Carta Does It All
December 21, 2017
Carta Does It All
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Carta (formerly eShares)
Carta is being used as our internal Employee Stock Option software for all employees who currently have Employee Stock Options across our entire organization. Rather than needing to complete tons of manual paperwork every time my ESOs vest, I can easily login to Carta and locate all of the paperwork I need including reminders of how I filled it out last time.
- Well Constructed UI - One of the most important things for any software I use is how well constructed is the UI. In Carta, the icons are clearly visible and understood intuitively. Certificates can be clicked on to display all relevant ESO information. Issue dates, share amounts, cash cost are all front and center for easy visual consumption. This has the side effect of making Carta easy to use, which is something that all web app software should try and do.
- Ease of access - Getting started with Carta was really easy (also helped that our HR department sends you an email with ESO info if that is part of your employment contract). Once things got going, I really only needed to login to Carta once every vesting cycle to review my available shares and make a purchase.
- No Nonsense - The concept behind no nonsense is a little more art than science. Carta tackles one thing; ESO solutions. It does not attempt to beat around the bush with other features or ideas that might be secondary or tertiary to their primary focus. Instead, they only work towards building and supporting ancillary features and interface choices.
- Help Center - Seriously. Well. Done. Carta has an ENORMOUS database of articles and help documentation. Just about anything you could want or need help on is right there.
- Two Factor Authentication - Just when you thought you were safe from thing sin the world, EQUIFAX gets breached. Fortunately, Carta has wisely considered the advantages of 2FA and enabled it!
- With all of the time I've spent poking around, learning, and utilizing Carta, I can confidently say that nothing stands out as needing glaring improvement or attention. I usually have more to say when it comes to this type of feedback, but find myself sorely lacking.
- Since I do not handle financials directly, this is more difficult to speak towards with confidence. My best guess is that it has reduced a lot of the manual paperwork processes that would otherwise occupy the ESO space, which allows for folks to spend their time doing other things for the company.
I have no experience using other web-based ESO software.