All right. Let's see, is this on? Yes, it is. Okay. So in the interest of time, we're gonna get started with our next one. It's my pleasure to welcome Fiverr to the conference. We have Jinjin Qian, EVP Strategic Finance. Jinjin, thanks so much for being part of the conference.
Thank you for having me.
Okay. All right. So I think just to set the table for those in the room who may not be familiar with the story, maybe talk a little bit about the journey the company's been on, both pre-IPO and through its life cycle as a public company, just in terms of level setting, what the company's focused on, what you've been building, and where the current state of the company sits right now.
Sure. Yeah. For those who are not familiar with us, so we've been around for over a decade now. Our current founder, CEO, started the company fourteen years ago with the mission of making freelancing services as accessible as you purchase something on Amazon. And we started with only eight, you know, categories, until today, we cover pretty much everything you can imagine in the digital services with over 700 categories. And, yeah, we went public in 2019, and since then we've been consistently growing. You know, the company is three times as large. You know, revenue-wise, turned profitable. And, right now, kind of a few kind of strategic focus of the company is, one, you know, going upmarket, continue to drive bigger spends, be more relevant for larger customers.
Second is the investment around AI, you know, both, platform-wise, as well as category-wise. And then lastly, is to expanding, you know, the platform into kind of more diversified revenue stream, more value-added products, which continue to be a growth driver for us.
Maybe just following up with that with one other big-picture question. You know, you're still very early innings in what could be a very large market opportunity when you look at that. When you talk to customers and the team tries to think about what frictions remain, when you think about product and client education, what do you guys see as the key unlocks that can capitalize on that potential penetration rate opportunity? And maybe it comes back to some of what you said, but just in terms of what you need to build and how the market needs to evolve to actually experience that penetration rate opportunity.
Yeah. I think we're in the very early innings of this market. I think freelancing remains a very old school business. I think over 90% of the freelancing is still done in an offline fashion, through word of mouth, through your, you know, individual network. I think what we've experienced in the last few years with COVID definitely accelerated the awareness and adoption of this market, but there's still a long way to go. I think there's a lot of... I think SMBs are the first to adopt this because they're more cost-conscious and they're more nimble. I think larger organizations, I think there's multiple decision-makers within the company. There's a lot more processes, and they're a little slower to adopt this.
But we see this as very similar, kind of a going upmarket trajectory, where larger companies are more and more open to taking the flexible workforce as a very integral part of their workforce, strategy.
Okay. We'll come back to some of those topics in the big picture, but just maybe to level set, you know, one of the enduring conversations we've been having on earnings calls over the last twelve months has been the current demand environment you find yourself in. So level set on what were the key messages coming out of Q2 earnings on the current demand environment that the company finds itself in, and what you might be watching for, what might improve that demand environment going forward?
Sure. Yeah. So overall, it is a challenging micro, macro, and we talk about overall SMB sentiment being relatively weak. The overall hiring environment, you know, especially, you know, professional staffing is down double digit year over year, so it is challenging. That said, I think there are a few things. I think, one, we are doing a number of things to generate growth catalysts, even, even under this macro, including our expansion into the professions and longer-term engagement, including what I talk about, like expanding into product, value-added product revenues. At the same time, like, hopefully, you know, with, you know, interest rates, you know, changing, that'll lead to some of the pickup in the SMB sentiment. If that happens, definitely, you know, that'll help our business.
I think historically, if you look at the macro data, I think temp staffing usually leads full-time staffing, leads the overall GDP cycle. So if the GDP cycle starts to turn, like, I think, you know, we will be the first one to kind of see the uplifted on the upswing.
Okay. Maybe one follow-up on this, just in terms of, cohort trends. You know, in terms of, again, key messaging coming out of Q2, things that you're gonna be watching for how those might change around elements of buyer frequency, retention, spend per buyer, and sort of level set us there on what current trends you're seeing and what you might be monitoring for how those might change in the forward periods?
