Why? Would it even make a difference if you could see it?
Isn't it pretty much up to the founder and board whether you get diluted (and how much) in the future, and whether any number you see there continues to be accurate (for your own purposes, or others in the table) or not? And unless you're one of the top people at the company, your net worth is going to ride largely on how much of a success the company becomes, not your particular % / exact small share of it.
The VCs and next funders care about the exact numbers. What would you do, use it to negotiate more?
I suppose you could take it as some indication, but it's by no means some kind of binding assurance of the future. This is a thing I have a fundamental gripe about SV startup practices -- there are a lot of things associated with being employed at one that have the appearance of legal obligations and securities regulations to the novice eye, but under the surface they are not at all, and you are largely at them whim of whoever owns the company. The value of your options could evaporate in practice, even though you hold "100,000" of them (either through decline in company's future, or active dilution, or the CEO just doesn't like you).
Or am I exaggerating what I feel after a decade in the area?
There are a lot of questions that people ask, where I feel, is it even meaningful information you would act on or are you trying to feel better about something? (see all the useless 20-year-old-something comments/questions in threads after some company CEO announces the possibility of layoffs... "Can you share the exact formula by which people will be laid off?" "Why are you doing this in successive rounds and not all at once?" etc. etc. What would you do even if you knew the answer?? )
The cap table tells you who else thinks the company is worth something at that stage. It can be a great indication not of like future dilution, but of who else is on board.
If you take the lotto ticket perspective, you should do everything you can to maximize your odds and part of that is doing as much diligence as you can on the company.
If I were joining as a first/early engineer, or at a senior level - particularly early stage - I'd want to see the cap table.
But then all you care about is the names, not the $ figures they’ve invested and the % they received, is that right? If you assume that any deal with some VC entails a certain $ amount minimum of interest, why don’t I just show you the press release of who’s invested then?
I think that's fair, yeah. There's some value especially early on in terms of feeling trusted by your new coworkers, etc, but the bulk of it IMO comes from the names.
Yep, this is 100% accurate. Unless you hold a founding partner sized stake, you have no influence over the cap table and it's going to change drastically with each round of investment anyway.
Startup options are about as valuable as lottery tickets - worthless, unless by some lucky chance they're not worthless.
> Isn't it pretty much up to the founder and board whether you get diluted (and how much) in the future
Yes, but if your grant is in the same class as all the other regular folks (vs founders, C-suite, and investors), your protection, such that it is, is that the founders want to keep their good reputation.
If they choose to dilute the normal stock classes to nothing for their own benefit, word gets around and it will be much harder for them to hire at their next startup. If they have no other choice than dilution to keep the company afloat, and can demonstrate that to the rank and file, that's still a negative signal, but less of one.
Isn't it pretty much up to the founder and board whether you get diluted (and how much) in the future, and whether any number you see there continues to be accurate (for your own purposes, or others in the table) or not? And unless you're one of the top people at the company, your net worth is going to ride largely on how much of a success the company becomes, not your particular % / exact small share of it.
The VCs and next funders care about the exact numbers. What would you do, use it to negotiate more?
I suppose you could take it as some indication, but it's by no means some kind of binding assurance of the future. This is a thing I have a fundamental gripe about SV startup practices -- there are a lot of things associated with being employed at one that have the appearance of legal obligations and securities regulations to the novice eye, but under the surface they are not at all, and you are largely at them whim of whoever owns the company. The value of your options could evaporate in practice, even though you hold "100,000" of them (either through decline in company's future, or active dilution, or the CEO just doesn't like you).
Or am I exaggerating what I feel after a decade in the area?
There are a lot of questions that people ask, where I feel, is it even meaningful information you would act on or are you trying to feel better about something? (see all the useless 20-year-old-something comments/questions in threads after some company CEO announces the possibility of layoffs... "Can you share the exact formula by which people will be laid off?" "Why are you doing this in successive rounds and not all at once?" etc. etc. What would you do even if you knew the answer?? )