Pulley is shutting down on December 8, 2026. If your company uses it, you have two decisions to make: where the cap table goes next, and whether the records being moved are correct.

The first deadline is November 30, 2026. Opt in by then if you want to preserve access to Pulley's assisted Carta transition, including its stated first-year pricing treatment and credit for unused prepaid Pulley fees. Opting in only permits Pulley to share contact and contract details with Carta. It does not commit you to Carta or transfer your cap table.

Export your records and choose a provider before December 8. Pulley says limited data access will continue until January 31, 2027, but it has not defined those limits. Do not treat that period as extra operating time.

The 60-second version

What is happening to Pulley?

Pulley announced on September 15, 2026 that it will cease operations and services on December 8, 2026. It selected Carta as its exclusive transition partner and created an assisted-migration offer for eligible customers. According to Pulley's current shutdown FAQ, the normal app experience and Pulley support end on December 8.

The reason for the shutdown is less important to customers than the operating consequence: Pulley can no longer be the system where the company maintains its equity records.

The Pulley shutdown dates that matter

One Pulley FAQ heading refers to failing to opt in by December 8, but its answer and the other relevant sections say November 30. Use November 30, 2026 as the safe deadline unless Pulley gives your company different written terms.

Do I have to move from Pulley to Carta?

No. Carta is the Pulley-supported route, not a mandatory destination.

The first opt-in is narrower than it sounds. Pulley says it will share enough contact information for Carta to reach the company's decision-makers and only the contract information needed to assess migration eligibility. It will not share the cap table or its history at that stage, and the opt-in is not a Carta contract.

If you proceed, Carta will send a new 12-month agreement. The contract and year-one pricing begin on the signing date, even if the technical migration happens later.

The opt-in is therefore a useful way to preserve an option, but the signature is the commercial decision. Before signing, finance or operations should put the offered package, first invoice, credit, renewal terms, migration scope, and target date on one page. Counsel should review any terms that affect data access, termination, liability, or the company's legal records. This does not need to become a prolonged procurement exercise; it does need an accountable review.

What will Carta cost?

Pulley says Carta will honor the customer's current Pulley pricing for the first full year and credit any unused prepaid Pulley subscription balance. That is the public offer, not a final quote. Before signing, confirm the actual dollar amount, product package, stakeholder count, credit calculation, invoice timing, renewal price or pricing formula, and auto-renewal terms.

Carta's public pricing page says paid plans are priced by package and stakeholder count, with a minimum annual fee, but it does not publish a universal dollar price. Carta Launch is free for eligible companies with up to 25 stakeholders and no more than $1 million raised. Do not assume Launch is the package offered in your migration agreement.

Billing cadence may also change. Pulley says Carta does not offer monthly billing, so monthly Pulley customers must choose quarterly or annual billing for year one. Quarterly and semi-annual customers can remain on a similar cycle. What matters is the effective annual cost and cash-payment schedule, not the label on the billing period.

What will migrate, and how long will it take?

Pulley says the assisted migration covers cap-table data, documents, transaction history, and equity records. Carta handles the technical migration, with Pulley collaborating after a customer signs. Most accounts are expected to take a few business days once the contract is signed and the migration window opens; more complex cap tables may take longer.

Get an account-specific scope and schedule. Ask about attachments, signatures, custom vesting schedules, historical transactions, draft records, certificates, audit logs, and any activity that occurs during cutover. “All data” is useful headline language. A written acceptance checklist is better project control.

A difference still needs an explanation. Do not clear an exception because two platforms label the same field differently until someone has confirmed that the underlying instrument, amount, date, and status are unchanged.

What happens to an existing Pulley 409A?

Pulley says Carta can accept an existing Pulley 409A valuation and fair market value (FMV) if the customer provides a copy. Pulley also says Carta will support the defense of prior Pulley 409A work and become the provider after the current valuation expires.

Ask Carta what that support includes, who stands behind the original report, which records it needs, and whether the service is part of your package. Company counsel and tax advisers should address any question about later events or continued use of the valuation.

What happens if we do nothing?

The company will lose normal access to the Pulley cap table and Pulley support on December 8. Pulley says the data will remain available in a limited format until January 31, but it has not defined what can still be viewed or exported. The company would also lose the guaranteed terms of the assisted Carta offer after the November 30 opt-in deadline.

Pulley's shutdown is a software and record-access event; it does not provide a replacement process for equity administration. Doing nothing therefore creates an avoidable operating problem: no active system for administering equity, uncertain access to Pulley-hosted records, and a later migration without Pulley's help. At minimum, export the record and assign an owner before the deadlines force the decision.

Should we accept Carta or evaluate another Pulley alternative?

For most startups, this does not require a ten-vendor review. If Carta meets the company's requirements, counsel and investors can work in it, and the contract economics make sense, the speed of Pulley's supported route has real value.

An alternative deserves a closer look when the company has specialized international needs, a material price concern, a strong legal-team preference, or a requirement the offered Carta package does not cover. Pulley permits another destination but says it will not help with that migration.

Compare Carta with one or two credible alternatives against the five factors most likely to change the decision:

Run the comparison on a fixed timetable. Give each provider the same short fact pattern and ask for a written package, implementation scope, target date, and renewal model. If a requirement cannot be confirmed before the decision deadline, treat it as unavailable rather than assuming it will appear during onboarding.

Before you migrate: preserve and reconcile the record

A technically successful migration can faithfully reproduce an old mistake.

That is the larger risk here. Software migration asks whether the records transferred. Equity reconciliation asks whether the source records were right. Run both checks. The cap-table platform is a working ledger, but executed corporate documents and valid approvals may control when records conflict. Company counsel should interpret those documents and direct any correction.

