Ask HN: How can recover my equity stock options?

Recently, left a startup job and so my options 3 month window till expiration kicked in. I took some time off between jobs to be with family/travel. I got back and recently started a new job that pays bi-weekly. My plan was to save some money each paycheck and exercise my options as money came. Unfortunately, all my option grants are on Carta. And Carta sucks so bad! I'm surprised this company is still in business WTF.

I submitted a first request thinking it would take max two to three days to complete the ACH like any normal business (it says 3-5 business days). It didn't. A few weeks pass, I'm getting close to my option expiration date. I get my next paycheck. So I figured let me submit my second batch and exercise my remaining options. The kicker: Carta doesn't allow multiple exercise requests! WTF! I wait and wait for the first exercise to complete. Apparently, the grant needs to be signed by multiple parties before the ACH even begins. It's been close to a month now, and my options expire tomorrow.

Like wtf, you have one job Carta! So I call Carta and ask them to expedite the process. They say my only option is to submit a manual request to my previous company to exercise. So I have to send them a mail/fax like it's the 80s. I'm out of the country on a trip and don't know how I can get the check to them by tomorrow.

Carta sucks kids! I get that cap tables are complex, but surely processing a payment shouldn't take months in 2024. Even if it does, it's inexcusable that they can't handle multiple requests at once.