Running a startup can be expensive, requiring a multitude of different subscriptions. Cap table management software, which helps founders organize their funding, can cost thousands of dollars a year.
San Francisco-based Carta is the market leader in this industry. But some startup founders say Carta is making it too hard to cancel their subscriptions.
Adam Ryan, the CEO of startup Workweek, also posted about only being able to schedule a cancellation request well past his renewal date.
“A calendar pops up after you check a box to cancel. The next available date is 26 of December. Our renewal date is [December] 17,” Ryan told TechCrunch. “I never completed the process. I just emailed them and told Amex it’s not approved and showed the screenshots so they can deny the vendor.”
Carta told TechCrunch these issues booking a meeting to cancel were due to a “one-time staffing challenge.”
“This was a one-time staffing challenge that resulted in a calendar availability issue that is currently getting addressed,” a Carta spokesperson said. “Customers who need support during this time can connect with our live Support Team via chat or phone during extended business hours.”
But several of Carta’s competitors told TechCrunch that they don’t have meetings to cancel service.
“Customers can fully cancel their subscription directly in the software by clicking a few buttons or by sending us an email,” said AngelList’s Sumukh Sridhara, the Founder Products lead. “In my opinion, there is no good reason for a cap table vendor to force you to get on a call.”
Pulley, another competitor, said the same thing.
“At Pulley, our cancellation process is straightforward. Customers can cancel their subscription by emailing support@pulley.com. There is no requirement to book an appointment or attend a cancellation meeting (that is not a standard industry practice),” Alison Gonzalez, VP of marketing at Pulley, said. “The cancellation request is processed upon receipt of the email, and we handle these requests as quickly as possible to ensure customers can cancel before their renewal dates.”
Requiring these types of meetings runs the risk of staffing shortages delaying when a founder can cancel. In a video on Carta’s website, such meetings are shown as available the next day. But two screenshots shared by founders show such appointments as only being available in 17 days’ time for this month.
Another screenshot shared exclusively with TechCrunch shows a meeting about renewal pricing (not cancelling) being available only at one highly inconvenient time this month: 6:00 a.m. on the day after Christmas, December 26.
Carta says its appointments system is made to ensure its customers fully understand the process and migrate securities data as smoothly as possible.
“We offer appointments to ensure our customers have a clear understanding of the cancellation process, best practices to mitigate impact on their shareholders and investors, and initiate for the secure and proper transfer of securities data (as customers lose Carta platform access once they no longer contract with Carta for services),” it told TechCrunch.
“We understand that some customers might prefer a less tailored approach. As such, we are always open to feedback and will take feedback into account going forward.”
Carta also said that its equity administration is “not solely a SaaS product” and as an SEC transfer agent, there are “different steps required than for a typical SaaS company.”
But Pulley, which doesn’t use cancellation appointments, is also an SEC transfer agent, according to its own website.
Lots of founders still use Carta, and the original viral post has comments from people praising the company’s product.
“We switched from Carta to Diligent to try to reduce cost and it was a disaster. Switched back to Carta and will never leave again. It’s a 100x better product and keeps getting better,” posted Bill Smith, founder of Landing.
Katie Jacobs Stanton, whose firm is a “small investor” in Carta and who also uses the software, posted “Gotta be a bug! They’ve been really great to our teams (and us).”
Carta’s practices have come under scrutiny before. In January 2024, coding startup Linear’s founder, Karri Saarinen, accused Carta of sharing private cap table data, claiming that a Carta employee contacted one of his angel investors claiming to have an offer for his shares without notifying Saarinen first. Carta ended up exiting the secondary stock trading market, selling it this August to stock trading startup Public.
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