includes $7 million of expenses associated with restructuring and real estate impairment charges. Stock-based compensation as a percentage of revenue was 17.9% in Q3, excluding approximately $0.5 million of restructuring costs, up 320 basis points quarter-over-quarter but down [188] basis points year-over-year. The sequential increase was primarily driven by the timing of employee refresh brands, which occurred later than in prior years. We expect stock-based compensation as a percentage of revenue to decline modestly in Q4.

第三季 GAAP 營運虧損為 1.09 億美元，其中包括與重組和房地產減損費用相關的 700 萬美元費用。第三季度，股票薪酬佔收入的百分比為 17.9%（不包括約 50 萬美元的重組成本），環比上升 320 個基點，但同比下降 [188] 個基點。環比成長主要是由員工更新品牌的時間所推動的，該時間比往年晚。我們預期第四季股票薪酬佔收入的比例將小幅下降。

In Q3, we generated free cash flow of $195 million, driven in part by heightened collections. While we do not expect this level to reoccur each quarter, free cash flow remains a focus for us as we drive greater profitability in the business. Lastly, we continue to execute against our $1 billion share repurchase program that we announced in February and have now completed approximately $620 million of repurchases to date.

第三季度，我們產生了 1.95 億美元的自由現金流，部分原因是收款增加。雖然我們預計每個季度不會出現這種水平，但隨著我們提高業務獲利能力，自由現金流仍然是我們關注的焦點。最後，我們繼續執行 2 月宣布的 10 億美元股票回購計劃，迄今已完成約 6.2 億美元的回購。

Moving on to guidance. For Q4, we're initiating a revenue target of $1.03 billion to $1.04 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 1% to 2% on a reported basis and 4% to 5% on an organic basis, which account for our recent ValueFirst and IoT divestitures. We expect Q4 non-GAAP income from operations of $115 million to $125 million, and we're raising our full year non-GAAP income from operations guidance to $475 million to $485 million.

繼續指導。對於第四季度，我們的收入目標為​​ 10.3 億至 10.4 億美元，按報告計算，年增 1% 至 2%，有機增長 4% 至 5%，這說明了我們最近的收入增長ValueFirst 和物聯網資產剝離。我們預計第四季度的非 GAAP 營運收入為 1.15 億至 1.25 億美元，並且我們將全年非 GAAP 營運指導收入提高至 4.75 億至 4.85 億美元。

I'm pleased with the progress we've made on our profitability targets to date. The teams are executing well, which provides a good setup as we look to deliver a strong finish to the year and enter 2024 with momentum. And with that, let's open it up for questions.

我對迄今為止我們在盈利目標方面取得的進展感到滿意。這些團隊執行良好，這為我們希望為今年帶來強勁的業績並充滿動力地進入 2024 年提供了良好的準備。接下來，讓我們開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Taylor McGinnis with UBS.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的泰勒麥金尼斯 (Taylor McGinnis)。

This is Jeff Hickey on for Taylor. Congrats on the quarter. On the Data & Apps business, with the net retention falling to 96% from 99%, seems like things continue to soften a bit there. What are you seeing in terms of trends when we could maybe hit a bottom? And is gross churn something that could be impacting the gross margins of that segment currently?

我是泰勒的傑夫·希基。恭喜本季。在數據和應用程式業務方面，隨著淨留存率從 99% 下降至 96%，情況似乎繼續有些疲軟。當我們可能觸底時，您對趨勢有何看法？目前的總流失率是否會影響該細分市場的毛利率？

This is Jeff. I'll take the first part of the question and maybe of this gross margin aspect of the question, then I'll let Aidan take it. As we noted, we've been working through some of the churn and contraction headwinds, particularly as customers are realizing lower growth in their own businesses. They're focused on cost-cutting efforts, as you'd expect, and this results in reduced deal sizes at renewal and, in some cases, outright churn.

這是傑夫。我將回答問題的第一部分，也許還有問題的毛利率方面，然後我將讓艾丹回答。正如我們所指出的，我們一直在努力克服一些客戶流失和收縮的不利因素，特別是當客戶意識到自己的業務成長放緩時。正如您所期望的那樣，他們專注於削減成本，這會導致續約時的交易規模縮小，在某些情況下甚至會導致徹底流失。

Several initiatives we have in place to try to mitigate the churn and contraction, we're making a concerted push with our post sales teams to drive faster and easier implementations of customers as well as mandating professional services in certain instances to make sure customers implement successfully. We're also ensuring our sales incentives are aligned to not just driving the bookings but also mitigating churn and contraction as well.

我們採取了多項措施來試圖減輕客戶流失和收縮，我們正在與我們的售後團隊共同推動，以推動客戶更快、更輕鬆地實施，並在某些情況下強制提供專業服務，以確保客戶成功實施。我們也確保我們的銷售獎勵措施不僅能夠推動預訂量，還能減少客戶流失和收縮。

And ultimately, we need to drive bookings improvements and continue to deliver on the value of our products to those customers in order to improve TD&A. And I think we did see modest improvements in bookings in Q3 relative to Q2. And we have an ambitious product road map for TD&A around CustomerAI as well, which is driving a lot of early interest in meetings, given we announced it just over a month ago. But most importantly, we're not seeing an increase in competitive churn. And I think that's the most important part of what we are seeing in the churn and contraction. Aidan, is there anything you would add about gross margin?

最終，我們需要推動預訂改進，並繼續向這些客戶提供我們產品的價值，以改善 TD&A。我認為我們確實看到第三季的預訂量相對於第二季略有改善。我們還圍繞 CustomerAI 制定了雄心勃勃的 TD&A 產品路線圖，鑑於我們在一個多月前宣布了這一計劃，這激發了人們對會議的許多早期興趣。但最重要的是，我們沒有看到競爭流失的增加。我認為這是我們在流失和收縮中看到的最重要的部分。艾丹，關於毛利率您有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes, sure. So I don't think -- the churn is not what's impacting gross margins in Data & Applications. So they are down year-over-year and they're down quarter-over-quarter. So a couple of dynamics, Jeff, to understand there. So first, as we mentioned last quarter, we continue to invest in innovation in this business. And that's driven an increase in capitalized software expenses, which is flowing through our P&L.

是的，當然。因此，我認為客戶流失並不是影響數據和應用程式毛利率的因素。因此，它們同比下降，環比下降。傑夫，有一些動態需要理解。首先，正如我們上季度所提到的，我們繼續投資於該業務的創新。這推動了資本化軟體費用的增加，這些費用流經我們的損益表。

And obviously, these innovations are focused around things like CustomerAI and our next-gen products and features. We're also seeing and expect to continue to see higher infrastructure and hosting costs in Data & Applications. We're continuing to invest in AI capabilities across the portfolio, as I said.

顯然，這些創新主要圍繞著 CustomerAI 以及我們的下一代產品和功能等內容。我們也看到並期望繼續看到資料和應用程式中的基礎設施和託管成本更高。正如我所說，我們將繼續投資整個產品組合的人工智慧功能。

And to ensure efficient scaling of these products, we're migrating certain back-end functionality and infrastructure, tech functionality to new vendors in 2024, and that will optimize our spend over the longer term. So there will be a period of time where we have overlapping or double expenses, and you'll see that in the margin rates. On the back end, obviously, we'd expect to reap the benefits of these investments.

