Carta vs Fidelity Private Shares
free-tier · subscription-flat · enterprise-custom
·free-tier · subscription-flat · enterprise-custom
Fidelity Private Shares wins · 15–22 (12 drawn)
Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness
How well agents can access and operate the product
Agent access
ai-native userPoint an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docs
weight 2 · round drawnCartanone0/10Direct probes show no llms.txt file (404) and no machine-readable docs or OpenAPI spec discoverable at expected paths, meaning there's no agent-oriented docs entrypoint for an AI agent to point at; the MCP setup guide is a separate integration path, not an llms.txt/agent-docs format.
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10Probes explicitly confirm no llms.txt (404) and no markdown-based docs (404), and no OpenAPI spec found either. No evidence of any agent-oriented documentation format.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userRun the product headlessly / in CI for automation
weight 2 · round to CartaCarta exposes a REST API with OAuth2 CLIENT_CREDENTIALS grant (machine-to-machine, no user interaction), which supports scripted/automated access suitable for CI-like use, and offers Postman guides for programmatic access. However, there is no evidence of a CLI, SDK, headless runner, or explicit CI/automation tooling/documentation, and openapi/llms.txt probes 404 indicating limited machine-readable API surface. missing for 10: dedicated CLI or SDK for automation, explicit CI/CD integration guides, documented headless execution mode, independent evidence of automation use.
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
- [claimed-docs] “The client credentials flow provides access to data about your company and does not require explicit permission from a Carta user prior to a…”
- [claimed-docs] “This guide explains how to access Carta's APIs using Postman.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.carta.com/openapi.json, https://docs.carta.com/swagger.json, https://docs.carta.com/api…”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10Fidelity Private Shares is a web-based equity/cap-table management platform with no documented API, CLI, or headless automation capability; probes for llms.txt, docs.md, and OpenAPI specs all returned 404, and no evidence describes CI/scriptable usage.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userConnect an agent via an official MCP server
weight 3 · round to CartaCarta documents an official Claude MCP setup with pre-built plugins for cap table, investors, and fund data, enabling agent connection via natural-language queries (carta-docs-9, carta-docs-10, carta-docs-11, carta-probe-4). Missing for 10: independent/hands-on third-party corroboration of the MCP server working in practice, and details on broader MCP client support beyond Claude.
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access ownership, stakeholder lists, SAFEs, convertible notes, option grants, 409A valuations, financing history, compensation benchmarks, a…”
- [claimed-docs] “The Carta Investors plugin gives LLMs access to your fund's data and allows you to generate tear sheets, budgets, and financial statements.”
- [claimed-docs] “Query ownership, SAFEs, convertibles, grants, valuations, financing history, and compensation benchmarks.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access NAV, fund performance, partner data, journal entries, portfolio company financials, build Excel budgets and consolidating P&L / balan…”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://docs.carta.com/api-platform/guides/guides/claude-mcp-setup/”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10Fidelity Private Shares is a SaaS platform for equity/cap-table management, so an official MCP server for agent connectivity is a fair axis, but no evidence shows one exists—probes for llms.txt, docs.md, and OpenAPI endpoints all returned 404s, and no documentation mentions MCP or agent integration.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userUse an official CLI
weight 2 · round drawnCartanone0/10Carta is an equity/cap-table management platform with a documented API, OAuth flows, MCP integrations, and Postman guide, but no evidence anywhere in the pack of an official CLI tool for developers or AI-native workflows. missing for 10: any mention of a CLI, command-line tool, or terminal-based interface.
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10Fidelity Private Shares is a cap-table/equity management SaaS with a web UI, workflows, and integrations, but there is no mention of a CLI anywhere in the evidence; probes for llms.txt, docs.md, and OpenAPI specs all returned 404, suggesting no developer/CLI tooling is exposed.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userDrive the product through a documented public API
weight 3 · round to CartaCarta has a documented public REST API platform with OAuth 2.0 authorization, developer portal, playground/sandbox, extensive reference docs covering cap tables, stakeholders, option grants, valuations, and even Postman guides, clearly enabling programmatic/AI-native access. Missing for 10: no discoverable OpenAPI/swagger spec or llms.txt was found (probes returned 404s), which would strengthen machine-readability claims.
- [claimed-docs] “Learn how to quickly and easily embed Carta data into your app.”
- [claimed-docs] “Register for our developer portal and create your playground app to start building.”
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
- [claimed-docs] “This guide explains how to access Carta's APIs using Postman.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [claimed-docs] “This document explains how to create issuers using Carta’s Draft Issuer API.”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://docs.carta.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.carta.com/openapi.json, https://docs.carta.com/swagger.json, https://docs.carta.com/api…”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any public/documented API; probes for OpenAPI spec, llms.txt, and docs-md all returned 404, and no docs mention an API for programmatic access.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userIssue scoped/least-privilege API credentials for an agent
weight 2 · round to CartaCarta's API platform documents OAuth 2.0 with AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIALS grant types, adjustable OAuth scopes, and dedicated service accounts for programmatic/investor API access, all of which support issuing scoped, non-interactive credentials suitable for automated/agent use (carta-docs-6, carta-docs-7, carta-docs-8, carta-docs-15). However, this is generic OAuth/service-account tooling not explicitly framed around AI agents, and there's no documentation of agent-specific credential issuance, fine-grained least-privilege enforcement, or credential lifecycle/audit controls. Missing for 10: explicit agent-oriented credential provisioning workflow, granular least-privilege scope examples, and independent verification that scopes are enforced as least-privilege in practice.
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
- [claimed-docs] “The client credentials flow provides access to data about your company and does not require explicit permission from a Carta user prior to a…”
- [claimed-docs] “Adding new OAuth scopes to your OAuth application allows you to enhance the capabilities of your integration with the Carta API platform.”
- [claimed-docs] “The application is now added to your Investment Firm and can be used to access its data via the Investor API”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any API at all, let alone scoped/least-privilege API credentials for agent use; probes for OpenAPI/API discovery all returned 404s, and none of the docs mention API keys, tokens, or credential scoping.
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
ai-native userBuild against official SDKs
weight 2 · round to CartaCarta has an extensive REST API with developer portal, OAuth, playground/production environments, and detailed reference docs, satisfying the general SDK-building story; it also documents a Claude MCP setup for AI agent access to cap table/investor data. However, evidence probes show no discoverable OpenAPI spec, llms.txt, or official language-specific SDKs (only raw API + Postman), suggesting 'SDK' support is really API/reference docs rather than packaged SDKs. missing for 10: official language SDKs (Python/JS/etc.), publicly discoverable OpenAPI/machine-readable spec, independent third-party confirmation of SDK usability.
- [claimed-docs] “Learn how to quickly and easily embed Carta data into your app.”
- [claimed-docs] “Register for our developer portal and create your playground app to start building.”
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “This guide explains how to access Carta's APIs using Postman.”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://docs.carta.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://docs.carta.com/api-platform/.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.carta.com/openapi.json, https://docs.carta.com/swagger.json, https://docs.carta.com/api…”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://docs.carta.com/api-platform/guides/guides/claude-mcp-setup/”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any official SDK, public API, or developer library exists; probes for llms.txt, docs.md, and OpenAPI specs all returned 404, and all documentation refers only to end-user workflows for equity management.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userSubscribe to events via webhooks
weight 2 · round drawnCartanone0/10No evidence in the pack mentions webhooks, event subscriptions, or push notifications anywhere in Carta's API platform docs; the documented capabilities are REST endpoints, OAuth flows, MCP/Claude plugins, and a data warehouse, none of which describe webhook subscription support.
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any webhook subscription mechanism or event API; probes for API/OpenAPI specs return 404, and no docs mention webhooks or event notifications for external systems.
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
Agentic features
ai-native userGet AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the product
weight 2 · round to CartaCarta documents an official Claude/MCP integration that lets users ask natural-language questions over cap table, fund, and portfolio data and generate tear sheets, budgets, and financial statements — a form of AI-generated insight from Carta data. However this is delivered via an external LLM (Claude) through MCP rather than a native in-product AI feature, and there is no independent/hands-on evidence corroborating quality or reliability of the insights. Missing for 10: native in-app AI insight generation (not requiring a separate Claude client), independent user validation of insight accuracy, and broader coverage beyond the MCP-specific plugins.
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access ownership, stakeholder lists, SAFEs, convertible notes, option grants, 409A valuations, financing history, compensation benchmarks, a…”
- [claimed-docs] “The Carta Investors plugin gives LLMs access to your fund's data and allows you to generate tear sheets, budgets, and financial statements.”
