Upwork Inc. (UPWK) 2026 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Upwork second-quarter 2026 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note today's conference may be recorded.

大家好。感謝您耐心等候。歡迎參加 Upwork 2026 年第二季財報電話會議。(接線員指示) 請注意，今天的會議可能會被錄音。

I will now hand the conference over to your speaker host, Peter Sanborn, Chief Business Officer. Please go ahead.

現在我將把會議交給本次主講人、Upwork 首席商務長 Peter Sanborn。請開始。

Thank you, and welcome to Upwork's discussion of its second-quarter 2026 financial results. Joining me today is Hayden Brown, Upwork's President and Chief Executive Officer. Following our prepared remarks, we will be happy to take your questions, but first, I'll review the Safe Harbor statement.

謝謝，歡迎參加 Upwork 2026 年第二季財務業績的說明。今天與我一同出席的是 Upwork 總裁兼執行長 Hayden Brown。在我們的準備發言之後，我們很樂意回答各位的提問；但首先，我將宣讀「安全港」聲明。

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 those 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 statements.

在本次電話會議中，我們可能會就公司業務發表依據聯邦證券法所定義的前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述包含除歷史事實之外的所有陳述。這些陳述並非對未來績效的保證，而是受到各種風險、不確定性與假設的影響。我們的實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述所反映的預期存在重大差異。

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 is also available in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, which was filed today.

關於可能影響我們實際結果之重大風險及其他重要因素的討論，請參閱我們在 SEC 網站及我們投資人關係網站上可取得的 SEC 申報文件，以及今日財報新聞稿中所討論的風險與其他重要因素。更多資訊亦載於我們截至 2026 年 6 月 30 日之季度 Form 10-Q 報告，該報告已於今日提交。

In addition, references will be made to certain non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expense, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, and free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures, and all other financial measures are GAAP unless cited as non-GAAP. 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，我們將提及若干非 GAAP 財務衡量指標：調整後 EBITDA、調整後 EBITDA 利潤率、非 GAAP 毛利率、非 GAAP 營業費用、非 GAAP 淨利、非 GAAP 稀釋後每股盈餘（EPS）以及自由現金流，皆屬非 GAAP 財務衡量指標；除非特別註明為非 GAAP，其餘財務衡量指標均為 GAAP。有關非 GAAP 財務衡量指標的資訊（包括與其最直接可比之 GAAP 財務衡量指標的調節表），可於今日下午在我們投資人關係網站 investors.upwork.com 發布的新聞稿中查閱。

Unless otherwise noted, reported figures are rounded and comparisons of the second quarter of 2026 or to the second quarter of 2025.

除非另有說明，所報告的數字均已四捨五入，且比較係以 2026 年第二季與 2025 年第二季相比。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Hayden.

接下來，我把電話交給 Hayden。

Good afternoon, and welcome to Upwork's second-quarter 2026 earnings call. In Q2, Upwork demonstrated strong execution in an operating environment that continues to be challenging. We delivered revenue of $191.7 million at the high end of our guidance range and adjusted EBITDA of $64.1 million, exceeding the high end of our guidance range. This was driven by disciplined cost management across our entire business.

各位下午好，歡迎參加 Upwork 2026 年第二季財報電話會議。在第二季，Upwork 在仍具挑戰的營運環境中展現了強勁的執行力。我們實現營收 1.917 億美元，位於指引區間上緣；調整後 EBITDA 為 6,410 萬美元，超越指引區間上緣。這主要受惠於我們在整體業務範圍內嚴謹的成本管理。

Our growth building blocks of SMB, enterprise, and AI are delivering results. We're driving momentum with larger clients, capturing higher value projects, and scaling our position as the platform of choice for complex AI-enabled work.

我們的成長基石——中小企業（SMB）、企業客戶與 AI——正在帶來成果。我們正透過更大型客戶推動動能、取得更高價值的專案，並擴大我們作為複雜 AI 賦能工作首選平台的地位。

In SMB, our prioritization of quality and customer value, not volume, continues to pay off. Business Plus continues to pace ahead of plan, with GSV growing 174% year over year as larger customers utilize Upwork for complex recurring needs. GSV per active client reached another record at $5,230, up 5% year over year, marking our eighth consecutive quarter of sequential growth in this metric.

在 SMB 方面，我們優先聚焦品質與客戶價值，而非追求量體，持續獲得回報。Business Plus 持續超前於計畫，隨著較大型客戶使用 Upwork 以滿足複雜且經常性的需求，其 GSV 年增 174%。每位活躍客戶的 GSV 再創新高，達 5,230 美元，年增 5%，並且是該指標連續第八季呈現季增。

A core part of our SMB strategy is helping these businesses tap into AI for practical outcomes. For many of these customers, the constraint is not access to AI technology, but access to people who understand how to apply it to their specific industry, workflow, or business problem.

我們 SMB 策略的核心之一，是協助這些企業將 AI 用於可落地的成果。對許多客戶而言，限制因素並非取得 AI 技術，而是取得了解如何將 AI 應用到其特定產業、工作流程或商業問題的人才。

Upwork is uniquely able to solve this at scale, combining a deep pool of AI skilled talent with the marketplace infrastructure and trust that lets customers confidently tap into the human expertise they need. This is reflected in the 51% year-over-year growth we saw in our AI strategy and consulting category in Q2. SMBs are telling us that they're hiring AI experts to guide them and making their businesses more AI-native so they can grow and scale.

Upwork 具備獨特能力可大規模解決此問題，結合深厚的 AI 技能人才庫，以及市場平台的基礎設施與信任機制，讓客戶能有信心地取得所需的人類專業。這也反映在我們第二季 AI 策略與顧問類別年增 51% 的表現上。SMB 客戶告訴我們，他們正在聘用 AI 專家為其提供指引，並讓企業更「AI 原生」，以便成長與擴張。

In enterprise, our goals for Lifted remain on track, and demand signals are strong. We initiated customer migrations to the new platform on schedule in June. We also saw positive developments with customers advancing through later stages of the sales process.

在企業客戶方面，我們對 Lifted 的目標仍按計畫推進，需求訊號強勁。我們已於 6 月依期啟動客戶遷移至新平台。我們也看到正向進展，客戶在銷售流程的後期階段持續推進。

The thesis around serving larger customers with a differentiated offering is working. Our focus on an expanded ability to support and grow larger customers that fit our ideal customer profile contributed to 7% year-over-year growth in GSV per enterprise account, the highest level it's been in more than three years. We also saw 29% year-over-year growth in GSV from employer of record, or EOR, solutions which are made possible due to Lifted's acquisition of Ascen.

以差異化方案服務更大型客戶的論點正在奏效。我們聚焦於擴大支援並成長符合我們理想客戶輪廓之大型客戶的能力，帶動每個企業帳戶的 GSV 年增 7%，達到三年多以來的最高水準。我們也看到名義雇主（Employer of Record，EOR）解決方案的 GSV 年增 29%，此項成長得以實現，源於 Lifted 收購 Ascen。

Moving our employment infrastructure in the US and Canada from third-party partners to Ascen wholly owned entities is garnering the improvement to our value proposition we anticipated, accelerating our sales funnel with the added benefit of improving our gross margins. We continue to expect Lifted to achieve approximately 25% year-over-year GSV growth in 2026.