為了確保這些產品的高效擴展，我們將在 2024 年將某些後端功能和基礎設施、技術功能遷移到新供應商，這將在長期內優化我們的支出。因此，在一段時間內，我們會出現重疊或雙重費用，您會在保證金率中看到這一點。顯然，在後端，我們期望獲得這些投資的好處。

Our next question comes from Meta Marshall with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的梅塔·馬歇爾。

Maybe sticking with the Data & Applications business. Jeff, just what do you see as the keys to the reacceleration of this business maybe outside of overall macro? Is it still room to go on go-to-market or product advancements? And just kind of what are you looking for as you look for new leadership for this business?

也許會繼續從事數據和應用程式業務。傑夫，您認為在整體宏觀之外，這項業務重新加速的關鍵是什麼？上市或產品改良還有空間嗎？當您為這項業務尋找新的領導層時，您正在尋找什麼？

Yes. Thanks, Meta. There's 2 things that really speak to the growth trajectory of TD&A. Number one is arresting churn and contraction; and number two, new bookings, right? So that's what we've been focused on all year. We just talked a bit about churn and contraction, in terms of what are the things we can do to make sure customers are successful, make sure customers, when it comes time for renewal, are most likely to renew, and those are things that are in our control.

是的。謝謝，梅塔。有兩件事真正說明了 TD&A 的成長軌跡。第一是阻止流失和收縮；第二，新預訂，對吧？這就是我們一整年的重點。我們剛剛討論了一些關於流失和收縮的問題，即我們可以採取哪些措施來確保客戶成功，確保客戶在續訂時最有可能續訂，而這些都是在我們的掌控之中。

Customers (inaudible) business, not a lot you can do or stuff like that, but that's really not the majority of it. Really a lot of this is in our control. The second thing, of course, is new bookings. And so we are very focused, as you know, on the reconstitution of the sales team, which is something we've spent the greater part of the last year doing so, hiring up the sales reps, enabling them, training them, building pipeline, et cetera.

客戶（聽不清楚）業務，你能做的不多或類似的事情，但這實際上並不是其中的大部分。事實上，很多事情都在我們的掌控之中。第二件事當然是新預訂。因此，如您所知，我們非常關注銷售團隊的重組，這是我們去年大部分時間都在做的事情，僱用銷售代表，為他們提供支持，培訓他們，建立管道等等。

And like I said, we've been seeing bookings growth throughout the year. We'd love to see it continue to grow and grow even more aggressively than it has, but we are seeing the bookings growth happen. And meaningful logos, expansions, cross-sells, I mean, we talked about all those things on the call today. So those are all the positive signals that we're looking for, especially as we go into the fourth quarter. And it's also worth noting that we see win rates and enterprise ASPs remaining healthy and stable.

正如我所說，我們全年的預訂量都在增長。我們希望看到它繼續成長，並且成長得比現在更積極，但我們看到預訂量正在成長。我的意思是，有意義的標誌、擴展、交叉銷售，我們在今天的電話會議上討論了所有這些事情。這些都是我們正在尋找的正面訊號，特別是當我們進入第四季時。另外值得注意的是，我們看到勝率和企業平均售價保持健康和穩定。

And just the leadership, kind of what you are looking for, is it somebody with more sales or product focus?

您所尋找的領導階層是更注重銷售或產品的人嗎？

That's a great question. We're looking for a leader to -- I think, with a good go-to-market background, but also obviously, some degree of technology, given that AI is becoming increasingly important, especially for the Segment business, the contact center business as well as, obviously, our big CustomerAI initiative. So we're looking for someone who primarily, I would say, has go-to-market, really good product market fit understandings both with the current products we have as well as we bring new products to market in the form of CustomerAI.

這是一個很好的問題。我認為，我們正在尋找一位領導者，他具有良好的進入市場背景，但顯然也具有一定程度的技術，因為人工智慧變得越來越重要，特別是對於細分業務、聯絡中心業務而言顯然，還有我們的大型CustomerAI 計畫。因此，我想說，我們正在尋找的人主要對我們現有的產品以及我們以 CustomerAI 形式將新產品推向市場具有真正良好的產品市場契合度。

Next question comes from Mark Murphy with JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的馬克墨菲。

Jeff, thinking back to the SIGNAL conference, you spoke with Sam Altman, and he brought up this idea that the cost of intelligence could fall by a factor of 1 million. And so I'm wondering, if it -- even if it moves in that direction, if Twilio ends up being the mechanism that allows bots to understand who they're talking to and who the customer is, how much do you think that could amplify Twilio's value to the typical customer as all of these generative AI projects gather steam? I mean, I'm just wondering if you can see cases where customers -- the customer spend on Twilio would really kind of ratchet up pretty materially.

Jeff，回想一下 SIGNAL 會議，您與 Sam Altman 進行了交談，他提出了情報成本可能下降 100 萬倍的想法。所以我想知道，即使它朝這個方向發展，如果 Twilio 最終成為允許機器人了解他們正在與誰交談以及客戶是誰的機制，您認為這會帶來多大的影響？隨著所有這些生成式AI 項目的發展，如何擴大Twilio 對典型顧客的價值？我的意思是，我只是想知道您是否可以看到客戶在 Twilio 上的支出確實會大幅增加的情況。

Well, thanks, Mark. Obviously, it's very early in this game so it's hard to tell exactly how things are going to play out. We set out our vision for CustomerAI for what we think is going to happen. And I kind of said that not only is this going to become possible, I think it will become inevitable.

嗯，謝謝，馬克。顯然，現在還處於遊戲的早期階段，因此很難準確判斷事情將如何發展。我們為 CustomerAI 設定了我們認為將要發生的事情的願景。我想說的是，這不僅有可能，而且我認為這將不可避免。

And the key to a lot, if not all, of those things I talked about is companies having a really good handle on all the data about their customers. right? So if you've got your data spread across all the different systems and sitting in all these different places and not aligned, it's very dirty, it's really hard to actually put AI to use solving some of the really big things that I think AI will be able to solve for companies.

我談到的許多（如果不是全部）事情的關鍵是公司能夠很好地處理有關客戶的所有資料。正確的？因此，如果你的數據分佈在所有不同的系統中，並且位於所有這些不同的地方並且沒有對齊，那就非常髒了，真的很難真正利用人工智能來解決我認為人工智能將解決的一些真正重大的問題。能夠為企業解決。

And so the first order of business here is getting customer data in order so that as these AI use cases come to maturity, they have the raw information that they need to understand who they're talking to and how you can start going about optimizing these customer interactions, customer relationships, and overall, like the business, the front office of every company. And so that's how we're thinking about it today.

因此，這裡的首要任務是按順序獲取客戶數據，以便隨著這些人工智慧用例的成熟，他們擁有所需的原始信息，以了解他們在與誰交談以及如何開始優化這些數據客戶互動、客戶關係，以及總體而言，就像業務部門一樣，每家公司的前台部門。這就是我們今天的想法。

Now the other thing I think that's super interesting in the world of generative AI in particular, I think that SaaS businesses that license per seat have the opportunity to be very much disrupted in this coming world because I think companies will need fewer seats. I think that the things that AI is going to need to latch on to is essentially data sitting in systems, and that data is going to be really used in a usage-type model.