Yeah, I think there are a few things. I think on, you know, the spend per buyer versus active buyer, I think we've made the conscious choice, you know, in the last, you know, few quarters and years to really focus on higher value buyer. These are the segment of buyers with better engagement, better retention, longer term. And in the current macro, where overall, you know, demand is not very strong, I think leaning into the product and really focus on that segment gives us the ability to be more efficient and really growing the spend. And you've seen that in the growth of spend per buyer, very robust and consistent manner, even under this macro. So that strategy is working really well for us.
And, you know, I think the second is, you know, we believe our leaning into the complex and longer term going forward will further, you know, allow us to grow the spend. So looking, you know, out, you know, for the rest of this year and going forward, I think you'll continue expect, you know, growth in spend. I think we have a long runway for that, and continue to see, you know, also take rate expansion to continue.
Okay. Generative AI has been a sort of controversial topic around this space, because initially there was a view that generative AI might be quite disruptive. And then you, as a company, have given a lot of examples where people needing more AI skills can actually be a driver for the business platform. Talk a little bit about the journey the company's been on around generative AI, and how the founder is sort of putting the company sort of aimed from a strategic standpoint to capitalize on AI as a theme.
Yeah, it's really exciting time for us. I think one is, as a horizontal marketplace that connects, you know, talents to help filling skill gaps, I think Gen AI and the huge technology wave really creates that opportunity for us to lean into the technology, helping SMBs to, you know, get connected with AI expert, which is a scarcity today. And for small companies to be able to build customized GPT apps, to leverage, you know, Gen AI technology to strengthen their marketing capabilities without, you know, hiring full time, and with, you know, can instantaneously just come to Fiverr and use those services. So we've seen AI services grow tremendously over the past, you know, twelve plus months. Second is, you know, leveraging AI, you know, throughout the platform.
We've launched Neo for a while now, and Neo has become, you know, almost like a copilot throughout the funnels. Whether it's top of the funnel search, being on the side to help buyers better get matched with longer term search queries, where sometimes it's hard to express all your needs in a search bar. Then Neo can pop up, where you can actually have a more natural language dialogue, and Neo can parse out that information and get matched with the underlying metadata and provide you, you know, recommendations. So that turns out to be a lot more intuitive, especially for complex projects and buyers who are new to the platform. We're seeing wherever Neo touches, the conversion rates really make a difference.
We're also having Neo impacting, you know, how brief is written and get sent over to sellers, how reviews are getting written in a more longer form and more quality reviews, which we know help conversion for the top of the funnel. So Neo continues to be a, you know, a key investment for us.
The questions I get from investors, I'm not sure there's a great answer to this, but just is how to think about Neo scaling and becoming a greater portion of the business in the next six, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four months. How should we think about what holds that back, or how many different aspects of the platform Neo can be aimed at over the longer term?
Yeah. I think the signals we've seen so far is, you know, existing users who know the platform well tend to, you know, take longer to adopt Neo. They, they stick to what they know, and they're very comfortable. But new buyers really find Neo kind of being a game changer, help them navigate to the relevant product, especially now we have many different offerings on Fiverr from, you know, the longer term to the short term, to the Brief and Match, things like that. And we believe, you know, down the road, we see Neo allow us to unlock the tremendous amount of data, like, on Fiverr's platform. I think Fiverr is really unique in the sense that the entire transaction lives on Fiverr, right?
Like, not only pre-order, like, after the order, the communications, the dialogues, the briefing documents, the drafts, the edits, the comments, and to the final delivery all lives on Fiverr. So we have this whole wealth of data on Fiverr, frankly, you know, didn't get all its full potential in the past. Now, with Neo, it's almost like a crawler going into this whole, you know, information, and then Neo can really, you know, digest and help us understand who can do what for whom, and that'll unlock a lot of the opportunity for us, especially as we go into the, you know, complex projects where hiring becomes, you know, multidimensional, more, with tangible and intangible inputs. I think Neo really is great there.