我們將美國與加拿大的雇用基礎設施，從第三方合作夥伴轉移至 Ascen 的全資實體，正帶來我們預期的價值主張提升，加速我們的銷售漏斗，並且額外帶來改善毛利率的效益。我們仍預期 Lifted 在 2026 年可達成約 25% 的 GSV 年增。

Our industry is in a period of transition as AI is changing work and transforming our marketplace in real time. The near-term AI and macro headwinds we identified last quarter have persisted in Q2 with an acceleration in the pace of AI-related automation. We now have greater visibility into the work transition underway and are updating our guidance outlook accordingly.

隨著 AI 正在改變工作型態並即時重塑我們的市集，我們所處產業正處於轉型期。我們在上一季所指出的短期 AI 與總體環境逆風，在第二季仍然持續，且 AI 相關自動化的速度加快。我們如今對正在進行中的工作轉換有更高的能見度，並據此更新我們的指引展望。

Short-term headwinds do not change our confidence in the enduring value proposition of Upwork. While AI automation shrinks demand for some types of work on our platform, AI creates new demand in other areas. This is evident in the 22% growth in GSV from AI-related jobs in Q2, as defined by jobs stating an explicit AI need, up 5% quarter over quarter to reach an approximate annualized $330 million run rate.

短期逆風不會改變我們對 Upwork 長期價值主張的信心。雖然 AI 自動化會縮減平台上某些類型工作的需求，但 AI 也在其他領域創造新的需求。這可從第二季 AI 相關工作的 GSV 成長 22% 看出；此處定義為工作內容明確提出 AI 需求的職缺，其較前一季增加 5%，達到約 3.30 億美元年化運行率。

This quarter, we saw indications that the quantum of AI-related work on Upwork is actually much greater. Many clients now simply expect the use of AI tools and capabilities without feeling the need to specify this in their job posts. For example, nearly half of talent in a recent survey reported that their most recent jobs were AI-related, despite only 16% of such jobs explicitly referencing AI in the post, demonstrating how prevalent AI-related work is becoming on Upwork.

本季我們也看到跡象顯示，Upwork 上 AI 相關工作的實際量體可能遠高於此。許多客戶如今已將使用 AI 工具與能力視為理所當然，因此不再覺得需要在職缺貼文中特別註明。例如，在近期一項調查中，近一半的人才表示其最近的工作與 AI 相關；然而，這些工作中僅有 16% 在貼文中明確提及 AI，顯示 AI 相關工作在 Upwork 上正變得愈發普遍。

AI is also changing search. Our client acquisition strategy is to diversify beyond paid and organic Google search to build a highly durable growth engine spanning emergent channels, including LLM-based search. Google's changes to search have dampened new customer acquisition with accelerated negative impact in Q2. Our SEO rankings have continued to step up, but the channel overall is smaller, underscoring the importance of the ongoing paid acquisition efficiencies we've been driving.

AI 也正在改變搜尋。我們的客戶獲取策略，是從付費與自然的 Google 搜尋之外進一步多元化，打造橫跨新興渠道（包括以 LLM 為基礎的搜尋）的高韌性成長引擎。Google 對搜尋的變更已抑制新客戶獲取，且在第二季負面影響加速。我們的 SEO 排名持續提升，但整體渠道規模變小，凸顯我們持續推動的付費獲取效率提升之重要性。

Paid search has become our largest customer acquisition channel, and we have grown it in both relative and absolute size while increasing efficiency. Cost per new contract start improved 22% quarter on quarter, and this performance gives us confidence in increasing our paid acquisition investments for the balance of the year.

付費搜尋已成為我們最大的客戶獲取渠道，我們在提升效率的同時，也讓其相對與絕對規模同步成長。每一筆新合約啟動的成本較前一季改善 22%，此一表現讓我們有信心在今年剩餘期間提高付費獲取投資。

We've also begun tuning our acquisition approaches for new channels that we expect to scale over time, like answer engine optimization, or AEO, and LLM-based referrals. While these channels are still nascent, third-party measures show that our share of AI-based mentions and referrals is 18 percentage points higher than our closest peer.

我們也已開始調整針對預期將隨時間擴大的新渠道之獲取方式，例如答案引擎最佳化（Answer Engine Optimization，AEO）與以 LLM 為基礎的引薦。雖然這些渠道仍處於早期階段，但第三方衡量顯示，我們在 AI 型提及與引薦的市占率比最接近的同業高出 18 個百分點。

Additionally, our AI integrations are beginning to drive AI-based referral traffic and set us up for growth from these channels as OpenAI, Anthropic, and others enhance their approaches. These levers give us new paths to acquire customers in this unfolding AI and marketing landscape.

此外，我們的 AI 整合也開始帶來以 AI 為基礎的推薦流量，並隨著 OpenAI、Anthropic 等公司強化其方法，讓我們得以從這些渠道的成長中受益。這些槓桿為我們在這個正在展開的 AI 與行銷版圖中，提供了新的客戶獲取途徑。

The expansion of our acquisition channels goes hand in hand with how we're expanding our platform capabilities. With the proliferation of AI, we've been seeing clients trying to use AI agents to hire on Upwork for projects.

我們獲客渠道的擴張，與我們平台能力的擴展是相輔相成的。隨著 AI 的普及，我們看到客戶嘗試使用 AI 代理在 Upwork 上為專案進行招募。

We're also seeing a growing volume of clients come to Upwork to find people who can complete or fix a project they started with AI. Requests like turn my vibe-coded concept into a production website or humanize the translation output from this AI are growing among many others.

我們也看到越來越多的客戶來到 Upwork，尋找能完成或修復他們用 AI 開始的專案的人才。例如「把我用 vibe coding 做出的概念變成可上線的正式網站」或「把這個 AI 的翻譯輸出更人性化」等需求，正與許多其他需求一起成長。

In the second quarter, we delivered key milestones on our product roadmap to support these use cases at scale. And today, we announced the Upwork MCP server, our next capability for enabling agentic interactions on both sides of the marketplace, backed by the talent and job access, trust, guarantees, and quality that only Upwork offers.

在第二季，我們在產品路線圖上達成了關鍵里程碑，以支援這些使用情境的規模化。而今天，我們宣布推出 Upwork MCP 伺服器，這是我們下一項能力，用於在市場兩端促成代理式（agentic）互動，並以只有 Upwork 才能提供的人才與工作存取、信任、保障與品質作為後盾。

In Q2, we embedded Upwork directly into both ChatGPT and Claude. And with today's launch, Upwork talent and jobs are now accessible inside any AI tool that connects to our MCP. This lets both humans and their AI agents hire and collaborate with Upwork talent without leaving their own environments, while giving freelancers a way to win and deliver work without leaving their preferred AI tools.

