Equity
Equity is the core System that keeps the cap table of each Company: shares, SAFEs, options and their holders, grants, vesting and conversions.
Equity keeps each Company’s cap table: shares, SAFEs, options and their holders, with grants, vesting and conversions. Agents model rounds and draft the paperwork; a Human approves every issue of securities.
Summary
| Part | This System |
|---|---|
| Group | Legal and corporate |
| Status | Beta: it works, and its Verbs may still change |
| Shelf | Front: offered from a Startup’s first days |
You can ask:
- “Show me the cap table”
- “Grant this hire 10,000 options over four years”
- “Convert the SAFEs”
- “Who owns what after this round?”
What you get
| Part | This System |
|---|---|
| Starts | On for every Startup at creation, with nothing to install. |
| Built from | Database, Event streams, Workflows, Securities filings, Common stock valuation |
Nouns it owns
| Noun | Definition |
|---|---|
| Share | A Share is a unit of ownership in a Company, of one class, held by one Holder. |
| Instrument | An Instrument is a right to future ownership in a Company: a SAFE, a note, an option or a warrant. |
| Holder | A Holder is the Party that holds a Share or an Instrument on a Company’s cap table. |
Verbs
| Verb | Object | Approval | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share.issue | Share | Asks first; waits 1 business day | Share.issued |
| Share.transfer | Share | Asks first; waits 1 business hour | Share.transferred |
| Instrument.grant | Instrument | Asks first; waits 1 business hour | Instrument.granted |
| Instrument.convert | Instrument | Asks first; waits 1 business day | Instrument.converted |
| Instrument.exercise | Instrument | Asks first; waits 1 business hour | Instrument.exercised |
| Instrument.cancel | Instrument | Asks first; waits 1 business hour | Instrument.canceled |
Events
| Direction | Event | How |
|---|---|---|
| Emits | Share.issued | By Share.issue |
| Emits | Share.transferred | By Share.transfer |
| Emits | Instrument.granted | By Instrument.grant |
| Emits | Instrument.converted | By Instrument.convert |
| Emits | Instrument.exercised | By Instrument.exercise |
| Emits | Instrument.canceled | By Instrument.cancel |
States
The lifecycle of an Instrument:
| State | Meaning | Moves to |
|---|---|---|
outstanding (first) | Granted or issued and not yet turned into Shares. | converted by Instrument.convert; exercised by Instrument.exercise; canceled by Instrument.cancel |
converted | A SAFE or note turned into Shares at a priced round. | None: it ends here. |
exercised | Every Share it covers was bought at the strike price; a partial exercise keeps it outstanding. | None: it ends here. |
canceled | Ended unvested, expired or forfeited, with any option Shares back in the pool. | None: it ends here. |
Who operates it
| Part | This System |
|---|---|
| Accountable | Founder |
| Team | Founding Team |
| Seat | A role agent holds it until a Human is seated. |
| Autonomy | assist |
| Also calls its Verbs | Legal Lead |
Approvals and limits
| Verb | Rule | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Share.issue | A person says yes first | Waits 1 business day |
| Share.transfer | A person says yes first | Waits 1 business hour |
| Instrument.grant | A person says yes first | Waits 1 business hour |
| Instrument.convert | A person says yes first | Waits 1 business day |
| Instrument.exercise | A person says yes first | Waits 1 business hour |
| Instrument.cancel | A person says yes first | Waits 1 business hour |
Processes that use it
| Process | How it uses it |
|---|---|
| Incorporation | A step calls Share.issue |
Rail underneath
| Capability | Runs on |
|---|---|
| Securities filings | filings.legal |
Views and dashboards
| View | Shows | Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| Cap table | Every Holder’s Shares and Instruments, fully diluted. | None. |
| The Founder’s view | The Metrics its accountable Role answers for. | Outside revenue, Outside paying Customers, Days to first outside Order, Payment asks, Problem interviews, Committed ICP members, Weekly outside revenue growth, Default alive, Human hours per $1k outside revenue |
Access
What each Access level may call here.
| Access level | May call |
|---|---|
owner | Every Verb (14) |
admin | All but 6 of 14: Instrument.cancel, Instrument.convert, Instrument.exercise, Instrument.grant, Share.issue, Share.transfer |
member | All but 6 of 14: Instrument.cancel, Instrument.convert, Instrument.exercise, Instrument.grant, Share.issue, Share.transfer |
viewer | Read only (6 of 14) |
Import and export
None.
Fees and pricing
None.
Availability and limits
| Part | This System |
|---|---|
| Status | Beta: it works, and its Verbs may still change |
Compliance notes
Every grant and transfer follows a board Decision recorded in Corporate records; the round terms stay the founder’s.
Controls it carries:
- Log completeness
- Append-only records
- Point-in-time recovery
- Processing definitions
- Action completion
Related Systems
Example
A Services-as-Software Startup adds a cofounder with 20% on four-year vesting, then raises a $250,000 SAFE at an $8 million cap. Equity models the conversion at the next round and shows both founders their fully diluted stakes. It records each grant once the board approves it.