- [claimed-docs] “Query ownership, SAFEs, convertibles, grants, valuations, financing history, and compensation benchmarks.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access NAV, fund performance, partner data, journal entries, portfolio company financials, build Excel budgets and consolidating P&L / balan…”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://docs.carta.com/api-platform/guides/guides/claude-mcp-setup/”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any AI-generated insights, suggestions, or analytics features; the product is described entirely as a cap table/equity management workflow tool with manual reports, scenario modeling, and document generation—none of which involve AI-driven analysis of user data.
ai-native userOperate the product with natural-language commands
weight 2 · round to CartaCarta documents an official Claude MCP integration allowing natural-language queries over cap tables, fund performance, and financial data (e.g., 'all with natural language questions'), which directly supports AI-native NL interaction. However, this is scoped to specific plugins (cap table, investors) via Claude/MCP rather than a native NL command interface across the whole product, and there's no independent/hands-on corroboration of quality or reliability. Missing for 10: broader natural-language coverage beyond Claude MCP plugins, independent hands-on verification, and evidence of NL support outside the MCP integration.
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access ownership, stakeholder lists, SAFEs, convertible notes, option grants, 409A valuations, financing history, compensation benchmarks, a…”
- [claimed-docs] “The Carta Investors plugin gives LLMs access to your fund's data and allows you to generate tear sheets, budgets, and financial statements.”
- [claimed-docs] “Query ownership, SAFEs, convertibles, grants, valuations, financing history, and compensation benchmarks.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access NAV, fund performance, partner data, journal entries, portfolio company financials, build Excel budgets and consolidating P&L / balan…”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://docs.carta.com/api-platform/guides/guides/claude-mcp-setup/”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any natural-language command interface, chatbot, or AI assistant feature; the product is a form/workflow-driven equity management platform with no NLP capability mentioned. Probes for llms.txt, docs-md, and openapi also all returned 404, indicating no AI-native interface exists.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
Api quality
ai-native userExplore an interactive API reference with runnable examples
weight 2 · round to CartaCarta has extensive API reference docs and a sandbox/playground environment with static valid responses for testing, which supports exploration without real credentials, but there's no evidence of an interactive 'try it now' console with runnable examples embedded in the docs, and OpenAPI/llms.txt probes all returned 404s. missing for 10: interactive in-browser API console with live runnable requests, OpenAPI spec availability, llms.txt for AI consumption.
- [claimed-docs] “It doesn't require genuine credentials and always returns static but valid responses to your requests.”
- [claimed-docs] “Our playground environment provides a similar experience to our production environment.”
- [claimed-docs] “This guide explains how to access Carta's APIs using Postman.”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://docs.carta.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://docs.carta.com/api-platform/.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.carta.com/openapi.json, https://docs.carta.com/swagger.json, https://docs.carta.com/api…”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any API reference, interactive docs, or runnable examples; probes for OpenAPI specs and llms.txt all returned 404, and all documentation is support-article style for end users, not developers.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userDownload a machine-readable API spec (OpenAPI or equivalent)
weight 2 · round drawnCartanone0/10Carta has an extensive API reference but there is no evidence of a downloadable OpenAPI/Swagger spec; probes for llms.txt, docs markdown, and common OpenAPI paths all returned 404, indicating no machine-readable spec is exposed.
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10Probes for OpenAPI/swagger endpoints and machine-readable docs all returned 404, and no evidence pack items mention an API spec of any kind.
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
ai-native userTest against a sandbox environment without touching production data
weight 1 · round to CartaCarta provides an explicit playground/sandbox environment with static but valid mock responses that mimics production, plus a documented path to promote apps from playground to production, directly matching the story. Missing for 10: independent/hands-on developer confirmation that the sandbox fully isolates from production data in practice.
- [claimed-docs] “It doesn't require genuine credentials and always returns static but valid responses to your requests.”
- [claimed-docs] “Register for our developer portal and create your playground app to start building.”
- [claimed-docs] “Our playground environment provides a similar experience to our production environment.”
- [claimed-docs] “Promote your playground app to production in the Developer Portal.”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of a sandbox/test environment, staging mode, or API for testing without touching production data; the product is a cap-table/equity management SaaS with no documented sandbox or developer testing environment, and probes for API/dev docs returned 404s.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userRely on versioned APIs with a documented deprecation policy
weight 2 · round drawnCartanone0/10The evidence pack shows API guides, OAuth authorization, and versioned endpoint paths (e.g. 'v-1-alpha-1') but no documented deprecation policy, versioning strategy, or changelog is mentioned anywhere; probes also failed to find an OpenAPI spec that would clarify versioning. Missing for 10: explicit API versioning scheme documentation, deprecation policy/timeline, changelog or migration guides for breaking changes.
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.carta.com/openapi.json, https://docs.carta.com/swagger.json, https://docs.carta.com/api…”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of a public API at all — probes for OpenAPI/Swagger specs and llms.txt all returned 404, and no documentation mentions API versioning or a deprecation policy.
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth
How much of the product can run unattended
ai-native userPerform bulk operations across many items at once
weight 2 · round drawnCarta's API exposes list/read endpoints (stakeholders, option grants, convertible notes, fair market values) and a data warehouse enabling multi-faceted SQL queries across large datasets, which supports bulk retrieval/analysis. However, there is no evidence of bulk write/update/create operations (only single draft option grant / draft issuer creation endpoints), nor any explicit batch-processing or multi-item mutation API for AI-native workflows. Missing for 10: documented bulk create/update/delete endpoints, batch processing limits or examples, and independent/hands-on confirmation of large-scale bulk automation via the API or MCP integration.
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve convertible notes.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve the fair market values of an issuer, which are the values of the issuer's securities as determined by the issuer's 409a valuations.”
- [claimed-docs] “It unifies your firm's most critical data—from fund performance and portfolio financials to partner capital accounts—into a single, queryabl…”
- [claimed-docs] “Analysts are free to perform sophisticated, multi-faceted SQL queries and analyses without the friction of integrating disparate data source…”
The docs mention a specific bulk feature—uploading equity promises in bulk (doc-4)—showing some support for bulk operations, but there's no evidence of broader bulk actions across other item types (grants, stakeholders, documents) or any API/automation surface (probes confirm no OpenAPI/llms.txt) that an AI-native user could leverage. Missing for 10: general bulk-edit/bulk-action support across cap table items, programmatic/API access for automation, and evidence of scale beyond the single documented bulk-upload workflow.
- [claimed-docs] “For multiple promises, there is a process to upload equity promises in bulk.”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userDefine rules that trigger actions automatically on events
weight 3 · round drawnCartanone0/10Carta's evidence covers API access, OAuth, data retrieval endpoints, and an MCP/Claude integration for querying data via natural language, but there is no mention of user-defined rules, triggers, webhooks, or event-based automation that fires actions automatically. Missing for 10: rule/trigger definition mechanism, event subscription or webhook system, evidence of automated actions firing on events.
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10Fidelity Private Shares offers built-in automation like data room syncing, workflow-tied document generation, and smart-linking, but there is no evidence of user-definable rules/triggers or an event-driven automation engine (e.g., 'if X happens, do Y') that an AI-native user could configure themselves. No API, webhooks, or rules-builder is documented, and probes for API/docs endpoints return 404.
- [claimed-docs] “your cap table and all the documents in your data room are tied together using a smart-linking feature”
- [claimed-docs] “your automatic Data Room works behind-the-scenes to add important documents as they are completed”
- [claimed-docs] “Board and stockholder approvals are automatically integrated into every relevant workflow in the platform.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userSchedule recurring jobs or workflows
weight 2 · round drawnCartanone0/10Carta's evidence pack covers API access, OAuth, MCP plugin setup, and cap table data endpoints, but nothing describes scheduling, recurring jobs, cron-like automation, or workflow triggers. Missing for 10: any scheduler/cron feature, recurring job configuration, or workflow automation trigger mechanism.
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any scheduling, recurring jobs, automation triggers, or workflow-orchestration API/feature; the product is a cap table/equity management SaaS with manual workflows and no automation or API layer (openapi/llms.txt probes all 404). This axis applies to any SaaS platform but there's no support for AI-driven scheduled/recurring automation.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
- [claimed-docs] “Workflows often have two paths - generative, where you can generate new documents to execute on the platform, and upload, where you can capt…”
Cap table core — stories about cap table core in this arenaCap table core
Stories about cap table core in this arena
Certificates
founderIssue electronic share certificates that are legally signed in-platform and permanently linked to the cap table entry they represent
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack is entirely about Carta's API platform (developer portal, OAuth, MCP integrations, data endpoints for cap tables, stakeholders, options, etc.) and community complaints about sales/cancellation practices; nothing describes electronic share certificate issuance, in-platform legal e-signature workflows, or certificate-to-cap-table linkage. Missing for 10: any documentation of certificate generation/e-signing feature, evidence of legal validity/compliance, and confirmation of permanent linkage to cap table records.