Okay, great. You guys are always putting out a pretty heavy cadence of product and strategy. You did a winter 2023 release. You did a summer 2024 release. Can you just maybe level set for the audience about some of the key products and initiatives that were launched around those releases, and how you think they fit into the broader strategic goals of, of where the company wants the platform to go longer term?
Yeah, we've already talked about Neo, which is obviously a big part, you know, starting from beginning of the year and throughout this year, this is a investment. I think another exciting thing for us is we launched this Professions Catalog, you know, just a month ago. I think historically, you know, Fiverr is a-- you know, you can do a well-scoped project on Fiverr, but longer term engagement on Fiverr is difficult because, you know, if you don't have a well-defined project at what time, deliver what, historically, you can't really purchase that on Fiverr. With the Professions Catalog now, one, you can engage with a freelancer for, like, few months or even, like, six, twelve months engagement, where you can pay on an ongoing basis, monthly, bimonthly.
Second, you know, it allows us to open top of the funnel, you know, traffic for hiring related keywords that historically we don't really compete on. So we are starting to really build up these professions catalog pages and work on the SEOs, and hopefully, you know, we'll see some of that fruit next year.
Okay. Yeah, one area, if you look back over the last couple of earnings reports, has been you continue to produce upside in terms of take rate. Maybe talk a little bit about, obviously, there's things like Promoted Gigs, Seller Plus, value-added services. What are the drivers of some of the take rate dynamics that you'd like to highlight? And broadly, how do you think about take rate continuing to evolve in the years ahead?
Yeah. We included a chart in the recent shareholder letter to break down kind of the take rate components. There is about 26% of the transaction-related commission rate, and that has been pretty consistent and stable. And really, the driver behind the consolidated take rate is from those value-added products you mentioned. I think, you know, advertising the Promoted Gigs is one thing. We continue to expand the presence of the product, not only just on the search and browsing pages, but also in the search bar. As you autocomplete, there is a few gigs down there. As buyers and sellers communicate next to the inbox, there's a few gig slots for you to inspire you for the next purchase. So products like this allow us to continue to expand the advertising product.
There's also a Seller Plus, which is a seller subscription product, allows you to get access to advanced analytics, you know, dedicated, you know, success managers, which is very popular among our sellers. We also initiate a Kickstart program, which is kind of a part of the Seller Plus, but really catered towards new sellers. Because right now, like, we see great adoption of Seller Plus among experienced sellers who do a lot of volume on Fiverr. But for new sellers, you know, we're trying to bring more benefits specifically for them, help them jump-start their business on Fiverr. Lastly, you know, I think most recent, you know, earnings, we talk about the acquisition of AutoDS which is a dropshipping platform. Great platform.
We see a lot of synergies. Like, dropshipping-related categories are some of the fastest growing categories on Fiverr because of, you know, e-commerce sites like Shein and Temu and the growth of TikTok. Like, dropshipping is becoming super popular. We have over 160,000 dropshippers who come to Fiverr and purchase services. So with this acquisition, we see lots of cross-sell opportunities. We can sell the software solutions to these dropshippers that are already on Fiverr. We can also sell Fiverr services to the AutoDS subscribers, on the other hand. So these are all different ways for us to really, you know, grow the take rate and bring more values to our community.
Maybe just one following up there, and then maybe I have another one that follows up on take rate. But in terms of AutoDS, how is that emblematic of, the strategy around M&A overall? When you've done M&A, when you've chosen inorganic growth versus building it, yourself. Maybe talk a little bit about what the company's decision path is there and if, you know, framing up sort of a strategic, viewpoint around M&A in general.
Yeah, definitely. So I think our overall M&A is, there's a few areas, like, we're focused on. One is continuing to, you know, doubling on the categories, category expansion and doubling on the categories that's growing fast. I would say AutoDS is part of that, and great synergy. Second is, you know, in terms of, tech tuck-ins, like, obviously, AI is a big topic, but in general, like, you know, businesses that are allow us to strengthen the underlying marketplace, you know, dynamics would be another area. International expansion, that's another area. I think overall, especially in this market, we're very disciplined on M&A. I would say it has to be accretive overall, to the business, with great, you know, growth potential would be, like, a focus, I think.
