Carta vs. Shareworks, by Morgan Stanley

Hands down the best functionality that Carta has, in my opinion, is the stock option issuance/maintenance functionality. As someone who has had to maintain the option ledger and stock ledger manually in my past life, Carta offers the easy button. It allows the admin to not be required to track down individual emails and keep track of those over time. When a company needs to get in touch with all shareholders it is invaluable to know that Carta can easily do that with just the click of a few buttons.

Well suited for privately or publicly held companies with stock option plans or ESPP. Helpful for calculating stock compensation expense.

Incentivized

• Streamlined and efficient UI.
• Automatic calculation of all necessary accounting computations and footnote disclosures, properly support for external audit purposes.
• A central source of truth for both internal (like accounting and legal) and external (outside counsel) stakeholders in the equity process.

Incentivized

• Calendar of vesting schedule
• Visibility into value of various equity based compensation
• Ability to setup default release elections at vesting dates

Incentivized

• Training on getting more from the platform.
• Could be more clear on setting up notifications upfront.
• Concept is new to a lot of folks, could more proactively educate users on managing equity.

Incentivized

• At the time, couldn't calculate a formula based on milestone vesting
• Had some small hiccups with calculating stock option compensation expense, but Capshare was able to solve over time.

Incentivized

Every time I have sent a message to Carta's support team, they've responded within 2 business days. The support team is very helpful and always has answered my questions competently and professionally. Many of my questions have also been answered through their extensive support articles. Carta makes available a lot of information that has helped reduce te administrative work of answering questions for our employees as they are able to get most of the information they need through Carta's website.

Incentivized

We had a great team consisting of two Solium Shareworks admin experts, and one financial reporting expert to help us with the implementation. After the implementation, I feel we are in good hands with the Solium Shareworks relationship manager. We have quarterly contact with the team when new grants need to be added. Other then that, we are self-sufficient with the tool.

Incentivized

Carta is a more focused tool on future investment opportunities and the use/reception of company shares as a benefit of employment. These other HCM tools are great for things like PTO, insurance, pay stubs, taxes, and more. They are just missing the shares usually and that is where Carta comes in and saves the day.

Incentivized

We like Carta because they offer transfer agent services in addition to Cap Table management. Shareworks is the upgraded Capshare. This is for IPO ready companies who are ready to take the next steps

Incentivized

• Stock Option Expense Calculations are GAAP compliant reducing potental for misstatements during audit.
• Our CEO and CFO are easily able to view the current status of our equity pool whenever they need information for a fundraising.
• ROI is significant as everything is incredibly efficient and doesn't require any administrative paperwork.

Incentivized

• The ability to provide employees with an detailed view of their equity compensation and the real time value of the assets
• Protection features in place to prohibit trading in blackout period
• Option for employees to cover taxes related to share purchase and sales is a benefit to employees

Incentivized