Docs describe e-signing of documents (docs-22, docs-37) and explicitly state that stock certificates and other documents are tied to the corresponding award agreement, board consent, and exercise actions (docs-34), plus a smart-linking feature connecting cap table entries to data-room documents (docs-7, docs-8). This directly supports issuing signed certificates linked to cap table records. missing for 10: independent/hands-on corroboration of certificate issuance workflow, explicit legal-validity/e-sign compliance details (e.g., ESIGN Act), and confirmation that the link is truly permanent/immutable rather than just dynamically updated
- [claimed-docs] “You can use your mouse to draw your signature, upload an image file of your signature, or type in your signature.”
- [claimed-docs] “the platform will email you a link to review and sign the document(s) involved in that step of the workflow”
- [claimed-docs] “the award agreement will be tied to the corresponding board consent, subsequent exercise actions, stock certificates, and other future relat…”
- [claimed-docs] “your cap table and all the documents in your data room are tied together using a smart-linking feature”
- [claimed-docs] “Do you want your capitalization table to automatically update and dynamically link directly to all supporting documents in a secured data ro…”
Migration
ops userMigrate an existing cap table — from a spreadsheet or another platform — with guided import, validation, and reconciliation against source documents
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack contains no documentation of a guided cap-table import, data validation, or reconciliation workflow for migrating from spreadsheets or other platforms into Carta; all docs relate to the developer API platform (retrieving data, OAuth, MCP plugins) rather than onboarding. The only related community evidence describes onboarding as an 'involved process' with many help articles and fees, and other threads describe difficulty migrating data OUT of Carta — neither confirms an actual guided import/reconciliation feature.
- [community] “A founder asked whether switching from a free cap table tool to Carta would be painful, noting Carta onboarding 'has an involved process and…”
- [community] “I'm the founder of Eqvista, a Carta competitor; we've seen significant migrations from Carta due to cost, lengthy 409A valuation timelines, …”
The docs mention bulk upload of equity promises and marketing language that implies moving off spreadsheets, but there is no dedicated guided cap-table migration workflow with validation or reconciliation against source documents described. Missing for 10: explicit migration/import tool for existing cap tables, validation rules, and reconciliation against source documents or historical filings.
- [claimed-docs] “For multiple promises, there is a process to upload equity promises in bulk.”
- [claimed-docs] “without spreadsheets or surprises”
Source of truth
founderMaintain my full cap table — share classes, certificates, SAFEs, and option grants — as a live single source of truth that investors and auditors rely on
weight 3 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCarta's own API docs confirm the core cap-table entities (issuers, share classes, stakeholders, option grants, convertible notes, SAFEs, 409A/FMV data) are all live, queryable objects in a single system, and describe partners, law firms, and auditors accessing this data programmatically — matching the 'single source of truth' story. Community evidence (billing/support complaints, PG's spam remark) is about sales practices and cancellation friction, not about the accuracy or reliability of the cap table data itself, so it doesn't contradict this axis. Missing for 10: independent/hands-on confirmation that investors and auditors actually rely on Carta as source of truth (only vendor docs), and no product UI evidence beyond API references.
- [claimed-docs] “Access ownership, stakeholder lists, SAFEs, convertible notes, option grants, 409A valuations, financing history, compensation benchmarks, a…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve convertible notes.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve the fair market values of an issuer, which are the values of the issuer's securities as determined by the issuer's 409a valuations.”
- [claimed-docs] “Allows law firms and technology partners to fetch cap table information on behalf of the company”
- [claimed-docs] “This document explains how to create issuers using Carta’s Draft Issuer API.”
Fidelity Private Shares is a dedicated cap table management platform with first-party docs describing core cap table maintenance (share classes, certificates, options, vesting), bulk-uploading equity promises/SAFEs, convertible note generation, smart-linking of cap table to supporting documents in an automated data room, and integration of board/stockholder approvals into workflows so records stay live and auditable (ASC 718 reporting, 409A support). This directly matches the founder's need for a single live source of truth relied on by investors and auditors. Missing for 10: no independent/third-party corroboration (e.g., customer case studies or reviews) confirming real-world reliability as an investor/auditor-trusted source of truth, and no explicit mention of preferred/common share class distinctions beyond general cap table language.
- [claimed-docs] “For multiple promises, there is a process to upload equity promises in bulk.”
- [claimed-docs] “your cap table and all the documents in your data room are tied together using a smart-linking feature”
- [claimed-docs] “Do you want your capitalization table to automatically update and dynamically link directly to all supporting documents in a secured data ro…”
- [claimed-docs] “your automatic Data Room works behind-the-scenes to add important documents as they are completed”
- [claimed-docs] “Board and stockholder approvals are automatically integrated into every relevant workflow in the platform.”
- [claimed-docs] “This article will walk you through the process of generating a Convertible Note (or Bridge Note).”
- [claimed-docs] “the award agreement will be tied to the corresponding board consent, subsequent exercise actions, stock certificates, and other future relat…”
- [claimed-docs] “We organize everything you may need to create ASC 718 reports, including grant types, vesting schedules and Stock Incentive Plan details.”
- [claimed-docs] “the platform will generate an Excel file (.xlsx) with ASC 718 report calculations”
Compliance filings — stories about compliance filings in this arenaCompliance filings
Stories about compliance filings in this arena
Stock comp
ops userProduce ASC 718 stock-based compensation expense reports my accountants can hand to auditors
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack covers Carta's API platform, cap tables, 409A valuations, option grants, and MCP data access, but contains no mention of ASC 718 stock-based compensation expense reports or auditor-ready compliance reporting output. Missing for 10: any documentation of an ASC 718 report, audit trail, or accountant-facing expense reporting feature.
- [claimed-docs] “This API can be used to calculate the tax implications of a user exercising their equity.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve the fair market values of an issuer, which are the values of the issuer's securities as determined by the issuer's 409a valuations.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
Fidelity Private Shares has a dedicated ASC 718 reporting workflow that organizes grant types, vesting schedules, and Stock Incentive Plan details, and generates an Excel (.xlsx) file with ASC 718 report calculations ready to hand to accountants/auditors; this is a named feature on the Growth plan tier. missing for 10: independent/auditor-side corroboration that the generated report satisfies actual audit requirements, and detail on customization/audit-trail support beyond the standard export.
- [claimed-docs] “the platform will generate an Excel file (.xlsx) with ASC 718 report calculations”
- [claimed-docs] “We organize everything you may need to create ASC 718 reports, including grant types, vesting schedules and Stock Incentive Plan details.”
- [claimed-docs] “move to our Growth plan with 409A valuations and ASC 718 reporting and more”
- [claimed-docs] “At the completion of this workflow, the platform will generate an Excel file (.xlsx) with ASC 718 report calculations.”
Us filings
ops userUS equity compliance — Rule 701 disclosure thresholds, Form 3921 filings, 83(b) elections — is tracked and generated from the cap table automatically
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack covers Carta's API platform, OAuth, MCP integrations, and cap table data endpoints, but contains no mention of Rule 701 disclosure threshold tracking, Form 3921 filing generation, or 83(b) election tracking/automation. The closest item (carta-docs-13, FMV/tax implications API) is generic tax calculation, not these specific compliance filings.
The product explicitly offers '83(b) generation' as a plan feature and ASC 718 stock option expense reporting tied to cap table data, showing some automated compliance-filing support. However, there is no evidence of Rule 701 disclosure threshold tracking or Form 3921 filing generation/automation. missing for 10: Rule 701 disclosure threshold tracking, Form 3921 filing generation, and confirmation these are auto-generated (not just templates) from live cap table data.
- [claimed-docs] “Up to 25 stakeholders and less than $1M raised Cap table management Equity plan generation Data room Board consents Scenario modeling …”
- [claimed-docs] “We organize everything you may need to create ASC 718 reports, including grant types, vesting schedules and Stock Incentive Plan details.”
- [claimed-docs] “move to our Growth plan with 409A valuations and ASC 718 reporting and more”
- [claimed-docs] “At the completion of this workflow, the platform will generate an Excel file (.xlsx) with ASC 718 report calculations.”
Equity data access — stories about equity data access in this arenaEquity data access
Stories about equity data access in this arena
Agent access
ai-native userAn agent can draft securities (e.g. option grants) via the platform's programmatic surface and leave them queued for human board approval
weight 2 · round to CartaCarta's API explicitly supports creating draft option grants that remain unapproved until board consent (carta-docs-22), and the programmatic surface (REST API plus OAuth) allows an agent to call this endpoint directly; the MCP/Claude integration also exposes option grant data for natural-language agent use (carta-docs-9, carta-docs-10, carta-docs-30). However, evidence doesn't show an end-to-end documented workflow specifically for an agent drafting a grant via MCP/Claude and it landing in a board approval queue, nor confirmation that the MCP plugin exposes write/draft-creation actions (it seems read/query-oriented). missing for 10: explicit documentation that the MCP-agent surface (not just direct REST API) can create draft securities, and confirmation of the human board-approval queue/workflow tied to that draft creation.
