Ward: Startups must separate controllable alpha from market beta
Henry Ward · Carta CEO Henry Ward on Raising $1B, Path to ~$500M ARR, & the Move into PE · Sourcery with Molly O'Shea · Aug 6, 2025 · at 5:57
Carta CEO Henry Ward explains Carta's internal performance evaluation framework to host Molly O'Shea.
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“Alpha is what we consider things that we have control over, and beta is things that we don't. So beta is like market. You know, if we lose a customer because they're going out of business or, you know, the market's down, that's beta. You know, it affects our outputs, but it's not something we can control. But if a customer leaves because they're unhappy or we made a mistake, that's alpha. You know, if we sell a customer and convince them to come to Carta, that's alpha. We're doing something that wouldn't have happened if we didn't put in the effort.”
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