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Carta to exit secondary trading business

henrysward.medium.com

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Re: Carta to exit secondary trading business

#11

Post by notfried »

smt88 wrote: post #6

This is the best response, but remember it's a response to getting caught. They didn't grow a conscience or replace leadership. My company is still taking our business away from Carta, and I don't think anyone's plans should change because they repented after being caught. Things might be different if the CEO stepped down, but he hasn't yet.

A quick search shows me a number of alternatives to Carta, but none that I have ever heard of or come across. Is there any competitor that is considered the second best? Carta just seems to me what everyone had been using without a second thought.

Re: Carta to exit secondary trading business

#12

Post by xyzzy_plugh »

smt88 wrote: post #6

This is the best response, but remember it's a response to getting caught. They didn't grow a conscience or replace leadership. My company is still taking our business away from Carta, and I don't think anyone's plans should change because they repented after being caught. Things might be different if the CEO stepped down, but he hasn't yet.

Seconded. While this is a great move, they have yet to provide assurances that this sort of thing won't happen in the future. This blog post doesn't sufficiently serve as official policy for us.

Re: Carta to exit secondary trading business

#13

Post by jrflowers »

smt88 wrote: post #6

This is the best response, but remember it's a response to getting caught. They didn't grow a conscience or replace leadership. My company is still taking our business away from Carta, and I don't think anyone's plans should change because they repented after being caught. Things might be different if the CEO stepped down, but he hasn't yet.

You make a good point. This is the best response despite it being in response to getting caught and them but showing any conscience or replacing leadership.

If you think about it if a company acts in a way that makes you no longer want anything to do with them, the best thing is a vague blog post bragging about how much money they make doing other stuff

Re: Carta to exit secondary trading business

#14

Post by xyzzy_plugh »

To be honest this still seems off.

If Carta shows respect for your data and privacy I believe they could still offer an opt-in secondary market, and I can see plenty of companies being interested in participating in it.

No one was complaining about the secondary market, they were complaining that Carta was double dipping with their data without consent. This whole post feels like he's just trying to move the goalposts.

Ultimately it's about treating customer data with respect, building trust, and operating with transparency. They can't do those things, so they have to shut the whole thing down?

Smells funny.

Re: Carta to exit secondary trading business

#16

Post by logiduck »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #14

To be honest this still seems off. If Carta shows respect for your data and privacy I believe they could still offer an opt-in secondary market, and I can see plenty of companies being interested in participating in it. No one was complaining about the secondary market, they were complaining that Carta was double dipping with their data without consent. This whole post feels like he's just trying to move the goalpost…

The core issue of the secondaries market is that companies have a conflict of interest not to participate and the control that they want in order to participate essentially violates securities law. Founders want control over the price, who buys the shares, who can sell, etc. Carta and other companies so far haven't been able to solve this problem on mass scale of motivating founders to allow all shareholders to sell on an open market. There was weak demand from the company side so it seems like Carta tried to force it by making the market first and then asking for forgiveness because asking for permission wasn't working.

Re: Carta to exit secondary trading business

#17

Post by __loam »

smt88 wrote: post #6

This is the best response, but remember it's a response to getting caught. They didn't grow a conscience or replace leadership. My company is still taking our business away from Carta, and I don't think anyone's plans should change because they repented after being caught. Things might be different if the CEO stepped down, but he hasn't yet.

This is also the second shady article I've seen from carta this year.

https://sfstandard.com/2023/10/25/carta-san-francisco-lawsui...

Re: Carta to exit secondary trading business

#18

Post by xyzzy_plugh »

logiduck wrote: post #16
xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #14

To be honest this still seems off. If Carta shows respect for your data and privacy I believe they could still offer an opt-in secondary market, and I can see plenty of companies being interested in participating in it. No one was complaining about the secondary market, they were complaining that Carta was double dipping with their data without consent. This whole post feels like he's just trying to move the goalpost…

The core issue of the secondaries market is that companies have a conflict of interest not to participate and the control that they want in order to participate essentially violates securities law. Founders want control over the price, who buys the shares, who can sell, etc. Carta and other companies so far haven't been able to solve this problem on mass scale of motivating founders to allow all shareholders to sell…

I agree.

My issue with Carta is now the permission vs forgiveness thing. They won't get the opportunity to ask for forgiveness again at least in my case.

Re: Carta to exit secondary trading business

#20

Post by Waterluvian »

smt88 wrote: post #6

This is the best response, but remember it's a response to getting caught. They didn't grow a conscience or replace leadership. My company is still taking our business away from Carta, and I don't think anyone's plans should change because they repented after being caught. Things might be different if the CEO stepped down, but he hasn't yet.

The only people who will ever be caught using Carta are fools, the unaware, or those who have no choice for some reason. You need a base level of trust and that’s gone.
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