Aegis vs. Carta vs. Clerky vs. BigLaw: How Story.law Compares
You're comparing. Good. Smart founders do. Here's the honest breakdown.
Document generators. Cap table software. ChatGPT. BigLaw. Fractional GCs. We know you're evaluating the best fit for your startup. Here's how Aegis is different—and when you might actually want to use the others.
BigLaw
Fractional GC
The alternate stack
VS
Or just Aegis
Everyone else does part of the job, and you pull it together. Aegis does the whole thing, and you focus on your business.
What startups need
- Documents
- Process
- Guidance
- Verification
- Specialists
What startups can afford
?
SOFTWARE ONLY
Carta
•
Track what you tell them
•
No legal guidance
•
Manual data entry
•
You still need lawyers
Clerky, Stripe Atlas, Common Paper
•
Output documents
•
No guidance on how to use them
•
No verification
•
You still need lawyers
ChatGPT
•
Answers questions (wrong)
•
Drafts documents (wrong)
•
No verification
•
You definitely still need lawyers
LAWYERS ONLY
BigLaw
•
Read and forward questions ($$)
•
Conduct research ($$)
•
Sometimes answer questions ($$)
•
Draft documents ($$)
•
Review and negotiate contracts ($$)
•
Think about you ($$)
Aegis
Software + Lawyers + AI
Designed together
✓
Subject matter specialists design processes and document contents
✓
Unlimited question about price, process, and timeline for prospective matters
✓
Processes built from your circumstances and documents
✓
Lawyer-in-the-loop verification
✓
Lawyer-agent to help facilitate communication with human lawyers
✓
Software to handle the work software is best at with zero billables
✓
Specialist attorneys on demand ($)
✓
Biglaw-trained lawyers (who often trained Biglaw lawyers)
✓
50-75% cheaper than BigLaw
Run guided legal processes designed by top lawyers to replace the pain of Biglaw without sacrificing quality.
PROCESS MATTERS
Here's how Aegis differs from simple document generators.
| What you need | Clerky/Atlas/Common Paper | Aegis |
|---|---|---|
| Document output | ✓ | ✓ |
| How to fill it out correctly | ✗ | ✓(guided) |
| When to sign it | ✗ | ✓(sequenced) |
| Prerequisites checked | ✗ | ✓(automated) |
| Cross-check other docs | ✗ | ✓(automated) |
| Order of operations | ✗ | ✓(enforced) |
| Board consent if needed | ✗ | ✓(automated) |
| Securities filings flagged | ✗ | ✓(automated) |
| Cap table updated | ✗ | ✓(automated) |
| Data room organized | ✗ | ✓(automated) |
| Human verification | ✗ | ✓(human-in-loop) |
| Unlimited guidance | ✗ | ✓(included) |
| Attorney access when needed | ✗(DIY or BigLaw) | ✓(built in) |
PROCESS MATTERS
Aegis' legal processes construct documents unique to the scenario;a template is a form of document built for someone else.
(This is what you pay lawyers to clean up - if they know how.)
Document Generators fill TEMPLATES (Clerky, Stripe Atlas, etc.)
•
Trash in, trash out
•
Founders do all the signing and filing work
•
You have no idea what you're signing
•
You have no idea what other documents need to exist first
•
You have no idea whether you created a security requiring registration
•
You have no idea how to execute next steps like option exercises
•
You have no idea whether what you just signed was legal
•
You have no idea why or whether to accept proposed changes
•
You can't intelligently negotiate it on your own
•
You have no one to get on the phone and talk about it
Founders make costly mistakes without realizing it.
Aegis Processes RUN OPERATIONS
✓
Right document for your situation
✓
Guided completion with context-aware questions
✓
Timing and sequencing built in
✓
Cross-checks against your existing legal file
✓
Board consent automation where needed
✓
Securities filing requirements flagged
✓
Cap table updated automatically
✓
Data room organized automatically
✓
Make sure the order of operations is legally optimal
✓
Human attorney review ready for anything custom
Founders can't accidentally skip critical steps.
