My guest today is Henry Ward, co-founder and CEO of Carta. Started in 2012, Carta helps companies and investors manage their cap tables, equity plans, and ownership. Last year, they launched CartaX, a platform for private companies and their employees to access secondary market liquidity. Our discussion is a detailed exploration of private market infrastructure and Henry’s views on building an enduring business. Please enjoy my conversation with Henry Ward. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick.  ----- This episode is brought to you by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to get and maintain your SOC 2, HIPAA or ISO 27001 reports at a fraction of the typical cost. Listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick.  ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes[00:02:57] - [First question] - The first key mental moment of how Carta came to him[00:05:30] - Initial thoughts on how to position Carta as a business model[00:06:47] - Historical divergence between private and public market infrastructure[00:08:33] - What a price discovery process for primary shares could look like in the future[00:11:09] - The end state Carta is trying to effect in their perfect state[00:13:29] - Why it’s so hard for private company staff to manage their illiquid wealth[00:15:45] - Lessons and challenges in the new market creation business[00:17:57] - The nature and dynamics of supply and demand in this space[00:22:45] - How Carta is mapped onto the success of its customers[00:25:27] - Deciding on what is a good idea and what isn’t when it comes to focus[00:28:07] - Describing the One of N versus N of One market frameworks and principles of this philosophy that manifests in how he runs Carta[00:32:11] - How working at Carta would differ from a payroll-type company[00:35:37] - Characterizing his leadership and management styles[00:37:57] - The types of circumstances that bring out his tough side[00:39:33] - Making hard decisions in a bottom up management model [00:44:05] - How he spends his time while building Carta[00:45:02] - What a great product looks like to him[00:47:10] - The Systems Bible; Defining what a great team looks like[00:49:13] - What he’s learned about being great at Go-To-Market[00:51:26] - Effective ways to beat competitors and build relationship pipelines[00:53:49] - Things he likes the least about leading a company of this size [00:55:13] - What he fears most as he thinks about the future of Carta[00:55:45] - Advice for entrepreneurs when thinking about data in modern businesses[00:58:26] - The biggest missing pieces in capital market structure writ large[01:00:17] - What’s next for CartaX and what he’ll be pushing to make it work [01:02:10] - Lessons learned from serving venture investors [01:04:25] - Whether or not investment banks are their competitors[01:05:18] - Public market dislocation and how long it will last[01:06:58] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

In this episode, Henry Ward, CEO and co-founder of Carta, discusses navigating the startup idea maze, finding a market wedge, hiring the best VPs, recognizing product market fit, and building the right executive team.

Henry Ward, CEO of Carta, recounts his journey to entrepreneurship and shares critical advice for other builders. They discuss developing insights, filling a need for customers, finding product-market fit, fundraising strategy, and establishing a strong culture at your startup. Henry also shares his famous Henryisms and gives advice to current founders. The hosts talk about the future plans of Carta and the challenges of being a founder. They also express admiration for operators and investors.

CEO of Carta, Henry Ward, joins the podcast to discuss leadership, struggles of middle management, and being more efficient at work. They explore the evolution of Carta, memorable moments in business, the disconnect between education and entrepreneurship, challenges and opportunities for middle managers, the importance of having 'family members' in the organization, and various topics including football, Taylor Swift, and the future of labor.

Henry Ward, CEO and co-founder of Carta, discusses building a category-defining company for private markets, being a 'plate spinning company' with network effects, and the future of private market liquidity. They also explore the concept of equity ownership, the impact of data on private markets, and the importance of building an ethos of equity ownership.

This week, we had Carta CEO Henry Ward on to chat through the early-stage market with us. Alex had a grip of data and a sheaf of questions, so here's what we got into: The current state of the early-stage venture capital market: From Ward's perspective, the early-stage market is in better shape than many folks think. It's the later-stages of venture capital that are the most moribund. We also riffed on the quality of startups that are raising today, and how much pain is coming for young tech companies that can't quite attract more capital. Carta's new Seed and Series A product: Carta is offering a mostly-automated method of closing early-stage rounds; we wanted to better understand the economics of the effort, and what the unicorn hopes to achieve from the work. We closed with a look ahead, and a series of fun closing questions with Ward. That's just the high-level summary. We also discussed entrepreneurship more broadly, the importance of LLCs, and even how to construct a podcast interview.Don't forget: our listener survey is back! Take a moment to let us know what you want more of, what you want less of, and how we can make this the kind of podcast you want to come back to every week. Chat soon!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, one that details how our stories come together and more! Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

In this engaging conversation, Henry Ward, co-founder and CEO of Carta, shares his insights on leadership and entrepreneurship. He discusses the evolution of Carta from paper to digital solutions, highlighting the power of consumer-centric approaches. Ward emphasizes the importance of constructive feedback and navigating middle management challenges. He also critiques the education system's disconnect from real-world entrepreneurship, advocating for a reevaluation of how these skills are taught. Additionally, he offers a glimpse into the future of employee ownership in the workforce.

Henry Ward, CEO and Co-founder of Carta, shares his wealth of knowledge on M&A strategies, emphasizing their critical role in today's competitive landscape. He explores how businesses can refine their approaches to align with long-term goals. Topics include building actionable cases for acquisitions, valuing high-growth companies, and the differences between bounded and unbounded deals. Ward also discusses the importance of relationship-building and psychological barriers in closing successful mergers, offering valuable insights for aspiring M&A professionals.

Henry Ward, Co-Founder and CEO of Carta, talks about scaling their startup to product-market fit. They discuss building products designed for distribution, early go-to-market lessons, why they didn't start with self-serve, and changing pricing model without upsetting customers.

Henry Ward, CEO and co-founder of Carta, discusses the challenges of being a founder, the growth of his fintech startup, addressing employee equity loss, private equity and startup equity as new forms of wealth creation, prioritizing urgent tasks, being a CEO, remote work, and building an efficient business.