Capitalization Table (Cap Table)

Category: business

A document, typically a spreadsheet, that provides an overview of a company’s ownership structure.

The cap table details every shareholder, their percentage of ownership, the number of shares held, and the price paid per share. It is the definitive record used during funding rounds and exit events to calculate exactly who gets paid what, and in what order (liquidation preference), when the company sells.

Common Examples

• We spent weeks cleaning up the cap table before the Series-B round, resolving lingering issues with early-stage founder equity vesting schedules.
• A messy cap table with too many "dead-weight" minority investors can kill a potential acquisition deal, as it complicates the final payout distribution.