Operating a startup might be costly, requiring a mess of various subscriptions. Cap desk administration software program, which helps founders arrange their funding, can value 1000’s of {dollars} a 12 months.
San Francisco-based Carta is the market chief on this trade. However some startup founders say Carta is making it too onerous to cancel their subscriptions.
The difficulty first surfaced on X after founder Sudarshan Sridharan of Pipeline posted about his struggles attempting to cancel, writing, “I’m speechless at how anti-founder @cartainc is. They make it impossible to cancel your subscription or speak to a human support agent.”
Carta required a “cancellation request” assembly with a buyer success supervisor to finish his subscription, he wrote. However slots have been solely accessible beginning December 26, properly previous his December 17 renewal date, the founder posted:
Adam Ryan, the CEO of startup Workweek, additionally posted about solely having the ability to schedule a cancellation request properly previous 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 instructed 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 instructed TechCrunch these points reserving a gathering to cancel have been as a result of 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 mentioned. “Customers who need support during this time can connect with our live Support Team via chat or phone during extended business hours.”
However a number of of Carta’s opponents instructed TechCrunch that they don’t have conferences to cancel service.
“Customers can fully cancel their subscription directly in the software by clicking a few buttons or by sending us an email,” mentioned AngelList’s Sumukh Sridhara, the Founder Merchandise lead. “In my opinion, there is no good reason for a cap table vendor to force you to get on a call.”
Pulley, one other competitor, mentioned the identical factor.
“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 selling at Pulley, mentioned. “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 kinds of conferences runs the danger of staffing shortages delaying when a founder can cancel. In a video on Carta’s web site, such conferences are proven as accessible the subsequent day. However two screenshots shared by founders present such appointments as solely being accessible in 17 days’ time for this month.
One other screenshot shared solely with TechCrunch exhibits a gathering about renewal pricing (not cancelling) being accessible solely at one extremely inconvenient time this month: 6:00 a.m. on the day after Christmas, December 26.
Carta says its appointments system is made to make sure its prospects absolutely perceive the method and migrate securities knowledge as easily as attainable.
“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 instructed 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 additionally mentioned that its fairness administration is “not solely a SaaS product” and as an SEC switch agent, there are “different steps required than for a typical SaaS company.”
However Pulley, which doesn’t use cancellation appointments, can also be an SEC switch agent, in accordance to its personal web site.
A number of founders nonetheless use Carta, and the unique viral put up has feedback from individuals praising the corporate’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 Invoice Smith, founding father of Touchdown.
Katie Jacobs Stanton, whose agency is a “small investor” in Carta and who additionally makes use of the software program, posted “Gotta be a bug! They’ve been really great to our teams (and us).”
Carta’s practices have come beneath scrutiny earlier than. In January 2024, coding startup Linear’s founder, Karri Saarinen, accused Carta of sharing personal cap desk knowledge, claiming {that a} Carta worker contacted one in all his angel buyers claiming to have a suggestion for his shares with out notifying Saarinen first. Carta ended up exiting the secondary inventory buying and selling market, promoting it this August to inventory buying and selling startup Public.
