# Cap Table Template 2026: Free Example for Excel and Google Sheets

> A ready-to-use cap table template with a worked example: two founders, a SAFE, a seed round and a Series A with an option pool top-up. Export it as CSV for Excel or Google Sheets.

Resources · 31 October 2026 · by Giorgio Fenancio · https://privateequitylist.com/intelligence/cap-table-template

**Key takeaways**

- **The short answer:** a cap table lists every shareholder and option holder, how many shares each holds and what share of the company that is on a fully diluted basis. The template below covers founders, an option pool, SAFEs, a seed round and a Series A.
- **Use it as a spreadsheet:** the CSV button above the template exports it for Excel or Google Sheets, with the worked example already filled in.
- **Typical founder stake:** the median founding team owns about 56% after the seed round and 36% after the Series A, according to Carta's 2026 Founder Ownership Report.
- **Typical round:** on median, software startups sold 18% of the company at seed and 18% at Series A in the first half of 2026 (Carta).
- **Two traps:** a SAFE is ownership already sold, so it belongs on the cap table before it converts; and an option pool added inside the pre-money comes out of the founders' share, not the new investor's.

- **56%**: founders' share after seed (median, Carta 2026)
- **36%**: founders' share after Series A (median, Carta 2026)
- **18%**: of the company sold at seed (median, software, H1 2026)
- **12.1%**: employee pool at seed (median, Carta 2026)

**Founding team ownership by stage, median**

| | Value |
|---|---:|
| Seed | 56% |
| Series A | 36% |
| Series C | 16.1% |

Source: Carta Founder Ownership Report 2026, rounds raised 2021–2025

**Share of the company sold in a round, median**

| | Value |
|---|---:|
| Seed | 18% |
| Series A | 18% |
| Series B | 12% |

Source: Carta, software rounds in the first half of 2026

## Cap table template: a startup after its Series A

The template shows Example Co. after four steps: two founders set up the company with a 10% option pool, two angels invest $750K on a SAFE, a seed fund invests $3M and a Series A lead invests $10M. Every number follows from the round terms in the next sections, so you can replace them with your own.

<div class="intel__tablewrap">
<table class="intel__table">
<thead><tr><th>Holder</th><th>Share class</th><th>Shares</th><th>% fully diluted</th><th>Price per share</th><th>Invested</th></tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Founder A</td><td>Common</td><td>4,500,000</td><td>24.44%</td><td>$0.0001</td><td>$450</td></tr>
<tr><td>Founder B</td><td>Common</td><td>4,500,000</td><td>24.44%</td><td>$0.0001</td><td>$450</td></tr>
<tr><td>Angel A</td><td>Series Seed preferred, from a SAFE</td><td>740,741</td><td>4.02%</td><td>$0.675</td><td>$500,000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Angel B</td><td>Series Seed preferred, from a SAFE</td><td>370,370</td><td>2.01%</td><td>$0.675</td><td>$250,000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Seed fund</td><td>Series Seed preferred</td><td>2,777,778</td><td>15.09%</td><td>$1.08</td><td>$3,000,000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Series A lead</td><td>Series A preferred</td><td>3,682,540</td><td>20.00%</td><td>$2.7155</td><td>$10,000,000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Employees, granted options</td><td>Options</td><td>600,000</td><td>3.26%</td><td>—</td><td>—</td></tr>
<tr><td>Unissued option pool</td><td>Options</td><td>1,241,270</td><td>6.74%</td><td>—</td><td>—</td></tr>
</tbody>
<tfoot><tr><td>Total</td><td></td><td>18,412,699</td><td>100%</td><td></td><td>$13,750,900</td></tr></tfoot>
</table>
</div>

**Export:** the CSV button above the table downloads the rows in their current order. Open the file in Excel or Google Sheets and replace the example with your own holders.\
**Sort and filter:** click a column header to sort by shares or ownership; type a name or a share class in the filter box to see one group.

## How to fill in each column

**Holder:** one row per person or fund. Keep the unissued option pool as its own row, because investors count it as already given away.\
**Share class:** common for founders and employees; each priced round usually creates its own class of preferred shares. A SAFE turns into the preferred class of the round it converts in.\
**Shares:** the number issued or promised. For options, use the number granted plus the pool that is still unissued.\
**% fully diluted:** shares divided by the total of all shares, options and the unissued pool. In a spreadsheet: `=C2/C$10` if the total sits in C10.\
**Price per share:** what each holder paid. In a priced round it is the pre-money valuation divided by the fully diluted shares before the round.\
**Invested:** shares times price for priced rounds; the purchase amount for SAFEs.