在第二季，我們將 Upwork 直接嵌入 ChatGPT 與 Claude。隨著今天的發布，Upwork 的人才與工作現在可在任何連接到我們 MCP 的 AI 工具內存取。這讓人類及其 AI 代理能在不離開自身環境的情況下雇用並與 Upwork 人才協作，同時也讓自由工作者能在不離開其偏好的 AI 工具下取得並交付工作。

Demand for human taste, judgment, and quality assessment is increasingly commanding a premium. We're building these capabilities that let clients reach directly into our marketplace from inside the AI tools where they're already working to find the human expert they need the moment they need them.

對人類品味、判斷與品質評估的需求，正日益能獲得溢價。我們正在打造這些能力，讓客戶能在他們已經使用的 AI 工具內，直接觸及我們的市場，並在需要的當下找到所需的人類專家。

And as agents become a bigger part of how work gets done, we're building toward a marketplace where clients and their agents can hire not just human talent, but can also hire specialized AI agents and human-agent teams. Bringing both sides of this emerging human and agent economy together on one platform is something no other marketplace can do at our scale. These innovations will help position Upwork as a key beneficiary of the AI shift that is underway.

而隨著代理在工作完成方式中扮演更重要的角色，我們正朝向一個市場邁進：客戶及其代理不僅能雇用人類人才，也能雇用專門的 AI 代理以及人類—代理團隊。在同一平台上把這個新興的人類與代理經濟的兩端連結起來，是其他任何市場在我們的規模下都做不到的。這些創新將有助於把 Upwork 定位為正在進行的 AI 轉變中的主要受益者。

Now, I'll walk through our financial performance for the second quarter in more detail, as well as our updated guidance.

接下來，我將更詳細說明我們第二季的財務表現，以及更新後的財測指引。

Our financial results in Q2 demonstrate our capability to execute with discipline, driving profit expansion even as top-line volume reflects the transition underway. GSV was $966 million, reflecting the continued burn-off of lower-value, highly automatable work, the evolving impact of AI on new client acquisition, and a subdued labor market.

我們第二季的財務結果展現了我們以紀律執行的能力，即使營收端的量反映出正在進行的轉型，我們仍推動了獲利擴張。GSV 為 9.66 億美元，反映出低價值、可高度自動化工作的持續消退，AI 對新客獲取的影響持續演變，以及疲弱的勞動市場。

Total revenue for the second quarter was $191.7 million, representing the high end of our guidance range, supported by strong, high-margin contributions from our ads and monetization levers, including dynamic pricing, Connects, and Business Plus. Revenue from these levers was up 15% year over year, and Connects and talent subscriptions now represent 15% of total revenue. This drove a strong take rate of 19.8%, with highly accretive, high-margin revenue streams that also improve high-quality matching.

第二季總營收為 1.917 億美元，達到我們指引區間的高端，主要受惠於廣告與變現槓桿的強勁且高毛利貢獻，包括動態定價、Connects 與 Business Plus。這些槓桿帶來的營收年增 15%，而 Connects 與人才訂閱目前占總營收的 15%。這帶動了 19.8% 的強勁抽成率（take rate），其高增益、高毛利的營收來源也同時改善高品質配對。

Q2 active client count was 763,000. Active client count continues to be pressured by AI automation and search trends, labor market conditions, and our strategy to focus on client value over volume. Our average spend for contract reached an all-time high over any 12-month period in company history, representing the sixth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth. GSV per new client grew year over year for another consecutive quarter, confirming that we are attracting clients with larger initial budgets and longer project horizons.

第二季活躍客戶數為 763,000。活躍客戶數仍受到 AI 自動化與搜尋趨勢、勞動市場狀況，以及我們聚焦客戶價值而非量的策略所壓抑。我們每份合約的平均支出在公司歷史上任何 12 個月期間都創下新高，並連續第六季實現年對年正成長。每位新客戶的 GSV 也再度連續一季年增，證實我們正吸引初始預算更大、專案期程更長的客戶。

Non-GAAP gross margin for the second quarter was 77%, remaining near record levels as we manage infrastructure and support costs efficiently. Non-GAAP operating expenses reflected the early execution of our restructuring actions we announced in May as the annualized $70 million of OpEx reduction we initiated is expected to generate approximately $40 million in realized savings in fiscal year 2026, allowing us to continuously fund our growth pillars in SMB, enterprise, and AI while expanding operating leverage.

第二季非 GAAP 毛利率為 77%，在我們有效管理基礎設施與支援成本的情況下，仍維持在接近歷史高點的水準。非 GAAP 營運費用反映了我們在 5 月宣布的重組行動之早期執行；我們啟動的年度化 7,000 萬美元 OpEx 降幅，預期在 2026 會計年度可實現約 4,000 萬美元的節省，使我們能在擴大營運槓桿的同時，持續為 SMB、企業與 AI 等成長支柱提供資金。

Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 was $64.1 million, exceeding the high end of our guidance range and delivering an adjusted EBITDA margin of 33.4%. Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted EPS were similarly strong, while our GAAP metrics reflect the impact of our Q2 restructuring charges.

第二季調整後 EBITDA 為 6,410 萬美元，超過我們指引區間的高端，並帶來 33.4% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。非 GAAP 淨利與非 GAAP 稀釋後 EPS 同樣強勁，而我們的 GAAP 指標則反映了第二季重組費用的影響。

While our capital-light marketplace model consistently yields exceptional free cash flow conversion, this quarter's free cash flow of $35.9 million included the impact of one-time cash payments related to our restructuring.

雖然我們的輕資本市場模式一向帶來卓越的自由現金流轉換率，但本季 3,590 萬美元的自由現金流包含了與重組相關的一次性現金支付影響。

During the quarter, we closed a new $150 million revolving credit facility with a $50 million accordion. This positions us to repay the August 2026 convertible notes at maturity while supporting our disciplined capital allocation strategy, opportunistic M&A, and our share repurchase program. We repurchased approximately 164,000 shares in Q2 while we closed the revolving credit facility. Year to date, we have repurchased approximately 8.3 million shares.

本季期間，我們簽訂了一項新的 1.5 億美元循環信用額度，並附帶 5,000 萬美元的增額選項（accordion）。這使我們能在到期時償還 2026 年 8 月到期的可轉換公司債，同時支持我們有紀律的資本配置策略、機會型併購，以及股票回購計畫。在第二季、於完成循環信用額度之際，我們回購了約 164,000 股。年初至今，我們已回購約 830 萬股。

Turning now to our updated outlook. As I mentioned at the top of this call, the near-term AI and macro headwinds we identified last quarter have persisted throughout Q2 and into Q3, with an uptick in the pace of AI-related automation and impacts from SEO. We are adjusting our full-year guidance on both the top and bottom line accordingly.

接下來談我們更新後的展望。如同我在本次電話會議一開始提到的，我們在上一季辨識出的短期 AI 與總體逆風，於第二季並延續至第三季仍然存在，且 AI 相關自動化的速度以及 SEO 帶來的影響有所加劇。因此，我們相應調整全年在營收端與獲利端的指引。

For the full year 2026, we now expect revenue in the range of $730 million to $750 million. This assumes a heightened pace of AI-related automation and no improvements in the labor market. As planned, we will continue to expand take rate this year as part of our overall growth story.