現在，我認為在生成人工智慧領域特別有趣的另一件事是，我認為按席位授權的SaaS 企業有機會在這個即將到來的世界中受到很大的顛覆，因為我認為公司將需要更少的席位。我認為人工智慧需要抓住的東西本質上是系統中的數據，而這些數據將真正在使用類型模型中使用。

And so I think our business is, generally speaking, well set up for a world where companies may need fewer seats. They may contract the number of seats they're using. They may not grow with the same number of seats. But the data, the back-end systems, the processes, the workflows that are triggered by AI, that's what really matters in this coming world. And so I'm very happy that Twilio is not in a position to largely be monetizing our service on a per seat basis but rather we have a usage-based model based on our Communications business and even the Data business as well.

因此，我認為，總的來說，我們的業務已經為公司可能需要更少席位的世界做好了準備。他們可能會減少正在使用的座位數量。它們可能不會以相同數量的席位增長。但人工智慧觸發的數據、後端系統、流程和工作流程才是這個未來世界真正重要的。因此，我很高興 Twilio 無法在很大程度上以每個席位為基礎將我們的服務貨幣化，而是我們擁有基於通訊業務甚至數據業務的基於使用的模型。

Our next question comes from Nick Altmann with Scotiabank.

我們的下一個問題來自豐業銀行的尼克·阿爾特曼。

First, can you just talk about the Communications usage trends you guys have sort of seen in October and November? And then just given there's some seasonality in Q4 for messaging, can you maybe just speak to how much the guidance is sort of one-time in nature or more due to sort of seasonal factors versus sort of underlying stabilization?

首先，您能談談您在 10 月和 11 月看到的通訊使用趨勢嗎？然後考慮到第四季度的訊息傳遞存在一些季節性，您能否談談該指導在多大程度上是一次性的，或者更多是由於某種季節性因素與某種潛在的穩定因素所致？

I just think people are trying to understand the extent and what you're seeing stabilization on the Communications side, but the seasonal trends in Q4 blur that a bit. So any way you can kind of parse out those 2 would be helpful.

我只是認為人們試圖了解通訊方面的穩定程度和情況，但第四季度的季節性趨勢使這一點變得模糊。因此，任何可以解析這兩個的方法都會有所幫助。

Yes. So I'll start, this is Aidan, and talk a little bit about the guide and then I'll hand it over to Khozema to add any comments. So we're guiding to $1.03 billion to $1.04 billion of revenue in the quarter, which is roughly flat compared to the third quarter.

是的。我將首先介紹該指南，我是 Aidan，然後我會將其交給 Khozema 添加任何評論。因此，我們預計本季營收為 10.3 億至 10.4 億美元，與第三季相比大致持平。

And so what I'd say is, overall, we're really encouraged by the performance and the volume stabilization that we saw in both the second quarter and the third quarter in Communications, and we're optimistic that volumes will remain stable, but we know that the environment remains uncertain, with some customers really seeing variability in their revenue lines and with many cutting costs, and therefore, we're continuing to plan prudently, particularly given the usage-based nature of that business, which is nearly 90% of our revenue.

因此，我想說的是，總體而言，我們對通訊領域第二季和第三季的業績和銷量穩定感到鼓舞，我們對銷量將保持穩定持樂觀態度，但是我們知道環境仍然不確定，一些客戶確實看到了他們的收入線的變化以及許多削減成本，因此，我們將繼續謹慎規劃，特別是考慮到該業務基於使用的性質，該業務接近90我們收入的%。

Yes. I wouldn't really add anything additional to what Aidan said. I mean, I think we obviously can't comment on October, November, those being in-quarter periods, but we are encouraged by what transpired in Q3. And I would just echo what Aidan said that volumes remain stable, and we're kind of cautiously optimistic heading into Q4 and certainly into 2024.

是的。我不會對艾丹所說的內容添加任何額外內容。我的意思是，我認為我們顯然無法對 10 月、11 月這些季度內的情況發表評論，但我們對第三季發生的事情感到鼓舞。我只是重複 Aidan 所說的，即銷量保持穩定，我們對進入第四季度、當然是 2024 年持謹慎樂觀的態度。

Our next question comes from Kash Rangan with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的卡什·蘭根 (Kash Rangan)。

Jeff, I'm curious to get your thoughts on the interplay of AI and data. It looks like there's some logical conclusion that if you're a system of record, a full-blown CRM system, then it has all the data and the AI will be able to work with the data to create actionable campaigns and there's a closed feedback loop.

傑夫，我很想知道你對人工智慧和數據相互作用的看法。看起來有一些合乎邏輯的結論，如果你是一個記錄系統，一個成熟的 CRM 系統，那麼它擁有所有數據，人工智慧將能夠使用這些數據來創建可操作的活動，並且有一個封閉的回饋環形。

I'm curious how you think about Twilio's assets sans that system of record, which you don't have. But how are you planning to add value to that, what seems to be the closed loop where you have a system of record data, AI and a whole AI loop can function within that application ecosystem, whereas you bring a slightly different perspective. I'm just curious to get your thoughts on how you take advantage of your assets in the world the way we laid it out.

我很好奇，如果沒有您沒有的記錄系統，您會如何看待 Twilio 的資產。但你打算如何增加價值，似乎是一個閉環，你擁有一個記錄數據系統，人工智慧和整個人工智慧循環可以在該應用程式生態系統中運行，而你帶來了稍微不同的視角。我只是想知道您對如何按照我們所製定的方式利用您在世界上的資產的想法。

Yes. Thanks, Kash. There's a reason why we bought Segment when we did, which is I think that you've been looking at companies trying to solve this problem of having a single view of their customer for, give or take, 20 years. And CRM has been the thing that oftentimes customers have turned to and said, "Oh, like this will be the answer. This will be how we're going to have that system of record, a single view of our customer."

是的。謝謝，卡什。我們當時購買 Segment 是有原因的，我認為你們 20 年來一直在尋找那些試圖解決客戶單一視圖問題的公司。客戶經常求助於 CRM，並說：“哦，這就是答案。這就是我們將如何擁有記錄系統、客戶的單一視圖。”

And if that were working, then I don't think companies would also be turning the data warehouses to try to solve this problem as well. So I think it is ample proof when you talk to customers that CRM is not solving this problem. It is actually a bunch of systems of record. And by the way, none of that speaks to all the event data, the streaming data of clicks and scrolls and page views and mobile app opens, all that kind of stuff that is going on in the world of specialty consumer scale data and consumer scale companies.

如果這有效，那麼我認為公司也不會轉向資料倉儲來嘗試解決這個問題。因此，我認為，當您與客戶交談時，就足以證明 CRM 無法解決這個問題。它實際上是一堆記錄系統。順便說一句，這些都沒有涉及所有事件數據、點擊、捲動、頁面瀏覽和行動應用程式開啟的串流數據，以及專業消費者規模數據和消費者規模領域中正在發生的所有此類內容公司。

And so CRM is a part of the story, so is the click stream data, so is all the data that's in other systems of record. So is the customer service data, so is the -- and the list goes on. And that's why this is such a hard problem to solve. And that's why 20 years into the world of CRM, at least on the cloud, it's an unsolved problem still.

