Best Cap Table Management for Early Stage Startups Comparison 2024
Selecting the right cap table management software seems trivial until it's not. It serves as the source of truth for you, your team, your investors, and your legal counsel, etc regarding who owns what and how much. In the beginning (when your company is small and has less employees/stakeholders), it's more simple to manage, but as companies evolve, the complexity of managing their cap tables increases (and most lawyers/investors will insist on adopting one).
There are a few factors to consider, including your stage (number of stakeholders, funding, counsel/investor needs, and the level of customization required). Carta has historically been the leading product, but recently there has been more and more founders adopting solutions like Pulley and newer products like AngelList Equity and Mantle.
In this article, we'll dissect the features and functionalities of leading cap table management platforms. Note that this was researched from the perspective of a seed state startup with ~25 stakeholders. (For context/transparency, we onboarded to Carta years ago when it was cheap and/or free, and after being a customer for 3 years and having the newly quoted price balloon to ~$3,300 per year, we wanted to do our research to make sure it was still the best choice.) Below you'll fine the key highlights to help you choose the best cap table management software for you:
Summary of Pulley, Carta, AngelList Equity, and LTSE
| Pricing | $1,200/year (<25 stakeholders) next tier, Growth tier: $3,500/year for 40 stakeholders | $1,600/year starter (20 team members, investors are free) + $9/mon/add'l person next tier, Growth tier: $3,200/year (30 team members) | $1200/year for basic plan (<25 stakeholders) next tier: $3960/year for Seed/Series A Boost plan | The least transparent, in our experience. Must sign up for a demo to receive pricing, and renewal amounts seem arbitrary. They replaced the "Starter" plan that had a minimum cost of $2800 suddenly with a "Growth" plan that has a minimum of $3900. I only became aware of this during our renewal when I specifically asked |
| Employee Equity | Yes - EEs can see their equity grants and incentivize - EE equity management - Post termination exercise - support for complex vesting schedules | Yes - Employee and investor dashboard - Equity grant issuance and exercising | Yes (website doesn't share much about what employees see or get) | Yes - Employee and investor dashboard - Equity grant issuance and exercising |
| Investors | Yes - Fundraising modeling - SAFE issuance - tender offers - data rooms | Yes - Fundraising modeling - SAFE issuance - tender offers - data rooms | Yes (website doesn't share much about what investors see or get) | Yes - Fundraising modeling - SAFE issuance - tender offers - data rooms |
| Access for legal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Global | Yes, equity grants for US and international employees, 80 countries supported | TBD | US team members only | Yes, for NSOs |
| Compliance w/ tax & legal reqs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HRIS Integration | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 409a Included? | Yes, for growth tier ($3500/yr) and above | Yes, for growth tier ($3,200/yr) | Yes, in Boost tier ($3,960/yr | Yes, for growth plan ($3,800+/yr) |
| Demo | Live demo must be scheduled | Live demo must be scheduled | Demo of platform | Live demo must be scheduled |
| Website | https://pulley.com | https://www.angellist.com/startups/equity | https://equity.ltse.com | https://carta.com |
| Callouts | May require a 2 year deal depending on discount they provide / plan you’re on | Pay only for team members, not investors | Usually a 1 year minimum commitment | |
| Ease of switching from another provider | Migration is included as part of the onboarding process; takes 7-10 business days | White glove onboarding - give access to existing solution and they will download and transfer all docs; takes 2 hours and can be done within a day | Not sure | No specific help - "it is company's responsibility to have the correct data to share with our Implementations Team, so the Cap Table is accurate performed in our system" |
Screenshots
Pulley
AngelList Equity
LTSE
Other options
- Mantle (a newer player, but I really liked their demo and love how forward-thinking they are with AI and product): https://withmantle.com/
- Ledgy: (Europe based with some US presence): https://ledgy.com/cap-table
- Shareworks: (by Morgan Stanley, geared towards larger companies): https://www.morganstanley.com/atwork
- Cake Equity: (Australian-based with some US presence;Jason Calacanis shoutout): https://www.cakeequity.com/features/cap-table
About the authors
Steph Mui is Founder and CEO of PIN, and Danni F. is Head of Strategy and Ops @ PIN. PIN is the easiest way for communities to invest in the best startups together. PIN handles all the boring stuff (aka legal / admin / tax) so people can focus on the fun stuff (i.e. investing in and supporting founders). They use a unique investment club structure that is inclusive of unaccredited investors and has all the benefits of both traditional funds and SPVs, but with a fraction of the hassle.
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