Upwork Inc (UPWK) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Upwork's first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised today's conference is being recorded. I would like to end the conference over to your speaker today, Samuel Meehan, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Upwork 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。今天會議的最後，我想請投資人關係副總裁 Samuel Meehan 致詞。請繼續。

Thank you and welcome to Upwork's discussion of its first quarter 2025 financial results. Joining me today are Hayden Brown, Upwork's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Erica Gessert, Upwork's Chief Financial Officer. Following management's prepared remarks, they will be happy to take your questions.

謝謝您，歡迎參加 Upwork 2025 年第一季財務業績討論。今天與我一起出席的還有 Upwork 總裁兼執行長 Hayden Brown；以及 Upwork 財務長 Erica Gessert。在管理層準備好發言之後，他們會很樂意回答您的問題。

But first I'll review the Safe Harbor statement. During this call, we may make statements related to our business that are forward-looking statements under Federal Securities Laws. Forward-looking statements include all statements other than statements of historical fact. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, but rather are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Our actual results could differ materially from expectations reflected in any forward-looking statement.

但首先我要回顧一下安全港聲明。在本次電話會議中，我們可能會做出與我們的業務相關的聲明，這些聲明根據聯邦證券法屬於前瞻性聲明。前瞻性陳述包括除歷史事實陳述以外的所有陳述。這些聲明並非對未來表現的保證，而是受各種風險、不確定性和假設的影響。我們的實際結果可能與任何前瞻性聲明中反映的預期有重大差異。

For a discussion of the material risks and other important factors that could affect our actual results, please refer to our SEC filings available on the SEC website and on our Investor Relations website, as well as the risks and other important factors discussed in today's earnings press release. Additional information will be set forth in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 when filed.

有關可能影響我們實際結果的重大風險和其他重要因素的討論，請參閱美國證券交易委員會網站和投資者關係網站上提供的美國證券交易委員會文件，以及今天的收益新聞稿中討論的風險和其他重要因素。更多資訊將在我們提交的截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日季度的 10-Q 表格季度報告中列出。

In addition, reference will be made to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Information regarding non-GAAP financial measures, including reconciliations to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in the press release that was issued this afternoon on our Investor Relations website at investors.upwork.com.

此外，也將參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標。有關非 GAAP 財務指標的資訊（包括與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的對帳）可在我們今天下午在投資者關係網站 investors.upwork.com 上發布的新聞稿中找到。

Unless otherwise noted, reported figures are rounded. Comparisons for the first quarter of 2025 are to the first quarter of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures, and all other financial measures are GAAP unless cited as non-GAAP.

除非另有說明，報告的數字都是四捨五入的。2025 年第一季與 2024 年第一季進行比較。調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率和自由現金流量均為非 GAAP 財務指標，所有其他財務指標均為 GAAP，除非註明為非 GAAP。

Now I'll turn the call over to Hayden.

現在我將把電話轉給海登。

Good afternoon and welcome to Upwork's first quarter 2025 earnings call. Upwork had a strong start to the year as our first quarter results feed our plan on both the top and bottom lines. Revenue of $192.7 million exceeded the high end of our guidance range. Combined with consistent cost discipline that led to record high adjusted EBITDA of $56 million and adjusted EBITDA margin of 29%, we have proven quarter after quarter that we can execute well and lead our industry in any market environment.

下午好，歡迎參加 Upwork 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。Upwork 今年開局表現強勁，第一季的業績為我們的營收和利潤計畫提供了支持。1.927 億美元的收入超出了我們預期範圍的上限。加上持續的成本控制，我們實現了創紀錄的 5600 萬美元調整後 EBITDA 和 29% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率，我們已逐季證明，我們能夠在任何市場環境下表現良好並引領行業。

Our business is extraordinarily resilient, and our strategy and execution have resulted in industry leading performance over multiple years, despite the uncertain operating environment. Additionally, Upwork is not directly exposed to announced tariffs, nor to ongoing federal cost savings measures.

我們的業務具有極強的韌性，儘管經營環境不確定，但我們的策略和執行多年來一直保持行業領先業績。此外，Upwork 不會直接受到已公佈的關稅或正在進行的聯邦成本節約措施的影響。

Our core marketplace performed well in Q1, where GSV per active client grew year over year for the first time in six quarters and increased sequentially for a third consecutive quarter. We also drove sizable GSV out performance in the marketplace through several product enhancements to search, recommendations, and other customer experiences.

我們的核心市場在第一季表現良好，每位活躍客戶的 GSV 六個季度以來首次同比增長，並連續第三個季度環比增長。我們也透過對搜尋、推薦和其他客戶體驗進行多項產品改進，大幅提升了 GSV 在市場上的表現。

Upwork has helped businesses reinvent through every work transformation of the last 20 years, enabling them with the highly skilled talent required to deliver cloud solutions, build e-commerce storefronts, and embrace the eras of mobile and social media. With AI being the next and biggest paradigm shift for organizations, Upwork is becoming the critical infrastructure for enabling the combination of humans and AI to work together to achieve business outcomes.

在過去 20 年裡，Upwork 幫助企業透過每一次工作轉型進行重塑，為他們提供提供雲端解決方案、建立電子商務店面以及擁抱行動和社交媒體時代所需的高技能人才。隨著人工智慧成為組織的下一個也是最大的範式轉變，Upwork 正成為實現人類與人工智慧結合以實現業務成果的關鍵基礎設施。

While AI is rapidly changing every company from the smallest startups to the largest enterprises, an AI skills gap exists today, with 63% of employers citing a lack of AI skills as the top barrier to transforming their businesses. We are a critical resource to clients as they navigate this tectonic transformation.

儘管人工智慧正在迅速改變每家公司，從最小的新創公司到最大的企業，但目前仍有人工智慧技能差距，63% 的雇主認為缺乏人工智慧技能是轉變業務的最大障礙。在客戶應對這一重大轉變的過程中，我們是他們的重要資源。

One of the world's largest social media platforms has engaged highly skilled math experts on Upwork to safeguard the quality of their training data for integral LLMs. Multiple companies, including one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world, have relied on a South Carolina-based AI and data science agency on Upwork for healthcare-specific, low code apps, and AI solutions.

全球最大的社群媒體平台之一已在 Upwork 上聘請了高技能的數學專家，以保障其積分法學碩士培訓資料的品質。包括全球頂級製藥公司之一在內的多家公司都依賴 Upwork 上一家位於南卡羅來納州的人工智慧和數據科學機構提供醫療保健專用的低程式碼應用程式和人工智慧解決方案。

A mid-sized law firm in Florida that specializes in representing veterans turned to Upwork freelancers to transform their knowledge management system with AI, building a custom GPT to organize their massive corpus of documents and access key information in an instant.

佛羅裡達州一家專門代表退伍軍人的中型律師事務所向 Upwork 自由工作者尋求幫助，利用人工智慧改造他們的知識管理系統，建立客製化的 GPT 來組織他們大量的文件並立即存取關鍵資訊。

These examples are a testament to how Upwork's talent base constantly evolves to meet new business needs. Today we have a deep reservoir of 80,000 AI specialists on our platform globally who have already put their expertise to work in designing, developing, and deploying AI systems for clients, and that pool is growing every day.

這些例子證明了 Upwork 的人才基礎如何持續發展以滿足新的業務需求。如今，我們的平台在全球擁有 80,000 名人工智慧專家，他們已經將自己的專業知識用於為客戶設計、開發和部署人工智慧系統，而這個人才庫每天都在成長。

Clients of all sizes are coming to Upwork to find this expert AI talent for complex long-term projects ranging from model training and tuning to integrating LLMs into new products to building AI-powered workflows across departments. As our customers have been embracing AI, we ourselves have been racing ahead to make Upwork a truly AI native platform.

