A cap table, short for capitalization table, is a document that details who has ownership in a company. It is a comprehensive listing of what an investor would want to know about a companys ownership, including all the securities or number of shares of a company, how much investors paid for them, and each investors percentage of ownership in the company. A cap table is most commonly utilized for startups and early-stage businesses but all types of companies may use it as well. It is a key due diligence document for investors, as it helps them manage company stock options and how much employees can be granted from the stock pool. Cap tables are important because they tell you who owns how much of your company, which can affect everything from how you price future fundraising rounds to dilution of your ownership percentage to who needs to sign off on major company decisions. Cap tables are widely used by entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and investment bankers to model and analyze events such as ownership dilution, issuing employee stock options, or issuing new securities. Cap tables usually include a list of names or groups (founders, investors, common stockholders, etc.) on one axis and details around what they own (what type of securities, how many they own, when they invested, etc.) on the other axis.