## Cap table example: from founding to Series A, round by round

<div class="intel__tablewrap">
<table class="intel__table">
<thead><tr><th>Step</th><th>Terms</th><th>Price per share</th><th>New shares</th><th>Shares after</th><th>Founders after</th></tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Founding</td><td>Two founders, 4.5M shares each, 1M-share option pool</td><td>$0.0001</td><td>10,000,000</td><td>10,000,000</td><td>90.0%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Pre-seed SAFE</td><td>$750K on a post-money SAFE, $7.5M valuation cap</td><td>$0.675 at conversion</td><td>1,111,111</td><td>11,111,111</td><td>81.0%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Seed</td><td>$3M raised at a $12M pre-money, $15M post-money</td><td>$1.08</td><td>2,777,778</td><td>13,888,889</td><td>64.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Series A</td><td>$10M at a $40M pre-money, pool topped up to 10% of the post-money</td><td>$2.7155</td><td>3,682,540 + 841,270 options</td><td>18,412,699</td><td>48.9%</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>

<div class="intel__tablewrap">
<table class="intel__table">
<thead><tr><th>Holder</th><th>After founding</th><th>Before the seed money</th><th>After seed</th><th>After Series A</th></tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Founders</td><td>90.0%</td><td>81.0%</td><td>64.8%</td><td>48.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Option pool</td><td>10.0%</td><td>9.0%</td><td>7.2%</td><td>10.0%</td></tr>
<tr><td>SAFE angels</td><td>—</td><td>10.0%</td><td>8.0%</td><td>6.0%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Seed fund</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>20.0%</td><td>15.1%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Series A lead</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>—</td><td>20.0%</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>

**Seed price:** $12M pre-money divided by 11,111,111 fully diluted shares before the money gives $1.08. The $3M buys 2,777,778 new shares, 20% of the company after the round.\
**Series A price:** the $40M pre-money is spread over the shares before the round plus the new options, which gives $2.7155. The $10M buys 3,682,540 shares, 20% after the round.\
**Founders:** 90% at founding, 64.8% after the seed and 48.9% after the Series A. The example founders own more than the median because they started with 90% and raised one SAFE; the [dilution calculator](https://privateequitylist.com/intelligence/dilution-calculator) runs the same steps with your own numbers.

## How a SAFE shows up on the cap table

**What the angels bought:** $750K on a post-money SAFE with a $7.5M cap. [Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/documents), which wrote the standard, says the ownership sold equals the investment divided by the valuation cap. Here that is 10%.\
**When it counts:** the 10% is measured just before the seed money comes in, on all shares including the option pool and the SAFE's own shares. That gives 1,111,111 shares at $0.675 each.\
**After the seed:** the new $3M dilutes everyone, the SAFE holders included, so their 10% becomes 8.0%.\
**On your sheet:** list each SAFE from the day it is signed, with its amount and cap. Leaving SAFEs off until they convert is how founders overestimate their own stake.

## The option pool shuffle: why a new pool costs founders more

**What happens:** the Series A lead asks for an unissued pool of 10% after the round, and the new options are counted in the $40M pre-money.\
**The cost:** 841,270 new options at $2.7155 are worth about $2.3M. Existing holders share a pre-money of about $37.7M, not $40M.\
**For the founders:** 48.9% after the round with the top-up, against 51.2% if the lead had bought the same shares with no new pool.\
**What to negotiate:** size the pool from a hiring plan for the next 12 to 18 months rather than a round number, and count the options already promised.

## How much founders own after each round

**After the seed:** the median founding team keeps about 56% of the fully diluted equity, based on rounds raised from 2021 through 2025 ([Carta Founder Ownership Report 2026](https://carta.com/data/founder-ownership-2026/)).\
**After the Series A:** the median falls to 36%. Founders in digital industries keep 37.5%; in physical industries, 30.5%.\
**After the Series B:** the median AI founding team holds 27.3%, a non-AI team 21.8%.\
**After the Series C:** the median employee pool, 16.8%, is larger than the median founding team's stake, 16.1%.\
**Per round:** in software rounds of the first half of 2026, the median seed and Series A each sold 18% of the company and the Series B 12% ([Carta, July 2026](https://carta.com/data/linkedin-archive/)).