And just to say M&A, just part of our overall capital allocation, right? With, you know, M&A alongside, you know, our organic investments on the product and services, alongside the buybacks and, you know, other things would be overall, you know, capital allocation priority.
Maybe just coming back to take rate. If the environment were to improve from a macro standpoint, and volume were to pick up, and you were to see both buyer growth and buyer cohort velocity on frequency, how do you think about price and price elasticity and take rate in an environment where volume might be better? Could there be a coiled spring in the business that could have a multi-tier effect on the potential for revenue growth? Or are there areas where maybe you would go a little slower on value-added services or price because you were in an environment that might be quite stimulative of volume? How do you think about the interplay of a better volume environment versus a better take rate environment and price elasticity?
I think it's less of a kind of a supply-demand elasticity, in the sense that I think, you know, the take rate upside that you've seen is really driven by product expansion rather than, you know, really squeezing economics from the buyer-seller. That said, I think if, you know, overall macro comes back, they're definitely going to be more leaning into, you know, driving that demand, capturing that demand. So in terms of a product strategy, roadmap allocation, that perspective, I would say there will be more kind of going into capturing that demand. But I don't think. You know, I think the, you know, the take rate like we command today is really because, you know, you know, the, the product that we built that really helps the buyer-sellers.
Like, they don't really have to purchase, right, like the Promoted Gigs or the Seller Plus. It is, they find it useful. So I think in a time when, you know, the overall macro is relatively soft, I think we accelerated some of the roadmaps on promoting a Seller Plus and allow us to really, you know, grow that piece of the business.
Maybe sticking with that theme, you know, given what you know now about the demand environment, what are sort of the key messages from the company in terms of thinking about margin progression through the remainder of this year and into next year?
Yeah, we laid out our kind of three-year target. We always said our long-term EBITDA margin is gonna be 25%. But this is the quarter we kind of put a 2027 target on it. I think we feel very comfortable with the target. It'll be more of a kind of linear kind of path towards that goal. I think for us, it's, you know, growth is always a priority. That said, under this macro, like, we're kind of very pragmatic about, you know, driving margin expansion and believe, you know, when the macro actually turns, then we will be at a very strong kind of position where we can go back to strong growth while have a very solid bottom-line profile. I think in addition to the 25% margin target, we also laid out a three-year kind of free cash flow target.
We see a very tangible path of driving free cash flow and free cash flow per share for the next three years. Even with some macro uncertainties, fluctuations, we believe there's multiple ways of getting to that number with multiple levers for us to pull. So we believe, you know, you know, the numbers we laid out is kind of not based on wishful thinking. It's very, you know, tangible.
So just sticking with that, if the macro environment were to improve, and you've laid out this sort of more linear margin trajectory going out to 2027, should we think about incremental outperformance in the business being reinvested in support of that growth? Is that the right way to think about the interplay between those factors? 'Cause you've been very adamant as a company that when growth comes back, we want to invest behind growth. We're growth first. I just wanna understand how that would dovetail with what you've talked about now in terms of a multiyear margin trajectory.
Yeah, I think if, you know... I think, I mean, our investment's always, you know, very data-driven discipline, right? Like, if macro is stronger, like, there's definitely going to be using that to investing to growth more. But at the same time, you know, there is more ROI to be driven from in. So from a margin perspective, I don't think margin will, you know, get depressed if macro is stronger. Rather, like, we'll see continued margin expansion with, you know, revenue upside. The other side, you know, if macro turns out to be more volatile, you know, there's definitely, you know, lever to be pulled to deliver that margin expansion as well, while, you know, continue to managing.
Maybe just one follow-up there. So if the demand environment improves and there's growth to be invested in, is the primary lever on the marketing side of the equation? It's product platform that's all being put in place, irrespective of the macro environment, so it's really just about leaning in on the marketing side against what you see on the demand side. Is that the more causal relationship?