因此，CRM 是故事的一部分，點擊流資料也是如此，其他記錄系統中的所有資料也是如此。客戶服務數據也是如此，等等。這就是為什麼這是一個很難解決的問題。這就是為什麼 CRM 進入 20 年來，至少在雲端上，它仍然是一個未解決的問題。

And Segment is a solution that solves that problem and so that's really where we're starting. We're not trying to create another system of record. We are trying to bring to market the solution to the problem of companies already have too many systems of record. And in fact, they need to make sense of it all. And that's what customers are coming to Twilio for.

Segment 是解決該問題的解決方案，因此這確實是我們的起點。我們並不是試圖創建另一個記錄系統。我們正在努力將解決方案推向市場，以解決已經擁有過多記錄系統的公司的問題。事實上，他們需要弄清楚這一切。這就是客戶來到 Twilio 的目的。

Our next question comes from Michael Turrin with Wells Fargo Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行證券公司的麥可‧特林。

Aidan, on margin, that operating income target continues to move up fairly significantly, but we're also seeing some of the growth rates and core metrics in the Data & Apps segment, in particular, show some decay. So just wondering if you're reaching a point where you need to dial back the margin expansion and just drive some investment into reinforcing the foundation. Appreciate there's some just general transition happening there. Maybe just help level set how we should think about margin trajectory from here, given the significant improvements you're showing.

艾丹，在利潤方面，營業收入目標繼續大幅上升，但我們也看到數據和應用程式領域的一些成長率和核心指標出現了一些衰退。因此，我想知道您是否已經達到了需要縮減利潤擴張並推動一些投資來加強基礎的程度。感謝那裡正在發生一些一般性的轉變。考慮到您所展示的顯著改進，也許只是幫助我們設定如何從這裡考慮利潤軌跡。

Yes. So we guided to this year in terms of profit. We haven't given a guide for 2024. This year has obviously played out better than what we laid out coming into the year, so we're really pleased with the profit performance to date. When you think about that profit and you think about the relative -- the 2 different business units, the Communications business today generates 88% of our revenue, 82% of our non-GAAP gross profit. So that business is really the profit generator for the company.

是的。所以我們今年的指導是利潤方面的。我們還沒有給出 2024 年的指導。今年的表現顯然比我們今年的計劃要好，所以我們對迄今為止的利潤表現非常滿意。當您考慮利潤並考慮相對的（兩個不同的業務部門）時，通訊業務如今占我們收入的 88%，占我們非 GAAP 毛利的 82%。因此，該業務確實是公司的利潤來源。

And then on Data & Applications side, we're investing. So I would say that for the foreseeable future, you could assume that the efficiencies that we're generating on the Communications side of the house are really what's enabling the investment in Data & Applications. So I think that we have opportunity going forward to continue to see leverage.

然後在數據和應用程式方面，我們正在投資。因此，我想說，在可預見的未來，您可以假設我們在通訊方面所產生的效率確實能夠促進對數據和應用程式的投資。所以我認為我們未來有機會繼續看到槓桿作用。

I'd expect both of those -- or that leverage should come from 2 areas, largely the Communications business as we move to self-serve, as we shift to lower-cost regions and we leverage automation as well as the G&A functions where automation and shift to lower-cost regions are also areas that we're pursuing. But we're not going to give a specific outlook in terms of a range right now.

我希望這兩個領域都能發揮作用，或者說槓桿作用應該來自兩個領域，主要是通訊業務，因為我們轉向自助服務，因為我們轉向低成本地區，我們利用自動化以及自動化的 G&A 職能向低成本地區的轉移也是我們正在追求的領域。但我們現在不打算就範圍給予具體的展望。

Our next question comes from Alex Zukin with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Alex Zukin。

I guess maybe just the kind of 1A, 1B for me would be if you think about the Applications business, when -- we're talking about reacceleration. I guess maybe I just want to better understand when do we expect the net retention rate to trough? And then if I calculate just the change in deferred revenue plus the applications revenue, I think I get to about a 5% billings growth number for that business. Is that the right way to think about the kind of the range of the future growth rate kind of ex meaningful improvement?

我想，如果你考慮應用程式業務，當我們談論重新加速時，對我來說，也許就是 1A、1B。我想也許我只是想更了解我們預期淨保留率何時會觸底？然後，如果我只計算遞延收入加上應用程式收入的變化，我認為該業務的帳單成長率約為 5%。這是考慮未來成長率範圍的正確方法嗎？

And then maybe for Jeff, you guys have made such great progress on the operating efficiency side, but if we think about the reconstituting or, I would say, activating some of the sales motion on the app side, do you need -- is that where you actually need to put in now greater investment on the sales and marketing side and versus kind of where we've been seeing some of the savings?

然後，也許對傑夫來說，你們在營運效率方面取得瞭如此巨大的進步，但如果我們考慮重組，或者我想說，激活應用程式方面的一些銷售動作，您是否需要 - 是這樣嗎？您現在實際上需要在銷售和行銷方面投入更多投資，而不是我們已經看到一些節省的地方？

Why don't I start and then I'll hand it over to Jeff? So there was a lot in there. So starting with the Data & Applications kind of DBNE and where there's a trough. So we don't guide to that metric and I'm not going to give an outlook there, but maybe just some thoughts on the Data & Applications growth rate. So we grew 9% in the quarter. That was compared to 12% last quarter, so it did slow down a bit quarter-over-quarter.

為什麼我不開始然後把它交給傑夫呢？所以裡面有很多東西。因此，從資料和應用程式類型的 DBNE 開始，那裡有一個低谷。因此，我們不會指導該指標，我也不打算給出展望，但也許只是對數據和應用程式成長率的一些想法。所以我們本季成長了 9%。與上季度的 12% 相比，季度環比確實有所放緩。

And we would expect, just based on prior period bookings, we would expect more muted sequential revenue growth in the Data & Applications business in the fourth quarter, though we continue to expect sequential bookings improvement into Q4. And that's really where we're focused, higher bookings and reducing churn and contraction, as Jeff said, that will result in a higher revenue growth in the future. So that's the focus. We saw a number of solid wins in the quarter, and we're really working to build on the uptick in bookings we saw in the third quarter.

我們預計，僅根據前期預訂量，我們預計第四季度數據和應用程式業務的連續收入成長將更為溫和，儘管我們繼續預計第四季度的連續預訂量將有所改善。正如傑夫所說，這確實是我們關注的重點，提高預訂量並減少客戶流失和收縮，這將在未來帶來更高的收入成長。這就是重點。我們在本季度取得了許多穩固的勝利，並且我們正在努力以第三季預訂量的成長為基礎。

The second question was with regards to deferred revenue. So deferred revenue trends, so I wouldn't take this -- the change in the deferred revenue balance as -- I wouldn't over-index to it, I guess. It was driven by Data & Applications in the quarter. There's always timing and lumpiness of payments and things like that, but the trend -- it was driven by Data & Applications, but I wouldn't over-index to that number. So let me hand it over to Jeff to take the next part of the question.

第二個問題是關於遞延收入。因此，遞延收入趨勢，所以我不會將遞延收入餘額的變化視為——我想，我不會對其過度指數化。它是由本季的數據和應用程式推動的。支付之類的事情總是存在時間安排和波動性，但趨勢——它是由數據和應用程式驅動的，但我不會過度索引這個數字。因此，讓我將其交給傑夫回答問題的下一部分。

Thank you, Alex. The question was, essentially, we need to invest more in the sales effort for TD&A. And the short answer is no, I don't believe we do. We have hired a good number of reps. We have enabled them and we are starting to see that productivity. Now obviously, we want the whole thing to be happening faster, but in general, I don't think that spending more money on that effort is the answer. It's not a matter of us underinvesting.