- [claimed-docs] “A draft option grant is an option grant that is either still being finalized or that has not yet received board consent and approval.”
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access ownership, stakeholder lists, SAFEs, convertible notes, option grants, 409A valuations, financing history, compensation benchmarks, a…”
- [claimed-docs] “Query ownership, SAFEs, convertibles, grants, valuations, financing history, and compensation benchmarks.”
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10There is no evidence of any programmatic API surface (probes for llms.txt, docs.md, and OpenAPI all return 404), so an agent cannot draft securities programmatically at all; workflows described are UI-driven, human-initiated processes.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userHave an agent pull my current cap table programmatically and reconcile it against my data room before a financing
weight 3 · round to CartaCarta ships a documented REST API (capitalization table, stakeholders, option grants, convertible notes, FMV endpoints) plus an official Claude MCP server that lets an agent query cap table data via natural language, directly enabling programmatic cap-table pulls. However, there is no evidence of any data-room integration or reconciliation feature/endpoint tying cap table data to data-room documents for financing diligence. Missing for 10: data-room reconciliation capability, evidence of cross-referencing cap table vs data room documents, independent/hands-on validation of the MCP or API for this workflow.
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access ownership, stakeholder lists, SAFEs, convertible notes, option grants, 409A valuations, financing history, compensation benchmarks, a…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve convertible notes.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve the fair market values of an issuer, which are the values of the issuer's securities as determined by the issuer's 409a valuations.”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://docs.carta.com/api-platform/guides/guides/claude-mcp-setup/”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any API, export endpoint, or programmatic access mechanism—probes for llms.txt, docs.md, and OpenAPI all return 404s, and all documented features are UI-based workflows (cap table, data room smart-linking, scenario modeling) with no mention of agent-accessible data pulls or reconciliation tooling.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
- [claimed-docs] “your cap table and all the documents in your data room are tied together using a smart-linking feature”
- [claimed-docs] “Do you want your capitalization table to automatically update and dynamically link directly to all supporting documents in a secured data ro…”
Api access
developerPull the full capitalization table — stakeholders, share classes, securities, and vesting states — through a documented programmatic API
weight 3 · round to CartaCarta's docs show a documented REST API with specific endpoints to retrieve capitalization tables by share class, stakeholders, option grants, convertible notes, draft securities, and fair market values, plus OAuth2-based authentication and a sandbox/playground for testing before production. Community evidence does not contradict the API's data-access functionality. Missing for 10: no independent third-party developer testimonial confirming real-world completeness/accuracy of the API responses, and no public OpenAPI spec discoverable (probe shows 404s).
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve convertible notes.”
- [claimed-docs] “A draft option grant is an option grant that is either still being finalized or that has not yet received board consent and approval.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve the fair market values of an issuer, which are the values of the issuer's securities as determined by the issuer's 409a valuations.”
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
- [claimed-docs] “The formulas below show how to calculate the following outstanding and fully diluted percentages using our Capitalization Table endpoint”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any programmatic API for accessing cap table data — probes for OpenAPI/Swagger specs and llms.txt all returned 404, and no documentation mentions an API, SDK, or export endpoint for stakeholders/share classes/securities/vesting data. All evidence pertains to UI-based workflows, reports, and third-party integrations (Gusto) rather than a documented developer API.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
Partner access
developerThird parties my company authorizes — law firms, HRIS vendors, wealth managers — can access scoped slices of equity data on our behalf without full admin credentials
weight 2 · round to CartaCarta's docs explicitly describe OAuth 2.0 authorization with scoped access (AUTHORIZATION_CODE/CLIENT_CREDENTIALS grants, custom OAuth scopes) and name exactly the third-party use cases in the story — law firms fetching cap table data on behalf of companies, personal finance/wealth partners aggregating equity holdings, and incorporation partners programmatically onboarding customers — all without requiring full admin credentials. Missing for 10: independent/hands-on corroboration that scope restrictions work as intended in production, and explicit documentation of an HRIS-specific integration scope (only 'personal finance' and 'law firm' partner types are named directly).
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
- [claimed-docs] “Adding new OAuth scopes to your OAuth application allows you to enhance the capabilities of your integration with the Carta API platform.”
- [claimed-docs] “Allows incorporation partners and law firms to programmatically send new customers to Carta”
- [claimed-docs] “Allows fund operators to retrieve summary cap table insights for their portfolio holdings”
- [claimed-docs] “Allows law firms and technology partners to fetch cap table information on behalf of the company”
- [claimed-docs] “Allows personal finance management partners to aggregate holdings inclusive of equity data”
- [claimed-docs] “Allows funds to manage their deal and fundraising relationships across the investment process”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of a developer-facing API, scoped access tokens, or third-party delegated access mechanism for law firms, HRIS vendors, or wealth managers; the evidence pack shows only end-user workflows (data room, cap table, board consents) and explicit probe failures for API/docs endpoints (llms.txt, openapi.json all 404). This is a fair axis for an equity management platform since such products commonly support advisor/auditor access roles, but no such capability is documented.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
Equity issuance — stories about equity issuance in this arenaEquity issuance
Stories about equity issuance in this arena
Bulk issuance
ops userUpload or issue securities in bulk — a batch of grants or historical transactions — instead of entering them one at a time
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCarta's API exposes endpoints to create individual draft option grants and draft issuers programmatically (carta-docs-22, carta-docs-33), which could be scripted to issue many grants, but there is no documented bulk/batch upload endpoint, CSV import tool, or explicit 'bulk issuance' feature for historical transactions. Missing for 10: a dedicated batch/bulk-create endpoint or CSV import UI, documentation describing bulk historical transaction import, and any independent confirmation that ops teams actually use this for bulk issuance.
- [claimed-docs] “A draft option grant is an option grant that is either still being finalized or that has not yet received board consent and approval.”
- [claimed-docs] “This document explains how to create issuers using Carta’s Draft Issuer API.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
There is direct first-party documentation of a bulk-upload workflow for equity promises ("For multiple promises, there is a process to upload equity promises in bulk"), which supports batch issuance rather than one-at-a-time entry. However, the evidence lacks detail on format/template specifics, historical transaction backfill support, error handling, or independent/hands-on corroboration of the bulk process. Missing for 10: detailed documentation of the upload template/CSV format, confirmation it covers historical transactions (not just promises), and independent verification of successful bulk imports.
- [claimed-docs] “For multiple promises, there is a process to upload equity promises in bulk.”
- [claimed-docs] “Vesting schedules that you use frequently can be saved as a predefined schedule.”
Option grants
founderIssue options to a new hire with a board approval flow and a 409A-compliant strike price in one end-to-end workflow
weight 3 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCarta's API docs confirm the underlying data model for this workflow: draft option grants require 'board consent and approval' before finalization (carta-docs-22), and FMV/409A valuation data is available to price grants compliantly (carta-docs-23, carta-docs-13, carta-docs-20). This implies the platform supports issuing 409A-priced options with board approval, but the evidence is API-reference level rather than a documented end-to-end founder-facing workflow, and there is no independent/hands-on confirmation that a founder can complete this in one seamless flow. missing for 10: first-party product walkthrough of the founder-facing grant-issuance UI (not just API), independent user confirmation the board-approval-to-409A-strike flow works smoothly end-to-end.
- [claimed-docs] “A draft option grant is an option grant that is either still being finalized or that has not yet received board consent and approval.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve the fair market values of an issuer, which are the values of the issuer's securities as determined by the issuer's 409a valuations.”
- [claimed-docs] “This API can be used to calculate the tax implications of a user exercising their equity.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
Docs show board/stockholder approvals are automatically integrated into workflows and tied to award agreements, FMV-based strike pricing (with override option), predefined vesting schedules, and Gusto integration that can auto-grant equity from offer-letter promises — covering the core founder journey of approving and issuing a compliant option grant to a new hire. 409A compliance is supported via third-party valuation providers feeding FMV into the grant workflow rather than a single in-house step. Missing for 10: independent/hands-on corroboration of the full flow, and a concrete example specifically for a 'new hire' offer-to-grant scenario end-to-end.
- [claimed-docs] “Board and stockholder approvals are automatically integrated into every relevant workflow in the platform.”
- [claimed-docs] “the award agreement will be tied to the corresponding board consent, subsequent exercise actions, stock certificates, and other future relat…”
- [claimed-docs] “Select Yes to allow grants to be priced above or below FMV.”
- [claimed-docs] “We work with third party 409A Valuation Report providers based on your company's individual needs.”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatically grant equity from promises in offer letters”
- [claimed-docs] “Vesting schedules that you use frequently can be saved as a predefined schedule.”