對於 2026 全年，我們目前預期營收將落在 7.30 億至 7.50 億美元之間。此預期假設 AI 相關自動化速度加快，且勞動市場沒有改善。依計畫，我們今年將持續擴大抽成率（take rate），作為整體成長故事的一部分。

We expect full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA of approximately $225 million to $235 million, which represents an adjusted EBITDA margin of 31% at the midpoint. This is driven by the flow-through of our reduced revenue outlook alongside planned marketing spend.

我們預期 2026 全年調整後 EBITDA 約為 2.25 億至 2.35 億美元，以中位數計算相當於 31% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。這主要來自我們下修營收展望的傳導效應，以及既定的行銷支出規劃。

We expect full-year 2026 non-GAAP diluted EPS to be between $1.38 and $1.43. Our updated guidance also assumes stock-based compensation of approximately $60 million to $65 million for the full year 2026.

我們預期 2026 全年非 GAAP 稀釋後 EPS 介於 1.38 至 1.43 美元之間。我們更新後的指引亦假設 2026 全年以股票為基礎的薪酬約為 6,000 萬至 6,500 萬美元。

For the third quarter, we expect to generate revenue in the range of $176 million to $184 million and adjusted EBITDA in the range of $50 million to $54 million, which represents an adjusted EBITDA margin of 29% at the midpoint. We expect Q3 non-GAAP diluted EPS to be between $0.31 and $0.33.

對於第三季，我們預期營收將落在 1.76 億至 1.84 億美元之間，調整後 EBITDA 將落在 5,000 萬至 5,400 萬美元之間，以中位數計算相當於 29% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。我們預期第三季非 GAAP 稀釋後 EPS 介於 0.31 至 0.33 美元之間。

Our underlying metrics, including record GSV per active client and continued Business Plus and AI work growth, confirm Upwork's strong value proposition, even in a changing market. Our product innovations and tailored offerings for larger customers are deepening our moat, and we continue operating with financial discipline. We're navigating the near-term impacts of this significant evolution in how work gets done while continuing to build Upwork to capture the demand, talent, and economic opportunity that this new era of work offers.

我們的基本面指標，包括每位活躍客戶的 GSV 創新高，以及 Business Plus 與 AI 工作持續成長，證實即使在變動的市場中，Upwork 仍具備強勁的價值主張。我們的產品創新與針對大型客戶的客製化方案正在加深我們的護城河，而我們也持續以財務紀律營運。我們正在因應這場工作完成方式重大演進所帶來的短期影響，同時持續打造 Upwork，以掌握這個新工作時代所提供的需求、人才與經濟機會。

Thank you for your continued support. Operator, we are now ready to open the call to questions.

感謝各位持續的支持。接線員，我們現在準備開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) Ron Josey, Citi.

(接線員指示) Ron Josey，花旗。

Great, thanks for taking the question. Hayden, I had two questions. One, on operations and just you talked about the challenging operating environment continuing. Would love to hear more about the view and the visibility and then more insights on the SEO challenges that you mentioned.

太好了，謝謝讓我提問。Hayden，我有兩個問題。第一個關於營運，你提到具挑戰性的營運環境仍在持續。希望能多聽一些你們的看法與能見度，並且也請分享更多你提到的 SEO 挑戰相關洞見。

And then some interesting data came out today, at least the press release around the MCP server. Want to understand directly how that might impact the business going forward, just given the AI benefits. Thank you.

然後今天出來了一些有趣的資料，至少是關於 MCP 伺服器的新聞稿內容。想直接了解，考量到 AI 帶來的效益，這可能會如何影響未來的業務走向。謝謝。

Thanks, Ron. So from a visibility standpoint, we are really in the midst of a transition of work broadly. And what we're seeing is that our decisions, including our growth strategy and our effective cost management, are enabling us to navigate this situation from a real position of strength.

謝謝，Ron。就能見度而言，我們確實正處於整體工作型態轉變的過程中。我們看到，我們的決策（包括成長策略與有效的成本管理）正讓我們能以真正強勢的姿態來因應這個局面。

The trend we saw this quarter is really a continuation of last quarter, but with an acceleration in the AI automation of very low complexity work and further deterioration on Google SEO, especially notable in the non-brand channel. And that's understandable given that demand for less complex work is shrinking as customers embrace AI. And this is just flowing through to our platform.

我們本季看到的趨勢，基本上是上季的延續，但 AI 自動化在極低複雜度工作上的加速更明顯，同時 Google SEO 進一步惡化，尤其在非品牌（non-brand）渠道特別顯著。這是可以理解的，因為隨著客戶採用 AI，對較不複雜工作的需求正在縮減。而這些變化也就反映到我們的平台上。

But the important thing here is it really is an evolution with a situation that's quite fluid. We are already seeing really great green shoots that our strategy is working, and this is showing us what Upwork will look like as this transition unfolds.

但這裡重要的是，這確實是一種演進，而且情勢相當動態。我們已經看到非常好的初步跡象，顯示我們的策略正在奏效，這也讓我們看見在這個轉型展開之際，Upwork 將會呈現什麼樣貌。

We can see that Upwork will be home to a lot of new work. AI-relevant work is already a big and enduring part of Upwork. We are seeing this with $330 million of GSV run rate in our AI categories. And as I mentioned a few moments ago, this is really an undercount because there is a lot more AI usage that is de facto across the platform.

我們可以看到，Upwork 將會成為許多新型態工作的聚集地。與 AI 相關的工作已經是 Upwork 重要且長期存在的一部分。我們在 AI 類別中看到的 GSV 年化運行率（run rate）達 3.3 億美元。而如我剛才提到的，這其實是低估，因為平台上還有更多 AI 的使用是事實上（de facto）遍布各處的。

We can also see that on the other side of this transition, projects are becoming much bigger. This is how we have seen eight consecutive quarters of increased GSV per client. And it's not just a mix shift. We are actually seeing increases in things like the length of hourly work contracts, which hit a record of 100 hours on average this quarter.

我們也看到，在這個轉型的另一端，專案規模正在變得更大。這也是為什麼我們已經連續八個季度看到每位客戶的 GSV 持續提升。而這不只是組合（mix）轉移。我們實際上也看到例如按時薪計費合約的工作時長增加，本季平均達到 100 小時的歷史新高。

The final thing that's really going to be a hallmark of the new Upwork on the other side of this are these new channels and the new participants in those channels. And that speaks to the MCP part of your question, which I'll answer in a moment.

最後一點，將會成為轉型後新 Upwork 的一大特徵，就是這些新渠道以及在這些渠道中的新參與者。這也呼應到你問題中的 MCP 部分，我稍後會回答。

With the launch of the MCP, we really are stepping into new AI-first client acquisition strategies, which started working already with the integrations that we made in the last few months with Claude and ChatGPT. But this now opens Upwork to integrating agents and agent participants on both sides of our marketplace in a very at-scale way.

隨著 MCP 的推出，我們確實正在切入新的「AI 優先」客戶獲取策略；而這套策略在過去幾個月我們與 Claude 和 ChatGPT 的整合後就已經開始見效。但現在，這讓 Upwork 能以大規模的方式，在我們的雙邊市場兩端整合代理（agents）以及代理端的參與者。

So for us, the good news is we know how to navigate through these changes. It's in the DNA of our company to navigate changes in work, and we are very focused on just executing through them and seeing our strategies scale.