Yes.
Okay.
And largely, yes.
Okay. You obviously are generating a lot of free cash flow. You've done a buyback now. How are you thinking about capital allocation priorities going forward? How do you think about the free cash flow you'll generate, and what management's broad message is on what's the priorities of use of that free cash flow?
Yeah. I think we laid out, there are kind of four priorities. Number one is investing the product to drive growth and innovation. Number two is, you know, optimize balance sheets. We have a convert coming out, you know, due next year, so there's different options. To that, obviously, the default is kind of using the cash we have enough to cover it, but, you know, we are also evaluating other, you know, options there. Third is buyback. We announced our first-ever buyback, you know, in April of $100 million, and we just completed it. So buyback will continue to be part of the capital allocation mix that, you know, that we think about. And lastly is M&A.
I think overall strategy is, you know, we feel like we have a very strong. We have over $700 million cash, and we can kind of invest in growth while, you know, drive shareholder value. And I think part of the reason laying out the free cash flow target and free cash flow per share target is to, you know, have a framework that I think use of the balance sheet is going to be one way for us to deliver that consistent growth in free cash flow per share for the next few years.
Got it. Okay. We only have a few minutes left, but in terms of all we've talked about so far today, maybe put a finer point on what are the key priorities on both the investing side and the operating side for the management team as they think about exiting twenty twenty-four and going into twenty twenty-five? And how do you think about some of the biggest potential levers for growth over the medium term?
Yeah. I think, you know, from a managing the business side of things, I think it's a lot less volatile than the market itself. I think our strategy has been very consistent. If you look at our, you know, past since IPO, I think we've laid out the mission, you know, whether it's going upmarket, whether it's investing in, you know, in the, in the technology, it's been very consistent. I would say we're gonna continue executing against that. I think a few priorities we mentioned: one, you know, continue to grow going upmarket, which includes, you know, leaning to complex services, leaning to longer engagement, leaning to the Pro side of things. We didn't really talk too much about Pro, but that going upmarket continued to be the case.
Second priority will be AI. We spent some time there. And then lastly is to drive, you know, revenue diversification, you know, the expansion of the product portfolio within the value-added products. I would say that will be kind of some of the product priorities going into next year. And then at the same time, you know, we'll stay very disciplined and drive bottom-up bottom-line upside as well.
Maybe I will ask one follow-up, even though that was kind of the last one I wanted to hit. But Pro, you talked about it there. In terms of building scale on the Pro side of the business, what do you guys see as pretty critical on either the investment side or the execution side to achieve success on going upmarket?
Yeah, I think we have kind of been doing this for about two years now, and I think we are seeing very good signals, and we kind of try different models. But what we find most effective and efficient is what I call farming the high-potential user from the very wide top of the funnel that we enjoy, and the Pro team is really good at, you know, customer segmentation and identify customers with potential, then providing high touch in combination of product, you know, whether it's team, whether it's a better catalog, whether it's, you know, Brief and Match, like, better matching algos to really drive, you know, more usage. I think on Pro, on average, accounts there spend three to five times more compared to broader marketplace, so we find that very successful.
So, with the recent summer release, we also started launching out a more comprehensive loyalty program for the Pro. You know, giving some of the 5%, some of the, you know, incentives for Pro. Think about 5% as almost, you know, encouraging, you know, buyer fees for the next transactions, right, for the customer. So we really believe there's a lot potential there. Like, we surveyed our customer, right? For a small business, they spend at least $1,500. For a medium business, they spend at least $15,000 a year on freelancing services. Compared to our current spend of $200, there's huge potential there, and we're just scratching the surface. So I think, you know, we really believe that is going to be a strong growth driver.
I mean, you see it in the spend per buyer metrics over the past few years already, but that'll continue, you know, driving the growth.
Okay. All right, I think we're gonna leave it there with a few minutes left. Jinjin Qian, thank you so much for being part of the conference. Please join me in thanking Fiverr for being part of the conference this year.
Thanks, guys. Thank you, Eric.