Tensor

Tensor Labs was a high-growth, hyper-technical team operating at the bleeding edge of the Solana ecosystem. As they began growing the team, they reached a critical juncture: their back-office infrastructure needed to match the rigor of their engineering.

Phil Jacobson, Head of Operations at Tensor, knew that to scale—and eventually exit—the company needed a "source of truth" that a spreadsheet could no longer provide.

The Challenge: The "Hidden Tax" of Manual Equity Management

When Phil joined Tensor, the cap table lived in a manual spreadsheet. While functional for a tiny team, it presented significant risks as the company grew:

• Meticulous Reconciliation: Recent investment checks and advisor grants were "missing stuff," requiring hours of manual cleanup.

• Lack of Rigor: Phil noted that "lawyers are not the best mathematicians." Relying on manual calculations for complex waterfalls and option pools invited expensive errors.

• Scaling Friction: Without a centralized tool, issuing new stock options to a growing team and managing board approvals was a fragmented, slow process involving endless DocuSign threads.

• The Exit Barrier: For a company on an acquisition trajectory, any uncertainty in the cap table could stall due diligence or complicate financial distributions to shareholders.

"You simply cannot achieve this to the degree of confidence that I believe you need to operate with high rigor doing this in a spreadsheet... Mistakes are very expensive."
- Phil Jacobson, Head of Operations, Tensor Labs

The Solution: Choosing Craft and Flexibility over Legacy Tools

Phil evaluated Carta and Pulley. However, he found legacy platforms to be expensive, rigid, and lacking in user experience.

He chose Mantle for three key reasons:

1. Superior Design and Craft: Phil sought a product that matched Tensor’s own high standards for UI/UX. Mantle provided a way to visualize data at scale and see how tranches interfaced over time.

2. All-in-One Operational Stack: Beyond just a table, Mantle integrated the "complexities of share issuance," including automated board approvals and change logs, reducing the need for a fragmented tool stack.

3. Low Switching Costs: Mantle’s commitment to data portability (allowing users to export data in venture-standard formats with one click) gave Phil the confidence to "take a risk" on a more innovative platform.

The Result: A "Bulletproof" Diligence Process and a Successful Exit

Mantle became the backbone of Tensor's corporate hygiene, which proved invaluable when Coinbase moved to acquire the company in late 2025.

• Seamless Due Diligence: The acquisition moved from term sheet to close in just three months. Having a "perfect and certain" cap table on Mantle allowed Phil to navigate the "trenches" of due diligence without the typical delays caused by equity discrepancies.

• Confident Distributions: When the acquisition closed, the financial distribution to shareholders was executed with total precision. Shareholders had full visibility into their holdings, ensuring a smooth transition.

• Operational Efficiency: By automating the "bullshit" of cap table mishaps, the Tensor team was able to focus on building out one of their most successful products, Vector, helping it reach massive scale before the exit.

Looking Ahead: Starting on the Right Foot

Today, Phil has moved on to lead business operations for Altitude (by the Squads team), where he continues to champion "frontier" finance. His advice to founders is simple: don't wait for the pain to start.

"If I were starting a company from scratch, I would just start with Mantle from day one. Either you'll feel the pain later, or you avoid the pain by setting up the system earlier."

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