DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

It’s not like a North America only kind of endeavor. And so when we do that and we keep a focus on the global nature of this business, I’m cautiously optimistic that we have an opportunity to really expand our footprint there.

Allan Thygesen: Yes. Maybe I can add a little bit more color there. So on the product side, let’s take Germany as an example. We launched the ID Verification for EU qualified last quarter. We are qualified for trust provider in the EU. And it puts us in a very unique and strong market position. And the German market is particularly sensitive to those regulatory issues. One of the things we’re launching and we previewed it at Momentum Conference is a wallet capability or essentially, once you locked in once with this IT system, you can auto log-in in the future, further reducing the friction added by having more security. And that’s been the traditional risk trade-off that companies have faced. So we’re, I think, very optimistic about our position in the German market.

And as Blake mentioned, we just booked an office there, and I’m going there again next Sunday. In Japan, we’re at an even earlier stage of market development. And just at the end of August, we launched a fully localized CLM, which I believe is the first Western-style CLM introduced in Japan, and there’s a lot of interest and appetite for that. I was in Tokyo a few weeks ago. We’re very bullish on the opportunity in the Japanese market as well. So beyond the markets where we can invest at that level, we will use our self-serve and partner channels to ensure that we’re available essentially everywhere where agreements are signed.

Tyler Radke: Great. Thanks for the color and a follow-up question just on underlying growth. And certainly, there was some interesting slides in the presentation. But if I look at four quarter trailing billings quarter, sorry, rolling four-quarter billings growth. It seems like billings growth over the last four quarters has been stabilizing in the low double-digits. You saw subscription growth only decel about one point this quarter. Do you feel like the business is kind of stabilizing here? How should we just think about the normalized growth environment as you kind of process the puts and takes in the quarter? Thank you.

Blake Grayson: Sure. And I’ll take a stab and Allan will jump in, I’m sure if he wants to add any color. So yes, generally, really pleased with how Q2 performed. But like you heard in the prepared remarks, we still have work to do ahead of us. We did double-digit billings and revenue growth year-over-year in Q2. Customers are adopting five or more features — direct customers are adopting five or more features at an increasing pace year-over-year. Our total customer count grew double-digits year-over-year. International grew well. And we also produced really strong free cash flow for the quarter. We generated $187 million free cash flow of a pretty large foundational base of customers. And obviously, we need to work on retention rates and drive growth, but a decent quarter for us.

I think with regard to the future, there are puts and takes every quarter with that billings number. And I appreciate that you’re using the four-quarter trailing number. I think that’s a good way to look at it. Over Q1 and Q2, we have that strength in on-time renewals, right? And it’s forecasted to continue, but there is pressure, as we’ve previously mentioned, around lower expansion rates and some macro uncertainty. And so that billings number can be a little volatile. I would say that the full year guide that we just announced for billings is actually a bit stronger than it was our last quarter. So for me, as I think about the business and what I’m most focused on is how do we turn the chapter to a new period of growth, we have to be focused on the long-term on continuous product innovation that can drive that future expansion.

And that takes some time. But again, this is — we have a very large kind of core fundamental base book of business, that’s the free cash flow generator. But for us, going forward, we’re excited to deliver on a product road map that we believe over the long term can deliver growth opportunities.

Allan Thygesen: I think that’s well said, Blake. I would just add. I think this is a transformational year for DocuSign where we’re making the investments to enable the next phase of growth. We’re happy that we’re able to sustain the business nicely. But we’re not satisfied with that, and we are planning and executing towards further acceleration in the years to come.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Jake Roberge with William Blair. Please proceed with your question.

Jake Roberge: Hi. Thanks for taking the questions. Has the macro started to impact the top of funnel at all or most of the headwinds still related to just that expansion motion? And then how is linear demand throughout the quarter. Have there been noticeable changes on the macro front, especially as we’ve gone through July and August?

Blake Grayson: Sure. And I’ll take a stab. Let me try to address your last question first. I think on the linearity, it’s generally in line with our historical trends. Monthly results can be volatile in this business just due to our sales cycle. What I would say is that the linearity trends, if you will, they’re already reflected in our guide. So nothing material to call out from a linearity perspective. I think on the macro component for us, the expansion, I think, is the biggest part. And you — as I referred to before, we have a very large base of business, over 1.4 million customer accounts. And so that, I think, is on the expansion side is what is probably the more impactful component and you can see that in the DNR rate.

Allan Thygesen: Yes. I think I spot on that. I would simply add that the relative strength in our digital business, I think, reflects that the SMB segment is doing well. And that is new customer acquisition. I think it reinforces the themes that Blake was talking about.

Jake Roberge: Helpful. And then Allan, you made quite a bit of organizational changes over the past year with two riffs, a new CFO, Head of Sales and President. Do you feel like the structural changes are behind us at this point? And then when do you think those changes start bearing more fruit for DocuSign just as a broader or just given those changes likely take a few quarters, if not years to play out?