Example: Issuing Stock Options
Document generator approach:
1. Download stock option agreement template 2. Fill in the blanks (hopefully correctly) 3. Get signatures 4. Hope you did it right 5. Find out 2 years later during diligence that the board never approved it, so it doesn't exist
Aegis approach:
Build the board consent
Verify option pool has capacity
Check 409A valuation is current (or flag it)
Generate option agreement with correct terms
Execute the board consent
Confirm dates and send option agreement
Route for signatures in correct order
Flag required securities filing
Update cap table automatically
Store in data room with proper categorization
Notify stakeholder of grant details
BigLaw charges $3,000-5,000 per grant batch. Aegis: Included. Savings: $3,000+
Already paid for Clerky?
You can use it, but be sure you're following the right process when you do. If you're paying lawyers to help you make sure you sure it right, consider whether that's worth it.
Clerky's "lifetime" subscription doesn't include lawyers to help you USE the documents. The time your lawyer spends just getting oriented on what you've done might cost more than a year of Aegis.
Your browser does not support the video tag.
CAP TABLE
Aegis builds your cap table based on legally-effective documents.
It's no longer the founder's job to go update two different terminations in Carta and keep them in sync. Aegis does what you'll otherwise pay a lawyer to do at investment time.
✓
Who owns what
✓
Vesting schedules
✓
Conversion terms
✓
Exercise history
Click any row to see the source document. Export lawyer-ready Excel for diligence.
Why is this better than Carta?
Carta tracks what you tell it. Aegis verifies what your documents actually say. With cap table software, you still pay lawyers $5,000-10,000 to verify accuracy. With Aegis, the verification is built in.
Cap table software tracks what you tell it. Aegis builds your cap table based on legally-effective documents.
Carta is an overcomplicated spreadsheet. It tracks what you manually enter. It doesn't verify it's real. It doesn't check your source documents. It doesn't know if you missed a step.
Result: Lawyers still charge $5,000-10,000 to verify your cap table during Series A diligence. And they often find errors. Then you pay hourly to fix them.
| What you need | Carta | Aegis |
|---|---|---|
| Cap table visualization | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scenario modeling | ✓(extra $) | ✓(Raise Tier) |
| 409A valuations | ✓(bundled) | ✓(a la carte) |
| Built from source documents | ✗(manual entry) | ✓(automatic) |
| Click-to-source verification | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cross-check legal documents | ✗ | ✓ |
| Flag missing board consents | ✗ | ✓ |
| Data room included | ✗(extra $) | ✓ |
| Granular data room permissions | ✗ | ✓(Investment Prep) |
| Equity issuance process | Partial | ✓(full process) |
| Legal guidance included | ✗ | ✓ |
| Human verification | ✗ | ✓ |
| Action | Aegis | Carta + lawyers |
|---|---|---|
| Build cap table | Included | $3,000+/yr + $5K verify |
| Issue stock options | Included | $3,000-5,000 (BigLaw) |
| Build data room | Included | $5,000-20,000 (BigLaw) |
| Investment diligence | $0-$2K) | $5,000-20,000 (BigLaw) |
| 409A valuation | A la carte | Bundled (paying anyway) |
LAWYER-IN-THE-LOOP
“I'll just ask ChatGPT.”
Here's why that's a $1,000+ mistake.
ChatGPT (and other AI)
✗
Doesn't know YOUR business context
✗
You don't know what question to ask
✗
Gives the answer you want, not the answer you need
✗
Legal reasoning requires process, not just logic
✗
No way to verify if it's hallucinating
✗
"Should I sign this?" is the WRONG question
Common failure:
You ask: “Is this contract okay?” ChatGPT says: “Yes, the terms look standard.” Reality: Standard—for the other party. You're signing away rights you don't even know you have.