謝謝你，亞歷克斯。問題本質上是，我們需要在 TD&A 的銷售工作上投入更多。簡短的回答是否定的，我不相信我們會這樣做。我們聘請了很多代表。我們已經啟用了它們，我們開始看到這種生產力。現在顯然，我們希望整件事情發生得更快，但總的來說，我不認為在這項工作上花費更多的錢就是答案。這不是我們投資不足的問題。

I think it's a matter of productivity, and I think it's a matter of continuing to evolve our presence in the market. And there's a number of things that we're doing in order to make that team continually growing in their productivity to hit the numbers that we want to hit. So I don't think it's a matter of us having to invest more. I think we've got enough waffles on the plate, now we just have to add some syrup.

我認為這是生產力的問題，也是繼續發展我們在市場中的地位的問題。我們正在做很多事情，以便使該團隊的生產力不斷提高，以達到我們想要達到的數字。所以我認為這不是我們必須增加投資的問題。我想盤子裡已經有足夠的華夫餅了，現在我們只需添加一些糖漿。

Our next question comes from James Fish with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自詹姆斯·菲什和派珀·桑德勒。

Building actually off of Michael's prior question around margin, actually wanting to [stay on] the cash flow side, Aidan, you actually talked about stronger collections. Can you just walk us through the linearity of what you actually saw this quarter overall, if we should expect more of these upfront deals to happen in the coming years so it would help drive these better collections overall? Additionally, is there any way to think about long-term free cash flow conversion relative to net income here over the next couple of years?

實際上是基於邁克爾之前關於利潤的問題，實際上想要[留在]現金流方面，艾丹，你實際上談到了更強大的收藏。您能否向我們介紹一下您在本季度實際看到的整體情況的線性情況，如果我們預計未來幾年會發生更多此類預付款交易，從而有助於推動整體上更好的產品系列？此外，是否有任何方法可以考慮未來幾年相對於淨利潤的長期自由現金流轉換？

Yes, let me just touch on free cash flow. So this is a record quarter for us, $195 million of free cash flow in the third quarter, second quarter of solid free cash flow generation. So a couple of things to consider there. Obviously, as we become more and more profitable, our free cash flow metrics should generally correlate with non-GAAP profit.

是的，讓我談談自由現金流。所以這對我們來說是一個創紀錄的季度，第三季度自由現金流為 1.95 億美元，第二季度自由現金流穩定產生。所以有幾件事要考慮。顯然，隨著我們的獲利能力越來越強，我們的自由現金流指標通常應該與非公認會計準則利潤相關。

We're not going to give a guide right now on what the free cash flow margin should be, but as profitability improves, free cash flow will improve. Now what tends to happen on free cash flow is there is some variability quarter-to-quarter with working capital. And this quarter, we ended up with higher collections or heightened collections relative to prior periods. We had about a 3-day improvement in DSO. We just don't expect that to happen every period.

我們現在不打算就自由現金流量利潤率應該是多少提供指導，但隨著獲利能力的提高，自由現金流量將會改善。現在，自由現金流往往會出現流動資金季度與季度之間的一些變化。本季度，我們最終獲得了比前期更高的收款或更高的收款。我們的 DSO 大約有 3 天的改善。我們只是不希望每個時期都會發生這種情況。

What I will say is even excluding that unusual heightened collections, our free cash flow was better in the quarter than the second quarter, so we did see improvement quarter-over-quarter. But you'll always have some of the lumpiness, whether it's collections or there's a prepayment in the quarter going the other way. And so it's never perfect. It's never linear. But like over time, we should see free cash flow improve as we see profitability improve.

我要說的是，即使排除異常增加的收款，我們本季的自由現金流也好於第二季度，因此我們確實看到了季度環比的改善。但你總是會遇到一些麻煩，無論是收款還是本季的預付款。所以它永遠不會完美。它從來都不是線性的。但隨著時間的推移，隨著獲利能力的提高，我們應該會看到自由現金流的改善。

Right. But can you talk about any linearity within the quarter itself, what you guys kind of saw earlier on versus kind of exiting here?

正確的。但是您能談談本季度本身的線性關係嗎？你們早些時候看到的與退出這裡的情況是什麼？

No, we're not going to break it down within the quarter.

不，我們不會在本季度內對其進行細分。

Our next question comes from Derrick Wood with TD Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 Derrick Wood 和 TD Cowen。

I wanted to touch on the continued pressure on net new customers at, I think, about 2,000 in the quarter. And I guess, how are you guys balancing investments in new customers versus cross-selling the base? And how are you feeling about the effectiveness of the PLG motion and driving new customers on the comp side?

我想談談本季淨新客戶數量約為 2,000 名的持續壓力。我想，你們如何平衡對新客戶的投資與交叉銷售基礎？您對 PLG 動議以及在補償方面吸引新客戶的有效性有何看法？

Let me just touch on the metric quickly, and then I'll let Khozema and Jeff talk more about the business. So one thing to note is that you're right, the Communications customer count, first of all, was up 10% year-over-year, up 1% quarter-over-quarter. There was a small detractor in there driven by the dispositions so that it would have been up slightly more if we didn't dispose of the ValueFirst business in the quarter.

讓我快速談談這個指標，然後我會讓 Khozema 和 Jeff 進一步討論業務。因此需要注意的一點是，您是對的，首先，通訊客戶數量較去年同期成長 10%，較上季成長 1%。由於處置的推動，存在一些小阻力，因此，如果我們不在本季度處置 ValueFirst 業務，則價格會略有上漲。

I think importantly, in that business, churn continues to be low. And so we don't see churn as a concern within the Communications business. So let me hand it over to Khozema and he can talk more about what's going on.

我認為重要的是，在該行業中，客戶流失率仍然很低。因此，我們不認為客戶流失是通訊業務的問題。因此，讓我將其交給科澤馬，他可以更多地談論正在發生的事情。

Yes. I mean I think just to provide a little additional color on the self-serve side of it, to answer your question outright, I mean, I feel quite good about some of the progress that we've been making there. We've obviously focused a lot of our efforts on streamlining it.

是的。我的意思是，我認為只是在自助服務方面提供一點額外的色彩，直接回答你的問題，我的意思是，我對我們在這方面取得的一些進展感到非常滿意。顯然，我們在簡化它方面投入了大量精力。

I would say, in the very recent past, the 10DLC registration process that we went through certainly drove some friction in terms of new customer sign-ups and stuff like that. But absolutely, it was the right thing to do, and we feel really, really good about the trust that we've been able to create the ecosystem as a result of that.

我想說，在最近的過去，我們經歷的 10DLC 註冊流程確實在新客戶註冊等方面帶來了一些摩擦。但絕對，這是正確的做法，我們對因此能夠創建生態系統的信任感到非常非常滿意。

I think beyond that, we do feel like, A, that there'll be ongoing efficiencies that we'll be able to drive into the self-serve side of things, but I don't think it's going to end up coming at the expense of growth. I think importantly, we're not seeing any pressure on pricing, for example.