Preserve the Pulley record outside Pulley

Create a controlled company folder and record who exported each file, when, and with which filters. At minimum, preserve:

1. The cap table: Download an all-time detailed Excel cap table and a current dated snapshot using Pulley's cap-table export process.
2. Underlying data and history: Export the raw cap-table report and the relevant stakeholder, grant, cancellation, exercise, repurchase, vesting, and transaction reports listed in Pulley's reports guide.
3. Legal and supporting documents: Download the data room, security-level attachments, equity plan documents and amendments, grant and exercise agreements, financing documents, certificates where relevant, and board or stockholder approvals.
4. Valuations and people data: Preserve every 409A/FMV report, effective date, stakeholder legal name, entity name, email, and portal contact.
5. Loose ends: Save available audit or change history and list unsigned documents, drafts, missing approvals, stale termination records, and unresolved tasks.

Depending on the cap table, also preserve records for RSAs, RSUs, warrants, SAFEs, notes, transfers, repurchases, conversions, stock splits, or repricings. The point is not to create the largest possible archive. It is to preserve the evidence needed to reconstruct every material ownership position.

Reconcile before cutover

Compare the Pulley record with executed agreements and approvals. Focus first on authorized and issued shares by class, the fully diluted total, option-pool balances, stakeholder identities, grant terms, vesting schedules, exercise prices, exercises and cancellations, and the economic terms of SAFEs or notes.

Put discrepancies in a simple exception log: issue, supporting documents, decision owner, and status. Do not resolve a conflict between the platform and a legal document by quietly editing the platform. Send questions requiring legal interpretation to company counsel.

Also define a cutover rule. If grants, exercises, terminations, transfers, or financing activity will occur while the migration is underway, decide which system records the event, who tells the destination provider, and how the final change is tested. Otherwise, a correct opening import can be out of date by the time the new account goes live.

After the migration: do not close the project until these checks pass

Compare the destination platform against the final Pulley export, executed legal documents, and applicable approvals. Neither platform should be treated as automatically authoritative.

1. Capitalization totals: Match fully diluted ownership, authorized shares, and outstanding shares by class.
2. Equity-plan balances: Match the total reserve and the granted, exercised, cancelled, and available amounts.
3. Stakeholders: Match legal names, entities, emails, and active or terminated status.
4. Awards: Match award type, grant date, quantity, exercise price, vesting commencement date, schedule, cliff, and current vested amount.
5. Convertibles and other instruments: Match material economic terms and conversion status for SAFEs, notes, warrants, RSAs, and RSUs where applicable.
6. Transaction history: Match exercises, transfers, repurchases, cancellations, terminations, conversions, and other material historical events.
7. Documents and valuations: Confirm supporting agreements, approvals, signatures, certificates, and historical 409A/FMV reports are attached and usable.
8. Access and output: Test permissions and stakeholder invitations, then run core reports and save the completed reconciliation package.

Have the project owner and an informed reviewer sign off. Keep the Pulley export, exception log, and final reconciliation file after the new system goes live.

Who should own the migration?

The founder or CEO should choose the provider and approve the commercial decision, not compare hundreds of line items. Finance or Operations should own exports, document collection, the project plan, exceptions, cutover, and sign-off. Company counsel should interpret governing documents and discrepancies requiring legal judgment. The new provider owns the technical import and platform setup promised in its contract.

One person still needs to own the spaces between those teams. Without that owner, missing documents, unanswered provider questions, and reconciliation exceptions tend to remain open.

Pulley shutdown FAQ

When is Pulley shutting down?

Pulley will cease operations and services on December 8, 2026. Its normal app experience and customer support end that day. Limited data access is expected through January 31, 2027.

How long can we access Pulley data?

Pulley says data will remain available in a limited format through January 31, 2027. Because it has not defined the available functions or exports, complete normal retrieval before December 8.

Does opting in commit us to Carta?

No. The opt-in permits Pulley to share contact and necessary contract details with Carta. It does not transfer cap-table data or create a Carta contract. A separate 12-month agreement is required.

What happens if we miss November 30?

Pulley says assisted-migration timing, matched first-year pricing, credits, and uninterrupted service are no longer guaranteed. You may still contract with Carta later under new terms.

Can we choose another provider?

Yes. Pulley expressly permits it, but will not assist the migration. Get the destination provider's required exports, scope, timeline, and reconciliation process in writing.

Will all Pulley data migrate to Carta?

Pulley says the assisted migration covers cap-table data, documents, transaction history, and equity records. Verify the field and document scope for your account, especially custom or historical records.

How long does migration take?

Pulley says most assisted Carta migrations take a few business days after signing and once the migration window opens. Complex accounts may take longer. Contract review, document collection, exceptions, and reconciliation add time beyond the import itself.

This article provides general operational information, not legal or tax advice. Company counsel and qualified tax advisers should interpret governing documents, approvals, securities issues, and valuation questions for your company.

How Chore can help with a Pulley migration

The hard part is not selecting an export button. It is getting the exports, legal documents, providers, internal owners, counsel questions, and exceptions through one controlled process, then proving that the new record is right.

That is where Chore's role is most useful. Chore's public equity services include cap-table management, equity issuances and grants, vesting, transfers, stakeholder support, 409A coordination, investor audits, and due-diligence preparation. Chore can coordinate the operational work around a migration while company counsel handles legal interpretation.

Your next action is simple: name the migration owner today, opt in by November 30 if you want to preserve the Carta route, and begin the Pulley export before provider discussions create a false sense that the records are already safe.

If you don't want to coordinate the transition yourself, talk to Chore about managing the operational side of your Pulley migration.