Beyond Pulley: what startups should look for in a cap table alternative. As Pulley prepares to shut down, Eqvista and other equity management providers are stepping in, raising bigger questions about financial stability, valuation expertise and long-term trust. A cap table is supposed to be a company's source of truth. But what happens when the platform managing it disappears? That question has taken on new urgency following Pulley's announcement that it will cease operations on December 8, 2026. Once a prominent player in the equity management market, Pulley has announced plans to cease operations, leaving customers to evaluate alternative providers for their equity management needs. The departure exposes a fundamental challenge for the industry: tracking equity is one thing. Building a sustainable business around it is another. Tomas Milar, founder and CEO of Eqvista, an equity management and valuation platform serving more than 25,000 private companies, sees the departure as a loss for an industry that benefits from competition. "Pulley was a very well-funded company and a strong competitor to Eqvista. I had a lot of respect for Yin (the founder) and what they built, they came into the market as a real challenger to Carta," Milar said. "When you lose a competitor, you always have mixed feelings. On one hand, the market opens up, but on the other hand, good competition makes everyone better." The business behind the cap table. Cap table management can look deceptively simple: track shareholders, record transactions and calculate ownership. Yet every funding round, stock option grant and change in capital structure adds another layer of complexity. What begins as a shareholder ledger can quickly become a financial record involving convertible securities, vesting schedules, valuations and years of historical transactions. "I also think Pulley's shutdown shows that cap table management looks much easier from the outside than it really is," Milar said. "The story around managing billions or trillions of dollars of private-company equity is very attractive, but building a sustainable business around cap tables, valuations, compliance and customer service is much harder." Milar's observation speaks to a broader shift. As core software capabilities become more widely available, financial expertise, dependable support and long-term stability may prove more valuable than an impressive feature list. Pulley's closure alone does not explain what went wrong with its business. It does, however, raise questions about how companies evaluate the providers entrusted with their ownership records. Choosing a provider: look beyond the software. For Pulley customers, the immediate challenge is transferring equity records safely. The bigger decision is where those records should live next. Pricing and functionality matter, but so does a provider's ability to support a business through multiple funding rounds, increasingly complex ownership structures and changing compliance requirements. Financial stability deserves particular scrutiny. Venture funding can accelerate innovation, but it offers no guarantee of longevity. A provider's operating model and track record should carry weight alongside its technology. Valuation expertise is another consideration. Equity management increasingly intersects with 409A valuations, financial modeling and shareholder liquidity. Access to knowledgeable professionals can make a meaningful difference when financial decisions become more complex. Then there's data integrity. Historical transactions, option grants and vesting schedules must survive a migration intact. An ownership discrepancy can delay financing, complicate an audit or create problems years later. The common thread is trust. A cap table underpins some of a company's most consequential financial decisions, making the choice of provider more than a software purchase. Eqvista emerges as a Pulley alternative. As Pulley customers weigh their options, Eqvista is emerging as an alternative for companies seeking a new home for their equity records. Founded in 2018, Eqvista has grown without outside venture funding, building its business around equity management and in-house valuation expertise. The company has since expanded its services to help private companies navigate increasingly complex financial decisions. For companies transitioning from Pulley, Eqvista offers complimentary white-glove migration, with dedicated specialists helping transfer and validate ownership records. According to the company, migrations can take as little as one to five business days, depending on complexity. Other providers are also competing for these customers. The right choice ultimately depends on a company's ownership structure, financial needs and expectations for long-term support. "For Pulley customers, the important thing now is having options. They should look carefully at where they want their equity records to live," Milar said. The bigger picture. Pulley's shutdown comes as private companies are staying private longer, making equity management increasingly central to valuations, employee compensation and liquidity planning. That shift creates opportunities for providers moving beyond basic ownership tracking. It also raises expectations for an industry where reliability and expertise matter as much as innovation. The December deadline adds urgency to the decision, but the implications extend well beyond Pulley's shutdown. A cap table records who owns the company. Choosing who manages that record deserves just as much scrutiny.

If your cap table is on Pulley, it's about to be affected by the Carta acquisition. Ledgy migrates your equity for you, fully validated and free of charge.