我認為除此之外，我們確實覺得，A，我們將能夠提高自助服務的持續效率，但我不認為這最終會出現在成長的代價。我認為重要的是，例如，我們沒有看到任何定價壓力。

We highlighted a number of really interesting wins in the quarter that actually came from products that were beyond messaging. That also feels pretty good. Aidan kind of alluded to the fact that it is a bit of a volatile macro. I think in spite of that, the business continues to perform quite well.

我們強調了本季度許多非常有趣的勝利，這些勝利實際上來自於訊息傳遞之外的產品。這感覺也還不錯。艾丹提到了這樣一個事實：它是一個不穩定的宏。我認為儘管如此，該業務仍然表現良好。

And I think probably the most important dynamic in the whole thing is, is that we are seeing a stabilization in volumes. And while we don't necessarily see an inflection yet, I think we do have a fair amount of optimism about Q4 and how things look heading into 2024.

我認為整個事情中最重要的動態可能是我們看到數量的穩定性。雖然我們還不一定會看到轉折點，但我認為我們確實對第四季以及 2024 年的情況抱持相當樂觀的態度。

Our next question comes from Samad Samana with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Samad Samana。

This is Billy Fitzsimmons on for Samad Samana. I want to dig a little deeper into the macro impacts in the prepared remarks and build on some of the questions that were already answered by kind of digging into the incremental macro impacts in the third quarter. It sounds like churn remains stable and you're calling out growth slowdowns in cost-cutting measures for some of your customers.

我是薩馬德·薩馬納 (Samad Samana) 的比利·菲茨西蒙斯 (Billy Fitzsimmons)。我想在準備好的發言中更深入地探討宏觀影響，並以透過深入研究第三季增量宏觀影響而已經回答的一些問題為基礎。聽起來客戶流失率保持穩定，您正在呼籲某些客戶採取成本削減措施，導致成長放緩。

But curious if you could dig in a little more on how the business metrics tracked over the course of the third quarter when compared to the second. And Twilio was pretty upfront about the macro impacts in the first half of the year, and you've talked about business trends a little bit in the answers to some of the other questions.

但很好奇您是否可以更深入地了解第三季與第二季相比業務指標的追蹤情況。 Twilio 對上半年的宏觀影響非常坦率，您在回答其他一些問題時也談到了一些業務趨勢。

But what I'm trying to get at here is that we're midway through earnings season, and we've heard from a couple of software companies this quarter that specifically called out that headwinds that got incrementally worse in the third quarter, and some software companies called out that there was a material drop in spending from certain customer verticals. Others called out diverging spending trends in enterprise versus SMB customers, noting that SMB got incrementally weaker over the course of the quarter. So curious to hear a little bit more about how Twilio's business compares to that commentary from some other companies.

但我在這裡想說的是，我們正處於財報季的中期，本季度我們收到了幾家軟體公司的來信，特別指出第三季度的不利因素越來越嚴重，而且一些軟體公司指出，某些垂直客戶領域的支出大幅下降。其他人則指出企業與中小企業客戶的支出趨勢存在差異，並指出中小企業在本季逐漸疲軟。我很想更多地了解 Twilio 的業務與其他一些公司的評論相比如何。

Sure. So why don't I start and then Khozema or Jeff can jump in as well. So as it relates to -- let's talk about Communications. That's the vast majority of the business. So we continue to see volumes remain stable in the quarter. So that's been 2 quarters in a row. Second quarter and third quarter, we've seen volumes stabilize, and that played out through the third quarter. And when you look at it at an industry level, we do see some verticals presenting a headwind.

當然。那為什麼我不先開始，然後科澤馬或傑夫也可以加入。因此，我們來談談通信。這是絕大多數業務。因此，我們繼續看到本季的銷量保持穩定。這已經是連續兩個季度了。第二季和第三季度，我們看到銷量穩定下來，並且這種情況一直持續到第三季度。當你從產業層面來看時，我們確實看到一些垂直產業面臨逆風。

We talked about crypto and social and messaging, but when you look at the other kind of larger industry verticals, we are seeing growth in those. And so our overall growth rate is somewhat masked by the headwinds that we are seeing on crypto and in social and media as well.

我們討論了加密貨幣、社交和訊息傳遞，但當你看看其他類型的更大的垂直行業時，我們看到了這些領域的成長。因此，我們的整體成長率在某種程度上被我們在加密貨幣、社群和媒體領域看到的逆風所掩蓋。

So we do feel good about where the business is. I'd also say as you think about the dollar-based net expansion rate for that business, so it's lower than it historically has been. It's 101% in the quarter. And it's an 8% growth rate overall, right? So the vast majority of the growth is coming from the new customer base.

因此，我們確實對業務所在位置感到滿意。我還想說，當你考慮到該業務以美元為基礎的淨擴張率時，它低於歷史水平。本季為 101%。整體成長率是 8%，對嗎？因此，絕大多數成長來自新客戶群。

The other thing to consider on the dollar-based net expansion rate is what we're seeing is churn has been historically low. It continues to be low. We're seeing really higher contraction and lower expansion relative to historical levels, and this is where something like crypto comes into play. So it's a good example in terms of understanding what we're seeing.

關於以美元為基礎的淨擴張率需要考慮的另一件事是，我們看到客戶流失率一直處於歷史低點。它仍然處於低位。相對於歷史水平，我們看到了真正更高的收縮和更低的擴張，這就是加密貨幣等東西發揮作用的地方。因此，就理解我們所看到的內容而言，這是一個很好的例子。

So obviously, when there's less crypto volumes on our customers' platforms, it results in less verification messages on our platform. So we are seeing some specific industry headwinds, but overall, feel pretty good about how the business is performing from a stabilization perspective and across most of the industry.

顯然，當我們客戶平台上的加密貨幣量減少時，我們平台上的驗證訊息就會減少。因此，我們看到了一些特定的行業阻力，但總體而言，從穩定的角度來看，整個行業的業務表現相當不錯。

Yes. I would basically agree with what Aidan said. I mean I think you specifically asked about headwinds in part of your question. And I think the one that we've pointed out a number of times now is crypto. We've also historically kind of talked about social and messaging and some of the headwinds associated with those categories.

是的。我基本上同意艾丹所說的。我的意思是，我認為您在問題的一部分中特別詢問了逆風。我認為我們現在多次指出的就是加密貨幣。我們歷史上也討論過社交和訊息傳遞以及與這些類別相關的一些不利因素。

But I think if you look at several of the other industries in which we participate, we are seeing pretty good growth, and I think that generally makes us feel pretty good. As Aidan alluded to, volumes have been stable. That certainly feels pretty encouraging.

但我認為，如果你看看我們參與的其他幾個行業，我們會看到相當好的成長，我認為這通常會讓我們感覺很好。正如艾丹所提到的那樣，銷量一直穩定。這確實讓人感覺非常鼓舞人心。

And I think the way that we've dialed the business and the way that we've addressed our cost structure, I think in spite of whatever it is that kind of comes at us for the foreseeable future, we feel pretty good about the way that the business is sized. And so I think now we're prepared to kind of execute through whatever that environment is.

我認為我們開展業務的方式以及我們解決成本結構的方式，我認為無論在可預見的未來我們會遇到什麼，我們對這種方式感覺很好業務規模。所以我認為現在我們已經準備好在任何環境下執行。

Perfect. I mean, any difference in spending for enterprise versus SMBs at this point?

