CarryForward exists because the people most affected by carried interest decisions are often the least equipped to understand them. We're building the educational tools and estimation services that make carry accessible to everyone who has a stake in it.
These are composite personas representing real patterns we've seen. They are not real individuals.
Information asymmetry
“I didn't need a contentious divorce. I needed five hours of education.”
Maya's divorce was amicable — until carried interest entered the conversation. Her ex-husband's carry was valued at $400K during proceedings, based on a snapshot that treated unvested carry as speculative. Within two years, he received over $5M in distributions from the same funds. The valuation methodology wasn't wrong by the letter of the law. It was wrong by every measure that mattered. Maya didn't lose because her lawyer was bad. She lost because nobody on her side understood how venture fund economics actually work — the J-curve, the waterfall, the difference between committed capital and distributed capital. By the time she understood what had happened, it was too late to revisit the settlement.
Maya's story taught us that the problem isn't access to lawyers. It's access to understanding. Most family law attorneys have never read an LPA. Most forensic accountants treat carry like a stock option. The gap isn't legal representation — it's financial literacy specific to venture and private equity.
Knowledge as defense
“The only reason I won was because I knew enough to know she was lying.”
David's divorce was not amicable. His ex-spouse filed declarations claiming his carried interest was worth "minimal" value, characterizing it as speculative and contingent. She argued the carry would likely never vest, citing "industry standard" attrition rates she'd fabricated. David had spent fifteen years in private equity. He knew the claims were false. He knew his Fund III was in its distribution phase, that the carry was substantially vested, and that distributions were imminent. But proving it cost him $800K in legal fees, two forensic accountants, and eighteen months of litigation.
David won. But he shouldn't have had to fight that hard. If his ex-spouse had access to the same educational resources — if she understood what carry was actually worth and how it worked — the declarations might never have been filed. David's story taught us that education protects both sides. When both parties understand the asset, disputes resolve faster and more fairly.
Education before crisis
“The best time to understand your carry is the day it's granted. The second best time is today.”
Priya didn't wait for a crisis. When her husband joined a growth equity fund and received his first carry allocation, she asked to read the partnership agreement. She studied the waterfall structure, understood the clawback provisions, and tracked the fund's reporting cycle. She talked to a tax advisor about the LTCG implications and worked with an estate planner on a postnuptial agreement that addressed the carry directly. When her marriage ended three years later, the carry division took three weeks and cost under $40K in total legal fees. There were no surprises, no false declarations, no drawn-out discovery process. Both sides understood the asset, agreed on a valuation methodology, and reached a settlement that reflected reality.
Priya's story is the one we want to make common. She proved that when both parties are educated about carried interest — before emotions run high and lawyers get involved — the outcome is faster, cheaper, and fairer for everyone. Education before crisis isn't just good advice. It's the entire thesis of CarryForward.
We will always tell you when an estimate is rough, when a model oversimplifies, and when you need a professional instead of a calculator. We would rather give you an honest range than a false sense of certainty.
We are not lawyers, accountants, or financial advisors. We build tools that help you understand carry so you can have better conversations with the professionals who are. An informed client gets better outcomes from every advisor they hire.
Your financial data is encrypted, isolated, and never shared. We don't aggregate across users, we don't sell insights, and we don't use your inputs to train models. You can delete everything at any time, and when you do, it's gone — cryptographically and permanently.
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