## Common cap table mistakes

**Leaving out the unissued pool:** investors price on a fully diluted basis, so a table without the pool overstates everyone's share.\
**Leaving out SAFEs and notes:** they are ownership already sold; show them at their cap.\
**Mixing pre-money and post-money:** a $12M pre-money with $3M raised is a $15M post-money; the new investor's share is $3M divided by $15M.\
**Rounding too early:** keep share counts whole and round percentages only for display; four decimals on the price per share is enough.\
**Not updating after grants:** every option grant moves shares from the unissued pool to a named holder; the total stays the same.

## Excel or Google Sheets: the formulas you need

**Ownership:** `% fully diluted = shares ÷ total fully diluted shares`.\
**Price per share in a priced round:** `pre-money valuation ÷ fully diluted shares before the round` (including any new pool counted in the pre-money).\
**New investor shares:** `amount raised ÷ price per share`.\
**Post-money valuation:** `pre-money + amount raised`.\
**SAFE at a post-money cap:** the holder's share before the round is `purchase amount ÷ cap`; its shares are `share × shares before the SAFE ÷ (1 − share)`. In the example: 10% × 10,000,000 ÷ 0.9 = 1,111,111.\
**Next step:** to see what your current terms do to your stake, use the [dilution calculator](https://privateequitylist.com/intelligence/dilution-calculator). For the return investors expect on that equity, see the [cost of equity calculator](https://privateequitylist.com/intelligence/cost-of-equity-calculator).

## Find investors for the round on your cap table

**Seed:** the [seed investors list](https://privateequitylist.com/investors/seed) can be filtered by sector, country and cheque size.\
**Series A:** the [Series A investors list](https://privateequitylist.com/investors/series-a) works the same way.\
**Who has fresh money:** funds that closed recently are listed in the [new funds tracker](https://privateequitylist.com/new-vc-funds).\
**Your own shortlist:** in [search](https://privateequitylist.com/search), combine stage, sector, country and cheque size, then export the list.

## Data and methodology

**Example Co.:** an illustrative company, not Private Equity List data. Every share count and price in the tables is calculated from the round terms shown, with share counts rounded to whole shares.\
**SAFE:** converted as a post-money SAFE, following Y Combinator's standard: ownership equals the purchase amount divided by the valuation cap, measured just before the priced round.\
**Benchmarks:** founder ownership comes from Carta's Founder Ownership Report 2026 (rounds raised 2021–2025); the share sold per round comes from Carta's July 2026 benchmark of software rounds in the previous six months. Both are linked in the text.

## FAQ

### What is a cap table?

A cap table, short for capitalisation table, lists every shareholder and option holder in a company, how many shares each holds and what percentage of the company that is on a fully diluted basis. Founders, employees with options, the unissued option pool, SAFE holders and investors from each round all appear on it.

### What should a startup cap table include?

One row per holder with the share class, number of shares, percentage on a fully diluted basis, price per share and amount invested. It should also include the unissued option pool and every SAFE or convertible note, even before they convert, because investors count both as ownership already given away.

### How do I make a cap table in Excel or Google Sheets?

List each holder in a row with their shares, then divide each row by the total of all shares, options and the unissued pool to get the fully diluted percentage. For a priced round, divide the pre-money valuation by the fully diluted shares before the round to get the price per share, and divide the amount raised by that price to get the new shares. The template on this page can be exported as CSV and opened in either program.

### How do SAFEs show up on a cap table?

On a post-money SAFE, the holder's ownership before the next priced round equals the purchase amount divided by the valuation cap, so $750,000 at a $7.5M cap is 10%. The SAFE turns into preferred shares in that round and is then diluted by the new money like everyone else, falling to 8% in the example on this page.

### How much equity do founders usually keep after a Series A?

Carta's 2026 Founder Ownership Report puts the median founding team at about 56% of fully diluted equity after the seed round and 36% after the Series A, based on rounds raised from 2021 through 2025. Founders in digital industries keep 37.5% at Series A on median, against 30.5% in physical industries.