The Rough Start Guide to Building a Capitalization Table (Hardcover)
Language: English
Published by Rhubarb Bridge Ltd, 2026
- Hardcover
- New
Seller: CitiRetail, Stevenage, United KingdomCitiRetail
AbeBooks seller since June 29, 2022
Condition: New
£ 41.49
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Hardcover. The Rough Start Guide to Building a Capitalization Table is a practical, hard-headed guide to startup ownership for founders, operators, and early employees who want to understand what the numbers really mean before the next round, the next hire, or the next big mistake. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.
Seller Inventory # 9781918712049
- Title
- The Rough Start Guide to Building a Capitalization Table (Hardcover)
- Author
- PRSC Whitley
- Publisher
- Rhubarb Bridge Ltd
- Publication year
- 2026
- Condition
- new
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1918712042
- ISBN 13
- 9781918712049
The Rough Start Guide to Building a Cap Table is a serious, detailed guide for founders, startup operators, early employees, and anyone trying to understand how startup ownership really works before it starts working against them.
Most people hear the language of equity, dilution, founder shares, option pools, SAFEs, convertible notes, venture capital, term sheets, and exits long before they truly understand what those things mean in practice. This book is built to close that gap. It explains capitalization tables not as dry admin, but as one of the central structures that shape power, fundraising, hiring, control, dilution, investor rights, and long-term company outcomes.
This book takes the reader through the full life of a cap table, from the first founder split to later-stage financing pressure. It explores vesting, dead equity, employee stock options, fully diluted ownership, startup fundraising, preferred shares, liquidation preference, pro rata rights, anti-dilution, down rounds, waterfalls, secondary sales, and exit economics. It shows how a company can look healthy on paper while hiding future problems in its ownership structure, and why founders must understand not just percentages but the rights and strategic consequences underneath them.
Written in a dense but accessible style, this guide is designed for readers who want more than startup clichés. It is for people who want to understand how equity compensation works, how venture capital changes a company, how term sheets affect founder control, how dilution accumulates, and why a cap table is one of the clearest records of what a company really believes about value, risk, power, and reward.
Whether you are preparing to launch a startup, raise investment, issue employee equity, negotiate a SAFE, model a priced round, or simply understand your company's ownership before the next financing event, this book gives you a practical framework for reading the table clearly and making better decisions.
Inside this book, you will learn about:
Founder equity and cofounder splits
Vesting and dead equity
Employee stock options and option pools
SAFEs and convertible notes
Dilution and fully diluted ownership
Term sheets and investor rights
Preferred shares and liquidation preference
Pro rata rights and anti-dilution protection
Down rounds and exit waterfalls
Secondary sales and founder liquidity
Ownership culture, cap table repair, and long-term strategy
This is not a book about vague startup inspiration. It is a working guide to cap tables, startup finance, venture capital, founder equity, and equity compensation for people who want to build companies with clearer structure and fewer expensive surprises.
Five key economic terms covered in this book:
Capitalization table
Dilution
Liquidation preference
Anti-dilution
Fully diluted ownership
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
CitiRetail
Stevenage, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since June 29, 2022
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 7 to 14 business days | 7 to 60 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 37.00 | £ 37.00 |
Payment methods
Store description
Online business
Seller's business information
ABC BOOKS LIMITED
10 John Street
London, United Kingdom WC1N 2EB
Terms of sale
Orders can be returned within 30 days of receipt.
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to CitiRetail, Stevenage, United Kingdom, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Please note that titles are dispatched from our US, Canadian or Australian warehouses. Delivery times specified in shipping terms. Orders ship within 2 business days. Delivery to your door then takes 7-14 days.