因此對我們來說，好消息是我們知道如何穿越這些變化。因應工作型態的變遷本來就是我們公司的 DNA，我們非常專注於把執行做好，並讓我們的策略規模化。

Now, to your question about SEO, I would say these are industry-wide trends that are hitting the business. And so the impact to us is very similar to what we're seeing, I think, across our peer group. Specifically, Google has changed SEO referrals and the layout of the search page so that many fewer searches on Google result in any kind of referral to any kind of business. And that's really what's weighing on new client acquisition. And of course, it's coming at a moment that's kind of compounding the impact because the labor market is subdued, AI work is happening, and this is happening all at the same time.

至於你關於 SEO 的問題，我會說這是影響整個產業的趨勢，也正在衝擊業務。因此對我們的影響，與我認為我們同業群體所看到的情況非常相似。具體而言，Google 改變了 SEO 導流以及搜尋頁面的版面配置，使得在 Google 上的許多搜尋更少會導向任何形式、任何類型企業的引流。這正是壓抑新客戶獲取的主要因素。當然，這也發生在一個影響被疊加的時點：勞動市場偏疲弱、AI 工作正在發生，而這些事情同時發生。

The good news is we've done a lot to counter this, and that includes rebuilding our marketing funnels for this new world. As I mentioned earlier, paid acquisition is really doing well for us in Q2, and that's leaving us the confidence to increase our marketing spend by approximately $5 million to $10 million incrementally in the back half of the year. And these new acquisition channels around AI are the future, really, for organic low-cost acquisition that really lets us integrate into these endpoints and get customers right where the work is happening.

好消息是，我們已經做了很多來對沖這些影響，包括為這個新世界重建我們的行銷漏斗。如我先前提到的，第二季付費獲客對我們表現非常好，這也讓我們有信心在下半年額外（incrementally）增加約 500 萬到 1,000 萬美元的行銷支出。而這些圍繞 AI 的新獲客渠道，才是真正的未來，能帶來有機、低成本的獲客，讓我們能整合進這些端點（endpoints），在工作發生的地方直接觸達客戶。

And maybe that's the right transition to answer your MCP question because the reason we built this is not just to create this new demand channel. It's actually in response to seeing agents already coming to our website trying to do work on behalf of clients. This has been a fascinating phenomenon that started to grow. And previously, they couldn't get very far because of our restrictions on agent activity.

也許這正好可以銜接來回答你的 MCP 問題，因為我們打造它的原因不只是為了創造新的需求渠道。其實是因為我們看到代理（agents）已經在來我們網站，試圖代表客戶完成工作。這是一個很有趣、且開始成長的現象。而在過去，由於我們對代理活動的限制，他們其實很難走得更遠。

Now with the MCP server, Upwork can be called by and embedded into any AI tool that a client or a freelancer is using. So this really lets clients do more in terms of their job posting activity, their hiring activity, getting the benefit of both Upwork, and their favorite AI tools together in one place. It also lets freelancers do more in terms of managing their proposals, their projects, client communications inside their own AI tools and lets them actually operate as human supervisors to trusted AI tools that are integrated into Upwork and give clients and talent the full visibility, auditability, et cetera, of what those tools are being used for.

現在有了 MCP 伺服器，Upwork 可以被任何客戶或自由工作者正在使用的 AI 工具呼叫並嵌入其中。因此，這讓客戶在刊登職缺、招募等活動上能做得更多，把 Upwork 與他們最喜愛的 AI 工具的效益結合在同一個地方。這也讓自由工作者能在管理提案、專案、客戶溝通等方面做得更多，直接在他們自己的 AI 工具內完成；並讓他們實際上能作為人類監督者，去監督那些與 Upwork 整合的可信任 AI 工具，並為客戶與人才提供完整的可視性、可稽核性（auditability）等，了解這些工具被用來做什麼。

So this is a launch that really was about going to where customers already are and not waiting for that demand to come to us, but really opening up more broadly by bringing Upwork into these channels.

所以這次的推出，核心在於走向客戶已經所在之處，而不是等待需求來到我們這裡；而是透過把 Upwork 帶進這些渠道，來更廣泛地開放。

And this is something that really is unique to Upwork because one of the expectations that is coming along with this from clients is as they work in AI tools, they want things instantly. They want human impact. They want people on demand. They expect answers now. And because of our unique scale and talent breadth and quality, we can actually offer humans at scale on demand through these types of solutions, which no one else in the market can do.

而這點對 Upwork 來說確實很獨特，因為客戶對此的期待之一是：當他們在 AI 工具中工作時，他們希望一切都是即時的。他們希望有人類的影響力。他們希望隨叫隨到的人力。他們期待立刻得到答案。而憑藉我們獨特的規模，以及人才的廣度與品質，我們實際上能透過這類解決方案，在大規模下提供隨需的人力服務，這是市場上其他人做不到的。

Thank you, Hayden. Much appreciated.

謝謝你，Hayden。非常感謝。

Eric Sheridan, Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs 的 Eric Sheridan。

Thanks so much for taking the questions. Maybe two, if I could. One I think is going to sort of dominate the debate around the space for a while is, how do you think about the duration to get to the end state? Is the visibility that this transition is a 6- to 12-month transition or could it be more than a 12-month transition? I'm just curious for any framing you think about what the sort of countervailing factors in the business might lead to in terms of a mixture of these headwinds and tailwinds before we get back to some sort of more normalized levels of growth.

非常感謝讓我提問。如果可以的話，我想問兩個問題。我認為接下來一段時間，這個領域的討論可能會被一個問題主導：你們如何看待到達終局狀態所需的時間長度？你們的能見度是這個轉型會在 6 到 12 個月內完成，還是可能超過 12 個月？我想了解你們如何框架這件事：在我們回到某種較正常的成長水準之前，業務中這些逆風與順風交錯的對沖因素，可能會帶來什麼樣的結果。

And second, among the active client base you have today, how many of those active clients do you think will eventually be transitioned into higher-quality AI-driven work? And how much of it is about rebuilding your active client base to be centered around where the nature of work on your platform is going for the longer term? Thanks so much.

第二，在你們目前的活躍客戶基礎中，你認為其中有多少活躍客戶最終會轉向更高品質、由 AI 驅動的工作？以及其中有多少是關於重建你們的活躍客戶基礎，使其長期更聚焦於你們平台上工作型態的發展方向？非常感謝。

Yeah, thanks, Eric. So in terms of your question around timing, I think these things are incredibly hard to predict. And it would be probably disingenuous for me to say that I know exactly how long this is going to take. But the important thing is it really is an evolution. And it's a situation where on the other side of these changes, Upwork is actually emerging structurally as a beneficiary because it's unique to our platform, as I was just mentioning on the MCP side, for us to serve the market where it's going and really displace legacy and other solutions that can't do what we can do here.