Vesting
ops userDefine custom vesting schedules — cliffs, milestones, acceleration on exit — and the platform tracks vested vs unvested automatically
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack covers Carta's API platform, OAuth, MCP integrations, and cap table/option-grant retrieval endpoints, but contains no mention of defining custom vesting schedules, cliffs, milestone-based vesting, or acceleration-on-exit logic, nor of automatic vested/unvested tracking. Since Carta is an equity management platform, this is a core applicable axis, but no supporting evidence exists in the pack.
Docs confirm predefined/custom vesting schedules can be created and reused for grants, and the platform provides ASC 718 reporting that organizes vesting schedules and grant types — implying vested/unvested tracking. However, there is no explicit evidence of milestone-based vesting, acceleration-on-exit triggers, or automatic real-time vested-vs-unvested calculation logic being described. Missing for 10: explicit support for milestone/performance-based vesting, acceleration-on-exit clauses, and detailed automatic vested/unvested tracking mechanics.
- [claimed-docs] “Selecting from a predefined vesting schedule will expedite both processes by prepopulating the vesting details for you and ensure consistenc…”
- [claimed-docs] “Vesting schedules that you use frequently can be saved as a predefined schedule.”
- [claimed-docs] “We organize everything you may need to create ASC 718 reports, including grant types, vesting schedules and Stock Incentive Plan details.”
- [claimed-docs] “the platform will generate an Excel file (.xlsx) with ASC 718 report calculations”
Fundraising modeling — stories about fundraising modeling in this arenaFundraising modeling
Stories about fundraising modeling in this arena
Investor relations
founderMy investors get their own portal view of their holdings and can receive structured updates without emailing me for the cap table
weight 1 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack only covers Carta's developer API/MCP platform and negative community reports about cancellation and cold-calling practices; none of it documents a dedicated investor portal or structured update/reporting feature that would let investors self-serve cap table data without contacting the founder. The one tangential remark (Paul Graham noting Carta 'will spam all your investors') describes unsolicited outreach, not a structured self-serve portal, so it does not establish this capability.
- [community] “Paul Graham (2021): 'If you use Carta to manage your cap table, they will spam all your investors.'”
The platform offers stakeholders a 'My Equity' self-service view of their grants and exercise options, and a smart-linked data room that automatically shares relevant documents, which could reduce founder-investor emailing about holdings. However, there is no explicit evidence of a dedicated investor-facing portal (distinct from employee/optionholder equity view) or of proactive 'structured updates' (e.g., scheduled reports, dashboards) being pushed to investors. Missing for 10: dedicated investor portal distinct from employee equity view, evidence of structured/periodic investor update delivery, and any investor-specific reporting feature.
- [claimed-docs] “click on My Equity to view your available grants. Grants with an Exercise Now button have options available for exercise.”
- [claimed-docs] “Grants with an Exercise Now button have options available for exercise.”
- [claimed-docs] “your cap table and all the documents in your data room are tied together using a smart-linking feature”
- [claimed-docs] “your automatic Data Room works behind-the-scenes to add important documents as they are completed”
Safes
founderCreate, send, and e-sign SAFEs or convertible notes in-platform, and they land on the cap table with their conversion terms modeled
weight 3 · round to Fidelity Private SharesEvidence confirms convertible notes/SAFEs exist as objects on Carta's cap table and can be queried via API (carta-docs-21, carta-docs-30, carta-docs-10), implying they are modeled once created, but there is no documentation in this pack of an in-platform workflow to draft, send, or e-sign a SAFE/convertible note (only a 'Draft Issuer API' and 'draft option grant' creation flow are mentioned, not draft convertible notes or e-signature). Missing for 10: evidence of SAFE/convertible note creation and e-signature workflow, evidence that terms auto-model conversion scenarios upon signing.
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve convertible notes.”
- [claimed-docs] “Query ownership, SAFEs, convertibles, grants, valuations, financing history, and compensation benchmarks.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access ownership, stakeholder lists, SAFEs, convertible notes, option grants, 409A valuations, financing history, compensation benchmarks, a…”
- [claimed-docs] “This document explains how to create issuers using Carta’s Draft Issuer API.”
- [claimed-docs] “A draft option grant is an option grant that is either still being finalized or that has not yet received board consent and approval.”
Docs show founders can generate and e-sign a Convertible Note in-platform (docs-21, docs-22, docs-37) and that award/agreement documents are automatically tied to cap table records via smart-linking (docs-7, docs-34), supporting the notes-to-cap-table linkage. However, SAFEs specifically are never mentioned, and there is no explicit description of how conversion terms (valuation cap, discount) are modeled or reflected in cap table math. Missing for 10: explicit SAFE support, and documentation of automatic conversion-term modeling on the cap table.
- [claimed-docs] “This article will walk you through the process of generating a Convertible Note (or Bridge Note).”
- [claimed-docs] “You can use your mouse to draw your signature, upload an image file of your signature, or type in your signature.”
- [claimed-docs] “the platform will email you a link to review and sign the document(s) involved in that step of the workflow”
- [claimed-docs] “your cap table and all the documents in your data room are tied together using a smart-linking feature”
- [claimed-docs] “the award agreement will be tied to the corresponding board consent, subsequent exercise actions, stock certificates, and other future relat…”
Scenario modeling
ops userRun exit waterfall analyses showing proceeds per share class and stakeholder under different exit values, honoring preferences and participation
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10Evidence covers cap table data retrieval (share classes, stakeholders, option grants, FMV, convertibles) via API, but nothing documents exit waterfall modeling, proceeds-per-share-class calculations under different exit values, or handling of liquidation preferences/participation rights.
The product offers scenario modeling for hypothetical future rounds with IRR and cash-on-cash calculations, which touches exit/return analysis, but there is no evidence of a dedicated waterfall analysis feature that models proceeds per share class/stakeholder honoring liquidation preferences and participation rights across different exit values. Missing for 10: explicit waterfall modeling of exit proceeds by share class, evidence of handling preference stacks (participating vs non-participating, multiples), and stakeholder-level payout breakdowns under varying exit scenarios.
- [claimed-docs] “explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to review with your team”
- [claimed-docs] “Internal Rate of Return and Cash-on-cash calculations”
- [claimed-docs] “you can feel more confident using our scenario modeling and planning features... explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to…”
founderModel a priced round — dilution, option pool top-up, SAFE conversion, pro-forma ownership — and share the scenario with counsel and investors
weight 3 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack covers Carta's developer/API platform (cap table data retrieval, OAuth, MCP plugins, data warehouse) but contains no documentation of a scenario-modeling tool for priced rounds, dilution, option pool top-ups, SAFE conversion modeling, or pro-forma ownership sharing with counsel/investors. Only tangential API endpoints exist (cap table percentage calculation, convertible note listing, draft option grants) but none describe an interactive round-modeling workflow.
- [claimed-docs] “The formulas below show how to calculate the following outstanding and fully diluted percentages using our Capitalization Table endpoint”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve convertible notes.”
- [claimed-docs] “A draft option grant is an option grant that is either still being finalized or that has not yet received board consent and approval.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
Fidelity Private Shares documents a dedicated scenario-modeling feature covering hypothetical future rounds, IRR/cash-on-cash calculations, and exporting scenarios for team review, plus a related automated-equity-financing tool to model rounds and generate term sheets/financing documents. However, the evidence doesn't explicitly confirm modeling of option pool top-ups, SAFE conversions, or pro-forma ownership tables within the scenario tool, nor direct 'share with counsel/investors' collaboration workflow for scenarios specifically (only general document sharing/data room features are shown). Missing for 10: explicit SAFE conversion modeling, explicit option pool top-up modeling in scenario tool, pro-forma ownership output, and evidence of sharing a scenario directly with external counsel/investors.
- [claimed-docs] “explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to review with your team”
- [claimed-docs] “Internal Rate of Return and Cash-on-cash calculations”
- [claimed-docs] “Model your next round, generate your term sheet, and create financing documents”
- [claimed-docs] “you can feel more confident using our scenario modeling and planning features... explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to…”
- [claimed-docs] “This article will walk you through the process of generating a Convertible Note (or Bridge Note).”
Governance boardroom — stories about governance boardroom in this arenaGovernance boardroom
Stories about governance boardroom in this arena
Board approvals
founderBoard consents and stockholder approvals are drafted, routed for e-signature, and archived against the transactions they authorize
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence only shows API references to option grants requiring 'board consent and approval' as a status flag (carta-docs-22), but there is no documentation of a workflow for drafting board consents/stockholder approvals, routing them for e-signature, or archiving them against the transactions they authorize. Governance workflows are a plausible axis for a cap table platform, but no evidence substantiates this specific capability.
