Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Marqeta CEO announcement call. At this time, lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, we will open the lines for a couple of questions. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the call over to Stacey Finerman, Vice President of Investor Relations, to begin.
Thanks, operator. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's call may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those outlined in our filings with the SEC, which are available on our investor relations website, including on our annual report, Form 10-K, for the period ended December 31st, 2021, and our subsequent periodic filings with the SEC. Actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statements we make today. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the time of this call. The company does not assume any obligation or intent to update them except as required by law. On today's call are Jason Gardner, Marqeta's CEO and Founder, Simon Khalaf, Marqeta's incoming CEO, and Mike Milotich, Marqeta's Chief Financial Officer. Please note this will be a brief 15-minute call focused on the CEO announcement only.
We won't be addressing any questions regarding the company's fourth quarter results during today's call. We will provide a business update and details about our results during our call on February 28th
. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Jason to begin.
Thank you, Stacey. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us on such short notice to discuss our announcement that Simon Khalaf will be our new CEO starting January 31st. Simon will also be joining Marqeta's board of directors. As I have previously discussed, my goal was to find a leader who would take Marqeta to the next level after I had taken the company from zero to one. That meant finding a leader with experience in building and operating a global business at scale, while also focusing on a path to profitability. Over the past 6 months, we led an extensive search and met with many outstanding candidates. We were deliberate in our pursuit to ensure we had the right candidate. Notably, I did consider Simon for the role early on. Due to family obligations, he decided to take himself out of the running.
Yet, during this time, Simon took on increased responsibility at Marqeta, including leading our go-to-market efforts. He was instrumental in making many significant positive changes to this organization that is already bearing fruit, all the while proving himself to be someone Marquetans and customers responded to. Fortunately for Marqeta, in December, Simon expressed interest in being considered for the role. I will let Simon explain more in his remarks. Our board of directors concluded that Simon was the clear choice to be Marqeta's next CEO. His previous CEO experience and decades of experience scaling large technology organizations such as Twilio, Verizon, Yahoo, and Novell, his product insight, and his relentless focus on customer experience will serve us well as we look to enter the next phase of growth.
Most of all, Simon proved early on in his tenure with Marqeta that his leadership accelerates positive change and delivers results, all while working in lockstep with other members of senior leadership. We are fortunate that Simon has clearly demonstrated these traits and will hit the ground running as CEO with a deep understanding of the business, our platform, and our customer needs. In my new role as Executive Chairman, I look forward to supporting Simon and the rest of the executive team in delivering the next phase of growth. I will now turn the call over to Simon to say a few words.
Thank you, Jason. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm thrilled and humbled to become Marqeta CEO and totally appreciate the board's confidence in me. I'm also honored to be continuing Jason's vision for modern card issuing and working to redefine what cards can do for consumers and businesses on a global basis. When I first joined the company in June, I was excited about the opportunities it had for us. First and foremost, the emerging trend of embedded finance, where non-banks provide a suite of financial services baked into everyday experiences that consumers simply love. Second, the enablement of new commerce flows, as we've seen with on-demand delivery, buy now, pay later, and expense management. Last but not least, large financial institutions modernizing their technology stack to compete and be relevant with tech first and mobile first new entrants.
Within weeks, my assumptions were quickly proven correct, and I was energized by our talented team, our strong competitive position, and our incredible product market fit. In addition, I was impressed with the quality and reach of Marqeta's customers. As Jason mentioned, when he first shared his intention to find a new CEO and move to executive chairman, the opportunity was something that resonated with me, given my experience as both a scaled operator in practice and an entrepreneur at heart. However, I initially took myself out of consideration set as a result of a prior obligation to my family. In the meantime, I worked across the organization in an expanded capacity. This only fueled my enthusiasm for the opportunity and the position we have in the market.
While working together with Marqeta senior leaders, I was able to make significant contributions to our go-to-market strategy, build relationships with existing and potential customers, and help shape the product roadmap based on customer input. Fortunately, my obligation to my family were completed in December. At that time, I discussed with Jason my desire to be considered for the CEO position. I'm grateful the board and the executive team have the confidence in me to take Marqeta to new heights. Looking ahead, my goal is to build upon the great work the team has accomplished over the last 13 years. This means transitioning the company from the hyper-growth phase to the sustainable and profitable growth phase through a combination of laser-focused, crystal clear operating cadences, and continued fiscal responsibility. This is something I've been doing for the past decade of my career.