好的，謝謝你，Eric。就你關於時間點的問題而言，我認為這些事情非常難以預測。如果我說我完全知道這會需要多久，可能也不太誠實。但重要的是，這確實是一種演進。而在這些變化的另一端，Upwork 在結構上其實正逐步成為受益者，因為如我剛才在 MCP 部分提到的，我們的平台具備獨特性，能服務市場前進的方向，並真正取代那些無法做到我們在此能做到之事的傳統與其他解決方案。

So we're staying laser-focused just on our execution, on these strategies that are working. And we see everything from our enterprise growing, our Business Plus offering up 174% year over year, and AI tailwinds in the parts of our business that really speak to AI work. All of those things will continue to scale and compound as we work through this. And that makes me incredibly optimistic about where we'll land.

所以我們會持續把焦點精準鎖定在執行上，專注於這些正在奏效的策略。我們看到各方面的成長：企業客戶業務在成長、Business Plus 方案年增 174%，以及在我們業務中真正與 AI 工作相關的部分也受到 AI 順風帶動。隨著我們推進，這些因素都會持續擴張並產生複利效應。這讓我對我們最終會落在什麼位置感到非常樂觀。

To your second part of your question which was, sorry?

關於你問題的第二部分是，抱歉，是什麼來著？

When you think about the client base today relative to where the active client base needs to evolve, how much of your active client base do you think are along this journey towards higher-quality work as opposed to rebuilding the client base around higher-quality AI-driven work when we think about over the next 12, 24 months?

當你把今天的客戶基礎，和未來活躍客戶基礎需要演進到的樣貌相比，在接下來 12、24 個月，你認為目前的活躍客戶中，有多少是在這條邁向更高品質工作的旅程上；相對地，又有多少需要我們圍繞更高品質、AI 驅動的工作來重建客戶基礎？

Got it. Yeah, I'd say on that front, this is really an expansion, not a replacement. We do see with very small business customers that we have today, those that are active in the Marketplace Basic Plan, they are shifting their workloads to be more AI oriented. And we see huge resonance with SMBs and larger customers who want the combination of both features and functionality of Business Plus and the AI kind of transformation that our business can offer.

了解。是的，我會說在這方面，這其實是擴張，而不是替換。我們確實看到，對於我們現有的微型企業客戶，那些在 Marketplace Basic Plan 上活躍的客戶，正在把工作負載轉向更偏 AI 導向。同時，我們也看到中小企業（SMB）與更大型客戶對於「Business Plus 的功能與特性」加上「我們業務所能提供的 AI 轉型」這種組合有很強的共鳴。

This is why we saw our AI Strategy Consulting practice or categories up significantly in the quarter. And I think this is just an example of how customers are using these new tools to do different types of work than they were doing a few months ago.

這也是為什麼我們在本季看到 AI 策略顧問（AI Strategy Consulting）相關的實務或類別顯著成長。我認為這只是其中一個例子，說明客戶正在使用這些新工具，去做幾個月前還不會做的不同類型工作。

So we really see it across all of our customer segments that they're leaning in more on these AI workloads, and just they are changing what they do, and so that changes what they come to Upwork to do.

所以我們確實在所有客戶分群都看到，他們更積極投入這些 AI 工作負載；而且他們正在改變自己做的事情，因此也改變了他們來 Upwork 要做的事情。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Bernie McTernan, Needham & Company.

Bernie McTernan，Needham & Company。

Great. Thanks for taking the question. Two for me. First, just on the AI category work, we've seen a slowdown over the past two quarters growing 50% year over year in the fourth quarter, then 40% last quarter, then 22% now. I know there's some caveats you gave, Hayden, in your preparatory remarks. Anything you could dig in deeper there?

很好。謝謝讓我提問。我有兩個問題。第一個是關於 AI 類別的工作，我們看到過去兩季增速放緩：第四季年增 50%，上一季 40%，現在是 22%。我知道你在開場準備發言時有提到一些但書，Hayden。你能否再更深入說明一下？

And then second, the marketplace take rate. We were expecting it to be down sequentially, and I think some pressure on, like, Connects and more ancillary revenue, but it came in actually higher sequentially. I'm assuming that's just Business Plus, but was there anything else to call out in the quarter and how to think about the marketplace take rate for the rest of the year? Thank you.

第二個是市集（marketplace）抽成率（take rate）。我們原本預期它會季減，我想可能是因為 Connects 和更多附屬收入（ancillary revenue）帶來一些壓力，但實際上它卻季增。我猜主要是 Business Plus 的影響，但本季還有其他值得一提的因素嗎？以及今年剩餘時間該如何看待市集抽成率？謝謝。

Sure. So on the AI category, this is pacing now to a $330 million run rate, as I mentioned. And I want to emphasize this is really an undercount of AI work on Upwork because what we're seeing is customer behavior is changing.

當然。先談 AI 類別：如我提到的，目前的節奏對應到 3.3 億美元的年化（run rate）。我想強調，這其實低估了 Upwork 上的 AI 工作量，因為我們看到客戶行為正在改變。

Customers who previously felt they needed to specify, hey, this is an AI job, or I really need help with this AI project, now they just assume that that is expected and they don't even talk about it in their job post.

過去客戶覺得需要明確標註「這是一個 AI 工作」或「我真的需要 AI 專案協助」，但現在他們只是把這當作理所當然的預期，甚至在職缺貼文裡都不再特別提。

That's why in a survey we did just in the last few weeks, when we talked to talent, almost half of them said their most recent project was an AI-related effort. Whereas when we looked at the job posts and what we would capture in this AI category metric, only 16% of jobs specifically mentioned from clients that they wanted AI help.

這也是為什麼在我們最近幾週做的一項調查中，當我們訪談人才端時，將近一半的人表示他們最近一個專案是與 AI 相關的工作。但當我們看職缺貼文、以及我們在這個 AI 類別指標中能捕捉到的內容時，只有 16% 的工作是客戶明確提到希望獲得 AI 協助。

So there's just a transition happening in the ecosystem broadly where AI is now permeating all types of work. And I think that is what's reflected more than anything in the metric here.

所以整個生態系正在發生轉變：AI 現在正滲透到各種類型的工作中。我認為這個指標所反映的，最主要就是這件事。

Now, in terms of the marketplace take rate trends, we did have some success with our admin monetization efforts in Q2, and we will continue to expand on those in Q3 and Q4. The expansion of things like dynamic pricing on freelancer fees and some other things were some of the big contributors to the overperformance and take rate and our outlook is for take rate to continue to step up in the back of the year.

至於市集抽成率的趨勢，我們在第二季的管理端變現（admin monetization）上取得了一些成果，並會在第三季與第四季持續擴大。像是對自由工作者費用採用動態定價（dynamic pricing）以及其他一些措施，是帶動抽成率優於預期的主要貢獻因素；我們的展望是抽成率在下半年會持續上升。

John Byun, Jefferies.

John Byun，Jefferies。

Hi, thank you. This is John Byun on behalf of Brent Thill. Question on Lifted. You mentioned it was on track. It still grows, just 25%. And I guess the employer of record category did very well. I'm wondering if there's anything more you could share about the migration there, the different project categories it's able to achieve in the pipeline, how it's building. Thank you.

