Company: APPN
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001441683-25-000017
Chunk: 29

Company: APPIAN CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 29
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•Lapses of federal appropriations in the United States for our government customers;

•Seasonal variations related to sales and marketing and other activities such as expenses related to our customers;

•Our ability to increase, retain, and incentivize the strategic partners that market and sell our platform;

•Our ability to control costs, including our operating expenses;

•Our ability to hire, train, and maintain our direct sales team;

•Unforeseen litigation and intellectual property infringement;

•Fluctuations in our effective tax rate; and

•General economic and political conditions, both domestically and internationally, as well as economic conditions specifically affecting industries in which our customers operate.

Any one of these or other factors discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or the cumulative effect of some of these factors may result in fluctuations in our revenue and operating results, meaning quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our revenue, results of operations, and cash flows may not necessarily be indicative of our future performance, may cause us to miss our guidance or analyst expectations, and may cause our stock price to decline.

In addition, we have historically experienced seasonality in terms of when we enter into agreements with customers. We typically enter into a significantly higher percentage of agreements with new customers, as well as renewal agreements with existing customers, in the fourth quarter. The increase in customer agreements for the fourth quarter is attributable to large enterprise account buying patterns typical in the software industry. Furthermore, we usually enter into a significant portion of agreements with customers during the last month, and often the last two weeks, of each quarter. This seasonality is reflected to a much lesser extent, and sometimes is not immediately apparent, in revenue due to the fact we recognize cloud subscriptions revenue over the term of the subscription agreement, which is generally one to three years. We expect seasonality will continue to affect our operating results in the future and may reduce our ability to predict cash flow and optimize the timing of our operating expenses.

We may fail to meet our publicly announced guidance or other expectations about our business and future operating results, which could cause our stock price to decline.

We have provided, and may continue to provide, guidance about our business, future operating results, and other business metrics. In developing this guidance, our management must make certain assumptions and judgments about our future performance. Furthermore, analysts and investors may develop and publish their own projections of our business, which may form a consensus about our future performance. Our business results may vary significantly from such guidance or consensus due to a number of factors, many