How Faye Built a Scalable Equity Foundation from Day One With Pulley

About Faye

Faye (Faye's One, Inc.) is an online platform that matches busy families with personal advisors to help manage the demands of everyday life. From coordinating logistics to staying on top of to-do lists, Faye gives families access to the kind of thoughtful, personalized support that used to be hard to find.

As an early-stage startup that closed its seed round of financing, Faye operates with a lean team and a clear-eyed focus on building infrastructure that can grow with the company. Wilson Chan, Head of Finance at Faye, is the primary administrator of the company's equity program, and someone who has spent nearly a decade navigating equity management at high-growth companies before joining Faye.

The Challenge

Wilson came to Faye with deep experience in equity management, having used ShareWorks across multiple companies through several rounds of private financing. At Faye, the team initially chose to use a free cap table offering. A reasonable starting point for a pre-seed company, but not a platform built for what came next.

As Faye approached its seed round, the limitations became harder to ignore. Equity transactions were becoming more time-consuming to manage. Compliance needs — particularly around 409A valuations — weren't well supported. Running reports required exporting to Excel or Google Sheets and manually consolidating data before it could be shared with investors or leadership. And the new cost of maintaining the platform was no longer justified by the value it delivered.

"Our equity tool prior to Pulley started costing more than the value we were getting, and the overall user experience wasn’t meeting expectations."

For Wilson, the stakes were clear. Equity is where the long-term value lives for Faye's stakeholders — founders, employees, and investors alike. Managing it in a tool that couldn't keep up, or worse, in a patchwork of manual spreadsheets, wasn't an option.

"We could have managed equity in a manual spreadsheet, but it would easily break and create data integrity issues. Bringing in a fully automated tool on day one would help us build a much stronger infrastructure to support ongoing equity events."

The Solution

The Right Tool at the Right Moment

When Faye closed its seed round, the timing was right to make the move. Wilson evaluated what mattered most: a platform with a clean, intuitive interface for administrators, executives, and external stakeholders alike, the flexibility to add and access data on demand, strong compliance capabilities, and a cost structure that made sense for an early-stage company.

Pulley checked every box. The initial sales process was prompt and professional, and the demo was well-organized enough to make the decision an easy one. Just as important was Pulley's approach to migration. Wilson needed the historical data transfer to be handled entirely behind the scenes, without requiring manual work from his team.

"Migration help was key to our decision. We only wanted a simple and quick data migration without having to manually do any work. It was done flawlessly behind the scenes."

A Migration With Zero Surprises

Wilson's biggest concern going into the migration was data integrity. Specifically, that historical records wouldn't transfer cleanly and that reconciliation would become a headache. The reality was the opposite.

Pulley supported migration without requiring Wilson’s involvement and time. Detailed documentation outlined exactly what the migration would cover and what to verify once it was complete. When it was done, the audit trail was automatically created and saved. Wilson found zero issues during his post-migration review.

"Zero user involvement during migration was a nice surprise."

The actual migration was completed faster than expected and the entire experience set the tone for what working with Pulley would feel like going forward.

Cap Table Management That's Actually Easy to Use

Once live on Pulley, the day-to-day experience of managing equity improved immediately. The cap table dashboard gives Wilson exactly the view he needs, no more exporting to spreadsheets to find the right slice of data. Issuing new stock grants, processing option exercises, and sharing cap table information with investors are all quick, straightforward tasks.

"Being able to view our cap table easily with the exact data depicted on the dashboard is so much better than before. No training is needed at all."

For a head of finance wearing multiple hats, that simplicity has real value. Equity administration no longer competes for hours with higher-priority work.

409A Compliance, Fully Integrated

One of the most significant upgrades Faye gained by moving to Pulley was integrated 409A valuation. With the previous tool, Wilson had to manually compile and export a variety of reports and send them to a third-party valuation consultant — a cumbersome process that introduced both friction and room for error.

With Pulley, the entire 409A process happens within the platform. Pulley manages the compliance work on Faye's behalf, with no need to coordinate across systems or manage an external vendor relationship.

"The best part for us is that 409A valuation is tightly integrated within Pulley. I no longer have to manually run a variety of reports and send them out to a 3rd-party valuation consultant. Pulley does 409A compliance on our behalf all within the system."

The Results

Since switching to Pulley at the close of its seed round, Faye has established an equity program built to scale:

• Seamless migration: Historical equity data transferred with zero manual input and zero reconciliation issues.
• Integrated 409A: Valuation compliance handled entirely within Pulley, eliminating third-party coordination.
• Faster equity administration: Issuing grants, processing exercises, and sharing investor reports are now quick, routine tasks.
• Full data integrity: A single source of truth for all equity data, accessible and accurate at all times.
• Cost-effective: A platform that delivers real value without straining an early-stage budget.

What's Next

As Faye continues to grow, Wilson knows the platform will grow with it. Stock-based compensation calculations are already supported in Pulley and ready to be activated when the time comes. Future fundraising rounds will be handled within the same system, eliminating the need for future migrations, new vendor searches, and rebuilding from scratch.

"Whenever we raise new capital, we know we can count on Pulley."

For Wilson, that continuity is exactly what an early-stage company needs. Getting equity infrastructure right from the start means every future milestone — new investors, new grants, new compliance requirements — lands on a foundation that's already solid.

Who Should Be Using Pulley

Wilson's advice to other finance leaders at early-stage startups is direct: don't wait, and don't underestimate how important it is to get equity management right from the beginning.

"Pulley understands the true needs for startups, especially early-stage startups. They've built a system that will grow with your needs. Customer support is solid and knowledgeable. Upfront and ongoing cost is reasonable."

And for teams that don't have deep in-house equity expertise, that's especially valuable. Pulley is built to make equity administration manageable for lean teams, so the people responsible for it can stay focused on the work that moves the company forward.

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