Understanding the difference between admin access and stakeholder access is one of the most important concepts to get right before you start inviting people to Pulley. The two roles have fundamentally different experiences of the platform, different invitation flows, and different levels of visibility into your company's equity data.
Two different experiences of Pulley
Pulley has two distinct portal experiences, and admins and stakeholders never see the same thing.
Admin portal Admins see the full picture. The admin dashboard gives complete visibility into your cap table, all stakeholder holdings, ownership breakdowns, financial metrics, pending tasks, and activity history. Admins can issue, transfer, and manage equity across the company. This is the view you're looking at right now.
Stakeholder portal Stakeholders see only what's relevant to them personally. Their portal shows their own equity holdings, vesting schedules, related documents, and (if applicable) the ability to exercise options. They have no visibility into the cap table, other stakeholders' holdings, any company-wide data, or the activity feed and task notification system.
This separation is intentional. It protects stakeholder privacy, keeps their experience simple and focused, and gives admins control over what information is shared and when.
| Admin portal | Stakeholder portal |
Cap table visibility | Full | None |
Other stakeholders' holdings | Visible | Not visible |
Company metrics and ownership | Visible | Not visible |
Activity feed and task notifications | All company activity | None |
Their own equity holdings | Visible | Visible |
Vesting schedules | All stakeholders | Their own only |
Ability to issue or transfer equity | Yes | No |
Option exercise | Manage requests and record exercises | Submit requests |
Documents | All company documents | Their own only |
Who gets which access
Admins are typically people who need to manage equity operations on behalf of the company:
Co-founders and executives
CFOs and finance team members
Legal counsel and accountants
HR administrators
Stakeholders are people who hold equity in the company:
Employees with stock options or shares
Investors
Advisors
One person can be both. A co-founder who holds equity will have admin access for cap table management and a stakeholder portal for their own holdings. They can toggle between these views using the dropdown menu in the top left corner of Pulley. These are independent access levels, not separate logins.
Common mistake: Inviting a co-founder or CFO as a stakeholder instead of an admin. If someone needs to manage equity or view the cap table, they need admin access. A stakeholder invitation won't give them the tools they need.
Why this matters before you invite anyone
The distinction affects everything about how you bring people into Pulley, because admins and stakeholders are invited through completely different flows, with different prerequisites and different outcomes.
Inviting an admin grants company-wide access to manage equity. Inviting a stakeholder grants personal portfolio access only. Getting this wrong means they either can't do their job in Pulley or have more visibility than intended.
There's also a key prerequisite difference: stakeholders must have securities associated with their record before they can be invited. Admins have no such prerequisite.
One more thing worth knowing: even signatories who aren't full admins don't get cap table visibility. They access signature requests through a simplified view only. Admin access is the only path to the full dashboard.
How invitation flows differ
Admin invitation flow:
You send an email invitation from Pulley
The recipient receives an email with an invitation link
They click the link, create their account (or log in if they already have one), and immediately gain admin access to the dashboard
Stakeholder invitation flow:
You send an invitation tied to a specific security (grant, share, option, etc.)
The recipient receives an email prompting them to accept that security
When they accept, they're automatically prompted to create their stakeholder account and gain access to their portal
Access levels
Not all admins have the same permissions. Pulley supports different admin access levels depending on what someone needs to do in the platform. For a complete breakdown of what each admin role can do, see the Admin roles and permissions.
Stakeholders do not have access levels. All stakeholders see the same view: their own equity holdings, vesting schedule, and related documents.
A note on timing
Stakeholders are not automatically notified when your onboarding is complete. No one receives an invitation until you explicitly send one. This gives you time to verify your data, complete any pending tasks, and get your settings right before anyone receives access to their portal.
What's Next?
Ready to invite admins? See Add administrators and team members →
Ready to invite stakeholders? See Invite stakeholders to their portal →