Automating Issuer Approval Workflows
Noel Moldvai and Adam Crawley, co-founders of Augment, on software-enabled secondaries markets
The real wedge in private secondaries is not dodging issuer control, it is turning issuer approval into software. For a company, a secondary sale is usually a messy chain of transfer notices, cap table checks, legal review, buyer vetting, ROFR timing, and transfer agent coordination. That work is repetitive enough to productize, and once it is automated, issuers can allow more liquidity without handing finance and legal teams a new pile of manual tasks.
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Augment frames the workflow as two steps, matching orders and then closing with the issuer and transfer agent. The point is to lock in a buyer and seller fast, then route the company through a standard approval path instead of a bespoke email and PDF process every time.
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This matches how issuer centric platforms have evolved. Carta built recurring auctions around company control and disclosures, while EquityZen found issuers became far more supportive once they were given a seat at the table and someone else handled KYC, communications, and shareholder logistics.
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The pain is not just legal restriction, it is admin burden. CFO, finance, and legal teams worry about 409A implications, who gets onto the cap table, and whether a one off trade will consume internal time. The winning product removes work while preserving company discretion.
The market is heading toward a model where tenders, auctions, and off cycle trades all run on the same issuer workflow layer. As that layer gets standardized, private liquidity becomes less of a rare special event and more of a controlled company process, which should expand trading volume without forcing companies to give up control of their cap table.