StreetMetrics invests in its employees’ well-being with personalized equity and tax education

Founded in 2018, StreetMetrics provides planning, measurement, and attribution solutions for moving out-of-home ad campaigns, such as on buses, trains, taxis, and bikes.

“We want every employee to feel like they own a piece of the business,” says Matthew Garben, head of operations. StreetMetrics issues equity compensation to all 12 of the startup’s full-time employees. “We’re a small company, so everyone here is really making an impact and we want them to be able to grow with us.” 

But, many of its employees had never received equity as a form of compensation and weren’t aware of the taxes involved or the decisions they needed to make around their equity.

“We wanted to provide our employees with every resource we could to help them understand exactly what type of equity they have and what that means for them,” says Matthew.

Challenge

StreetMetrics wanted a way to proactively educate its employees and to provide personalized support from experts in startup equity.

Many of StreetMetrics’ employees who received equity for the first time looked to the CEO and COO for help, which wouldn’t be sustainable as the company scaled. StreetMetrics issues both restricted stock awards (RSAs) and incentive stock options (ISOs), which have different rules and tax implications, making educating its employees more complicated.

“We were either getting questions from employees that were better suited for a CPA, like ‘What do I owe in taxes when I exercise?’, or employees weren’t asking any questions,” says Matthew. 

“Honestly, I was more worried when employees didn’t ask questions because I knew for many this was their first time being issued stock options and I knew they had them,” says Matthew. 

Solutions

StreetMetrics partnered with Carta Equity Advisory, a service that offers equity education and unlimited one-on-one tax advisory sessions to employees. 

Carta’s equity advisors helped StreetMetrics employees understand their grants, learn equity basics, evaluate decisions around their equity, and create personalized tax strategies. 

“To be able to point our employees to an equity and tax expert for all their questions has been such a relief,” says Matthew. “We want to do right by our employees and not worry we’re giving incomplete information that could come back to bite them.”

Results

StreetMetrics hosted a company-wide equity education webinar to launch its partnership with Carta Equity Advisory. As a result, 35% of its employees have booked a one-on-one session with a tax advisor. These sessions received a customer satisfaction score of five out of five.

According to Matthew, StreetMetrics’ employees feel more confident they understand their equity grants and empowered to make smart decisions around their equity, bolstering their sense of ownership in the company.

“For all of our employees to have access to a tax advisor’s calendar where they can set up a meeting to get all their questions answered is incredible,” says Matthew. “It feels good knowing we can provide personalized equity and tax advice to all employees as we scale.”

Help your employees navigate equity and tax decisions

Carta Equity Advisory helps employees make informed decisions about their equity and taxes—powered by Carta’s cap table platform. Learn how Carta’s equity experts can handle employee education for you. Get a demo now.

DISCLAIMER: This communication is on behalf of eShares, Inc. dba Carta, Inc. (“Carta”), a global ownership management platform and registered transfer agent with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tax and equity compensation education provided by our Tax Advisors during a one on one session is based on the facts provided to us and on current tax law including judicial and administrative interpretation. Tax law is subject to continual change, at times on a retroactive basis and may result in incremental taxes, interest or penalties. Should any information and facts provided to us be incorrect or incomplete or should the law or its interpretation change, our advice may be inappropriate. We are not responsible for updating our advice for changes in law or interpretation after the date of our session.  Carta, its affiliates and its Tax Advisors do not provide investment or legal advice. Individuals should consult their financial advisor for matters involving investment advice and financial planning and their attorney for legal matters. 

This content is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal, financial or tax advice or intended as a recommendation, offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Carta does not assume any liability for reliance on the information provided herein and undertakes no obligation to update content.