Description of Business and Basis of Presentation	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2016
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Description of Business and Basis of Presentation	1. Description of Business and Basis of Presentation Organization Instructure, Inc. provides an innovative, cloud-based learning management platform for academic institutions and companies worldwide. We built our learning management applications, Canvas, for the education market, and Bridge, for the corporate market, to enable our customers to easily develop, deliver and manage engaging face-to-face and online learning experiences. We offer our platform through a Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, business model. We were incorporated in the state of Delaware in September 2008. We are headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and have wholly-owned subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Sweden and Brazil. Basis of Presentation The accompanying unaudited interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) applicable to interim periods, under the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). In the opinion of management, we have prepared the accompanying unaudited financial statements on a basis substantially consistent with the audited consolidated financial statements of the Company as of and for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, and these financial statements include all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of the results of the interim periods presented. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The results of operations for the interim periods presented are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any subsequent quarter or for the entire year ending December 31, 2016. The year-end balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements, but this Form 10-Q does not include all disclosures required under GAAP. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in annual financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP have been omitted under the rules and regulations of the SEC. These interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 19, 2016. There have been no changes in the Company’s significant accounting policies from those that were disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K that have had a material impact on our consolidated financial statements and related notes. Use of Estimates The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts and disclosures. Accordingly, actual results could differ from those estimates. Such estimates, which we evaluate on an on-going basis, include allowances for doubtful accounts, useful lives for property and equipment and intangible assets, valuation of marketable securities, valuation allowances for net deferred income tax assets, valuation of stock-based compensation and common stock, the best estimate of selling price of deliverables included in multiple-deliverable revenue arrangements and the weighted average customer life used in the recognition of nonrefundable upfront implementation service revenue. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions which we believe to be reasonable. Liability for Common Stock Warrants We account for freestanding warrants to purchase shares of our common stock that are not considered indexed to our own stock as warrant liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets. Under Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 815, we record the liability-classified common stock warrants issued in conjunction with our credit facility at their estimated fair value because they are free standing and the number of shares exercisable under this warrant to purchase our common stock increases if the loan balance exceeds $7,500,000. At the end of each reporting period, changes in the estimated fair value of the warrants to purchase shares of common stock are recorded as a change in fair value of warrant liability in the consolidated statements of operations. A portion of the warrants were exercised in February 2016 (see Note 8— Fair Value of Financial Instruments). Recent Accounting Pronouncements In March 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-09, Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718), which simplified certain aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including income taxes, classification of awards and classification in the statement of cash flows. The standard will be effective for the Company beginning in its first quarter of 2017. We are currently evaluating the impact of adopting the new stock compensation standard on its consolidated financial statements. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases, requiring lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases with the exception of short-term leases. For lessees, leases will continue to be classified as either operating or finance leases in the income statement. Lessor accounting is similar to the current model but updated to align with certain changes to the lessee model. Lessors will continue to classify leases as operating, direct financing or sales-type leases. The new standard must be adopted using a modified retrospective transition and requires application of the new guidance at the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented. The updated standard is effective for us beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. We are currently evaluating the effect that the updated standard will have on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-17, Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes, requiring all deferred tax assets and liabilities, and any related valuation allowance, to be classified as noncurrent on the balance sheet. The classification change for all deferred taxes as noncurrent simplifies entities’ processes as it eliminates the need to separately identify the net current and net noncurrent deferred tax asset or liability in each jurisdiction and allocate valuation allowances. We elected to prospectively adopt the accounting standard in the beginning of our fourth quarter of fiscal 2015. Prior periods in our consolidated financial statements were not retrospectively adjusted. In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-05, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software: Customer’s Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement, which provides guidance to clarify the customer’s accounting for fees paid in a cloud computing arrangement. This guidance simplifies entities’ processes as it provides criteria to determine whether cloud computing arrangements contain a software license and should be account for as internal-use-software under ASC 350-40. We elected to prospectively adopt the accounting standard in the beginning of our first quarter of fiscal 2016. Prior periods in our consolidated financial statements were not retrospectively adjusted. Starting in our first quarter of fiscal 2016, if an arrangement included a software license, as defined by this ASU, then we accounted for the software license element of the arrangement in the intangible assets, net line item of the consolidated balance sheets rather than recording the amount in property and equipment, net. Implementation costs associated with software licenses were expensed as incurred. In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which amended the existing FASB Accounting Standards Codification. This standard establishes a principle for recognizing revenue upon the transfer of promised goods or services to customers, in an amount that reflects the expected consideration received in exchange for those goods or services. The standard also provides guidance on the recognition of costs related to obtaining and fulfilling customer contracts. In July 2015, the FASB decided to defer by one year the effective dates of its new revenue recognition standard for public and nonpublic entities. As a result, this guidance will be effective for public companies for interim and annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2017. Public entities would be permitted to adopt the standard as early as the original public entity effective date; early adoption prior to that date would not be permitted. Once effective, entities can choose to apply the standard using either a full retrospective approach or a modified retrospective approach. We have not yet selected a transition method and are currently assessing the potential impact that this standard will have on our consolidated financial statements.

1. Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

Organization

Instructure, Inc. provides an innovative, cloud-based learning management platform for academic institutions and companies worldwide. We built our learning management applications, Canvas, for the education market, and Bridge, for the corporate market, to enable our customers to easily develop, deliver and manage engaging face-to-face and online learning experiences. We offer our platform through a Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, business model. We were incorporated in the state of Delaware in September 2008. We are headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and have wholly-owned subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Sweden and Brazil.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) applicable to interim periods, under the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). In the opinion of management, we have prepared the accompanying unaudited financial statements on a basis substantially consistent with the audited consolidated financial statements of the Company as of and for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, and these financial statements include all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of the results of the interim periods presented. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The results of operations for the interim periods presented are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any subsequent quarter or for the entire year ending December 31, 2016. The year-end balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements, but this Form 10-Q does not include all disclosures required under GAAP. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in annual financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP have been omitted under the rules and regulations of the SEC.

These interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 19, 2016. There have been no changes in the Company’s significant accounting policies from those that were disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K that have had a material impact on our consolidated financial statements and related notes.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts and disclosures. Accordingly, actual results could differ from those estimates. Such estimates, which we evaluate on an on-going basis, include allowances for doubtful accounts, useful lives for property and equipment and intangible assets, valuation of marketable securities, valuation allowances for net deferred income tax assets, valuation of stock-based compensation and common stock, the best estimate of selling price of deliverables included in multiple-deliverable revenue arrangements and the weighted average customer life used in the recognition of nonrefundable upfront implementation service revenue. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions which we believe to be reasonable.

Liability for Common Stock Warrants

We account for freestanding warrants to purchase shares of our common stock that are not considered indexed to our own stock as warrant liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets. Under Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 815, we record the liability-classified common stock warrants issued in conjunction with our credit facility at their estimated fair value because they are free standing and the number of shares exercisable under this warrant to purchase our common stock increases if the loan balance exceeds $7,500,000. At the end of each reporting period, changes in the estimated fair value of the warrants to purchase shares of common stock are recorded as a change in fair value of warrant liability in the consolidated statements of operations. A portion of the warrants were exercised in February 2016 (see Note 8— Fair Value of Financial Instruments).

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In March 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-09, Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718), which simplified certain aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including income taxes, classification of awards and classification in the statement of cash flows. The standard will be effective for the Company beginning in its first quarter of 2017. We are currently evaluating the impact of adopting the new stock compensation standard on its consolidated financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases, requiring lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases with the exception of short-term leases. For lessees, leases will continue to be classified as either operating or finance leases in the income statement. Lessor accounting is similar to the current model but updated to align with certain changes to the lessee model. Lessors will continue to classify leases as operating, direct financing or sales-type leases. The new standard must be adopted using a modified retrospective transition and requires application of the new guidance at the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented. The updated standard is effective for us beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. We are currently evaluating the effect that the updated standard will have on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-17, Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes, requiring all deferred tax assets and liabilities, and any related valuation allowance, to be classified as noncurrent on the balance sheet. The classification change for all deferred taxes as noncurrent simplifies entities’ processes as it eliminates the need to separately identify the net current and net noncurrent deferred tax asset or liability in each jurisdiction and allocate valuation allowances. We elected to prospectively adopt the accounting standard in the beginning of our fourth quarter of fiscal 2015. Prior periods in our consolidated financial statements were not retrospectively adjusted.

In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-05, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software: Customer’s Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement, which provides guidance to clarify the customer’s accounting for fees paid in a cloud computing arrangement. This guidance simplifies entities’ processes as it provides criteria to determine whether cloud computing arrangements contain a software license and should be account for as internal-use-software under ASC 350-40. We elected to prospectively adopt the accounting standard in the beginning of our first quarter of fiscal 2016. Prior periods in our consolidated financial statements were not retrospectively adjusted. Starting in our first quarter of fiscal 2016, if an arrangement included a software license, as defined by this ASU, then we accounted for the software license element of the arrangement in the intangible assets, net line item of the consolidated balance sheets rather than recording the amount in property and equipment, net. Implementation costs associated with software licenses were expensed as incurred.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which amended the existing FASB Accounting Standards Codification. This standard establishes a principle for recognizing revenue upon the transfer of promised goods or services to customers, in an amount that reflects the expected consideration received in exchange for those goods or services. The standard also provides guidance on the recognition of costs related to obtaining and fulfilling customer contracts. In July 2015, the FASB decided to defer by one year the effective dates of its new revenue recognition standard for public and nonpublic entities. As a result, this guidance will be effective for public companies for interim and annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2017. Public entities would be permitted to adopt the standard as early as the original public entity effective date; early adoption prior to that date would not be permitted. Once effective, entities can choose to apply the standard using either a full retrospective approach or a modified retrospective approach. We have not yet selected a transition method and are currently assessing the potential impact that this standard will have on our consolidated financial statements.