I've already spent time with Mike, our CFO, Randy, our Chief Technology Officer, and the rest of the company leadership working on a long-range plan late last year, and more recently, our 2023 operating plan and budget. Based on those efforts, I am confident we can capture many of the opportunities ahead while also moving towards profitability. A theme we will talk about more this year. I look forward to speaking with you all at that time in my new role. With that, I'll turn the call over to the operator for a couple of questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we pull for questions. Our first question comes from the line of Tien-Tsin Huang with JP Morgan. Please proceed.
Thank you. Thank you so much, and congrats on the announcement to everyone here. Just wanted to ask you, Simon, just, you know, you talked a little bit about your experience at Marqeta so far. I'm curious about your experience, you know, at prior organizations and how that's gonna prepare you here for this role and some of the goals that you've said about. I know Jason's talked about, right, being a fintech nerd or whatever and how deep this is within fintech. How have you sort of ramped up on that as well to prepare you for this seat?
Sure. Thank you, Tsin, for the question. Really appreciate it. I have to say my experience at Marqeta has been phenomenal. I was impressed with the quality of our team, the dedication of our team, and then the immense experience the team has assembled in fintech, but also scaling companies. From my experience, look at my the last decade, I'm a scaled operator, but also I'm an innovator. If I look at what Marqeta needs is innovate at scale. We have reached phenomenal product market fit, and we just need to continue scaling and continue innovating because we're at the first inning of a, of a long game and a prosperous game. I'm very well equipped, given what I've done before.
This is not the first time I've seen hypergrowth, and this is not the first time we've transitioned hypergrowth into sustainable growth. In terms of being a fintech nerd, I don't think I can beat Jason on this one. That's why I'm very excited that he's gonna be hanging around so because we do need that fintech nerd around.
Excellent. Thank you, and welcome.
Our next question comes from the line of Darrin Peller with Wolfe Research. Please proceed.
Hey, congrats guys on this for all of you. I guess before I ask Simon a specific question, just Jason, just to be clear, I mean, your role, I know as an executive chair, is still gonna be very engaged with the key customers. I know we talked about that before, but just to make sure that we understand that in terms of your plans going forward. Then I just, I definitely wanna ask Simon something, if that's okay also.
Yeah. I have very close relationships with all of our customers, the CEOs and the product folks, and I'm partnering with Simon on that. He has spent a lot of time with our customers. They've gotten to know him in his role as chief product officer, but also in his role of supporting go-to-market. We've been a great team, we will continue with that. I'm obviously stepping out into different roles and responsibilities, and through Tien-Tsin question around fintech nerd, I still have, you know, a strong desire around product vision, and this is where both Simon and I have a vision match in regards to where we think the company should go.
I'm in service to him, so my work over the coming months and years is going to be not only supporting customers on the road, but also being involved in product while...
Great
... really be myself, which is, you know, that truly fintech nerd, which got us to where we are today.
Okay, thanks. Simon, if you could just add a little color in terms of your view and your ability to add your mark on the strategy of the company and where you see maybe wanting to invest a little bit more or less. I guess just revisiting that, if you could touch on your vision of path to profitability, whether it's priority versus investments or timing, that'd be great. Congrats again, guys. Thanks.
Perfect. Thank you for the question. I mean, the work is building on the phenomenal work that the team has done. There's no change in the vision of Marqeta. I have to say that the embedded finance space is something we're very excited about. Part of transitioning from, like, say, hypergrowth into sustainable growth is laser-focused on an opportunity, winning it, and then move to the next one. We'll be spending a lot of time on the embedded finance space, and that's what companies that are kinda, like, not in financial services expert, bringing like an array of financial services product and embedding them into their existing application. My view is very simple. It's anchored into what our customers are telling us.
Most of our customers, I'd say the vast majority of the customers I've met, they want more out of Marqeta. It is focusing on the embedded finance space. In terms of heading towards profitability, our number one priority is serving our customers. That's what you're gonna hear from us. That's the business we're in. At the same time, as we scale out operations, fiscal responsibility is key. We have to put Marqeta on a path to profitability, and that path will actually be begun even before my arrival. I mean, I'll turn it over to Mike if he'd like to add.
No.
Perfectly said. Perfect.
Well said.
That's great. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, I'd like to turn the call back to Stacey Finerman.
Thank you, operator, and thank you to all on the call today for joining Marqeta on such short notice. We look forward to talking with you again when we announce our fourth quarter results on February 28th. Thank you.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.