Introducing Carta Conclusions
As of December 2024, we have retired Carta Conclusions. Check out the Carta website for our full suite of founder resources.
Carta was my second company. My first company was a robo advisor called Secondsight. It was a bad version of Wealthfront or Betterment. Josh and Andy did a much better job than me and so I shut down my company after two years.
When I laid off my first engineer Alexander, he was so kind and supportive. I asked if he would be ok and be able to find a new job? He told me not to worry and he would be fine. And then he said to me “Henry, there is a proverb that says it is always darkest before the dawn. Dawn will come again.”
It would be another year before we started eShares and dawn came again for me. But during that time I had to dissolve Secondsight.
Shutting down a company is SO MUCH harder than starting one. It is a lot of work to create employee severance packages, cancel vendor agreements, unwind customer contracts, file IRS dissolution tax returns, tie up loose ends of shareholder liabilities, return money to shareholders, shutdown internal systems and bank accounts, and finally notify Delaware and all registered States of the dissolution.
Founders are used to hard and unpleasant work. But the work of dissolving a company is exceptionally unpleasant. It is also, by definition, zero-value to the founder, the company, and the world. And it is at a time when a founder’s emotional capacity (and time) should be spent with their team, family, shareholders, and friends. It shouldn’t be spent negotiating cancellation clauses with vendors or sitting on hold with the IRS tax return hotline.
We want to help. We are launching Carta Conclusions to help founders who have decided they want to dissolve their company. We will guide you through the process and take all the operational busywork off your hands. We will also make sure all your investors on Carta are taken care of and receive their proper tax paperwork. We will support you through a difficult time and do our best to make it a little bit easier for you.
And then you can move on to starting your next chapter. Whether that is launching your next company, embarking on a new career path, or just taking some well deserved time off, let’s get the next leg of your journey started. Carta Conclusions gives founders the help I wish I’d had when I shut down Seconsight, and that’s why we’re offering it.
If you are interested in learning about Carta Conclusions please fill out this form or just email me directly at hward@carta.com and we will put you in touch with the team. We are here to help you.