各種規模的客戶都來到 Upwork 尋找專業的人工智慧人才來完成複雜的長期項目，從模型訓練和調整到將 LLM 整合到新產品中，再到跨部門建立人工智慧驅動的工作流程。隨著我們的客戶不斷擁抱人工智慧，我們自己也不斷努力，將 Upwork 打造成一個真正的人工智慧原生平台。

Our investments in Uma, Upwork's Mindful AI, are transforming our customer experience by offloading mundane tasks and making the work journey on Upwork more productive and seamless. This is just the beginning of how with Uma we envision providing customers with a fully capable AI work agent that can do everything from informing hiring decisions to helping freelancers win work to end to end project management.

我們對 Uma（Upwork 的 Mindful AI）的投資正在透過卸載日常任務並使 Upwork 上的工作旅程更加高效和無縫來改變我們的客戶體驗。這只是我們設想透過 Uma 為客戶提供一個功能齊全的 AI 工作代理的開始，它可以做所有事情，從通知招聘決策到幫助自由工作者贏得工作，再到端到端的專案管理。

Uma powered features we recently launched like Proposal Writing and candidate evaluation experienced strong uptake. We saw 52% more users engaging with Uma overall in Q1 than in Q4 2024, including a 58% lift in engagement with Uma powered Proposal Writing as just one example. AI features have already had positive impacts across our platform, driving up volumes of proposals and bids, new client conversion, hiring rates, contract volumes, time to hire, time to start, and freelancer earnings.

我們最近推出的由 Uma 提供支援的功能（如提案撰寫和候選人評估）得到了廣泛的應用。我們發現，2024 年第一季使用 Uma 的用戶總數比第四季度增加了 52%，其中使用 Uma 支援的提案撰寫功能的參與度提升了 58%。人工智慧功能已經對我們的平台產生了積極的影響，提高了提案和投標的數量、新客戶轉換率、招聘率、合約量、招聘時間、開始時間和自由工作者的收入。

We are encouraged by the impact of these advancements in making Upwork the leading AI native work marketplace operating at scale. Our significant AI investments are paying off both organically and as we have put capital to work through tech and talent acquisitions that have accelerated our AI roadmap.

這些進步的影響令我們感到鼓舞，使 Upwork 成為領先的、大規模營運的 AI 原生工作市場。我們對人工智慧的大量投資正在獲得回報，一方面是內部回報，另一方面是透過技術和人才收購將資本投入使用，加速了我們的人工智慧路線圖。

In Q4, we successfully integrated Objective AI's native search technology and team. As planned, this team is already injecting incremental innovation capacity into our business, contributing new capabilities in search and match that are showing promising effects on GSV.

第四季度，我們成功整合了Objective AI的原生搜尋技術和團隊。按照計劃，該團隊已經為我們的業務注入了增量創新能力，在搜尋和匹配方面貢獻了新的能力，這些能力正在對 GSV 產生良好的影響。

Upwork is well positioned to lead this AI revolution for our category with clear advantages in the largest work data set and scaled marketplace, the right talent and tech platform, and ample R&D investment. We have much more in store throughout 2025, including building more personalized AI powered experiences for acquisition and onboarding that set up customers for immediate success, along with AI matching features that improve hiring efficiency and drive superior hiring outcomes.

Upwork 擁有明顯的優勢，包括最大的工作資料集和規模化的市場、合適的人才和技術平台以及充足的研發投入，完全有能力引領我們這個類別的人工智慧革命。2025 年我們將推出更多內容，包括為招募和入職建立更個人化的 AI 驅動體驗，幫助客戶立即獲得成功，以及提高招募效率和推動卓越招募結果的 AI 匹配功能。

We made solid progress in Q1 on our strategies to unlock spend from larger clients. Upwork Business Plus, our new premium marketplace offering focused on larger clients, is performing well. Active clients on Business Plus more than doubled quarter over quarter, reflecting both net new additions and upgrades from our standard marketplace plan.

在第一季度，我們在釋放大客戶支出的策略上取得了堅實的進展。Upwork Business Plus 是我們新推出的專注於大客戶的高級市場產品，表現良好。Business Plus 的活躍客戶數量環比增長了一倍多，反映了我們標準市場計劃的淨新增客戶和升級。

Business Plus has become an attractive value proposition for new customers, with approximately 40% of active Business Plus clients being new customers. This is true without any significant paid marketing, a testament to the offerings value proposition meeting a clear client need. Taken together, Business Plus and enterprise are delivering growth in GSV and revenue from large customers.

Business Plus 已成為吸引新客戶的一個有吸引力的價值主張，其中約 40% 的活躍 Business Plus 客戶是新客戶。無需任何重大付費行銷即可實現這一點，證明了產品的價值主張滿足了明確的客戶需求。總體而言，Business Plus 和企業正在實現 GSV 和大客戶收入的成長。

With the first half of 2025 representing transitional quarters for enterprise, we are on track with our plan and making steady progress. As we mentioned last quarter, our Enterprise strategy is evolving as we align our approach to access a greater share of traditional contingent staffing budgets, and we will share more on these developments on the enterprise front in coming quarters.

2025年上半年是企業的過渡期，我們的計畫正在按計畫進行，並且取得穩步進展。正如我們上個季度提到的那樣，隨著我們調整方法以獲得更大份額的傳統臨時人員預算，我們的企業策略正在不斷發展，我們將在未來幾季分享有關企業方面更多發展的資訊。

The strength of our business is evident in record first quarter revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA margin. Following our better than expected results in Q1 and our continued accelerated execution, we are reiterating our revenue guidance for the full year and increasing our adjusted EBITDA guidance range for 2025.

我們業務的強勁表現體現在第一季創紀錄的營收、調整後的 EBITDA 和調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率。繼第一季業績優於預期且我們持續加速執行之後，我們重申全年營收預期，並提高 2025 年調整後 EBITDA 預期範圍。

We're excited about the massive opportunities ahead of us in AI, enterprise, and ads and monetization, along with the pace at which we are innovating and executing to realize those opportunities. 2025 will be a year where we continue our market share gains while growing profitability, free cash flow, and long term shareholder value. We are confident we have the right model, talent, investments, and plan to deliver results in 2025 and to continue on the path toward more meaningful top line growth in the future.

我們對人工智慧、企業、廣告和貨幣化領域的巨大機會以及我們為實現這些機會而進行的創新和執行的速度感到興奮。 2025 年，我們將繼續擴大市場份額，同時提高獲利能力、自由現金流和長期股東價值。我們相信，我們擁有正確的模式、人才、投資和計劃，能夠在 2025 年取得成果，並在未來繼續實現更有意義的營收成長。

With that, I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Erica Gessert.

說完這些，我將把電話轉給我們的財務長 Erica Gessert。

Thanks, Hayden. Upwork kicked off 2025 delivering a strong first quarter, driven by outperformance in our core marketplace. Our Q1 revenue of $192.7 million was a record for a first quarter. Our focused, disciplined approach to margin expansion was evident across our business, as our gross margin reached 78.3% and our adjusted EBITDA margin was our highest ever at 29%. We are firmly on track to achieve our five-year, 35% adjusted EBITDA margin target, and we are raising our full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA guidance.

謝謝，海登。Upwork 在 2025 年伊始就取得了強勁的第一季業績，這得益於我們核心市場的出色表現。我們第一季的營收為 1.927 億美元，創下了第一季的最高紀錄。我們專注、嚴謹的利潤率擴張方針在我們的整個業務中得到了充分體現，我們的毛利率達到了 78.3%，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率達到了歷史最高水準 29%。我們正穩步實現五年內 35% 調整後 EBITDA 利潤率的目標，並且我們正在提高 2025 年全年調整後 EBITDA 預期。

While the macro environment remains turbulent, we continue to deliver, even after multiple quarters of macroeconomic pressures. First quarter GSV of $988 million was stronger than we expected coming into the year, and we're encouraged by some early signals from continued enhancements in search, match, and other key platform capabilities, which helped to drive some positive customer spend dynamics.

儘管宏觀環境依然動盪，但即使在經歷了多個季度的宏觀經濟壓力之後，我們仍繼續實現目標。第一季的 GSV 為 9.88 億美元，高於我們今年的預期，搜尋、配對和其他關鍵平台功能的持續增強給我們帶來了一些早期訊號，這些訊號有助於推動一些積極的客戶支出動態，這令我們感到鼓舞。

Average GSV per active client increased 3% year-over-year, following multiple quarters of sequential growth, giving us confidence in the value that we are driving for customers. GSV per active client grew year-over-year in every client segment. This was driven by our large client segment in which GSV per active grew 11% year-over-year.

