Intro

This chapter explores the evolution of a leading company in the financial technology sector, transitioning from traditional services to innovative software solutions. It emphasizes the role of AI in driving growth and the potential for significant milestones in private equity revenue.

Transcript

chevron_right

Play full episode

chevron_right

Transcript

Episode notes

Henry Ward, CEO of Carta, joins Sourcery to share how the company scaled to nearly $500M in ARR, raised $1B across seven rounds, and evolved from a startup serving cap tables to a platform targeting massive markets like private equity and private credit. Ward discusses the Peter Thiel-inspired strategy of dominating small markets before expanding, the importance of focusing on inputs over outputs, the challenges of selling to both hoodie-wearing founders and Midtown CFOs, and Carta’s AI-driven future. This wide-ranging conversation dives into scaling lessons, product innovation, network effects, and why private equity is the future.

Carta was a classic 3x, 3x, 2x, 2x, to $100M in Revenue & are now growing 20%+ at scale.

Highlights

• Carta has raised $1B to date & is approaching $500M in ARR, growing 20%+ annually.

• Strategic shift from venture into larger asset classes like private equity & private credit.

• Peter Thiel’s “competition is for losers” philosophy shapes Carta’s market-entry strategy.

• AI as both a customer-facing differentiator & an internal productivity engine.

• Scaling up to delivering million-dollar enterprise solutions for institutional private equity & private credit

Connect with us:

1. Henry Ward: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heward/

2. Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea

3. Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc

Brought to you by:

• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, and travel.

As a Sourcery Listener you get: 75,000 points after spending $3,000 on Brex card(s), white-glove onboarding, $5,000 in AWS credits, $2,500 in OpenAI credits, & access to $180k+ in SaaS discounts. On top of $500 toward Brex travel, $300 in cashback, plus exclusive perks (like billboards..) visit → https://brex.com/sourcery

• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. Visit: turing.com/sourcery

• Kalshi—The largest prediction market and the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events: https://kalshi.com/sourcery

• Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost. Visit Fourthwall to start today: https://fourthwall.com/

Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!

https://www.sourcery.vc/

Chapters:

(00:00) Competition is for Losers

(01:07) Carta’s Growth: Approaching Half a Billion ARR

(02:51) $1B Funding Journey & Board Evolution

(05:30) Measuring Success: Inputs vs Outputs

(07:55) Product Portfolio & Power Law in Software

(10:58) Peter Thiel’s Influence: “Competition is for Losers” & Growth Strategy

(12:02) Expanding from Small Markets to Big Impact

(14:00) Entering Private Equity & Credit

(15:59) Network Effects: Global vs Local