Ownership software needs one traceable path from approved instrument to current position
We design cap table software around approved securities, holders, transactions, vesting, conversions, cancellations, rounds, permissions, and reconciled ownership reports. Start by testing established platforms. Custom development fits when a material ownership, portfolio, workflow, data-residency, or integration requirement remains unsupported and the organisation can govern the ledger.
Bring the problem, the current workflow, or the existing code. We reply with a practical next step within one business day.
The brief
Start with what is not working.
Good software decisions begin with the constraint, not a list of features or a preferred technology.
01
Legal records, board approvals, spreadsheets, finance, and stakeholder reports disagree about the same holder, instrument, or transaction?
02
A financing or exit scenario cannot be reproduced because conversions, vesting, cancellations, or rule versions are implicit in one workbook?
Plain answer
Cap table software records approved securities, holders, issuances, transfers, vesting, conversions, cancellations, and financing scenarios in a reconciled ownership ledger. Established platforms fit most companies. Custom development is justified by a material portfolio, workflow, integration, or data-control gap, with focused releases starting at $45,000.
The spreadsheet balanced. The signed records told a different story.
A cancelled grant remained in one scenario, a conversion used an earlier term, and the holder statement matched neither the legal documents nor the board approval.
The cap table is dependable only when every position can be reconstructed from authorised events.
A cap table is an ownership ledger, not a scenario spreadsheet
Cap table software records entities, holders, instruments, authorised and issued amounts, transactions, vesting, exercises, conversions, cancellations, transfers, and adjustments. It should reconstruct a position at a chosen date and link material events to their approved source records.
Established products are the default because they package common instruments, holder workflows, reporting, and ecosystem support. Custom software earns its cost when a tested gap in portfolio structure, integration, control, or workflow matters enough to own. The software does not replace the legal record, board authority, filing, tax position, or adviser review.
A bounded cap-table offer
Entity or portfolio path first
1
Approved instruments, events, vesting, reconciliation, and reports
Indicative delivery weeks
14-20
After records, advisers, acceptance examples, and integrations are available
Starting investment
$45K
Focused ledger, workflow, access, scenarios, reporting, migration, and handover
RaftLabs does not cite a named cap-table result on this page. Buyers should assess event modelling, calculation tests, legal-source reconciliation, permissions, scenario separation, audit history, migration evidence, security, and operating ownership. Adjacent fintech or data work is not proof that an ownership record is correct.
Buy the common cap table. Build only the material exception.
Data control alone does not justify recreating a mature equity platform.
A fit
01
A portfolio, approval, reporting, integration, or residency requirement remains unsupported after product testing.
02
Legal, finance, tax, security, and technology owners can approve instruments, events, calculations, and outputs.
03
Approved records and representative difficult events are available for a focused release from $45,000.
Not a fit
01
An established cap-table product fits and only setup, migration, template work, or training is missing.
02
The team expects software engineers to interpret instruments, determine ownership, or provide legal or tax advice.
03
Signed records, board approvals, event authority, reconciliation owners, or source data are incomplete.
Bounded scope
What a controlled ownership workflow may include
01
Instrument and event ledger
Model client-approved instrument types and append authorised issuance,
transfer, vesting, exercise, conversion, cancellation, repurchase, and
correction events. Preserve effective date, source document, approval, author,
version, and reason so positions can be reconstructed without editing history
in place.
02
Vesting and ownership calculations
Calculate positions from approved terms, schedules, events, and dates. Keep
granted, vested, exercisable, exercised, cancelled, converted, and outstanding
states distinct. Test rounding, dates, amendments, partial events, and
corrections with client-provided expected results.
03
Scenario and transaction workspace
Copy a locked snapshot into a hypothetical financing or exit workspace. Apply
explicit assumptions and compare versions without changing current ownership.
Restrict sensitive scenarios, label them clearly, and record reviewers. Move
only approved executed events into the ledger.
04
Stakeholder reports and controls
Provide approved statements, summaries, exports, documents, and notices by
role. Include identity, least privilege, access review, revocation, audit,
retention, backups, incident response, monitoring, reconciliation queues, and
controlled support access.
Choose the cap-table path
Approach
Use it when
Established cap-table platform
Use common equity functions and ecosystem support
Its instruments, jurisdiction, workflows, controls, and price fit.