- [claimed-docs] “A draft option grant is an option grant that is either still being finalized or that has not yet received board consent and approval.”
Docs explicitly describe drafting board/stockholder consents via dedicated workflows, e-signature routing (mouse/upload/type signature, email link to sign), and automatic archiving/linking of executed documents to the transactions they authorize (e.g., award agreements tied to board consents, exercises, and certificates) via the smart-linked data room. This directly matches the story's draft→route for e-signature→archive-against-transaction workflow. missing for 10: independent/hands-on corroboration beyond vendor docs.
- [claimed-docs] “This article will show you how to create a written consent for board directors or stockholders and solicit approvals using the Board Consent…”
- [claimed-docs] “Board and stockholder approvals are automatically integrated into every relevant workflow in the platform.”
- [claimed-docs] “You can use your mouse to draw your signature, upload an image file of your signature, or type in your signature.”
- [claimed-docs] “the platform will email you a link to review and sign the document(s) involved in that step of the workflow”
- [claimed-docs] “the award agreement will be tied to the corresponding board consent, subsequent exercise actions, stock certificates, and other future relat…”
- [claimed-docs] “your cap table and all the documents in your data room are tied together using a smart-linking feature”
- [claimed-docs] “your automatic Data Room works behind-the-scenes to add important documents as they are completed”
Counsel access
ops userMy outside counsel can work directly in the platform with law-firm roles — preparing documents and updating records without emailing spreadsheets
weight 2 · round to CartaDocs mention law firms and technology partners can be granted API access to 'fetch cap table information on behalf of the company' and 'programmatically send new customers to Carta,' implying some counsel-facing integration exists, but there is no evidence of an actual in-platform law-firm role for preparing documents or updating cap-table records directly in the UI. missing for 10: documentation of a dedicated law-firm/outside-counsel platform role, UI workflows for document preparation, and evidence of record-updating permissions rather than just read-only API access.
- [claimed-docs] “Allows incorporation partners and law firms to programmatically send new customers to Carta”
- [claimed-docs] “Allows law firms and technology partners to fetch cap table information on behalf of the company”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10The evidence pack covers cap table management, workflows, board consents, ASC 718, data room, and integrations, but nowhere mentions outside counsel access, law-firm-specific roles/permissions, or attorney collaboration features within the platform. No documentation references external counsel logins, role-based access for law firms, or counsel-specific document preparation capabilities.
Data room
ops userShare a permissioned, diligence-ready data room — cap table views plus underlying documents — with counsel and investors
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack covers Carta's developer API platform, OAuth scopes, and an MCP/Claude plugin for querying cap table data — none of it describes a permissioned data-room product for sharing cap table views plus underlying documents with counsel/investors for diligence purposes. Community evidence only discusses pricing, cancellation friction, and sales-practice complaints, which are off-topic for this story.
Docs clearly describe an automated, smart-linked data room that ties cap table entries to underlying documents (grants, consents, financing docs) and is marketed as 'secured' — a core diligence-ready data room capability offered across pricing tiers. However, there is no explicit documentation of granular, role-based permissioning for external parties like counsel or investors (e.g. view-only access, watermarking, expiring links) — missing for 10: explicit external-party permission controls, evidence of investor/counsel-specific access workflows, and any hands-on/independent confirmation of the sharing experience.
- [claimed-docs] “your cap table and all the documents in your data room are tied together using a smart-linking feature”
- [claimed-docs] “Do you want your capitalization table to automatically update and dynamically link directly to all supporting documents in a secured data ro…”
- [claimed-docs] “your automatic Data Room works behind-the-scenes to add important documents as they are completed”
- [claimed-docs] “every time you make a change, the resulting docs are automatically collected and organized”
- [claimed-docs] “Up to 25 stakeholders and less than $1M raised Cap table management Equity plan generation Data room Board consents Scenario modeling …”
Integrations hris — stories about integrations hris in this arenaIntegrations hris
Stories about integrations hris in this arena
Hris sync
ops userStakeholders sync from my HRIS/payroll system (e.g. Gusto, Rippling) so new hires and terminations flow into equity records automatically
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack shows Carta's API/MCP platform covers cap tables, stakeholders, option grants, valuations, and OAuth access, but there is no mention of any HRIS/payroll integration (Gusto, Rippling, etc.) or automated sync of new hires/terminations into equity records. Absence of evidence for this specific applicable integration means it does not deliver the story.
- [claimed-docs] “Learn how to quickly and easily embed Carta data into your app.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
Docs explicitly describe a Gusto integration that syncs hiring, onboarding, and equity data, eliminating duplicate entry, and auto-granting equity from offer-letter promises, which directly supports the HRIS-sync story. However, evidence is limited to Gusto only (no Rippling or other payroll systems), and there's no explicit mention of termination events flowing into equity records. Missing for 10: explicit termination/offboarding sync, multi-HRIS support (e.g. Rippling), and independent confirmation of automatic new-hire equity creation beyond offer-letter promises.
- [claimed-docs] “eliminating the need to re-enter employee information in multiple solutions”
- [claimed-docs] “Sync relevant hiring, onboarding, and equity data between Fidelity Private Shares and Gusto — no need for error-prone, duplicate data entry”
- [claimed-docs] “Automatically grant equity from promises in offer letters”
Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness
Open source, data portability, and self-hosting stories
ai-native userDo everything through the API that I can do in the UI
weight 2 · round to CartaCarta exposes a broad read/write REST API (cap tables, stakeholders, option grants, convertible notes, 409A/FMV, draft issuer/option-grant creation) plus an MCP integration for natural-language querying, showing meaningful API-UI overlap for core equity data. However, there's no evidence of a machine-readable OpenAPI spec (all probes 404) or of API parity for many UI workflows (e.g., exercising options, secondary transactions, cancellations, full administrative actions), so full UI-API parity is unproven. Missing for 10: comprehensive OpenAPI/spec coverage, evidence of write-parity for transactional workflows (exercises, financings, secondary sales), and independent confirmation that all UI actions are API-accessible.
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve convertible notes.”
- [claimed-docs] “A draft option grant is an option grant that is either still being finalized or that has not yet received board consent and approval.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve the fair market values of an issuer, which are the values of the issuer's securities as determined by the issuer's 409a valuations.”
- [claimed-docs] “This document explains how to create issuers using Carta’s Draft Issuer API.”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://docs.carta.com/openapi.json, https://docs.carta.com/swagger.json, https://docs.carta.com/api…”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://docs.carta.com/api-platform/guides/guides/claude-mcp-setup/”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of any public API at all—probes for OpenAPI/Swagger specs all returned 404, and no docs mention an API, SDK, or programmatic access to cap table, equity, or workflow features. Without an API, there is no way to perform UI actions programmatically.
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
ai-native userExport all of my data in open formats and leave
weight 3 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartadisputedcontradicted3/10Carta's API platform does expose structured data (cap tables, stakeholders, grants, valuations) via REST endpoints, which offers some data access/portability, but there is no documented bulk 'export all data' feature in open formats, and independent reports directly contradict the 'leave' part of the story — founders describe deliberately obstructed cancellation, migration difficulty, and being 'trapped' when trying to move to a competitor. Missing for 10: evidence of a full open-format data export/download feature, and any confirmation that customers can smoothly migrate their full cap table data elsewhere.
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve convertible notes.”
- [community] “Carta's cancellation process requires a meeting with a customer success rep before you can cancel, and founders report being unable to sched…”
- [community] “I'm the founder of Eqvista, a Carta competitor; we've seen significant migrations from Carta due to cost, lengthy 409A valuation timelines, …”
- [community] “Carta was charging me $8,000 per year. I found an alternative (Cake Equity) with all the features for 10% of the price. It took multiple cal…”
The platform supports exporting specific reports (ASC 718 calculations as .xlsx, scenario modeling exports) but there is no evidence of a comprehensive account/data export function that would let a user extract their full cap table, documents, and equity data in open formats to leave the platform. missing for 10: full data export/migration tooling, open-format bulk export (CSV/JSON) of cap table and data room contents, documented account closure/data portability process, and any independent confirmation of export completeness.
- [claimed-docs] “the platform will generate an Excel file (.xlsx) with ASC 718 report calculations”
- [claimed-docs] “At the completion of this workflow, the platform will generate an Excel file (.xlsx) with ASC 718 report calculations.”
