the.com/cap table
the spreadsheet that quietly decides who gets rich when the company doesn't die.
means a ledger showing who owns what percentage of a company, across founders, investors, and employees, and how that changes with every funding round.
from short for capitalization table, born in venture finance where lawyers and founders needed one document to track equity as shares got diluted round after round.
dilution mathevery new round shrinks everyone's slice, on paper
vesting hides hereunvested shares still count, until they don't
messy ones kill dealsacquirers walk from cap tables that don't add up