How Value8's Cap Table Keeps One Source of Truth

The product model: the cap table is the base, not an add-on

Value8's cap table is the underlying data set that every other Value8 module builds on, not a separate record a company keeps alongside its real ownership data. Stakeholders, share classes, instruments, transactions, and vesting schedules are entered once, here, and every downstream calculation (a 409A valuation, an ASC 718 expense run, a Section 102 filing, an exit waterfall model) reads from the same underlying records rather than a parallel copy a team has to keep in sync by hand.

Where it lives in the product

Setup starts under Working Data: Stakeholders for the people and entities that hold equity, Equity Structure -> Classes for defining share classes and their authorized share counts through a corporate filing, and Equity Structure -> Notes for SAFEs and convertible notes. Day-to-day activity is recorded under Working Data -> Transactions: Shares for original issuances and transfers, Awards for option and RSU grants, and Notes for note issuances and later conversions. Actions -> Vesting Templates defines reusable vesting schedules (a cliff plus a vesting frequency) that get attached to grants. The resulting cap table is read from Overview -> Cap Table, with a By Security Class view and a By Stakeholder view, KPI cards for total shares outstanding, stakeholders with holdings, and security classes, and column filters plus export for pulling any slice into a spreadsheet.

What it tracks

• Stakeholders. Founders, employees, investors, advisors, and funds. Every instrument on the cap table is owned by a stakeholder.
• Share classes. Common and preferred classes, each defined through a corporate filing with its own authorized share count, Original Issue Price, and preference terms. Issued shares are tracked against that authorized ceiling and can never exceed it.
• Instruments. Stock options and RSUs issued against an equity plan and a vesting template; warrants; SAFEs and convertible notes (Pre-Money SAFE, Post-Money SAFE, or Convertible Loan, each with its own valuation cap and conversion discount) recorded as instruments from issuance and converted to shares later, in a future priced round.
• Vesting. Each grant is attached to a vesting template (for example, a four-year schedule with a one-year cliff and monthly vesting after), and vests automatically against that schedule rather than requiring a manual recalculation.
• Transactions. Original issuances, grants, exercises, transfers, and note conversions, each generating the records (including a stock certificate on issuance) that make up the cap table's transaction history.

Ownership views

The cap table reads ownership two ways, matching how the underlying numbers are actually used: outstanding, counting only shares actually issued, and fully-diluted, which also counts unexercised options, the unallocated option pool, warrants, and convertibles as if they converted today. Since founders and investors typically negotiate on a fully-diluted basis, both views are available side by side rather than requiring a separate calculation to get from one to the other.

Downstream integration: one data set, several compliance and modeling outputs

Because every later process reads the same stakeholder, share class, instrument, and vesting records rather than a re-entered copy, the cap table is the common input behind several Value8 capabilities:

• 409A valuations. A 409A valuation allocates a company's total equity value across the share classes and preference terms already recorded on the cap table, rather than requiring that structure to be re-described for the appraisal.
• ASC 718 / IFRS 2 expensing. Value8 Ledger's ASC 718 module calculates stock-based compensation expense directly from the option and RSU grants and their vesting schedules recorded here, so the expense ties back to the same grant data without re-keying it into a separate system.
• Israeli Section 102. For companies granting equity to Israeli employees, Section 102 tracking is recorded per grant on the same cap table, so the compliance position and the underlying equity grant are never two different records.
• Exit waterfall modeling. Modeling how exit proceeds split across the liquidation preference stack reads each share class's actual preference terms from the cap table; it is a projection and does not change the underlying cap table.
• SAFEs and convertible notes. Conversion mechanics (valuation cap, discount, and the resulting share count) are calculated from the note's recorded terms and the cap table state at the time of conversion.

What this page does not claim

• No claim is made about pricing or which plan tier includes which feature (exit waterfall modeling, for example, sits behind an advanced modeling tier in the product); see pricing for current plan details.
• No claim is made that the cap table replaces legal review of a financing document, a corporate filing, or a note's terms; it records the resulting data accurately, it does not substitute for counsel drafting or reviewing the underlying agreement.
• No claim is made here about Value8 Ledger's accounting, tax, or securities-compliance features beyond how they read cap table data; see about Value8 Ledger and what Section 102 is for those modules themselves.