完美的。我的意思是，目前企業與中小企業的支出有什麼不同嗎？

Nothing specific that I would really point to there. I mean we gave you a little bit of additional color on self-serve earlier. I mean I think there were some short-term dynamics with 10DLC, for example, that created some friction at the time. We're past that now so I wouldn't really expect that to persist. I wouldn't call out anything specific with enterprises.

我確實沒有什麼具體指出的。我的意思是，我們之前為您提供了一些有關自助服務的額外資訊。我的意思是，我認為 10DLC 等方面存在一些短期動態，這在當時造成了一些摩擦。我們現在已經過去了，所以我真的不希望這種情況持續下去。我不會對企業提出任何具體的要求。

Our next question comes from Ryan Koontz with Needham & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Needham & Company 的 Ryan Koontz。

I wanted to drill down on kind of where we are on the cost-out journey for the Comms business. Obviously, a lot of great work there in terms of expanding profitability. How much room is there to go either through the self-service efforts or other programs that are still in place and what you're working on?

我想深入了解我們在通訊業務成本支出過程中的位置。顯然，在擴大獲利能力方面做了很多偉大的工作。有多少空間可以完成自助服務工作或其他仍在實施的計劃以及您正在進行的工作？

Yes. I mean, obviously, we've come quite a long way in a short period of time. I do think that there is some additional opportunity in terms of driving efficiency. I think that as you've seen in the published results, our business has responded quite well as a result of some of the structural changes that we've made.

是的。我的意思是，顯然，我們在短時間內取得了巨大的進步。我確實認為在提高效率方面還有一些額外的機會。我認為，正如您在已發布的業績中看到的那樣，由於我們所做的一些結構性變革，我們的業務反應良好。

We did 2, right, that we've kind of talked about over the last year or so. And as a result, we've been able to take out quite a lot of cost. I think we've also driven a lot more disciplined focus, simplicity and all of that has created greater efficiency. In terms of additional areas, I mean, I think we talked about self-serve a little bit. I think that's always an area that will allow us to drive ongoing efficiencies.

我們做了 2 個，對吧，我們在過去一年左右的時間裡已經討論過了。結果，我們已經能夠節省相當多的成本。我認為我們也推動了更嚴格的專注、簡化，所有這些都創造了更高的效率。就其他領域而言，我認為我們討論了一點自助服務。我認為這始終是一個能讓我們持續提高效率的領域。

I think in that category, in particular, what we've really been focused on is simplifying the onboarding, the experience, the user experience, the kind of product journey so that a lot of the kind of high-touch human interactions that would have happened historically, that those have waned and that will help us reduce our cost of sale.

我認為在這個類別中，我們真正關注的是簡化入職、體驗、用戶體驗、產品旅程的類型，以便許多高接觸性的人際互動歷史上發生過這種情況，但這些已經減少，這將有幫助於我們降低銷售成本。

I don't think we have to really add any material incremental headcount to the Communications business to get after growth. So that feels pretty good as well. AI is obviously an area that you can imagine, both externally and many of the remarks that Jeff shared and Aidan shared earlier in terms of like CustomerAI, like we definitely see that being a growth accelerate at some point.

我認為我們不必為通訊業務增加任何實質的增量人員來實現成長。所以這種感覺也很好。人工智慧顯然是一個你可以想像的領域，無論是在外部還是傑夫和艾丹之前在 CustomerAI 等方面分享的許多言論，就像我們肯定會看到成長在某個時刻加速一樣。

But I think two, we're also looking at some internal opportunities in which we can drive efficiencies there as well. And so I think just to put a wrapper on the whole thing, we feel like that we can continue driving incremental growth without really any sort of meaningful increase in the operating expense profile, and that's how we're running the business.

但我認為第二，我們也在尋找一些內部機會，在這些機會中我們也可以提高效率。因此，我認為，簡單地概括一下整個事情，我們覺得我們可以繼續推動增量成長，而無需在營運費用方面做出任何有意義的增加，這就是我們經營業務的方式。

Our next question comes from Pat Walravens with JMP Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 JMP 證券的 Pat Walravens。

It's really great to see the success of the Communications business at nearly $1 billion quarterly run rate. My question, Jeff, is I mean, if -- even with new leadership, the TD&A business performance doesn't improve, do you think Twilio could drive sustained long-term shareholder value just with the Communications business and without the TD&A business?

看到通訊業務以近 10 億美元的季度運行率取得成功，真是太棒了。 Jeff，我的問題是，即使有了新的領導層，TD&A 業務業績也沒有改善，您認為 Twilio 可以僅透過通訊業務而不透過 TD&A 業務來推動持續的長期股東價值嗎？

Yes. Thank you, Pat, for the question. So look, I'm really proud what the Communications business has driven as well. I think we've shown the business at scale can drive profit. However, I do think that an even better business that we're building over the long term is a business that fuses communications and data together. Why? Because with an understanding of who those communications are going to, we can drive better communications, not just more communications. And that's the strategy that we're pursuing.

是的。謝謝帕特提出的問題。所以看，我對通訊業務的推動也感到非常自豪。我認為我們已經證明了規模化業務可以帶來利潤。然而，我確實認為，從長遠來看，我們正在建立的更好的業務是將通訊和數據融合在一起的業務。為什麼？因為透過了解這些通信的對象，我們可以推動更好的通信，而不僅僅是更多的通信。這就是我們正在追求的策略。

And so if we are able to take the data assets in Segment and bring them together with our Communications assets, what we have the opportunity to do is add a lot more value to our customers, drive a lot more software value to the company and really competitively differentiate in a market where this is what customers want. Customers want more effective communication.

因此，如果我們能夠將細分市場中的數據資產與我們的通訊資產結合在一起，我們就有機會為我們的客戶增加更多價值，為公司帶來更多軟體價值，並真正實現這一目標.在客戶想要的市場中實現競爭優勢。客戶希望更有效的溝通。

So I love these stories about how -- for example, I talked earlier in the prepared remarks about the customers using Segment using predictive traits were able to bring down the cost of customer acquisition by 85%, right? Like those are the types of stories and business results I think we can drive when we bring together data, which allows companies to be a lot smarter and Communications, which is the vehicle to actually drive a lot of those outcomes in terms of how you talk to a customer.

因此，我喜歡這些故事，例如，我之前在準備好的評論中談到，使用 Segment 並使用預測特徵的客戶能夠將客戶獲取成本降低 85%，對吧？就像這些故事和業務成果的類型一樣，我認為當我們匯集數據時，我們可以推動這一點，這使公司變得更加聰明，而溝通，這是根據你的談話方式實際推動許多這些成果的工具給客戶。

And so when I think about the opportunity ahead, look, so far, the conversation has been very much focused on the stand-alone nature of the Segment business. And obviously, we've been focused on making sure that we drive growth as a stand-alone. But what we've -- the next step for us is to really start talking about what we can unlock together. And that's the better, not more story.

因此，當我思考未來的機會時，到目前為止，對話主要集中在細分市場業務的獨立性質上。顯然，我們一直致力於確保我們能夠獨立推動成長。但我們的下一步是真正開始討論我們可以共同解鎖什麼。這就是更好的故事，而不是更多的故事。

And I'm really looking forward to using especially AI and all the things we talked about with CustomerAI as the vehicle to fuse communications and data together in a way that's extremely differentiated and honestly is emerging, right? There's no one in that market today, and so the gift of the renaissance of AI that's going on right now is the idea that you can get out there with a new value proposition that is truly differentiated, and that's what we're pursuing.

