Carta CEO Henry Ward on the Ownership Era and what it means for the future of private markets

We have a special episode today on Alt Goes Mainstream. 

Our guest today is Henry Ward, the CEO and co-founder of Carta, one of the most innovative and exciting companies in private markets.

Henry founded Carta from the kernel of an idea and they are now trusted by over 30,000 companies, 5,000 investment funds and 2.1 million employees for cap table management, compensation management, liquidity venture capital solutions and more. They’ve raised over $1B from the likes of Silver Lake, Union Square Ventures, a16z, Tribe Capital, Meritech, and many others.

Carta has been included on the Forbes World’s Best Cloud Companies, Fast Company’s Most Innovative list, and Inc’s Fastest Growing Private Companies.

Henry is a serial entrepreneur who was previously the founder and CEO of Secondsight, a portfolio optimization platform for retail investors. He built Carta with a deep sense of passion for helping people to become investors in private markets and equity owners.

Henry and I had a fascinating conversation, covering a lot of ground. We discussed:

• How he’s built Carta into a category-defining company for private markets. 
• Why it’s beneficial to be a “plate spinning company” and how that’s good for a network effects business.
• Why competing with spreadsheets can create a special business – and how it leads to the creation of other successful businesses as time goes on.
• The ownership era and what it means for founders, employees, and investors.
• The future of private market liquidity.
• Gems on people management and company building.

Thanks Henry for coming on the AGM podcast to share your wisdom. We hope you enjoy.