How Base10 turns fund admin into a strategic advantage with Carta

Base10 Partners, a technology investment firm in San Francisco, needed faster accounting to make informed decisions and maintain trust with partners. Director of Finance Jarred Morales-Mckinzie was often tied up in accounting tasks, searching for data or following up with fund administrators who took too long to respond.

That’s why Base10 switched to Carta for fund administration. Carta offers comprehensive access to real-time data, issues quarterly reports in days instead of weeks, and provides firms with personalized expert support.

An “easy decision” to move to Carta

Base10 has always worked with external accounting teams. It’s a common choice for venture capital firms because external services are often scalable and may provide more value than in-house teams. But Morales-Mckinzie experienced challenges with prior fund administrators.

“I need to have fast access to accurate data, so I can get Base10’s general partners up to speed and they can make informed decisions about deals. We had previously worked with two other fund admins, and it was a little baffling that they didn’t provide us with backdoor access.

“Carta provides transparency into all of our data. I can look at any given second and know that it’s up to date in real time, not from three months ago or the last quarter-end. I can export it in easily reportable formats.

“What Carta offers shouldn’t be novel in the accounting space—but it is, so it was an easy decision to move our fund admin to Carta.”

Shifting from taskwork to strategy

Before Carta, Morales-Mckinzie would spend hours on accounting. Base10’s limited partners (LPs) relied on his reports to make informed capital allocation decisions. Delays could undermine opportunities and erode trust.

The taskwork kept Morales-Mckinzie from acting in his full strategic capacity. With Carta, his workload is streamlined and simplified, allowing him to focus on more advanced demands.

“We mostly automate the accounting process with support from fund administrators at Carta. At quarter-end, our reports are already up to date, so I can check the waterfall for LPs and manage any nuances I identify.

“It saves me countless hours that I can spend on more strategic work, whether it be a quick fundraise, restructuring a fund, or finding a way to invest in a portfolio company that would have been otherwise prohibitive.”

Working with Carta’s fund administrators

Morales-Mckinzie interacts with his Carta fund administrators almost daily. He benefits from their high levels of responsiveness and insightful answers.

For example, when Base10 faced a reinvestment decision, Morales-Mckinzie had to find the exact amount of proceeds from a sale to help avoid potential breaches of a limited partnership agreement (LPA).

“I couldn’t figure it out quickly enough, so I asked Carta. They gave me an answer within 20 minutes, and it was a lot different than I had thought.

“That was huge to me, because I didn’t have to dig around, looking at the fund admins’ past work. I was able to ask Carta, and the answer impacted our approach on how to recycle proceeds.”

At Carta, expert fund administrators and accountants can handle almost any need, including reporting, compliance, and end-of-year readiness.

“Our fund admin team is a Carta team, but it feels like they’re part of Base10. I don’t worry about turnover or loss of institutional knowledge, which is crucial given how lean we keep our internal team.

“That’s because of the way Carta structures data. The transparency, the continuity, the record keeping is all there. That’s so helpful in this world . . . I can sleep well at night, knowing the data is safe and any team member can take care of things for us.”