Aegis
✓
AI + humans who know YOUR company
✓
We know what questions to ask YOU
✓
Biglaw-trained lawyers verify everything AI outputs
✓
Processes designed by specialists, not general AI
✓
Human-in-the-loop = hallucination-proof
✓
We'll tell you the RIGHT question: "Sign, walk, or negotiate?"
How Aegis handles it:
You ask: “Is this contract okay?” Aegis: “What's your leverage? Who's the counterparty? Here's what I'd push back on—and here's when to walk away.”
BigLaw bills for everything. Including the email where they tell you they received your email, but don't answer your question.
You email your BigLaw lawyer. Partner bills $1200-3000/hr to read it. They forward it to an associate with almost no guidance. Associate bills $800-1300 to read it. Associate bills $800-1300 to research. Associate bills $800-1300 to draft response. Partner bills $1200-3000/hr to review. They both bill for the partner to teach the associate how to do the work. Associate bills $800-1300/hr to fix the work. You get an answer like "it depends" 3 weeks later - because it depends. Bill: $3,000-$20,000. For one question.
And their bill is HIGHER if you tried to DIY and made a mess before you asked.
| Action | Aegis + Allies | BigLaw |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial contracting | Basics included | $800-1,500/hr |
| Issuing stock/options | Included | $3,000-5,000/batch |
| Hiring employees | Included | $1,500-4,000/hire |
| Firing employees | Included | $3,500-10,000/term |
| Hiring contractors | Included | $1,500-4,000/hire |
| Drafting NDAs | Included | $800-3,000/NDA |
| Build data room | Included | $5,000-20,000 |
| Investment diligence | Included | $5,000-20,000 |
| Angel Investment | Included | $8,000-25,000 |
| Seed financing | $15,000-$20,000 | $30,000-125,000 |
| Enterprise customer agreement | Included in Deal | $8,000-25,000 |
| Terms of Service | ~$1,000-2,000 | $8,000-20,000 |
| Privacy Policy | ~$2,000-4,000 | $16,000-40,000 |
| Exit diligence | ~$2,000-8,000 | $20,000-80,000 |
| Exit transaction | ~$60,000-40,000 | $300,000-1,400,000+ |
When to use BigLaw:
✓
When optics matter more than price or quality
✓
Cross-border M & A transactions
BigLaw is overkill for:
•
Routine equity issuance
•
Standard employment docs
•
Basic contract review
•
Commercial contracting
•
Web contracts
•
Data room organization
•
Anything with an established process
Even if you keep BigLaw:
Aegis makes ANY lawyer less expensive. We organize and focus the right information the right way. Your BigLaw lawyer works faster. Bills less.
Use Aegis for operations. Save the pain of BigLaw.
Is it okay to sign this contract we got from a must-have customer?
📝
BigCo Form Vendor MSA.docx
5:02 PM
Real client conversation reproduced with permission.
Ready to close deals faster with less legal spend?
Model a deal with an expert
Fractional GCs are great... When you actually need a corporate legal therapist.
Fractional GCs are great when you need:
✓
Someone to handle a specialized workload more than 10 hours per week (like FDA clearance if they actually know that space)
✓
A business therapist to chat with
✓
A physical body in a room
Lawyers are like doctors. You wouldn't have your podiatrist do open heart surgery.
Your corporate lawyer and your IP lawyer should be different specialists. Your healthtech lawyer and your fintech lawyer need very different knowledge. Litigation and transactional law are totally different practices.
Most fractional GCs only have one area of training. They're guessing at the rest - or learning on your time. You can get a hack who says they do everything. They do everything badly. Or you can get a specialist who admits what they don't know. Then you're paying multiple specialists.
SPECIALTY MATTERS
You wouldn't let your dermatologist do heart surgery — so why is your commercial lawyer handling stock issuances?
Most fractional GCs specialize in one area and guess at the rest. Aegis matches every question to the right specialist.