經過連續多個季度的成長，每位活躍客戶的平均 GSV 年增 3%，這讓我們對為客戶創造的價值充滿信心。每個客戶群的每位活躍客戶的 GSV 都較去年同期成長。這是由我們龐大的客戶群推動的，其中每位活躍客戶的 GSV 年比增長了 11%。

While our active client count continues to experience some pressure, this is a cumulative effect of the top of funnel demand pressure our business and many others have been experiencing over the past year. To address the challenging demand environment, we have rebalanced our performance marketing spend to focus on higher LTV clients. So while total volume of active clients may be down year-over-year, we are attracting higher quality customers and contracts.

雖然我們的活躍客戶數量繼續面臨一些壓力，但這是我們的業務以及許​​多其他業務在過去一年中經歷的漏斗頂部需求壓力的累積效應。為了因應充滿挑戰的需求環境，我們重新平衡了績效行銷支出，將重點放在更高 LTV 的客戶身上。因此，雖然活躍客戶總量可能比去年同期下降，但我們正在吸引更高品質的客戶和合約。

Even with these adjustments, it's worth noting that in Q1 we saw client activations increase quarter-over-quarter for the first time in over a year. As a result of these dynamics, Q1 revenue grew 1% year-over-year, above our guidance for the quarter. This performance is particularly notable in the context of the unstable macro environment and the fact that we are lapping strong take-rate growth in Q1 of 2024.

即使進行了這些調整，值得注意的是，我們在第一季看到客戶啟動量一年多來首次環比成長。由於這些動態，第一季營收年增 1%，高於我們對本季的預期。在宏觀環境不穩定以及 2024 年第一季我們將迎來強勁的接受率成長的情況下，這種表現尤其引人注目。

Enterprise revenue of $26.4 million was relatively flat year-over-year as we shifted our sales team's focus to the growth of Business Plus on the marketplace along with higher value, more strategic retained accounts. Managed services revenue grew 3% year-over-year to $15.3 million in the first quarter. We have made tremendous strides on our enterprise strategy over the past few quarters. And while we are in a transitional phase with the Enterprise business, we are more excited than ever about the Enterprise strategy at Upwork.

企業收入為 2,640 萬美元，與去年同期相比基本持平，因為我們將銷售團隊的重點轉移到市場上 Business Plus 的成長以及更高價值、更具策略性的保留帳戶。第一季託管服務營收年增 3% 至 1,530 萬美元。過去幾個季度，我們在企業策略方面取得了巨大進步。雖然我們正處於企業業務的過渡階段，但我們對 Upwork 的企業策略比以往任何時候都更加興奮。

Our marketplace take rate was 18.3% in Q1 2025, compared to 17.7% in the first quarter of 2024, driven by continued growth in our ads and monetization business. We expect relatively stable take rates throughout 2025. We continue to focus on introducing new and innovative ways to bring value to our customers, and we expect to launch new products and experiences that will drive meaningful take rate expansion in 2026 and beyond.

2025 年第一季度，我們的市場接受率為 18.3%，而 2024 年第一季為 17.7%，這得益於我們的廣告和貨幣化業務的持續成長。我們預計 2025 年全年的接受率將相對穩定。我們將繼續致力於推出新的創新方式來為客戶創造價值，並期望推出新的產品和體驗，以推動 2026 年及以後的有意義的收入率擴張。

Non-GAAP gross margin reached a record high of 78.3% as we continue to execute disciplined cost management across every part of our business. Non-GAAP operating expense was $98.1 million in the first quarter or 51% of revenue compared to 61% of revenue in the first quarter of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA was $56 million in the first quarter, leading to a record adjusted EBITDA margin of 29%.

由於我們繼續在業務的各個環節執行嚴格的成本管理，非公認會計準則毛利率達到了創紀錄的 78.3%。第一季非公認會計準則營運費用為 9,810 萬美元，佔營收的 51%，而 2024 年第一季則為 61%。第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 5,600 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到創紀錄的 29%。

We reported GAAP net income of $37.7 million in the first quarter, a 105% increase over 2024, and a record for any first quarter in our company's history. Free cash flow for the first quarter was $30.8 million. In the quarter, we utilized $33.1 million in cash to buy back $2.3 million shares as part of our commitment to driving long-term shareholder value. Cash and cash equivalents were approximately $622 million at the end of the first quarter.

我們報告第一季的 GAAP 淨收入為 3770 萬美元，比 2024 年增長 105%，創下公司歷史上任何第一季的最高紀錄。第一季自由現金流為3080萬美元。本季度，我們利用 3,310 萬美元現金回購了價值 230 萬美元的股票，這是我們致力於推動長期股東價值的一部分。第一季末的現金和現金等價物約為6.22億美元。

Now turning to guidance. For the second quarter of 2025, we expect to produce revenue in the range of $184 million to $189 million. For adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter, we are guiding to a range of $45 million to $49 million, which represents an adjusted EBITDA margin of 25% at the midpoint. As we indicated last quarter, Q1 is expected to be the high water mark for margins in our business this year as we reinvest in the ample growth opportunities in front of us.

現在轉向指導。我們預計 2025 年第二季的營收將在 1.84 億至 1.89 億美元之間。對於第二季的調整後 EBITDA，我們預計範圍為 4,500 萬美元至 4,900 萬美元，這代表中間點的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 25%。正如我們上個季度所指出的，由於我們對眼前的大量成長機會進行了再投資，預計第一季將成為我們今年業務利潤率的最高點。

As our first quarter results demonstrate, we are making strong and steady progress towards our 35% adjusted EBITDA margin goal, while investing in key growth levers, particularly enterprise and AI enablement strategies to reignite top-line growth in our business.

正如我們第一季的業績所顯示，我們正在朝著 35% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率目標穩步前進，同時投資於關鍵的成長槓桿，特別是企業和人工智慧支援策略，以重新激發我們業務的營收成長。

For the full year 2025, we are reiterating our revenue guidance range of between $740 million and $760 million. We remain confident in this guidance based on what we see today. Our excellent execution and improving customer dynamics offset the slight macro headwinds that weighed on our customer activity in the quarter and these dynamics are factored into our guidance. Looking further out, our pace of execution and our multiple growth levers give us confidence that we will resume revenue growth in 2026.

對於 2025 年全年，我們重申 7.4 億美元至 7.6 億美元的營收預期範圍。根據我們今天所看到的情況，我們對這項指導仍然充滿信心。我們出色的執行力和不斷改善的客戶動態抵消了本季對客戶活動造成影響的輕微宏觀逆風，這些動態已計入我們的指導中。展望未來，我們的執行速度和多種成長槓桿使我們有信心在 2026 年恢復收入成長。

As a result of our strong operational execution and business model, we are increasing our full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to be in the range of $190 million to $200 million, or 26% adjusted EBITDA margin at the midpoint. This represents a 4 point margin expansion versus 2024.

由於我們強大的營運執行力和商業模式，我們將全年調整後 EBITDA 預期上調至 1.9 億美元至 2 億美元之間，或中間值調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 26%。這意味著與 2024 年相比，利潤率擴大了 4 個百分點。

Our ability to meaningfully expand margins, even in a tough operating environment, reflects our commitment to profitability and shareholder value. We expect full year 2025 non-GAAP diluted EPS to be between $1.05 and $1.10, up from our 2024 results.

即使在艱難的經營環境下，我們仍能大幅提高利潤率，這反映了我們對獲利能力和股東價值的承諾。我們預計 2025 年全年非 GAAP 稀釋每股收益將在 1.05 美元至 1.10 美元之間，高於 2024 年的業績。

On stock-based compensation, we have been taking proactive steps to reduce our SBC expense, and these actions will have a lasting benefit on our recorded stock-based comp. Stock-based compensation is expected to be between $60 million and $65 million for the year.

