Vrushali Paunikar, Chief Product Officer at Carta, has played a key role in scaling the company from $20M to $500M ARR by broadening its product offerings. She shares insights on transforming Carta from a cap table management tool to a comprehensive platform for private capital. Vrushali discusses the importance of understanding customer needs for successful product development and explores different strategies for international expansion. Additionally, she highlights the balancing act of empowering teams while maintaining effective leadership.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Carta's Appeal
Vrushali Paunikar prioritized learning when she left Rocket Lawyer to join Carta.
She was drawn to Carta's challenging problem, visionary founder (Henry Ward), and passionate team.
insights INSIGHT
Carta's Evolution
Carta's initial product, digitizing paper stock certificates, evolved into cap table management.
Bundling 409A valuations with cap table management significantly boosted Carta's growth.
insights INSIGHT
Investor Network Effect
Carta's expansion included focusing on investors, creating a network effect.
Investors gained a digital view of their private ownership, leading some to require Carta in term sheets.
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In this episode, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia interviews Vrushali Paunikar, Chief Product Officer at Carta—the company revolutionizing how private companies manage equity and capital. Originally starting as a cap table management solution, Carta now manages over $150 billion in assets and positions itself as the "Network ERP for Private Capital," supporting over 50,000 companies from early-stage startups to pre-IPO giants. As CPO at Carta, Vrushali has been instrumental in driving the company's evolution from a single-product focus to a comprehensive platform serving various stakeholders in the private capital ecosystem. Her unique background, including experience at Rocket Lawyer and an interesting hobby as an amateur florist, brings a fresh perspective to product leadership in fintech. In this episode, we'll explore Carta's transformation from a cap table management tool to a comprehensive platform for private capital, diving into organizational structure changes, international expansion strategies, and innovative approaches to product development.
What you'll learn:
How Carta expanded from cap table management to fund administration by deeply understanding customer needs
Strategies for restructuring product teams from a business unit model to a modular approach
Insights into different approaches for international expansion (organic vs. acquisition)
The role of micromanagement as a temporary coaching tool in product development
How to balance platform ambitions with focused execution
Key Takeaways👇:
Carta's shift from a business unit-based structure to a modular approach has enabled better scalability and reduced duplicate work across teams. This restructuring has been crucial for maintaining consistency while expanding product offerings.
Starting with cap table management, Carta identified larger market opportunities through their existing customer base, leading to strategic expansion into fund administration and positioning as the "ERP of private capital."
Different markets require different approaches—exemplified by Carta's organic expansion in Singapore versus acquisition-based entry into the UK/EU market, highlighting the importance of adaptable go-to-market strategies.
Vrushali brings a unique perspective on micromanagement, viewing it as a potential coaching tool when used temporarily and situationally to help teams understand quality standards.
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