我真的很期待使用人工智慧以及我們與 CustomerAI 討論的所有內容作為工具，以一種極其差異化且正在出現的方式將通訊和數據融合在一起，對吧？如今這個市場上還沒有人，所以現在正在發生的人工智慧復興的禮物是這樣一個想法：你可以帶著一個真正與眾不同的新價值主張走出去，這就是我們所追求的。

Our next question comes from Ryan MacWilliams with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Ryan MacWilliams。

Any early insight into how your customers are thinking about holiday season traffic this year similar to last year? And then just we've seen a pickup in M&A recently from a number of software companies. Just checking to see if there's been any incremental changes on your strategy there.

與去年類似，您是否可以初步了解您的客戶對今年假期季節流量的看法？最近，我們看到許多軟體公司的併購活動增加。只要檢查一下您的策略是否有任何增量變化。

I can talk about maybe holiday seasonality and then Aidan can talk about capital allocation, or Jeff. In terms of the holidays, I mean, there is some seasonality, obviously. We would certainly anticipate that, as with any prior period, especially around the kind of Thanksgiving period, that we'll see an uptick in certain traffic certainly heading into the Christmas season. But I wouldn't call out anything unusual relative to prior years. I think it will be kind of the normal seasonality that we see in the business, and it will more or less line up with what Aidan provided in the guidance.

我可以談談假期季節性，然後艾丹可以談談資本配置，或者傑夫。就假期而言，我的意思是，顯然存在一些季節性。我們當然預計，與之前的任何時期一樣，特別是在感恩節期間，我們肯定會看到聖誕節期間某些流量的上升。但我不會指出與前幾年相比有什麼不尋常的地方。我認為這將是我們在業務中看到的正常季節性，並且或多或少與艾丹在指南中提供的內容一致。

This is Jeff. I'll talk about M&A. As a matter of good corporate hygiene, we always are keeping an active game board of opportunities that are out there in the market. That said, I don't think M&A is our top priority right now. Obviously, we're digesting a lot of change, and we're really proud of the results that we've shown in terms of turning the corner on non-GAAP operating profit and really growing the business in an organic way. And so that's really where the management team's focus is right now. But that said, we always do keep an active game board, and obviously, we've got a pretty good war chest.

這是傑夫。我來談併購。出於良好的企業衛生考慮，我們始終保持積極的市場機會遊戲盤。也就是說，我不認為併購是我們目前的首要任務。顯然，我們正在消化很多變化，我們對我們在扭轉非公認會計原則營業利潤和真正以有機方式發展業務方面所取得的成果感到非常自豪。因此，這確實是管理團隊目前的焦點。但話雖如此，我們總是保持一個活躍的遊戲板，顯然，我們有一個相當不錯的戰爭基金。

Our final question comes from Fred Havemeyer with Macquarie Capital.

我們的最後一個問題來自麥格理資本的 Fred Havemeyer。

I think I fundamentally agree about data as one of the key differentiators in the generative AI application race. And I think just closing out the call, I guess with a question at a high level here, big picture, longer term, OpenAI at the start of the week, I think, hinted at a longer-term trend that we might see more autonomous agents in the AI space where they carry out tasks without human intervention.

我認為我從根本上同意數據是產生人工智慧應用競賽的關鍵差異化因素之一。我認為，在結束電話會議時，我想，我想在本周初提出一個高層問題、大局、長期問題，我認為 OpenAI 暗示了一種長期趨勢，即我們可能會看到更自主的趨勢人工智慧領域中的代理無需人工幹預即可執行任務。

And so just thinking about that where perhaps more is done via AI automatically without human communication, how do you see Twilio over the next -- I mean, I don't know who can estimate when we might see this exactly, but over the next coming years, where Twilio would fit into that value chain?

因此，只要想一想，也許更多的事情是透過人工智慧自動完成的，無需人類交流，你如何看待Twilio 在接下來的時間裡——我的意思是，我不知道誰能估計我們什麼時候可以準確地看到這一點，但在接下來的時間裡未來幾年，Twilio 將融入該價值鏈的哪個位置？

Thank you, Fred. Look, this AI world is rapidly evolving. And I think what we've set out is our vision for our role in it, which is to help companies to use predictive and generative AI to really automate and improve all their customer interactions by taking a really good understanding of their customers, the story that's told by the data that those customers give off, their clicks, their scrolls, what do they sign up for, what do they not sign up for, everything that they've done, turn that into an understanding of the customer, that's the Segment profile, take that profile and now inject it into every touch point a company has using AI to improve every one of those touch points.

謝謝你，弗雷德。看，這個人工智慧世界正在迅速發展。我認為我們所闡述的是我們對自己在其中的角色的願景，即幫助公司使用預測性和生成式人工智慧，透過真正了解客戶、故事來真正實現自動化和改善所有客戶互動。這是透過這些客戶發出的數據來告訴的，他們的點擊，他們的滾動，他們註冊了什麼，他們不註冊什麼，他們所做的一切，將其轉化為對客戶的了解，這就是細分配置文件，獲取該配置文件，然後將其註入公司使用人工智慧的每個接觸點，以改善每個接觸點。

I think you're going to see a tremendous amount of automation in terms of customer service, in terms of presales, in terms of marketing. When we showed this vision at SIGNAL, which basically says, look, I believe there's going to be a tremendous amount of automation. Now one -- part of that is this idea of like agents that are taking actions on behalf of people. And I absolutely think that's true. We look at what else is going to happen, right, those agents are going to be taking actions on behalf of companies.

我認為你會在客戶服務、售前和行銷方面看到大量的自動化。當我們在 SIGNAL 上展示這個願景時，基本上就是說，看，我相信將會出現大量的自動化。其中之一就是類似代理人代表人們採取行動的想法。我絕對認為這是真的。我們看看還會發生什麼，對吧，那些代理人將代表公司採取行動。

And the raw ingredients for how those agents are going to operate is, number one, they have to have access to knowledge about the companies. Number two, they have to have access to tools to go operate within those companies. Number three, they're going to need access to guardrails about what they're allowed to do. And number four, they need access to the information about the customer that they're serving.

這些代理商如何運作的首要要素是，他們必須能夠了解有關公司的資訊。第二，他們必須能夠獲得在這些公司內運作的工具。第三，他們需要了解他們被允許做什麼的護欄。第四，他們需要存取有關他們所服務的客戶的資訊。

And that's the kind of framework that we've thought about as we've gone about thinking how is CustomerAI going to change how companies operate every customer-facing function? And we believe there's a tremendous amount of automation that is going to come to play. And the result of that automation, I think companies are going to get 10x more productive at serving their customers. They can do it at 1/10 of the cost that they probably would have to spend otherwise. And we're here to power that future for our customers.

這就是我們在思考 CustomerAI 將如何改變公司經營每個面向客戶的職能的方式時所考慮的框架？我們相信大量的自動化將會發揮作用。我認為，自動化的結果是，公司在服務客戶方面的效率將提高 10 倍。他們只需花費原本可能需要花費的 1/10 的成本即可做到這一點。我們致力於為客戶的未來提供動力。

This will conclude Twilio's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Thank you for joining us today. You may now disconnect.

Twilio 的 2023 年第三季財報電話會議至此結束。感謝您今天加入我們。您現在可以斷開連線。