Cap table
The ledger of who owns what percentage of a company — every shareholder, option holder and convertible instrument.
A capitalization table (cap table) lists every equity stake in a company: founders, employees with stock options, and every investor across every round, along with the type of security they hold (common stock, preferred stock, SAFEs, notes, option pools). It's the single source of truth for who owns how much of the company, and how new funding or an exit will dilute or pay out each holder.
Cap tables get more complex with every financing round — each new round typically dilutes everyone who held shares before it, unless they have pro-rata rights or anti-dilution protection written into their terms. A "clean" cap table (few, well-documented instruments) is generally easier to raise a new round on than a messy one with dozens of small, unconverted SAFEs stacked at different terms.
Why it matters
Before investing — whether as an angel or diligencing a fund's portfolio company — ask to see the cap table. It tells you how diluted you're likely to get in future rounds, and whether the company has taken on so much SAFE debt-equivalent that a future priced round will surprise early holders.