Enterprise AI
An Enterprise AI commercial contracting specialist with decades of privacy and security training designed our enterprise AI processes.
Venture Capital Financings
A seasoned venture capital lawyer who has done hundreds of high-end financings and exits designed our cap table logic and corporate governance processes.
Employment Specialists
State-licensed employment lawyers build state-specific employment processes and respond to employee disputes.
Litigation Specialists
For disputes, Aegis consults with litigators who know the state, judge, and court - not just the subject matter of the claim.
Commercial Contracting
When you're making a deal, we find the lawyer who does healthcare deals all day, or the one who does fintech deals all day, or the one who does SaaS deals all day.
Product Counsel
A privacy specialist advises on data protection, a fintech specialist advises on banking compliance, and an insurance specialist advises on Insurance tech.
Enterprise AI
An Enterprise AI commercial contracting specialist with decades of privacy and security training designed our enterprise AI processes.
Venture Capital Financings
A seasoned venture capital lawyer who has done hundreds of high-end financings and exits designed our cap table logic and corporate governance processes.
Employment Specialists
State-licensed employment lawyers build state-specific employment processes and respond to employee disputes.
Litigation Specialists
For disputes, Aegis consults with litigators who know the state, judge, and court - not just the subject matter of the claim.
Commercial Contracting
When you're making a deal, we find the lawyer who does healthcare deals all day, or the one who does fintech deals all day, or the one who does SaaS deals all day.
Product Counsel
A privacy specialist advises on data protection, a fintech specialist advises on banking compliance, and an insurance specialist advises on Insurance tech.
We have thousands of specialists. Aegis learns from all of them in their specific area of specialization.
(We even filed a patent on this process.)
70+ law firmsNationwide specialist coverageAll 50 statesHundreds of clients served
Healthtech contracts
Fintech contracts
Product counsel
Cybersecurity
Web contracts
Enterprise AI contracts
Manufacturing contracts
Distribution contracts
Collaboration agreements
Benefits & Compensation
M & A
Asset sales
Healthtech contracts
Fintech contracts
Product counsel
Cybersecurity
Web contracts
Enterprise AI contracts
Manufacturing contracts
Distribution contracts
Collaboration agreements
Benefits & Compensation
M & A
Asset sales
Partnerships
Debt financing
Patent prosecution
Trademarks
Shareholder litigation
Insurance coverage
Vendor agreement
Customer agreements
License agreements
Production agreements
Venture funding
Tax law
Partnerships
Debt financing
Patent prosecution
Trademarks
Shareholder litigation
Insurance coverage
Vendor agreement
Customer agreements
License agreements
Production agreements
Venture funding
Tax law
IP litigation
Immigration
Privacy law
Restructuring
Commercial contracts
Corporate finance
Mediation
Fund formation
Trademarks
Healthcare
Legal research
Family law
IP litigation
Immigration
Privacy law
Restructuring
Commercial contracts
Corporate finance
Mediation
Fund formation
Trademarks
Healthcare
Legal research
Family law
The hybrid approach:
Many clients use BOTH:
Aegis
Legal operations, routine matters, and specialist access
Fractional GC
Strategic advisory and to customize Aegis outputs
This is a common and effective combination. Aegis handles execution. Your fractional GC handles strategy.
What if you have no money for lawyers or software?
We get it. If you have more time than money, we built you a DIY guide you can use in the meantime to minimize the mess.
See the guide.
The complete picture.
| Feature | Doc Gen | Cap Table | ChatGPT $200 + ??? | BigLaw | Frac GC | Aegis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Documents | ✓ | ✗ | Drafts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Processes | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Guidance | ✗ | ✗ | Wrong | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cap table & data room | ✗ | Partial | ✗ | Manual | Manual | ✓ |
| Human specialists | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | Partial | ✓ |
| Verification | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built from your documents | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Manual | Manual | ✓ |
| Affordable | ✓ | Partial | Partial | ✗ | Partial | ✓ |
To be successful, you're EITHER going to pay for: Document generators + Cap table software + ChatGPT + Lawyers
OR you can just use Aegis and get a better version of all of them.