在股票薪酬方面，我們一直在採取積極措施降低 SBC 費用，這些措施將對我們記錄的股票薪酬產生持久的效益。預計今年的股票薪酬將在 6,000 萬美元至 6,500 萬美元之間。

I'll briefly touch on our capital allocation strategy. We have $100 million buyback authorization in place, of which we had approximately $67 million remaining at the end of Q1. We intend to fully offset any dilution from stock-based compensation this year through stock repurchases. Beyond that, taking into account the current market environment, we intend to be opportunistic in deploying the remainder of the authorization.

我將簡要介紹我們的資本配置策略。我們擁有 1 億美元的回購授權，截至第一季末還剩餘約 6,700 萬美元。我們打算透過股票回購來完全抵消今年股票薪酬造成的任何稀釋。除此之外，考慮到目前的市場環境，我們打算抓住機會部署剩餘的授權。

Before closing, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the unusual times we are all navigating through. It's in times like these that the strongest, most resilient businesses stand out from the field and ultimately emerge as winners.

在結束之前，我想花點時間來回顧我們都在經歷的不尋常的時期。正是在這樣的時刻，最強大、最有韌性的企業才能脫穎而出，並最終成為贏家。

Our rapid pace of innovation, inherently profitable and high cash yield business and cost optimization muscle will serve us incredibly well as we navigate through the next uncertain months and quarters. The opportunities for Upwork are tremendous and we are excited about the road ahead. Our team is executing better than ever, and I want to thank everyone at Upwork for your commitment to excellence and innovation.

我們快速的創新步伐、固有的盈利能力和高現金收益業務以及成本優化能力將在我們度過接下來不確定的幾個月和幾個季度時為我們帶來極大的幫助。Upwork 面臨著巨大的機遇，我們對未來的道路充滿期待。我們的團隊表現比以往任何時候都更好，我要感謝 Upwork 的每個人對卓越和創新的承諾。

With that, we'd be happy to take your questions.

我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Eric Sheridan, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的艾瑞克·謝裡丹。

Thank you so much for taking the questions. Maybe two if I could. The first one, just on the broader economy, the base case that you're assuming from this point through the end of the year in your broader guidance and whether we should be expecting there to be any sort of input changes either in client activity or client growth that are sort of at the base of what you're sort of guiding to or is it sort of taking what you know now and just sort of projecting it out, just we better understand that.

非常感謝您回答這些問題。如果可以的話也許兩個。第一個問題，僅就更廣泛的經濟而言，您在更廣泛的指導中從現在到年底所假設的基本情況，以及我們是否應該預期客戶活動或客戶增長方面會出現任何輸入變化，這些變化是您所指導的基礎，還是根據您現在所知道的情況進行預測，我們最好理解這一點。

And then on the AI product side, really exciting to hear the stats in the prepared remarks about how it's driving volumes inside the broader business. How do you think about AI being a driver of a mixture either of new client growth, volumes among clients, or pricing over time, just so we understand the monetization elements of AI in the business. Thanks so much.

然後在人工智慧產品方面，聽到準備好的評論中的統計數據關於它如何推動更廣泛業務範圍內的交易量真的令人興奮。您如何看待人工智慧成為新客戶成長、客戶數量或長期定價的混合驅動力，以便我們了解人工智慧在業務中的貨幣化元素。非常感謝。

Hey, Eric. Maybe -- this is Erica, I'll take the first one. We were really pleased with the customer spend dynamics that we saw in Q1, which are really driven by improvements to our product. Some of the improvements in search and match, other platform enhancements through AI, and this contributed to the increase in GSV per active client by 3%.

嘿，艾瑞克。也許——我是艾麗卡，我會選第一個。我們對第一季的客戶支出動態感到非常滿意，這其實得益於我們產品的改進。搜尋和匹配方面的一些改進，以及透過人工智慧實現的其他平台增強，促使每個活躍客戶的 GSV 增加了 3%。

Now offsetting that, we did see some slight macro headwinds that weighed on customer activity, particularly at the top of the funnel in the quarter. The impact was minimal, but it did have some slight impact to our customer behavior. So both of these dynamics, both the growing customer spend and a little bit on the persistent macro headwinds are factored into our guidance.

現在，為了抵消這一點，我們確實看到一些輕微的宏觀逆風對客戶活動產生了影響，特別是在本季的漏斗頂端。雖然影響很小，但確實對我們的客戶行為產生了輕微的影響。因此，這兩種動態，不斷增長的客戶支出以及持續的宏觀不利因素都被納入了我們的指導之中。

I'll just add, Eric, that some of the observations we have from recent customer conversations really underscore the resilience of our platform in this uncertain time. What we're hearing from them is, they're feeling some degree of uncertainty in their day to day, but they still have truly mission critical business needs that they need to get done, and they're getting done on Upwork.

艾瑞克，我只想補充一點，我們從最近與客戶的談話中得到的一些觀察確實強調了我們的平台在這個不確定時期的彈性。我們從他們那裡聽到的是，他們在日常生活中感受到一定程度的不確定性，但他們仍然有真正關鍵的業務需求需要完成，而且他們正在 Upwork 上完成這些需求。

So one example client we spoke to this quarter, Innodata, they're a global data engineering company. They needed a bench of talent up work including some domain experts with masters and PhDs to do a lot of AI model work across 20 languages for them. And they're continuing with that work. They're plowing ahead even though they recognize the uncertain environment. And I say this is pretty typical of what we're hearing across the platform.

本季我們採訪的一個例子是 Innodata，他們是一家全球資料工程公司。他們需要一群人才，包括一些擁有碩士和博士學位的領域專家，為他們完成 20 種語言的大量 AI 模型工作。他們正在繼續這項工作。儘管他們認識到環境不確定，但他們仍在繼續前進。我說這是我們在整個平台上聽到的非常典型的言論。

Getting to your second question around AI and some of the stats we shared. Our view is that there's two big thematics for our business related to AI, both of which are real catalysts. And we're starting to see that. The first one is around providing the world with this AI skill talent it needs. Companies like Innodata finding the people they need here and that is a driver of both new client acquisition, it can drive up volumes in the platform and certainly we've seen already that AI-related work is commanding approximately a 40% premium in terms of freelancer earnings. So it really hits on all tiers and metrics you asked about.

回答您關於人工智慧的第二個問題以及我們分享的一些統計數據。我們認為，我們的業務與人工智慧有兩大主題，它們都是真正的催化劑。我們開始看到這一點。第一個目標是為世界提供所需的人工智慧技能人才。像 Innodata 這樣的公司在這裡找到了他們需要的人才，這既是吸引新客戶的動力，也可以提高平台的交易量，當然我們已經看到，與人工智慧相關的工作在自由工作者的收入方面大約高出 40%。因此它確實影響了您所詢問的所有層級和指標。

The other thematic, of course, is the one we mentioned around Uma and the work we're doing to make our platform fully AI-native. And this is where we're already seeing some of the evidence around these features actually impacting all of the things you asked about. We're seeing more volumes of proposals and bids, new client conversion, hiring rates, contract volumes, time to hire, time to start. All of these things are moving up.

當然，另一個主題是我們提到的有關 Uma 的主題，以及我們為使我們的平台完全 AI 原生而開展的工作。我們已經看到了一些證據，表明這些功能實際上影響了您所詢問的所有事情。我們看到提案和投標的數量、新客戶轉換率、招聘率、合約量、招聘時間和開始時間都在增加。所有這些事情都在進步。

So again, we see that as we make Uma more of a fully functioning agent, that is going to really drive the flywheel of metrics for our business in both of these ways. So we're excited about the progress. It's still early, but there's a lot more coming out over this year as we invest in both our AI platform category and then also the platform itself in terms of Uma.

因此，我們再次看到，隨著我們使 Uma 成為一個功能更齊全的代理，這將在這兩個方面真正推動我們業務指標的飛輪。因此我們對這項進展感到非常興奮。現在還為時過早，但隨著我們投資 AI 平台類別以及 Uma 平臺本身，今年還會有更多成果推出。

Great. Appreciate it.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Bernie McTernan, Needham & Company.