- [claimed-docs] “explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to review with your team”
- [claimed-docs] “you can feel more confident using our scenario modeling and planning features... explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to…”
Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture
Data-handling and privacy stories
ai-native userChoose where my data is stored (region/residency)
weight 2 · round drawnCartanone0/10No evidence in the pack mentions data residency, regional storage options, or data location controls for Carta's platform or API. missing for 10: any mention of region selection, data residency policy, or storage location controls.
ai-native userPrevent my data from being used to train AI models
weight 3 · round drawnCartanone0/10No evidence in the pack addresses AI training data opt-out or privacy controls related to AI model training; the docs focus on API/MCP integration and community items concern unrelated sales/support complaints. Missing for 10: any AI-training data usage policy, opt-out settings, or privacy documentation addressing this concern.
ai-native userControl data retention and deletion
weight 2 · round drawnCartanone0/10No evidence in the pack addresses data retention or deletion controls, privacy policies, or data lifecycle management for AI/MCP integrations; community evidence instead raises concerns about data misuse (e.g., cap table data used for solicitation) without any deletion/retention control mechanism documented. missing for 10: any data retention policy, deletion/export controls, or privacy settings applicable to AI-connected data access.
- [community] “Carta sales rep reached out unsolicited to a family member/angel investor whose investment was never publicized, at exactly the company's Se…”
- [community] “Carta announced it would exit its secondary trading business after backlash, but commenters noted this didn't address deeper questions about…”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10Fidelity Private Shares is a cap-table/equity management platform; the evidence covers vesting schedules, ASC 718 reports, board consents, data rooms, integrations, etc., but there is no mention of AI data usage, retention policies, or user-controlled deletion of data related to AI features. No documentation addresses data retention/deletion controls at all.
Reporting exports — stories about reporting exports in this arenaReporting exports
Stories about reporting exports in this arena
Audit trail
ops userEvery change to the cap table is captured in an audit log — who changed what, when, and under what authorization
weight 1 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack covers API/platform access, OAuth scopes, MCP integrations, and data retrieval endpoints, but nowhere documents an audit log capturing who changed the cap table, when, and under what authorization. No evidence of change-tracking, audit trail, or authorization logging features exists in the pack.
The docs show that equity changes are tied to underlying approval documents (award agreements linked to board consents, exercises, and certificates) and that a 'Change Board Members' workflow can record historical or current changes, plus an automated data room that collects docs whenever changes are made — implying some traceability of who authorized what and when. However, there is no explicit description of a dedicated audit log or change history feature that shows user, timestamp, and authorization for every cap table edit. Missing for 10: explicit audit-log/change-history feature, user-level attribution of edits, exportable audit trail report.
- [claimed-docs] “the award agreement will be tied to the corresponding board consent, subsequent exercise actions, stock certificates, and other future relat…”
- [claimed-docs] “every time you make a change, the resulting docs are automatically collected and organized”
- [claimed-docs] “The Change Board Members workflow will allow you to initiate or record changes to your Board of Directors, whether to document a change that…”
- [claimed-docs] “Board and stockholder approvals are automatically integrated into every relevant workflow in the platform.”
Exports
ops userExport my complete cap table and full transaction history to open formats (Excel/CSV) at any time — my ownership data is never held hostage
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartadisputedcontradicted4/10Carta's API exposes cap table, stakeholder, option grant, convertible note, and FMV data programmatically (carta-docs-18–23) and its data warehouse supports SQL export/queries (carta-docs-17, carta-docs-29), suggesting technical export capability exists. However, this is not the same as an easy self-serve Excel/CSV export — no docs mention a native CSV/Excel export button, and a competitor (Eqvista) and multiple founders report that Carta makes cap table data specifically hard to transfer out and cancellation practically impossible without lengthy rep interactions (carta-comm-5, carta-comm-7), directly contradicting the 'never held hostage' claim. Missing for 10: explicit self-serve CSV/Excel export documentation, independent confirmation that full transaction history (not just current cap table) can be exported, and evidence refuting the migration-friction complaints.
- [claimed-docs] “It unifies your firm's most critical data—from fund performance and portfolio financials to partner capital accounts—into a single, queryabl…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has been issued a security by an issuer and is, therefore, on the issuer's c…”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve option grants.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve convertible notes.”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve the fair market values of an issuer, which are the values of the issuer's securities as determined by the issuer's 409a valuations.”
- [claimed-docs] “Analysts are free to perform sophisticated, multi-faceted SQL queries and analyses without the friction of integrating disparate data source…”
- [community] “Carta's cancellation process requires a meeting with a customer success rep before you can cancel, and founders report being unable to sched…”
- [community] “I'm the founder of Eqvista, a Carta competitor; we've seen significant migrations from Carta due to cost, lengthy 409A valuation timelines, …”
Docs confirm some exports exist — ASC 718 reports generate as Excel (.xlsx) and scenario models can be exported — but there is no evidence of a general, complete cap table or full transaction history export to CSV/Excel, nor any explicit no-lock-in/anytime-export guarantee. missing for 10: evidence of full cap table CSV/Excel export, full transaction history export, and any statement about unrestricted/anytime data portability.
- [claimed-docs] “the platform will generate an Excel file (.xlsx) with ASC 718 report calculations”
- [claimed-docs] “At the completion of this workflow, the platform will generate an Excel file (.xlsx) with ASC 718 report calculations.”
- [claimed-docs] “explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to review with your team”
- [claimed-docs] “you can feel more confident using our scenario modeling and planning features... explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to…”
- [claimed-docs] “Up to 25 stakeholders and less than $1M raised Cap table management Equity plan generation Data room Board consents Scenario modeling …”
Stakeholder experience — stories about stakeholder experience in this arenaStakeholder experience
Stories about stakeholder experience in this arena
Education
employeeThe platform explains my equity in plain language — tax treatment, exercise windows, dilution — not just numbers
weight 1 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10Evidence is entirely API/developer-platform documentation (cap tables, FMV calculations, OAuth, MCP plugins) aimed at engineers and integrators, not employee-facing plain-language explanations of tax treatment, exercise windows, or dilution. There is no evidence of an employee-facing UI or educational content that translates equity data into plain language for stakeholders. Missing for 10: employee-facing plain-language equity education content, UI walkthroughs explaining tax treatment/exercise windows/dilution, any hands-on or user testimony about clarity of employee communications.
- [claimed-docs] “This API can be used to calculate the tax implications of a user exercising their equity.”
- [claimed-docs] “The formulas below show how to calculate the following outstanding and fully diluted percentages using our Capitalization Table endpoint”
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve an issuer's capitalization table by share class.”
The platform provides employee-facing tools like a 'My Equity' view and an exercise workflow (with 83(b) generation and exercise windows shown via 'Exercise Now' buttons), which touch on equity mechanics, but there is no evidence of plain-language explanations of tax treatment or dilution for employees specifically. Missing for 10: plain-language tax treatment guidance, dilution explanations tailored to employees, and any educational/explainer content beyond transactional workflows.
- [claimed-docs] “Select the number of shares you want to exercise. Sign the Exercise Documents and secure spousal consent (if applicable).”
- [claimed-docs] “click on My Equity to view your available grants. Grants with an Exercise Now button have options available for exercise.”
- [claimed-docs] “Up to 25 stakeholders and less than $1M raised Cap table management Equity plan generation Data room Board consents Scenario modeling …”
- [claimed-docs] “Grants with an Exercise Now button have options available for exercise.”
Exercising
employeeExercise my vested options online — including payment and the resulting share issuance — without paper forms
weight 2 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartadisputedcontradicted4/10Carta's docs only cover API/tax-calculation aspects of exercising equity (e.g., FMV/tax implications endpoint) rather than documenting an employee-facing online exercise-and-payment workflow, but a first-hand community report confirms the feature exists in practice — an employee exercised ~$20k of vested options online — and also documents a concrete failure: a single automated bank transfer failed, overdrafted the user, and Carta then permanently canceled the exercise rights with no retry or warning. This directly contradicts a smooth 'exercise, pay, and receive shares without paper forms' experience. Missing for 10: first-party documentation of the employee exercise portal/workflow itself, evidence of reliable payment handling, and confirmation of automatic share issuance without manual intervention.
- [community] “After leaving my company I exercised options for ~$20k; six months later Carta attempted a single bank transfer, it failed and overdrafted m…”
- [claimed-docs] “This API can be used to calculate the tax implications of a user exercising their equity.”
Docs clearly describe an online exercise workflow: employees see 'Exercise Now' on eligible grants, select share quantity, and e-sign exercise documents (with spousal consent if needed), and a later doc notes exercise actions link to resulting stock certificates. However, there is no explicit description of the payment step (how funds are collected/processed) during exercise, and issuance confirmation is only implied via linkage rather than documented as an automatic outcome. Missing for 10: explicit payment/funding mechanism during exercise, explicit confirmation of automated share issuance/certificate generation post-payment.
- [claimed-docs] “Select the number of shares you want to exercise. Sign the Exercise Documents and secure spousal consent (if applicable).”
- [claimed-docs] “click on My Equity to view your available grants. Grants with an Exercise Now button have options available for exercise.”
