How Exterro scales ownership post-acquisitions on Carta

Exterro, a data management solution provider headquartered in Portland, completed a strategic recapitalization and acquired a series of companies in 2022 and 2023. Prior to that, Finance Director Jeremy Fox had managed Exterro’s cap table manually, using spreadsheets to track equity, but rapid growth brought rising complexity. 

Exterro joined Carta in 2023 to address that complexity. Fox uses Carta’s cap table to centralize information, run clean audits, and support investor relations. 

Carta manages multiple equity types

During its acquisitions, Exterro added multiple equity types to its cap table. Managing this in a spreadsheet was challenging because there are fewer guardrails to ensure accurate calculations. 

When Fox was attempting to track equity in spreadsheets, each equity type lived in separate tabs, with linked formulas that were easy to break, so every financing, conversion, cancellation, or split required remembering and correctly updating several ranges in exactly the right order. 

On Carta, each equity type has a structured record with its own terms, holder, and lifecycle events, so issues, exercises, and conversions automatically roll into the cap table in real time. This lets Fox drill into specifics without losing sight of the big picture. 

“Carta organizes and makes it easy to see each of our different equity types, and I can get specific information on each of those if I need it,” says Fox. “It allows us to have direct control over the overall ownership structure. Everything is represented clearly in Carta.”

A centralized view lets Fox make decisions and take actions quickly, while decreasing Exterro’s reliance on external support from its law firm.

“We appreciate that Carta is self-serve. It's definitely easier to have a source of truth all in one place,” says Fox. “I’m fully responsible for our cap table, so it’s nice that I can make sure everything is accurate without needing to go back and forth to validate information with our attorneys.”

Exterro stays audit-ready with Carta

Carta makes audits easier for Exterro, too. The company has multiple shareholder classes, so it’s helpful to Fox that he can provide reliable data to everyone, even when ownership and preferences are complex. 

“It gives me comfort to know that I'm looking at a genuine source of truth versus a spreadsheet. When you run audits manually, every side calculation creates the risk of something being miskeyed or misinterpreted,” says Fox. 

Fox pulls several reports weekly for Exterro’s audits. He likes that he can pull and verify information quickly without costly processes. He notes that doing this work manually could cost Exterro several hundred dollars per hour or more.

Exterro trusts Carta customer support 

As Exterro’s finance director, Fox often has many responsibilities to manage at once. Carta helps uphold his productivity with fast, clear answers to questions and concerns. For example, when Exterro first joined Carta, Fox had to onboard quickly to support Exterro’s new ownership structure. 

“The system is easy to learn, but any time I couldn’t find something, Carta was there for me immediately, walking me through exactly how to do it,” Fox says. 

That level of support has remained equally high as Fox takes on the challenges of Exterro’s growth. 

“Carta’s customer team is extremely valuable to me, because when I'm thinking about something, I'm trying to solve it right now. I'm not trying to sit and wait for an hour and then come back to it,” he says. “I know I can call on Carta and the team keeps me moving. It saves me time and mental energy, because I get the right answer each time, 100% of the time.”