麥克特南 (Bernie McTernan)，Needham & Company。

Great. Thanks for taking question. I just wanted to focus on the nice growth that you're seeing in larger customers mentioned up 11% in the quarter and focusing some of your marketing efforts more on higher LTV customers.

偉大的。感謝您的提問。我只是想關註一下您提到的大客戶在本季度所看到的良好增長，增長了 11%，並且您的部分營銷工作更多地集中在更高 LTV 的客戶身上。

Is this a shift -- I guess, is the shift driven by what you're seeing in the marketplace or more so driven just a change in LTV to CAC goals? Hayden, your comments in the beginning certainly seem to want to highlight that you're seeing very large organizations choose Upwork increasingly. So just wanted to see if it's what you're doing or do you think it's the marketplace shifting? Thank you.

這是一種轉變嗎？我想，這種轉變是由您在市場上看到的情況所驅動，還是僅僅是由 LTV 到 CAC 目標的變化所驅動？海登，你一開始的評論似乎確實想強調，你看到越來越多的大型組織選擇 Upwork。所以只是想看看這是您正在做的事情還是您認為這是市場正在發生的變化？謝謝。

Yeah, so what we've seen is this combination of efforts to unlock our spend from larger customers really is working. And that's where we saw that year-over-year growth in large customer spend in Q1 when we measured across both enterprise and Business Plus.

是的，我們看到，透過這些努力來釋放來自大客戶的支出確實有效。當我們對企業和 Business Plus 進行衡量時，我們發現第一季大客戶支出年增。

And this is part of our focus strategy that we began last year with the release of Business Plus and with some of the changes to our enterprise area to really go after this larger customer segment in some new ways. So it's very consistent with that, that we're seeing these results. It's still early. And as I mentioned, the first two quarters of the year will be more traditional on the enterprise side. But we're really setting ourselves up for growth towards the end of the year and into 2026.

這是我們去年開始實施的重點策略的一部分，當時我們發布了 Business Plus，並對企業領域進行了一些改變，以便以新的方式真正追逐這個更大的客戶群。因此，我們看到的這些結果與此非常一致。時間還早。正如我所提到的，今年前兩個季度的企業方面將更加傳統。但我們確實正在為今年年底和 2026 年的成長做好準備。

Understood. Thanks, Hayden.

明白了。謝謝，海登。

Ron Josey, Citi.

花旗銀行的 Ron Josey。

Great, thanks for taking the question. Hayden, you mentioned on the call better search and recommendation product enhancements within the core, and that's helping to drive the flywheel. Talk to us a little bit more about what those enhancements were and the benefits there. And then, Erica, I think you mentioned a change in go to market, meaning something around search and client acquisition. We'd love to hear just the profile you're seeing as a result from this change in go to market. Thank you.

太好了，謝謝你回答這個問題。海登，您在電話會議上提到了核心內更好的搜尋和推薦產品增強功能，這有助於推動飛輪的發展。請與我們進一步談談這些增強功能及其帶來的好處。然後，艾莉卡，我想你提到了市場進入方式的變化，這意味著圍繞搜尋和客戶獲取的一些變化。我們很想聽聽您對這一市場變化的看法。謝謝。

So Ron, what we saw on the search and recommendation side is some new features we released around semantic search, a new recommendation experience, as well as enhancements to our client dashboards. Some of these things launched at the end of Q4 and some launched throughout Q1, but all of them together are really driving our client metrics in a really positive way. And we have a lot more that's coming.

所以 Ron，我們在搜尋和推薦方面看到的是我們圍繞語義搜尋發布的一些新功能、新的推薦體驗以及對我們客戶端儀表板的增強。其中一些產品是在第四季度末推出的，還有一些是在第一季推出的，但它們共同真正以非常積極的方式推動了我們的客戶指標。我們還會推出更多內容。

We just integrated the objective team that we bought at the end of last year into our team and their technology is also getting integrated in. So there's going to be a lot more that we're launching in the search and recommendations area that I think is going to really benefit the business.

我們剛剛將去年年底收購的目標團隊整合到我們的團隊中，他們的技術也正在融入其中。因此，我們將在搜尋和推薦領域推出更多產品，我認為這將真正有利於業務發展。

And maybe Ron to your second question. Our optimization of our performance marketing spend has been really effective in kind of channel experimentation and lifting our average LTV per client acquisition, but even more importantly, kind of in the -- underlying the growth in GSV per active client on the platform, we see a lot of bright spots actually.

也許 Ron 可以回答你的第二個問題。我們對績效行銷支出的優化在通路實驗和提升每位客戶的平均生命週期價值 (LTV) 方面確實非常有效，但更重要的是，在平台上每位活躍客戶的 GSV 成長背後，我們實際上看到了很多亮點。

Overall hourly rates have actually been relatively steady over the past few quarters, but where we've seen lift is an average hours per contract at 5% year-over-year, fixed price spend per contract at 12% year-over-year. And these are all related to all the customer experience improvements that we've been talking about, and in particular, the AI enablement of the platform.

過去幾個季度，整體小時費率實際上相對穩定，但我們看到，每份合約的平均小時數年增 5%，每份合約的固定價格支出年增 12%。這些都與我們一直在談論的所有客戶體驗改進有關，特別是平台的人工智慧支援。

Super helpful. Thank you.

超有幫助。謝謝。

Andrew Boone, Citizens.

安德魯·布恩，公民。

Thanks so much for taking the question. I want to go back to Business Plus. Given the fact that Business Plus is now seizing a little bit and you guys have more information, can you talk about the new clients that are coming on and kind of the evolution of what was that easier on-ramp to larger enterprises and what Business Plus is unlocking?

非常感謝您回答這個問題。我想回到 Business Plus。鑑於 Business Plus 現在正處於快速發展階段，而且你們掌握了更多信息，您能否談談正在湧現的新客戶，以及哪些方面使得 Business Plus 更容易進入大型企業，以及 Business Plus 正在解鎖哪些功能？

And then Erica, sales and marketing had a multi-year low. Can you just talk about the cost guidance as it relates to 2025? I think 1Q was supposed to be the peak EBITDA margin quarter, but how do we think about potential investments or anything else that we should be thinking about for margins going forward? Thanks so much.

然後是埃里卡，銷售和行銷處於多年來的最低點。能談談與 2025 年相關的成本指引嗎？我認為第一季應該是 EBITDA 利潤率最高的季度，但我們如何看待潛在投資或其他任何我們應該考慮的未來利潤率因素？非常感謝。

On the Business Plus side of things, what that's really unlocking is a bigger funnel of larger customers, both new that are coming into the platform for the first time and existing marketplace customers who are upgrading into this offering. And so, the customer feedback and the signs we're seeing already are super encouraging here that the strategy is working.

就 Business Plus 方面而言，它真正釋放的是更大的客戶管道，既包括首次進入該平台的新客戶，也包括升級到該服務的現有市場客戶。因此，我們已經看到的客戶回饋和跡象非常令人鼓舞，表明該策略正在發揮作用。

We're seeing new customers in Business Plus really adopting the features that are part of that plan at high rates. So that includes things like access to our enterprise vetted talent, access to a special short listing capability, net 30 payment terms.

我們看到 Business Plus 的新客戶確實以很高的比例採用了該計劃的功能。因此，這包括獲得我們企業審查的人才、獲得特殊的候選名單能力、30 天淨付款條件等。

So these things are driving customers to then have higher client conversion rates, from registration to job post and from registration to start, as well as higher average spend per client when you compare these clients to our standard marketplace customers. So we've got really good encouraging signs of product market fit for the plan, and we're continuing to invest and tune it over the course of this year.

因此，這些因素促使客戶獲得更高的客戶轉換率，從註冊到發布職位，從註冊到開始工作，與我們的標準市場客戶相比，每位客戶的平均支出更高。因此，我們已經看到了非常好的跡象，表明產品市場適合該計劃，並且我們將在今年繼續投資和調整它。

Yeah. And Andrew, this is Erica. In terms of your questions on kind of margin cadence and where we're investing. So, yes, sales and marketing was at an all-time low in Q1. We talked a lot in Q4 about the optimization of enterprise business, about improving those costs to serve and costs to acquire through the Business Plus strategy. And so you are seeing that reflected in our numbers. But we're also very clear, like you said, that Q1 would be the high watermark for margins for this year.