- [claimed-docs] “Grants with an Exercise Now button have options available for exercise.”
- [claimed-docs] “the award agreement will be tied to the corresponding board consent, subsequent exercise actions, stock certificates, and other future relat…”
Portal
employeeI get my own portal showing my grants, vesting progress, strike price, and what my equity could be worth under different outcomes
weight 3 · round to Fidelity Private SharesCartanone0/10The evidence pack only covers Carta's developer/API platform (OAuth, MCP, cap-table endpoints) and community complaints about sales/cancellation practices; there is no evidence describing an employee-facing portal showing grants, vesting progress, strike price, or scenario-based equity valuation. Missing for 10: any documentation or screenshots of the employee equity dashboard/portal UI, vesting visualization, or outcome-based valuation tool.
Evidence confirms an employee-facing "My Equity" portal where employees can view their grants and exercise options (docs-29, docs-38, docs-26), but there is no explicit documentation that this portal displays vesting progress, strike price, or scenario-based valuation of equity outcomes for individual employees — the scenario modeling feature (docs-10/11/33) appears aimed at company admins for financing rounds, not employee outcome projections. missing for 10: explicit vesting-progress visualization, strike-price display in the employee view, and employee-facing what-if/outcome valuation tools.
- [claimed-docs] “click on My Equity to view your available grants. Grants with an Exercise Now button have options available for exercise.”
- [claimed-docs] “Grants with an Exercise Now button have options available for exercise.”
- [claimed-docs] “Select the number of shares you want to exercise. Sign the Exercise Documents and secure spousal consent (if applicable).”
- [claimed-docs] “explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to review with your team”
- [claimed-docs] “you can feel more confident using our scenario modeling and planning features... explore hypothetical future rounds, and export scenarios to…”
Valuations 409a — stories about valuations 409a in this arenaValuations 409a
Stories about valuations 409a in this arena
International
ops userNon-US valuations and schemes — UK HMRC/EMI valuations, country-specific option plans — are supported for my international entities
weight 1 · round drawnCartanone0/10The evidence pack covers Carta's API platform, MCP integration, and 409A/FMV endpoints generically, but contains no mention of UK HMRC/EMI valuations, non-US option schemes, or any country-specific plan support for international entities. Missing for 10: any documentation of HMRC/EMI valuation support, non-US equity scheme handling, or international entity-specific compliance features.
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10Evidence covers only US-centric equity management (409A valuations via third-party providers, ASC 718 reporting, cap table, board consents), with no mention of UK HMRC/EMI valuations, non-US option schemes, or international entity support. Fidelity Private Shares appears US-focused with no documented international/multi-jurisdiction capability.
Us 409a
founderOrder an audit-ready 409A valuation in-platform, generated from my live cap table data, and get refreshed valuations on schedule
weight 3 · round to Fidelity Private SharesDocs confirm Carta's platform associates FMV/409A valuation data with the cap table and exposes it via an API endpoint (carta-docs-23, carta-docs-13), implying 409A valuations are a native, cap-table-linked feature, but there is no evidence describing an in-platform ordering flow, audit-ready deliverable, or scheduled refresh cadence. Missing for 10: documentation of the valuation ordering/request workflow, audit-readiness/compliance packaging, and automatic scheduled refresh mechanics.
- [claimed-docs] “Retrieve the fair market values of an issuer, which are the values of the issuer's securities as determined by the issuer's 409a valuations.”
- [claimed-docs] “This API can be used to calculate the tax implications of a user exercising their equity.”
Fidelity offers 409A valuations as part of its Growth plan and markets them as faster/more accurate, but its own docs state these are fulfilled via third-party 409A valuation providers rather than generated automatically in-platform from live cap table data (docs-16, docs-28, docs-32). There's no evidence of automatic generation tied to live cap table changes or scheduled/recurring refresh cadence. Missing for 10: proof of automated in-platform generation directly from cap table data, evidence of scheduled/recurring refresh workflow, and confirmation of 'audit-ready' output format beyond third-party report delivery.
- [claimed-docs] “We work with third party 409A Valuation Report providers based on your company's individual needs.”
- [claimed-docs] “move to our Growth plan with 409A valuations and ASC 718 reporting and more”
- [claimed-docs] “Get faster, more accurate, and competitively-priced 409A valuations.”
Not comparable on these axes
ai-native userPlug MCP servers into this product so it can use their tools
weight 3 · not comparableCartan/aCarta is a cap-table/equity SaaS platform whose only AI/MCP-related capability documented is the reverse direction: it exposes its own data via an official MCP server that external AI assistants (e.g., Claude) connect to and query. There is no evidence of Carta itself having an agent/assistant surface into which a user could plug external MCP servers for Carta to consume their tools, so this client-side axis is a category mismatch for this product.
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “Query ownership, SAFEs, convertibles, grants, valuations, financing history, and compensation benchmarks.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access NAV, fund performance, partner data, journal entries, portfolio company financials, build Excel budgets and consolidating P&L / balan…”
- [probe] “official MCP server documented at https://docs.carta.com/api-platform/guides/guides/claude-mcp-setup/”
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10No evidence of MCP server support or any AI/agent tool integration; the product is a cap table/equity management platform with integrations like Gusto, but nothing about MCP or plugging in AI tools. Probes for llms.txt, docs.md, and openapi all returned 404, confirming no AI-native integration surface.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userSet up automations that run autonomously in the background
weight 2 · not comparableCartanone0/10Carta's docs describe API/OAuth access and an MCP integration for querying cap table and fund data via natural language (carta-docs-9, carta-docs-30, carta-docs-31), but there is no evidence of scheduling, triggers, webhooks, or any mechanism for autonomous background-running automations built on the platform. This axis is fair for an API/data platform, but the evidence pack shows only synchronous query/integration capabilities, not autonomous background automation.
- [claimed-docs] “Connect to your Carta account using pre-built plugins and access fund performance, cap tables, portfolio financials, partner data, and more.”
- [claimed-docs] “Query ownership, SAFEs, convertibles, grants, valuations, financing history, and compensation benchmarks.”
- [claimed-docs] “Access NAV, fund performance, partner data, journal entries, portfolio company financials, build Excel budgets and consolidating P&L / balan…”
- [claimed-docs] “Carta's API uses the OAuth 2.0 open specification to authorize your access to our data, and supports AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CLIENT_CREDENTIA…”
ai-native userDelegate tasks to a built-in AI assistant inside the product
weight 3 · not comparableCartan/aCarta is an equity/cap-table management platform, not an AI assistant product; the evidence shows only API/MCP connectors for external LLMs (e.g., Claude) to query Carta data, not a built-in AI assistant inside Carta itself. Delegating tasks to a built-in assistant is a category mismatch for this product's core offering.
ai-native userVersion, review, and roll back my automations
weight 1 · not comparableCartanone0/10Carta is a cap-table/equity management platform with an API and MCP plugin for querying data; no evidence describes any versioning, review, or rollback system for automations or integrations built on Carta. Nothing in the docs addresses automation history tracking or reverting changes.
Fidelity Private Sharesn/aFidelity Private Shares is a cap table/equity management platform, not an AI automation/agent tool; the concept of versioning, reviewing, and rolling back 'automations' does not apply to its workflow features, which are fixed compliance processes rather than user-configurable automations with version control.
ai-native userRead the product's source under an open license
weight 2 · not comparableCartan/aCarta is a closed, proprietary cap-table/equity management SaaS platform, not an open-source project; source code availability under an open license is not a relevant axis for this kind of commercial financial-data product.
Fidelity Private Sharesnone0/10Fidelity Private Shares is a proprietary SaaS equity management platform with no mention of open-source licensing or public source code repository; probes for llms.txt, docs.md, and openapi specs all returned 404.
- [probe] “PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/llms.txt”
- [probe] “PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/support.md”
- [probe] “PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/openapi.json, https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com/swagger.js…”
ai-native userSelf-host the core product
weight 3 · not comparableCartan/aCarta is a SaaS cap-table/equity management platform with no self-hosted deployment option in evidence; self-hosting is not a plausible axis for this type of hosted financial SaaS product.
ai-native userOpt out of telemetry and usage tracking
weight 2 · not comparableCartanone0/10No evidence pack content addresses telemetry opt-out or usage tracking controls for AI-native users; Carta is a cap-table/equity data platform and this specific privacy-posture capability is unaddressed. Missing for 10: any documentation of telemetry/usage-data collection, opt-out mechanisms, or privacy settings related to AI/API usage tracking.
Fidelity Private Sharesn/aFidelity Private Shares is a cap-table/equity management platform, not an AI agent or AI-native tool with telemetry/usage-tracking settings relevant to AI feature usage; the evidence pack contains no AI-related features at all, making this axis a category error for this product type.