How I Invest with David Weisburd
E134: How I Accidentally Started a Billion Dollar Tech Company w/Carta CEO Henry Ward
31 Jan 2025
In this episode of How I Invest, I dive deep into a conversation with Henry Ward, CEO of Carta, to discuss his journey building one of the most transformative companies in private market infrastructure. From cap table management to fund administration and beyond, Henry shares his insights on entrepreneurship, innovation, and the future of private equity. We delve into Carta's strategic pivots, its playbook for turning services into scalable software, and Henry's contrarian views on AI and leadership. This episode is packed with lessons for founders, investors, and operators navigating the evolving landscape of private capital.
Full Episode
how did you get this idea i'm different i fell in love with being a founder and i didn't care what i had to do to become a founder i fell in love with being a founder and the problem was the vehicle for me to become a founder which is a strength and a weakness the strength the weakness is i'm not committed one particular vision i'm just committed to the founder journey the strength is that means i'm agnostic which problem i solve which is you see it in the dna of card like we'll do anything right we'll cap tables 49a fund accounting the stuff nobody would ever
When you started Carta over a decade ago, you mentioned you started with cap table management as a wedge. How did you get this idea? Was this inspired from your previous experience? And I thought it was a very novel strategy, but why didn't other people have this idea?
You know, it's a great question. I had a different company that failed. One of the investors I worked with on that company, when it failed, he took me to lunch at Typhoon. His name's Manu Kumar. And he says, Henry, you know, K-9. Yeah, K-9. And he said, you know, Henry, this, you know, that company didn't work. It wasn't a good idea, but I think you're pretty good. Yeah.
this cap table problem is a crazy problem. Like I just don't understand how we're, you know, the industry is so bad at it. If you'll start the company, I'll invest in it. Like, I think this is an important company to build. And I'm a, maybe a unique entrepreneur.
Most entrepreneurs, the conventional wisdom is you fall in love with a problem and entrepreneurship is a vehicle with which to solve that problem. I'm different. I fell in love with being a founder and I didn't care what I had to do to become a founder. I'm, fell in love with being a founder. And the problem was the vehicle for me to become a founder, which is a strength and a weakness.
The strength, the weakness is I'm not committed to one particular vision. I'm just committed to the founder journey. The strength is that means I'm agnostic of which problem I solve, which is you see it in the DNA of Cardinal. Like we'll do anything. Right. We'll cap tables for nine a fund account. Like the stuff nobody would ever, nobody wakes up and goes, you know what?
I wanted to do cap tables for 10 years. Like it just, nobody does that. And so that's the, that's my gift is I'll, I'll do anything to continue the journey. And so he was like, why don't you start this company? And I said, I don't have any better ideas. And that's how we started.
But then it just became this incredibly exciting thing because once we got this tiny little wedge with a seed stage startup, we can start doing everything for these companies and funds. And that's what made the ride really special.
I spoke to a lot of people in the industry and they said, Henry has really big ideas, but he's sometimes pursuing multiple different areas. How is that a strength and how is that a weakness?
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