嗨，謝謝。我是 John Byun，代表 Brent Thill 提問。問題關於 Lifted。你提到它進度符合預期。但它仍然只成長 25%。而且我想名義雇主（employer of record，EOR）類別表現非常好。我想知道你是否能再分享更多關於遷移（migration）的情況、它在管線中能達成的不同專案類別，以及整體建置進展如何。謝謝。

John, in Q2, we did see really great progress with both customer migrations and pipeline building for Lifted. And that's what gives us confidence that we're on track for the approximate 25% GSV growth in full year '26.

John，在第二季，我們在 Lifted 的客戶遷移與銷售管線建置兩方面都看到非常好的進展。這也是我們有信心認為，2026 全年約 25% 的 GSV 成長目標仍在軌道上的原因。

June was when we really started the customer migrations, and that activity will be ramping up because it's going very well. Customers are giving us very positive feedback. As we're running these customers through the new systems and workflows, things are going very well. So we feel good about that.

6 月是我們真正開始進行客戶遷移的時間點，而這項活動會持續加速，因為進展非常順利。客戶給了我們非常正面的回饋。當我們讓這些客戶在新系統與新工作流程中運行時，一切都進行得很順。所以我們對此感到很放心。

From a pipeline perspective, the pipeline continues to be incredibly healthy, and customers are converting. We talked about pipeline expansion last quarter. Now, we're seeing those customers continue to move through our funnel.

從管線角度來看，管線仍然非常健康，而且客戶正在轉換。我們上季談到管線擴張。現在我們看到這些客戶持續在漏斗中往前推進。

One example is we recently won a multimillion-dollar RFP with a very large global company for a staff augmentation contract that we would never have been invited to participate in before Lifted and before everything we've done to round out that set of capabilities.

其中一個例子是，我們最近在一個非常大型的全球企業所發出的 RFP 中，贏得了一個數百萬美元規模的案子，內容是人力增補（staff augmentation）合約；在 Lifted 上線之前、以及在我們補齊這整套能力之前，我們根本不可能被邀請參與投標。

So we're really seeing the proof points between that, between the EOR data I shared earlier, that these new capabilities are helping us close deals and also improve our margins versus what we were doing before with third parties. So we're very excited about what is going to happen here through the rest of the year and in 2027.

所以我們真的看到一些明確的驗證點：不論是這個案例，或是我先前分享的 EOR 數據，都顯示這些新能力正在幫助我們成交，同時也相較於過去使用第三方的做法改善了我們的利潤率。因此我們對今年剩餘時間以及 2027 年將會發生的事情感到非常興奮。

Thank you. And then maybe a quick follow-up on the SEO change. In terms of what you're seeing there, I mean, does it look like it's stabilizing or is still kind of ongoing in terms of what the impact could be from the search changes? That's it for me. Thank you.

謝謝。再追問一個關於 SEO 變動的問題。就你們目前看到的情況而言，它看起來是在趨於穩定，還是搜尋變更的影響仍在持續、可能還會有進一步影響？我就這些。謝謝。

Sure. We started seeing these impacts accelerating Q2 and because -- there is some kind of volatility in the industry around this. Our outlook is that they will continue to get worse through Q3 and Q4. So that's what's baked into our current guide. We haven't seen them stabilize yet, but certainly to the extent they do, that would be better than our current outlook, which is for further deceleration.

當然。我們在第二季開始看到這些影響加速，因為——整個產業在這方面存在某種波動性。我們的展望是，這些影響會在第三季與第四季持續惡化。因此這已反映在我們目前的財測指引中。我們還沒有看到它們穩定下來；但如果它們能穩定，當然會比我們目前「進一步減速」的展望更好。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Josh Chan, UBS.

Josh Chan，UBS。

Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe just two quick ones. Could you give us some sense in terms of monthly cadence on when things start to weaken? And I think you said that they're not kind of stabilizing yet at the moment. But when did that kind of start happening?

嗨，下午好。謝謝回答我的問題。我有兩個簡短的問題。你能否就「每月節奏」提供一些概念，從什麼時候開始轉弱？我想你也提到目前還沒有穩定下來。但這種情況大概是從什麼時候開始發生的？

Then maybe secondly, I think previously, there was some thought that only a portion of Upwork GSV may be susceptible to AI. So I was wondering if there's a change in that thinking there. Thank you.

那麼也許第二點，我想先前曾有一些看法認為，Upwork 的 GSV 可能只有一部分會受到 AI 影響。所以我想請教，這方面的看法是否有所改變。謝謝。

So at the time of our last earnings call, we had seen some of these trends, particularly around the pace of AI automation, stabilize. Subsequent to that, in this past quarter over the last few months, we've seen those trends accelerate.

在我們上一次財報電話會議時，我們已經看到其中一些趨勢，特別是 AI 自動化速度方面，出現穩定的跡象。但在那之後、也就是過去這一季的這幾個月裡，我們看到這些趨勢加速了。

One thing that's super important here to your question about the kind of 10%, this really is an acceleration of erosion in the part of the business we had already identified as being more exposed to AI automation. So it's kind of a pull-forward in that activity versus what we had previously expected.

針對你提到大約 10% 的問題，有一點非常重要：這其實是我們先前就已辨識出、較容易暴露在 AI 自動化之下的那一部分業務，其流失（侵蝕）速度的加快。所以這比較像是相關活動相較於我們先前預期出現「提前發生」的情況。

Okay, that's great. Thank you for the color.

好的，很棒。謝謝你補充說明。

Matt Condon, Citizens Bank.

Matt Condon，Citizens Bank。

Thank you for taking the questions. Hayden, I just wanted to ask on the enterprise opportunity. We're hearing more and more from enterprise clients or enterprise-type clients that they're leaning more and more into AI and that's reducing their full-time employee workforce. But I just wanted to get your thoughts and see what you think about the pace of AI maybe impacting freelancer work in that segment as well.

謝謝讓我提問。Hayden，我想問一下企業端的機會。我們越來越常聽到企業客戶或類似企業型客戶表示，他們正越來越多地導入 AI，這也在縮減他們的全職員工規模。但我想聽聽你的看法：AI 的推進速度是否也可能影響該細分市場中的自由工作者需求？

Yeah, it's a good question. I'd say the whole reason that we built out Lifted the way we did to enable us to tap into not just freelancer budgets, but into the full $650 billion enterprise market was predicated on the idea that enterprises spend all this money on contingent labor, but only 10% historically has gone to freelancers and that's the part that we were eligible for before.

是的，這是個好問題。我會說，我們之所以以目前的方式打造 Lifted，使我們不僅能切入自由工作者預算，也能切入整體 6,500 億美元的企業市場，背後的前提是：企業在臨時/彈性用工（contingent labor）上花了大量資金，但歷史上只有 10% 流向自由工作者，而那就是我們以前能服務的部分。

Now, we can serve customers across all of these different work types. And I think that's yet another reason why this business is moving towards more and more insulation from AI-related risk.

現在，我們可以在各種不同的工作型態上為客戶提供服務。我認為這也是另一個原因，讓這項業務正朝著對 AI 相關風險更具「隔離/緩衝」能力的方向發展。

Not to say that freelancing is going to be highly automated, but it's just that now we can diversify how we serve customers across every type of work. And so if they're changing their workloads and bringing AI to different parts of the business, this just gives us more opportunity to both bring AI talent to bear across those things and help them lean into those strategies, as well as insulates us from any one part of their business where they might be automating at a faster rate.

