Long-horizon business incubation and consulting

Tool

Cap table explainer

The shares you hold, the shares others hold and the new shares in. Ownership before and after out, with every division shown.

What the cap table explainer works out Share counts go in; your ownership before and after the new shares comes out as two divisions.

You put in

  • Shares you hold
  • Shares others hold
  • Shares to issue

Calculate Divides before and after

You get back

  • Your ownership before
  • Your ownership after
  • Every division shown

Diagram: World Enterprise Group Incorporated. Illustrative: it shows the working, not any figure of yours.

Your numbers stay on this page. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere, and nothing is put in the address bar.

Shares

Count whole shares from your own cap table. The new shares go to someone else, not to you.

Whole shares, as your own cap table shows them.

Every issued share that is not yours, as a whole number.

Whole shares to issue to someone else. Enter 0 to see no change.

Your ownership today
Waiting
Enter Shares you hold, Other shares already issued to see this.
An illustration from your inputs, not advice.
Your ownership after the issue
Waiting
Enter Shares you hold, Other shares already issued, New shares to issue to see this.
An illustration from your inputs, not advice.
Change in your ownership
Waiting
Enter Shares you hold, Other shares already issued, New shares to issue to see this.
An illustration from your inputs, not advice.
Shares issued after the issue
Waiting
Enter Shares you hold, Other shares already issued, New shares to issue to see this.
An illustration from your inputs, not advice.

How each number is worked out

Every result above comes from the formula in this table. Whichever you report, say which one you used and what you assumed.

Formulas and assumptions of the explainer
ResultFormulaAssumptions
Your ownership today Shares you hold divided by all issued shares, which is your shares plus the other shares already issued, shown as a percent.
  • Only issued shares are counted.
  • Every share counts the same, whatever its class.
Your ownership after the issue Shares you hold divided by all issued shares once the new shares are added, shown as a percent.
  • The new shares go to someone else.
  • Nothing else changes: no share is bought back, sold or cancelled.
Change in your ownership Your ownership after the issue less your ownership today, in percentage points.
  • The difference is worked from the unrounded figures, then rounded.
  • A negative change means the shares you hold are a smaller part of a larger total.
Shares issued after the issue Your shares, plus the other shares already issued, plus the new shares.
  • Whole shares only.

Your numbers stay on this page

The explainer works in your browser. It sends nothing, it saves nothing, and it does not put your numbers in the address bar, so closing the tab removes them. The page makes no request after it loads, and you can confirm that in your browser’s network panel.

What the results are not

The results are arithmetic on the numbers you typed. They are not advice, a forecast, or a statement about whether anyone will invest, and WE makes no promise of funding. The explainer cannot tell whether an entry matches your signed documents. It counts shares only, so it cannot tell you what to issue, to whom or on what terms.

How issuing shares changes ownership

Your ownership is the number of shares you hold divided by all the shares issued. When the company issues new shares to someone else, the number you hold stays the same, but it becomes a smaller part of a larger total, so your ownership falls. That fall is often called dilution. The explainer shows each division and the change, so you can check them by hand.

What it counts and leaves out

The explainer counts issued shares only. Options, promised options and any other right to shares are left out, because they are not yet shares. A fully diluted count adds them in. The article on cap table basics explains what that count contains.

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