是的。安德魯，這是艾麗卡。關於您關於保證金節奏和我們的投資方向的問題。所以，是的，第一季的銷售和行銷處於歷史最低水平。我們在第四季度討論了很多關於企業業務的最佳化，以及透過 Business Plus 策略改善服務成本和取得成本的問題。所以您可以看到這一點反映在我們的數字中。但我們也非常清楚，就像您所說的那樣，第一季將是今年利潤率的最高水準。

And so, we do intend to reinvest. We see ample opportunities for growth in this business. Hayden talked on the prepared remarks about Enterprise -- this being a transitional period for Enterprise and we do intend to reinvest there to unlock some of the contingent labor TAM that we've been talking about. As well as on the R&D side, continued investment in the AI enablement of the platform. So you will see those investments come through in Q2 and Q3 this year. But I think we've shown over time that we can both invest in growth and create meaningful margin expansion, so we feel really good about both.

因此，我們確實打算再投資。我們看到該業務有充足的成長機會。海登在準備好的關於 Enterprise 的演講中談到了這一點——這是 Enterprise 的過渡時期，我們確實打算在那裡進行再投資，以解鎖我們一直在談論的一些臨時勞動力 TAM。在研發方面，我們持續投資於平台的人工智慧支援。因此，您將看到這些投資在今年第二季和第三季實現。但我認為，隨著時間的推移，我們已經證明，我們既可以投資於成長，又可以實現有意義的利潤擴張，因此我們對兩者都感到非常滿意。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Brad Erickson, RBC Capital Markets.

加拿大皇家銀行資本市場 (RBC Capital Markets) 的布拉德‧艾瑞克森 (Brad Erickson)。

Yes, thanks. You talked again about the top of funnel pressure related to the macro and it's been consistent the last several quarters, which I think is kind of the hiring and staffing environment. Talk through kind of the puts and takes as AI maybe has sort of like unclear effects on a net basis on those hiring trends and how you think that might translate to your business, if you could. Thanks.

是的，謝謝。您再次談到了與宏觀相關的漏斗頂部壓力，而這種壓力在過去幾季一直保持一致，我認為這是一種招募和人員配置環境。請談談人工智慧對那些招聘趨勢的淨影響可能有點不明確，以及您認為這會如何影響您的業務，如果可以的話。謝謝。

Yeah. So our active client number overall, we've talked a lot about the kind of top of funnel demand pressure that we've seen. Our active client number is a trailing 12-month number, so that encompasses a lot of -- all of the kind of pressures we've seen over the past four quarters.

是的。因此，就我們的活躍客戶總數而言，我們已經討論了很多有關我們所看到的漏斗頂部需求壓力的問題。我們的活躍客戶數量是過去 12 個月的數據，因此涵蓋了我們在過去四個季度中看到的所有壓力。

Now one thing to remember about our active client activations is that, more than 50% of them come from kind of broader organic or unpaid channels. So that's where we're really seeing the macro forces play in. I don't think we see any kind of focused impact from AI, either positive or negative. Overall, we see AI as an ongoing tail end for our business given the growth of that category.

現在要記住的一件事是，我們的活躍客戶活化量超過 50% 來自更廣泛的有機或非付費管道。這就是我們真正看到宏觀力量發揮作用的地方。我認為我們沒有看到人工智慧帶來任何集中的影響，無論是積極的還是消極的。總體而言，鑑於該類別的成長，我們認為人工智慧將成為我們業務的持續尾聲。

Yes, Brad, that's really evidence of the 25% year-over-year growth we saw in GSV from AI-related work, and so we continue to see the positive opportunity here is much more substantial than any risk. We've really seen no change in terms of AI-related degradation of any kind of works or project types over the last quarter. We're really just looking at the opportunity here, which is quite formidable.

是的，布拉德，這確實證明了我們在 GSV 中看到的與人工智慧相關的工作同比增長了 25%，因此我們繼續認為這裡的積極機會比任何風險都要大得多。在過去的一個季度中，我們確實沒有看到任何類型的工作或專案因人工智慧而出現退化的情況。我們實際上只是在尋找這裡的機會，這是非常巨大的。

Got it, and then maybe just to follow up, if I could, a broader question with the tariffs. I recognize the lack of exposure here. But you talk with your customers, everyone's kind of in the same boat of uncertainty, but talk about your client conversations where maybe there is exposure and I don't know, just anything sound different say with your smaller clients versus your larger clients. Just kind of if you're hearing any divergent views between those groups? Thanks.

明白了，如果可以的話，也許我只是想跟進一下有關關稅的更廣泛的問題。我認識到這裡缺乏曝光。但是當您與客戶交談時，每個人都面臨著同樣的不確定性，但談論您的客戶對話時，也許會有曝光，我不知道，只是任何聽起來不同的事情，例如您的小客戶和大客戶。您是否聽過這些群體之間有任何不同觀點？謝謝。

Sure. When we talk to customers, I wouldn't say there's any one answer, partly because we serve such a heterogeneous range of customers and across so many different work categories. But a few of the thematics are, while the uncertainty is there for a lot of customers, many of them, the worst thing to do, they haven't changed their decision making around investing in the work on our platform. They're continuing because they have critical things they need to get accomplished, and the uncertainty in the environment isn't really getting in the way of that.

當然。當我們與客戶交談時，我不會說有任何一個答案，部分原因是我們服務的客戶範圍如此多樣化，涉及如此多不同的工作類別。但有一些主題是，雖然很多客戶都存在不確定性，但其中最糟糕的是，他們並沒有改變在我們平台上投資工作的決策。他們之所以繼續下去，是因為他們有重要的事情需要完成，而環境的不確定性並沒有真正妨礙他們。

Now of course, things can change if the economy worsens substantially but right now what we've really seen is people hanging in there, continuing to spend, continuing to do the work they need to, a slight headwind at the top of our funnel. But that's consistent with the commentary we hear from customers, which is that the work they're doing with us is essential.

當然，如果經濟大幅惡化，情況可能會發生變化，但目前我們真正看到的是人們堅持下去，繼續消費，繼續做他們需要的工作，這是我們漏斗頂部的輕微逆風。但這與我們聽到的客戶的評論一致，即他們與我們一起做的工作至關重要。

That's great. Thanks.

那太棒了。謝謝。

Brent Thill, Jefferies

布倫特·蒂爾（傑富瑞）

Hi, thank you. This is John Byun for Brent Thill. Maybe one more around the macro side of things. You mentioned there's no direct exposure from tariffs and so on. But I wanted to see if you can talk about maybe indirect or second order exposure in the public sector, whether fed or state and local, in terms of where the clients are doing their prices. I don't know if you have that sort of visibility.

你好，謝謝。我是布倫特·蒂爾 (Brent Thill) 的約翰·拜恩 (John Byun)。也許再多談談宏觀的問題。您提到關稅等不會帶來直接影響。但我想看看您是否可以談談公共部門（無論是聯邦、州還是地方）的間接或二階風險，以及客戶如何定價。我不知道您是否具有這樣的能見度。

And then you alluded to some high impact features to launch in Q2. I don't know if you can go into a little bit more detail. Thank you.

然後您提到將在第二季推出一些具有重大影響力的功能。我不知道您是否可以更詳細地講一下。謝謝。

Maybe, John, I'll take the question on the macro. We really don't see any impacts from kind of the public sector job releases. And in general, as Hayden already articulated, I think, you know, we haven't seen any impact from any of the recent tariff announcements on customer behavior whatsoever.

也許，約翰，我會回答有關宏觀的問題。我們確實沒有看到公共部門就業崗位釋放的任何影響。總的來說，正如海登已經表達的那樣，我認為，我們還沒有看到最近的任何關稅公告對客戶行為產生任何影響。

Yeah. And I'd say, you know, underscoring the fact that our exposure, I think, is in a good spot. We have 131 categories of work that were active in the past quarter, and 58 of those had $1 million of GSV or more flowing through them. And so, again, I think this is just where the diversity of the work happening, the diversity of our client base is a really positive thing around the resilience of our business.

