[notfried]

A quick search shows me a number of alternatives to Carta, but none that I have ever heard of or come across. Is there any competitor that is considered the second best? Carta just seems to me what everyone had been using without a second thought.

[threeseed]

Pulley is what has been recommended in the past.

[earnesti]

What about an excel sheet?

[thebradbain]

As an early employee at a startup from seed through a healthy Series B last year, I would have serious concerns about the company’s bookkeeping and how-up-to-date the shareholder information is if it were kept in an excel spread sheet on Google drive.

Carta and Pulley, etc. do a solve a valuable concern here for non-executives who are compensated with stock options and want to keep track of stock vesting, exercises, and shares in a transparent way, I’d say.

[orionsbelt]

Once you get past a handful of grants, every Excel cap table I've seen has been an absolute disaster. Use a software product. Both Carta and Pulley offer free versions, until you exceed certain limits (e.g. for Carta Launch, until you exceed $1M raised or 25 stakeholders). If you are over those limits, even more reason to use a software product and not Excel.

[foooorsyth]

Some VCs will withhold investment until you use a product like Carta or Pulley. Cap table in Excel carries major risk.

(And yes, Carta/Pulley are often portcos of those VCs pushing you to use them)

[kenneth]

As a seed VC, I still see a majority of Excel cap tables over Carta. (Pulley / Shareworks is even rarer).

[o0-0o]

I have a competitive product and excel is a very valid option but if you want automation for anything like this, you really need something like us hit me up on DM if you want a demo

[mkl]

HN doesn't have DMs, and you don't have any contact info in your profile. I agree about just posting a link though - self-promotion is okay if it's clearly relevant and up-front.

[smt88]

Just post a link and tell us why we should trust you. It's an appropriate time/place for you to self-premote imo.

[o0-0o]

Https://investorportalpro.com

[Matticus_Rex]

People in my network have recommended both Pulley and AngelList.

[orionsbelt]

Carta > Pulley >>> AngelList.

This is largely a result of how long each product has been available, i.e. the older products are more mature. Hopefully Pulley and AngelList continue to catch up so there is a diversity of good options available.

[choppaface]

Shareworks, Scwhab

[mkreis]

I can recommend Ledgy