Ready to switch? Here's how.
From Carta:
✓
Export: Settings → Data Export → Download All Documents
✓Guide: https://support.carta.com/s/article/exporting-documents
✓
Upload the zip file to Aegis
✓
We'll rebuild your cap table from your source documents (24-48 hrs)
✓
Review and approve
✓
Cancel Carta (or keep it—Aegis works alongside if you prefer)
From Pulley:
✓
Pulley is shutting down—all operations end December 8, 2026. Export before then.
✓
Export: Company Settings → Export → Full Company Export
✓
Upload to Aegis
✓
We'll rebuild everything (24-48 hrs)
✓
Review and approve
From Clerky:
✓
Download your documents from Clerky
✓
Upload to Aegis (or email to gc@storyllp.com)
✓
We'll organize into a proper data room and verify completeness
✓
Your Clerky "lifetime" subscription still works—but now you have the processes
From BigLaw:
✓
Request your full file from your firm
✓
Upload everything to Aegis
✓
We'll organize and index
✓
Keep BigLaw for complex matters—use Aegis for operations
OBJECTION HANDLING FAQ
"Carta has more features"
Carta has features you're paying for before you need them. Aegis gives you what you need at each stage—and verifies it's correct.
"BigLaw has better lawyers"
Our top Attorney Alliance members TRAINED the lawyers at BigLaw. Same caliber. Less overhead. Lower bills.
"I already paid for Clerky lifetime"
Sunk cost. The question is: What's the best use of your NEXT dollar? Clerky gave you documents. Aegis gives you the processes to use them correctly.
"ChatGPT Pro costs $200/month"
ChatGPT Pro is $200/month until you're wrong. Then you pay the $200 AND the $1,000+ to fix it. Aegis costs $349/month and is hallucination-proof because top lawyers verify everything.
"My fractional GC handles everything"
Does your fractional GC specialize in EVERY area you need? Immigration? Tax? IP? Commercial contracts? Data privacy? Aegis reaches specialists in every domain founders need.
"I'll figure it out myself"
You might. But founders who DIY make mistakes that cost 10x to fix later. Once you have a term sheet, cleanup costs multiply. Earlier is always better.
Founders who made the switch.
“We spend less to get more, and do things correctly and compliantly in real time. Running my company with the confidence that we are optimized on legal is priceless.”
Robyn Exton
Founder & CEO, Her App
“When any type of lawyer needs to be involved, Story LLP should be the first email and phone call that any founder makes.”
Dillon Zhang Forrest
CEO, Steady Capital
“Using lawyers who understand AI and the AI they create to scale our AI business is game-changing.”
Javi Palafox
Co-founder, happyrobot
“Working with Story LLP helped me understand my legal needs... and new legal strategies I wasn't aware of before.”
Jenn Limm
Co-founder, Delivering Happiness
“We spend less to get more, and do things correctly and compliantly in real time. Running my company with the confidence that we are optimized on legal is priceless.”
Robyn Exton
Founder & CEO, Her App
“When any type of lawyer needs to be involved, Story LLP should be the first email and phone call that any founder makes.”
Dillon Zhang Forrest
CEO, Steady Capital
“Using lawyers who understand AI and the AI they create to scale our AI business is game-changing.”
Javi Palafox
Co-founder, happyrobot
“Working with Story LLP helped me understand my legal needs... and new legal strategies I wasn't aware of before.”
Jenn Limm
Co-founder, Delivering Happiness
Still Comparing? Ask Us Anything.
Smart founders do their homework. If you're still evaluating whether Aegis beats your current stack, ask us a free question. Compare our answer to what you'd get from ChatGPT, your fractional GC, or a $3,000 BigLaw bill.
Aegis is built by Story LLP
Product
Learn
Contact
Legal
Follow Us