是的。我想說，您知道，這強調了我們的曝光度處於良好狀態。上個季度，我們有 131 個工作類別處於活躍狀態，其中 58 個類別的 GSV 流向了 100 萬美元或更多。因此，我再次認為這正是工作多樣化發生的地方，我們的客戶群的多樣化對於我們業務的彈性來說是一個非常積極的影響。

In terms of the high impact features that are launching in Q2, we're going to be doing a lot more in the search and recommendations area, building on the tech and the talent that we brought in last year with the objective team. We're also going to be investing a lot in our Uma AI agent, really evolving Uma from being able to do specific tasks like evaluate your candidates or help you draft a proposal to being an end-to-end full service companion that can really help customers, both clients and talent, across the entire workflow. And that is from hiring all the way through project management and work delivery.

就第二季推出的高影響力功能而言，我們將在搜尋和推薦領域做更多工作，以去年我們與目標團隊一起引進的技術和人才為基礎。我們還將對我們的 Uma AI 代理進行大量投資，真正使 Uma 從能夠執行評估候選人或幫助您起草提案等特定任務，轉變為能夠在整個工作流程中真正幫助客戶（包括客戶和人才）的端到端全方位服務夥伴。整個過程涵蓋從招聘到專案管理和工作交付。

So there's going to be a lot more coming out over both Q2 and the rest of the year as we enhance Uma and bring those capabilities into the hands of our customers.

因此，隨著我們增強 Uma 並將這些功能交到客戶手中，我們將在第二季和今年剩餘時間內推出更多產品。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Rohit Kulkarni, ROTH Capital Partners.

羅仕資本合夥人 Rohit Kulkarni。

Hey, thanks. AI high-level question. I guess it's been a few quarters you've disclosed how AI-related GSV is going faster. And so perhaps at what point or at what scale do you think AI would be big enough for the overall GSV to start growing again? Maybe at how far out in the future do you think that scale you could reach? And then I have a couple of follow ups on take rate and EBITDA.

嘿，謝謝。AI高階問題。我想你已經披露過幾個季度以來與人工智慧相關的 GSV 發展速度如何加快的情況了。那麼，您認為人工智慧在什麼時候或達到什麼規模才會足夠強大，讓整體 GSV 再次開始成長？您認為多久以後才能達到這樣的規模？然後我對接受率和 EBITDA 進行了一些跟進。

Sure, So our expectation is that we do see re-acceleration of GSV growth next year. And that's going to come through from a combination of the AI-related investments we're making, as well as the work we're doing in the enterprise area and on asset monetization, specifically driving the revenue side of the equation.

當然，所以我們預計明年 GSV 的成長將再次加速。這將透過我們正在進行的與人工智慧相關的投資以及我們在企業領域和資產貨幣化方面所做的工作來實現，特別是推動等式的收入方面。

So this is not a far out prediction for us. This is something we can see and have line of site to in 2026. And our confidence is really underscored by both the early metrics we're seeing from Uma related features that we've launched on the one hand, and then the other side of the AI strategy, the growth that as you point out, we continue to see from AI related work. They're growing 25% in the quarter. Some categories like prompt engineering grew 52% year-over-year.

所以這對我們來說並不是一個遙遠的預測。這是我們可以在 2026 年看到並關注的事情。一方面，我們從推出的 Uma 相關功能中看到的早期指標，另一方面，從 AI 策略的角度來看，正如您所指出的，我們繼續從 AI 相關工作中看到成長，這確實增強了我們的信心。本季他們的成長率為 25%。一些類別（如即時工程）較去年同期成長了 52%。

I'd also note that we are seeing no incremental disruption at all, no disruption at all from legal and design creative categories that people are all saying should be disrupted. We're actually seeing growth in those areas. And the work is becoming more complex, more valuable, really tapping into the specialized nature of the experts on the platform. So this is exciting for us as we think about growing from both AI related areas as well as the broader ecosystem that we host.

我還要指出的是，我們根本沒有看到任何漸進式顛覆，也沒有看到人們所說的應該被顛覆的法律和設計創意類別的顛覆。我們確實看到了這些領域的成長。這項工作變得越來越複雜，越來越有價值，也真正發揮了平台專家的專業性。因此，當我們考慮從人工智慧相關領域以及我們所擁有的更廣泛的生態系統中發展時，這對我們來說是令人興奮的。

Okay, and then maybe actually a macro question on the enterprise side of things. Any call out or any change in visibility or the way deals are getting closed or the way large enterprises are making decisions at the same velocity or not over the last, call it, six to eight weeks?

好的，這實際上可能是關於企業方面的宏觀問題。在過去的六到八週內，有沒有什麼變化，例如可見度、交易達成方式或大型企業決策速度是否有所改變？

I wouldn't say we've seen any notable changes in the last six to eight weeks. We did see overall in the platform come some slower trends from the beginning of the year, but nothing has really changed on the enterprise side specifically. It's always a little bit of a large sales cycle. That hasn't changed. I think if anything, Business Plus is helping us open up more large customers faster. So that's an accelerant for us right now, but no other real changes.

我不會說我們在過去六到八週內看到任何顯著的變化。我們確實看到平台從年初開始整體上出現了一些放緩的趨勢，但具體到企業方面，並沒有什麼變化。這總是一個很大的銷售週期。這一點沒有改變。我認為，Business Plus 可以幫助我們更快開拓更多大客戶。所以這對我們來說現在是一種加速劑，但沒有其他真正的變化。

Okay, thank you. And last, around take rate, maybe for you Erica, maybe talk about the why behind the take rate outlook that you just shared. I know it's unchanged from previously, but just -- there is a natural upward bias 1 would expect, but I'll just maybe talk through that.

好的，謝謝。最後，關於接受率，也許對你來說，艾莉卡，也許可以談談你剛才分享的接受率前景背後的原因。我知道它與以前相比沒有變化，但只是——我預期會有一個自然的向上偏差，但我可能只會談論這一點。

Sure. First of all, take rate -- the expansion that we saw in Q1 is primarily due to the really great ongoing growth in asset monetization. To your point, revenue from asset monetization Q1 grew 23%, and actually Connects with highest revenue quarter ever on Connects.

當然。首先，我們在第一季看到的利率擴張主要是由於資產貨幣化的持續大幅成長。正如您所說，第一季資產貨幣化的收入增長了 23%，實際上這是 Connects 有史以來收入最高的季度。

But as you know, we made significant progress in 2024 expanding our take rate. And so, we've really given ourselves room in 2025 for some ongoing experimentation and work on take rate in order to test some of our take rate strategies for more meaningful take rate expansion in 2026. So you can expect relatively flat take rate throughout the rest of this year as we kind of gave ourselves room for that work.

但如你所知，我們在 2024 年取得了重大進展，提高了我們的接受率。因此，我們確實在 2025 年為自己留出了空間，進行一些持續的實驗和對接受率的研究，以便測試我們的一些接受率策略，以便在 2026 年實現更有意義的接受率擴張。因此，你可以預期今年剩餘時間的接受率會相對平穩，因為我們為這項工作留出了空間。

Okay. Thank you, both.

好的。謝謝你們兩位。

Nat Schindler, Scotia Bank.

加拿大豐業銀行的 Nat Schindler。

Yes. Hi, thank you. Mostly for Erica. Looking your guidance and I know you said that this would be the high water mark for your EBITDA. But If I look at what you did this quarter, being up about $8 million above the midpoint of your guidance and then compare it to your raise of the year by about $10 million, but then add to the fact that you're also increasing your stock based comp from your previous guide, respectively not raising any EBITDA for the back half of the year and keeping revenue the same. Is this conservatism or are you -- do you really have places to spend that will really change the -- particularly the sales and marketing line for the next few quarters?