Portfolio data integration
Keep company systems of record
A fund or office needs governed aggregation and reporting across holdings.
Scenario tool
Model proposed transactions separately
The need is analysis, not a new legal ownership system.
Custom cap-table platform
Own the ledger and workflow
A material gap justifies long-term legal, security, and product governance.
Reconcile events before calculating scenarios
Migration should begin with the approved source hierarchy: formation and governing records, board and holder approvals, instrument documents, transaction evidence, prior statements, filings, and the current workbook or platform. Conflicts enter an adviser-owned exception queue. Software cannot decide which record prevails.
Scenarios use a dated, locked starting position and explicit assumptions. They should show inputs, calculation version, rounding, exclusions, and uncertainty. A hypothetical financing, conversion, or waterfall must never appear as current ownership, a legal entitlement, tax treatment, or promised proceeds.
Delivery
From approved ownership record to a reconciled release
Four phases keep legal authority and financial validation with accountable client owners.
Phase 1
01
Define entity instrument and authority
Choose one entity or portfolio workflow, approved records, instruments,
transactions, users, reports, legal owners, and acceptance criteria.
Phase 2
02
Model history and difficult events
Run representative issuances, transfers, vesting, exercises, conversions,
cancellations, corrections, rounds, and scenarios through a prototype.
Use append-only authorised events, dated snapshots, versioned calculations, linked source records, review, reconciliation, and correction entries.
Scenario separation
Keep assumptions and hypothetical outputs isolated, labelled, permissioned, reviewable, and unable to alter current ownership.
Sensitive data
Define tenant and entity isolation, least privilege, exports, notices, logs, retention, deletion, backups, incidents, and support access.
Scope and price
A focused cap-table release starts at $45,000.
Start with one entity or portfolio workflow, approved event types, reconciliation, and reports.
The estimate separates platform comparison, legal, tax and accounting advice, filings, data remediation, hosting, security, support, and rule ownership.
Starting investment
Starts at $45,000
Focused releases usually take fourteen to twenty weeks. Several entities, instruments, jurisdictions, portals, waterfalls, or large migrations add scope.
Established platforms stay in the decision
If a supported cap-table product fits representative events, we recommend
it.
No ownership opinion
RaftLabs implements approved records and calculations; it does not provide
legal, securities, tax, accounting, or investment advice.
Most companies should use an established platform because common instruments, filings, stakeholder communications, and ecosystem integrations are difficult to maintain. Custom development fits when a material portfolio, approval, data-residency, reporting, or integration need remains unsupported and accountable legal and finance owners can fund ongoing rule, security, and reconciliation work.
It can model instruments and events defined and approved by the client's qualified legal and finance advisers. Terms, jurisdiction, amendments, conversions, vesting, cancellations, exercises, tax treatment, and disclosures vary. RaftLabs implements the approved data and calculation contract; it does not draft instruments, interpret legal rights, or provide tax, securities, or accounting advice.
A scenario starts from a locked ownership snapshot and applies explicit client-approved assumptions for the proposed transaction, price, pool, conversion, preference, dilution, or waterfall. It remains separate from the legal ledger until authorised events occur. Users can compare versions, inputs, and outputs without presenting a hypothetical result as current ownership or guaranteed proceeds.
Yes. Roles can restrict entities, instruments, documents, transactions, scenarios, reports, and personal data. Stakeholder views should expose only approved information. Access needs strong identity, least privilege, review, revocation, logging, export controls, retention, incident response, and support boundaries because ownership records and documents are sensitive.
A focused ownership-ledger release starts at $45,000 and usually takes fourteen to twenty weeks. Several entities, jurisdictions, instrument types, complex waterfalls, stakeholder portals, document workflows, large migration, or external integrations add scope. Platform comparison, legal and tax advice, filings, data remediation, hosting, security, and support remain separate.
Work with us
Which ownership requirement cannot fit an established platform?
Bring the entity structure, approved instruments and records, transaction history, reconciliation examples, scenarios, user roles, outputs, advisers, and control requirement.
Scope and cost agreed before work starts. No surprises. No obligation.
Working prototype within 3 weeks of kickoff.
Pay by milestone. You see progress before each invoice.
60-day post-launch warranty. Bug fixes, UI tweaks, and deployment support. No retainer.