Founders close option grants in Carta. The agent reads the draft issuance, summarizes the dilution math, and posts a row in Dock that a named CFO signs. Carta and Pulley keep the legal cap table. Dock keeps the interpretation: which agent computed the share count, what the CFO decided, and when. If a board member asks why a grant shipped at a certain strike, the answer is one row, not a Slack search.
Carta stays the system of record for the raw data. Dock is the system of record for what the AGENT INTERPRETS. Each Dock row carries a pointer back to the Carta security ID, agent identity, decision, reviewer, and timestamp. The agent re-fetches Carta data via fresh API reads when it needs current state. This pattern is the spine of Dock for founders and the broader Cloud 2.0 for product architecture.
The Equity Review surface
| Carta security ID | Grant type | Shares | Strike | Agent summary | CFO | Decision | Decided at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sec_8821 | ISO | 24,000 | $1.12 | New Sr. Eng hire, 0.18% post-money, within band | Priya Shah | Approved | 2026-05-29 14:02 |
| sec_8830 | RSA | 150,000 | $0.001 | Co-founder top-up, triggers 409A refresh | Priya Shah | Hold for 409A | 2026-05-29 16:40 |
| sec_8842 | SAFE conversion | 412,500 | n/a | Seed SAFE converts at $12M cap, dilutes founders 4.1% | Priya Shah | Approved | 2026-05-30 09:15 |
Each row pins to the Carta record. The agent column shows which agent wrote the summary, governed by the rules in agent identity. When Priya re-opens row sec_8830, the agent re-pulls Carta to confirm the strike still matches the latest 409A draft before she releases the hold.
Worked workflow: SAFE conversion at priced round
The seed SAFEs convert when the Series A closes. The agent reads each SAFE from Carta, computes the converted share count at the negotiated cap, and writes one Dock row per holder. The summary cites the cap, discount, and resulting ownership percentage. Priya reviews the rows in order, approves the clean conversions, and flags two SAFEs that reference a side letter the agent could not find. She attaches the side letter PDF, the agent re-runs the math, and the corrected row goes back for sign-off. The final Dock view is the packet the lawyers attach to the closing binder, with one named human owner per decision. The collaboration shape mirrors the agent collaboration primer.
Why this matters
A cap table is a legal document. Carta and Pulley already enforce that. What founders lack is a durable record of the reasoning between the agent draft and the signed certificate. Dock fills that gap without duplicating the cap table itself. Investors reviewing the round get a clean trail from Dock for investors, and auditors get the chain described in agent audit and compliance.
Carta's platform is built to "issue digital share certificates to investors, employees, and others who qualify for stock options" and to track ownership across rounds (Carta on Wikipedia). The NVCA 2024 Yearbook documented 13,608 venture deals worth $170.6 billion in 2023 (NVCA Yearbook). Every one of those deals generated cap-table changes that someone, eventually, had to defend.
Start with the founder template and connect Carta in under five minutes.
FAQ
Does Dock replace Carta or Pulley? No. Carta and Pulley remain the cap-table system of record. Dock stores the agent's summary and the named human sign-off, with a pointer back to the Carta or Pulley security ID.
Who issues the actual share certificate? Carta or Pulley does, after the CFO approves the Dock row. The agent never issues a certificate directly. The Dock decision is the trigger for the human to confirm inside Carta.
What if the 409A changes mid-review? The agent re-fetches Carta on every row open. If the strike or valuation has moved, the row is flagged and the prior decision is preserved in history. The CFO sees both states before re-deciding.
Can investors see the Dock rows? Only the rows the founder shares. Most teams expose a read-only investor view that hides drafts and shows only signed decisions, scoped per investor.