是的。你好，謝謝。主要是為了艾麗卡。查看您的指導，我知道您說這將是您的 EBITDA 的最高水位線。但是，如果我看一下您本季的表現，就會發現比預期中點高出約 800 萬美元，然後將其與您今年的加薪約 1000 萬美元進行比較，但再加上您還從之前的指導中增加了股票補償，因此下半年沒有增加任何 EBITDA 並保持收入不變。這是保守主義嗎？或者您真的有一個可以花錢的地方，可以真正改變未來幾季的銷售和行銷路線？

I think we were appropriately conservative with our guidance, but overall this really just reflects our plans to invest in, like I said, the ample growth opportunities that we have for this business. So we really do -- the benefits that we're already seeing from the investments in Uma, as well as we have plans for continued expansion of the enterprise business and investment there.

我認為我們的指導是適當保守的，但總的來說，這實際上只是反映了我們的投資計劃，就像我說的，我們在這個業務上擁有充足的成長機會。所以我們確實已經看到了對 Uma 投資的益處，並且我們計劃繼續擴大企業業務和投資。

So there's a lot to come, but our guidance is reflective of both our overperformance and actually a little bit of pushing through some of the incremental cost optimization that we saw in Q1 into the rest of the year. So it's a balanced outlook.

因此，還有很多事情要做，但我們的指導既反映了我們的超額表現，也反映了我們在第一季看到的一些增量成本優化將在今年剩餘時間內得到一定程度的推進。所以這是一個平衡的觀點。

Okay. And then just secondly, probably for Hayden, just help me think -- I know everybody's harping on the kind of the macro situation, but I mean, it should be on everyone's mind. Can you walk us through really how contract labor, particularly white collar contract labor where you guys focused is impacted?

好的。其次，對海登來說，可能只是幫我思考一下——我知道每個人都在談論宏觀形勢，但我的意思是，這應該是每個人都應該考慮的。您能否向我們詳細介紹合約工，特別是你們所關注的白領合約工受到的影響？

I know it's been actually fairly impacted already coming off of COVID and having a kind of a multi-year white collar recession. But if unemployment rate spikes, if recession occurs, how does that usually play out across your world of kind of contract labor or contingent labor?

我知道，它實際上已經受到了相當大的影響，因為新冠疫情和多年的白領衰退。但是，如果失業率飆升，如果出現經濟衰退，那麼這對合約工或臨時工行業來說通常會產生什麼影響呢？

Sure. So as you kind of referenced, we have seen two years now of suppressed demand overall because of interest rates and inflation that have really been prompting customers to be more conservative to spend, to hold off on certain types of work, et cetera. And that's obviously impacted not just our business, but the broader contingent staffing space overall. And we've done better than others.

當然。正如您所提到的，由於利率和通貨膨脹，我們已經看到兩年來總體需求受到抑制，這實際上促使消費者在支出方面更加保守，推遲某些類型的工作等等。這顯然不僅影響了我們的業務，也影響了更廣泛的臨時員工。而且我們比其他人做得更好。

Now, if unemployment spikes, there's kind of puts and takes on that for us. On the one hand, depending on the conditions in the broader economy, like interest rates, we could see customers continue to be cautious or even more cautious with spend on our platform because they're being conservative and just holding off on deploying capital or random labor.

現在，如果失業率飆升，我們就會面臨各種困難。一方面，根據整體經濟狀況，例如利率，我們可能會看到客戶在我們平台上消費時繼續保持謹慎甚至更加謹慎，因為他們比較保守，不願意投入資本或隨機勞動力。

On the other hand, we've also seen in certain environments that are transitional or kind of suppressed from a broader macro that some customers prefer spending more in contingent staffing because they don't want to commit to long-term full-time employees. And so, it's likely that we see a mix of those things if the economy gets a lot worse.

另一方面，我們也看到，在某些過渡性或受到宏觀抑制的環境中，有些客戶更願意在臨時員工上投入更多資金，因為他們不想僱用長期的全職員工。因此，如果經濟狀況進一步惡化，我們很可能會看到這些情況的混合。

It's impossible to say right now what that mix would look like. But I do think it's a positive that even with the uncertainty that's really shown up over the past four months of this year, our platform is doing great. We are not seeing changes in spend other than some lighter top of funnel from the beginning of the year, but nothing new even in the last couple of weeks since some of the April announcements from the government. So I think we're in a good spot based on everything we know now.

現在還無法說出這種混合會是什麼樣子。但我確實認為，儘管今年過去四個月出現了許多不確定性，但我們的平台仍然表現良好，這是一個積極的方面。除了年初以來支出有所減少外，我們沒有看到支出方面的變化，但自從政府在四月份發布一些公告以來，即使在過去幾週也沒有任何新變化。因此，我認為根據我們目前所了解的一切，我們處於一個良好的狀態。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Marvin Fong, BTIG.

Marvin Fong，BTIG。

Great. Good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe just to start, I think we've covered a lot of ground here. But on Uma, you've cited numerous benefits and other specific examples. I was just wondering at a higher level, have you done any work trying to quantify how much benefit Uma has had in terms of GSV growth? Is there any sort of single number percentage impact that you could help us think through how much so far Uma has benefited the company.

偉大的。晚安.感謝您回答我的問題。也許只是開始，我想我們已經涵蓋了很多內容。但關於 Uma，您列舉了許多好處和其他具體例子。我只是從更高層面上想問，您是否做過任何工作來量化 Uma 在 GSV 成長方面帶來了多少好處？您能否用一個單一的數字百分比來幫助我們思考一下到目前為止 Uma 為公司帶來了多少利益。

And then the second question, I think you've said on the tariff question and the macro, I mean, you have noticed top of funnel some slight weakening, I think you characterized it as, but you also have said no impact from public sector, no significant impact from tariffs. So I'd just like to kind of square all those statements together. I mean, what would you attribute like the slight weakness at top of funnel, that'd be great. Thanks.

然後是第二個問題，我想您已經談到了關稅問題和宏觀問題，我的意思是，您注意到漏斗頂部有些輕微的減弱，我想您將其描述為，但您也說過公共部門沒有影響，關稅沒有顯著影響。所以我只是想把所有這些陳述綜合起來。我的意思是，您認為漏斗頂部的輕微弱點是什麼，那就太好了。謝謝。

Marvin, on the Uma side of things, some of those early indicators that I shared around increasing volume of proposals, lift in hiring rates, incremental earnings, those are definitely translating into GSV gains. And that's something we have internally quantified and factored into our current guidance. And it's certainly a small contributor also to our Q1 overperformance on GSV.

馬文，就 Uma 方面而言，我之前分享的一些早期指標包括提案數量的增加、招聘率的提高、收入的增加，這些肯定會轉化為 GSV 的收益。這是我們內部量化並納入當前指導的內容。這當然也是我們第一季 GSV 表現優異的一個小貢獻者。

So we feel good about what that's doing. It's not just driving our funnel, but it is driving real spend behaviors. And that's also why we have confidence that as we continue executing our Uma roadmap, this will be a contributor to GSV acceleration in 2026.

所以我們對於所做的事情感到很滿意。它不僅推動我們的管道，也推動真正的消費行為。這也是為什麼我們有信心，隨著我們繼續執行 Uma 路線圖，這將有助於 2026 年 GSV 的加速發展。

And maybe just to clarify, Marvin, the comments on the macro. So the impact of top of funnel that I was describing is really a Q1 phenomenon. So it predates any announcements from the federal government. And that's been -- we saw a little bit of an uptick on some of those top of funnel demand metrics in Q1, but it's been sort of an impact to our overall business. But to be clear, when the tariffs came out in April, we saw no incremental impact.

馬文，也許只是為了澄清一下關於宏觀的評論。所以我所描述的漏斗頂部的影響實際上是一種 Q1 現象。因此它早於聯邦政府的任何公告。並且，我們看到第一季一些漏斗頂部的需求指標略有上升，但這對我們的整體業務產生了一定的影響。但要明確說明的是，當四月關稅出台時，我們並沒有看到任何增量影響。

Okay. That's very helpful. Thanks so much.

好的。這非常有幫助。非常感謝。

And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. And as such, this does conclude today's presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.

我現在不想再問任何問題。今天的演講就到此結束了。我們感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開連接並享受美好的一天。