並不是說自由接案會高度自動化，而是現在我們能在各種工作類型上分散、調整我們服務客戶的方式。因此，如果他們正在改變工作負載，並把 AI 導入業務的不同環節，這會帶給我們更多機會：一方面把 AI 人才導入並協助他們推進這些策略；另一方面也讓我們不會過度暴露在他們某一個業務環節、可能以更快速度自動化的風險之下。

So this is definitely a really healthy expansion for us that just has multiple benefits for the business and is why we are very leaned in on driving this growth here in the back of the year and in 2027.

所以這對我們而言絕對是一個非常健康的擴張，對業務有多重好處，也正是我們為何在今年下半年以及 2027 年非常積極推動這裡的成長。

That's very helpful. And then just a follow-up on go-to-market. Obviously, you have the SEO changes, and those don't seem to have stabilized yet. And I understand the LLM investments, but those remain nascent today. So when we think about the back half of the year and the increased investment, customer acquisition, are there different channels that you're leaning into and finding success here near term? Thank you so much.

這很有幫助。接著我想追問一下 go-to-market（市場進入/商業化）策略。顯然你們面臨 SEO 變動，而且看起來尚未穩定。我理解你們對 LLM 的投資，但目前仍屬早期。所以當我們看今年下半年以及增加投資、客戶獲取時，你們是否會更倚重不同的渠道，並在短期內看到成效？非常感謝。

Yeah, there are. So certainly on the paid side, we're seeing strength on international SEM. That's one area where we're relatively under-penetrated and have seen really good returns with some of the testing we did in Q2. There's also a bunch of other channels where we see that we have headroom. That includes Meta, Reddit. We've seen some great results with podcasts and connected TV. And that's just a few of them.

是的，有的。在付費投放方面，我們看到國際 SEM 表現強勁。這是我們相對滲透不足的一個領域，而我們在第二季做的一些測試帶來了非常好的回報。另外還有許多其他渠道，我們也看到仍有成長空間。包括 Meta、Reddit。我們在 Podcast 與聯網電視（connected TV）上也看到一些很好的成果。以上只是其中幾個。

So I'd say overall, when we look at our paid acquisition channels, we're seeing the paid part from SEM grow on a relative basis, but we're also seeing a really good mix shift across other more nascent channels that we've been ramping over the last few quarters, and they're getting more sizable. That's one of the reasons we now have the confidence kind of seeing that scaling, seeing the ROI. We know we can put more money into those channels with room for it to be very efficient spend in the back half of the year, and we think that's the right thing to do.

整體來說，當我們檢視付費獲客渠道時，我們看到 SEM 這一塊的付費占比相對提升，但同時也看到在其他較新、我們過去幾季逐步加碼的渠道上，出現了很好的組合轉移（mix shift），而且規模正在變得更大。這也是我們現在有信心的原因之一：看到它們在擴量、看到 ROI。我們知道可以把更多資金投入這些渠道，而且仍有空間在今年下半年維持非常有效率的投放，我們也認為這是正確的做法。

(Operator Instructions) Marvin Fong, BTIG.

（接線員指示）Marvin Fong，BTIG。

Hi. Good evening, Hayden. Thanks for taking the questions. Yeah, I just wanted to follow up on that point you made about investing more in marketing. How did you arrive at $5 million to $10 million? Is there a potential you could do even more than that to drive more growth there?

嗨。晚上好，Hayden。謝謝讓我提問。我想延續你剛才提到要加大行銷投資的那點。你們是如何得出 500 萬到 1,000 萬美元這個數字的？是否有可能投入更多，以推動更高的成長？

And then second question, on the monetization levers, growing Connects and you cited Business Plus and dynamic pricing, but in pricing and Connects specifically, how are you managing that in this environment? It's clearly kind of more growing faster in the overall marketplace, but just common on how you think about pulling those levers to drive revenue growth and that'd be great. Thank you.

第二個問題，關於變現槓桿：你提到 Connects 的成長，以及 Business Plus 和動態定價，但就定價與 Connects 而言，你們在目前這個環境下如何管理？整體市場顯然成長更快，但想請你談談你們如何看待拉動這些槓桿來推動營收成長。謝謝。

Sure. So on your first question, we've done a lot of testing in the first half of the year around these varied channels that I mentioned. And through that testing, we really arrived at this optimal $5 million to $10 million of incremental spend based on where we're seeing performance and kind of the degradation curves in those different channels.

當然。先回答第一個問題：我們在今年上半年針對我剛提到的多種渠道做了大量測試。透過這些測試，我們根據各渠道的表現，以及在不同渠道中邊際效益遞減（degradation curves）的情況，得出了 500 萬到 1,000 萬美元這個最優的增量支出區間。

So obviously, it's a dynamic space, but we feel pretty confident based on all the work we did in Q2 that this is a place where we can deploy capital very efficiently and start to get some of that benefit even in Q4 of this year. So we'll be hard at work doing that.

當然，這是一個動態的領域，但基於我們在第二季所做的所有工作，我們相當有信心：這是一個可以非常有效率部署資本的地方，甚至在今年第四季就能開始看到部分效益。所以我們會全力以赴推進。

To your other question about monetization levers, it's a really good one because as we've seen our shift from customer volume to value and all of these ecosystem changes happening, of course, the marketplace is becoming even more competitive for these jobs. And that has good and bad factors, and we're trying to always balance how much we charge on the talent side, for example, for job access, while still really focusing on using these levers to drive match quality and fill rate and that is always our North Star with these changes.

至於你問的變現槓桿，這確實是個很好的問題。因為當我們從追求客戶量轉向追求價值、同時生態系也在發生各種變化時，市場對這些工作機會的競爭當然變得更激烈。這有好有壞，而我們一直在努力平衡：例如在人才端對工作存取（job access）收取多少費用；同時仍要專注運用這些槓桿來提升媒合品質與填補率（fill rate），而這始終是我們在推動這些變更時的北極星指標。

So reality is, in places where the marketplace is more congested and has a lot more talent than client demand at the moment. We have the ability to do some things with pricing that are beneficial to both take rate, but also beneficial to matching and keeping the marketplace super high quality in terms of those signals.

現實是，在某些市場更擁擠、目前人才供給遠高於客戶需求的地方，我們有能力在定價上做一些調整，這不僅有利於抽成率（take rate），也有利於媒合，並在訊號層面維持市場的高品質。

So that's where we're always performing the balance. And I say in the back half of this year, we will be pulling some of those levers as we see these marketplace dynamics play out, as well as ensuring that we're always working within our guardrails around match quality, et cetera.

所以我們一直在做這種平衡。而我會說，在今年下半年，隨著這些市場動態的演變，我們會拉動其中一些槓桿，同時也會確保始終在我們對媒合品質等方面的護欄（guardrails）之內運作。

Got it. Thanks so much.

了解。非常感謝。

Thank you. This concludes our question-and-answer session and also today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

謝謝。我們的問答環節以及今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位參與，現在可以掛線。