Xcell Biosciences partners with Carta Equity Advisory to educate and empower employees around their equity compensation

After raising a Series B, Xcell Biosciences ramped up hiring and wanted to ensure new employees understood their equity compensation so they could make informed equity decisions.

“We were targeting candidates who didn’t come from a startup environment and had long tenures with larger companies,” said Xcell Biosciences senior accountant, Daniel Tirado. “They might not be familiar with the startup equity world, so we wanted to give them the resources they needed to make the most of their equity compensation. If we’re asking them to make a leap of faith, we want to help them maximize the return on that leap of faith.”

Challenge

Xcell Biosciences is a San Francisco-based life science company creating technology that helps support the development of cell therapy products. 

The company heavily weights its compensation with equity to remain competitive against bigger players, but many of its employees didn’t understand how stock options worked or how they were taxed. 

“Before Carta Equity Advisory, we didn’t offer equity education because of the liability we could incur for giving tax advice,” said Daniel. “I worked at previous companies that hosted an internal webinar where the finance team explained equity basics, but because it was so broad, it wasn’t helpful for employees,” he added. “And since employees didn’t understand the value of their equity, it lost some of its value as a retention tool.” 

To help employees understand their stock options and make smart equity decisions, Xcell Biosciences wanted an unbiased third party to provide educational webinars and tax advisors to answer employee questions like:

• What’s the difference between ISOs and NSOs?
• How many options can I exercise to avoid the alternative minimum tax (AMT)?
• How much will I owe in taxes if I exercise now vs. later?

Solution

With Carta Equity Advisory, Xcell Biosciences can provide in-depth equity education without putting itself in the potentially risky position of giving tax advice. 

Carta’s equity advisors provide company-wide webinars customized to Xcell Biosciences’ equity plan and unlimited, free one-on-one equity advisory sessions to all employees. In the one-on-one sessions, employees can dive deeper into their equity and tax questions, calculate different exercise/sell scenarios, and walk away with a personalized tax plan. 

Results

Xcell Biosciences seamlessly rolled out equity and tax education to its employees to help them make informed decisions about their equity and bolstered its benefits package. 

Reduced operational burden

Xcell Biosciences already turned to Carta for equity management and 409A valuations, so using the Equity Advisory service was a turn-key solution. “We were already on Carta for cap table management, so it was a no-brainer,” said Daniel. “Carta had access to all our equity information, so we wouldn’t have to continuously update information or integrate with another system. It was already there.” 

Strengthened a competitive benefits program 

An unexpected bonus has been the positive reaction Xcell Biosciences has received from new hires when they see Carta Equity Advisory in their benefits package. “It’s been well received during onboarding by new employees, especially those who are new to the startup world and realize they really need this education,” said Daniel. 

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 you can help educate your team. 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.