FREE TEMPLATE

Capitalisation Table

Track ownership stakes with clarity.

The Capitalisation Table (Cap Table) Template is a structured document that helps businesses, especially startups, outline their ownership structure. It records the equity distribution among shareholders, including founders, employees, and investors, and details the types of securities they hold. This template tracks equity allocation, allowing companies to manage ownership stakes effectively, particularly after funding rounds or issuing new shares. The Cap Table serves as a valuable tool for financial planning, decision-making, and attracting investors by offering a clear overview of the company’s ownership dynamics.

GrowthX

GrowthX

This is built for

Startup Founders

Need to track equity distribution, manage ownership stakes, and prepare for fundraising rounds effectively.

CFOs / Finance Managers

Responsible for maintaining accurate records of company ownership, managing equity plans, and financial reporting related to equity.

Investors

Use cap tables to evaluate ownership structure, potential dilution, and founder incentives before making investment decisions.

What is the Capitalisation Table Template?

The Capitalisation Table (Cap Table) Template is a structured document that helps businesses, especially startups, outline their ownership structure. It records the equity distribution among shareholders, including founders, employees, and investors, and details the types of securities they hold. This template tracks equity allocation, allowing companies to manage ownership stakes effectively, particularly after funding rounds or issuing new shares. The Cap Table serves as a valuable tool for financial planning, decision-making, and attracting investors by offering a clear overview of the company’s ownership dynamics.

How does the Capitalisation Table Template help?

The template offers an organised framework to keep track of a company’s equity structure, ensuring transparency and informed decision-making. It provides key insights in several important areas:

  1. Founder Incentivisation
The template highlights the stakes held by founders, which plays a key role in keeping them motivated. A well-maintained cap table allows investors to assess whether the founders’ ownership stake is significant enough to align their financial incentives with the company's long-term success.
  1. Managing Future Dilution
By showing any instruments like convertible debt or SAFEs that may lead to dilution, the template helps businesses and investors understand how equity stakes may change in future funding rounds. This allows stakeholders to plan for the potential impact on ownership.
  1. Talent Attraction and Retention
The cap table reflects the size of the employee option pool, which is critical for attracting and retaining top talent. The template helps businesses allocate share options effectively, ensuring that they have the resources to reward employees with equity incentives that align with the company’s growth trajectory.
  1. Understanding the Investor Landscape
The template provides a detailed view of the company’s current investors and their ownership stakes. This information helps new investors assess who they would be joining and whether they can expect aligned or divergent interests during future negotiations.
  1. Supporting Investment Decision-Making
Pro-forma cap tables enable investors to make informed decisions about their potential investment amount. By utilising the startup's current valuation and estimating a future "exit value," investors can calculate the potential return on investment (ROI) and align it with their internal investment benchmarks.

How to use this template in your workflow

  1. Shareholder Position Section
Begin by filling in the positions of shareholders, such as founders, employees, and investors. This section provides clarity on who holds what role within the company and their level of influence. Clearly identifying these positions is essential for both internal planning and external investor relations.
  1. Common Shares Section
Track the common shares held by different shareholders. These are typically issued to founders and employees and include voting rights. The formula provided in the template ensures you can easily calculate the total number of common shares after considering other share types.
  1. Preferred Shares Section
In this section, document the preferred shares held by investors. Preferred shares often come with specific rights, such as liquidation preferences or anti-dilution provisions. This section helps companies manage investor expectations and rights while ensuring that different classes of shares are clearly separated.
  1. Options to Common Shares Section
This section is designed to track share options, typically used to incentivize employees. Enter the number of options issued to employees or other stakeholders, ensuring that the overall cap table reflects potential future equity stakes accurately. Options are an important tool for talent retention, and this template helps businesses monitor their impact on overall ownership.
  1. Total Shares and Fully Diluted Section
Use this section to calculate the total number of shares (common + preferred) and the fully diluted total, which includes all potential shares from options or other convertible securities. This provides a comprehensive view of ownership, helping companies and investors understand the full picture of equity distribution.
  1. % of Ownership Section
Track the percentage of ownership for each shareholder based on their current shares outstanding. This section shows the relative ownership stakes and influence of each party, helping stakeholders understand their position within the company.
  1. % of Ownership Fully Diluted Section
This section helps to project the ownership percentage in a fully diluted scenario, taking into account all potential shares, including options. This ensures transparency around the impact of dilution and provides investors with a realistic view of their future ownership stakes.

Capitalisation Table

Track ownership stakes with clarity.

Download Capitalisation Table

  • Track company ownership structure clearly.
  • Manage equity distribution effectively always.
  • Understand founder and investor stakes.
  • Plan for future funding rounds.
  • Attract and retain top talent.

Frequently Asked Questions

For startups, a Cap Table is essential because it provides a clear picture of ownership stakes, which is critical during funding rounds, employee incentivisation, and strategic planning. It helps founders, investors, and employees understand who owns what and how future decisions, like issuing new shares, might affect ownership.
The template includes sections to track instruments like convertible debt, SAFE notes, or options that could result in future dilution. This helps businesses plan ahead and understand how future funding rounds may impact the ownership structure, allowing for better decision-making.
Common shares are typically held by founders and employees and usually come with voting rights. Preferred shares, often held by investors, may come with additional rights such as liquidation preferences or anti-dilution protections. The template helps you track both types separately to ensure clarity on the rights and privileges associated with each class of shares.
The Cap Table Template includes a dedicated section to track employee stock options. By managing the size of the employee option pool, companies can allocate equity incentives effectively to attract and retain top talent, while also monitoring how options will impact overall ownership over time.
Total shares represent the current number of shares outstanding, while fully diluted shares include potential shares from options, convertible debt, or other instruments that could convert into equity. The template calculates both, offering a comprehensive view of a company’s current and potential ownership structure.
Investors use the Cap Table to evaluate ownership stakes and make informed decisions about how much to invest. By providing a clear view of the current investor landscape and projected dilution, the template helps investors calculate their potential return on investment (ROI) and align it with their benchmarks.
Pro-forma analysis is used to project how future funding rounds or business exits (like acquisitions) will affect the ownership structure. By using the company’s current valuation and potential exit scenarios, investors and founders can estimate future equity distributions and plan accordingly.

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Capitalisation Table

Capitalization table template to track and manage company ownership stakes.

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