Keep your cap table clean and free until it’s time to raise or sell.
Track who owns what: founders, options, SAFEs, and your first priced round. When an offer comes in, the same records show what everyone takes home. You don’t pay for software built for later-stage companies before you need it.
Starting fresh? Set up your cap table yourself in a few minutes.
Already on Pulley, Carta or a spreadsheet? We’ll move it with you on a call, free.
Kestrel Robotics
Delaware C-corp · Seed
| Holder | Shares | FD % |
|---|---|---|
Maya ChenCommon Co-founder, CEO | 45.0% | |
Dev PatelCommon Co-founder, CTO | 35.0% | |
EmployeesOptions 4 grants · 4 yr / 1 yr cliff | 6.0% | |
Unallocated poolPool Reserved for future hires | 4.0% | |
Seed SAFEsSAFE 3 investors · $1.5M at $15M post-money cap | 10.0% | |
| Total | 100.0% |
An example seed-stage cap table. The SAFE is shown as-converted at its cap.
How it fits together
Your cap table stays private. Your deal is safe to share.
Day to day you keep one living record, with real names. When a round or an offer needs modeling, you take a frozen, anonymized snapshot of it. That snapshot goes into the waterfall engine, where you can try scenarios and bring in counsel, bankers or a buyer without exposing anyone’s personal details.
1 · Company workspace
Kestrel Robotics
Securities ledger · append-only
- 2025-02-03Issue4,500,000 Common → Maya Chen
- 2025-02-03Issue3,500,000 Common → Dev Patel
- 2025-06-12Grant600,000 Options · 4 grants → Employees
- 2026-03-20SAFE$1.5M @ $15M post → 3 investors
Stakeholder register
| Maya Chenmaya@kestrel.ai | 45.0% |
| Dev Pateldev@kestrel.ai | 35.0% |
| Employees (4) | 6.0% |
| Seed SAFEs (3) | 10.0% |
2 · Snapshot gate
Freeze
A copy of the cap table as of Jun 30, 2027.
Strip personal data
Names and emails become pseudonyms. Positions and terms are unchanged.
Record provenance
Source company and as-of date, so every deal traces back.
One way only
Later ledger edits never leak into a deal. Re-snapshot for a new version.
Pseudonymized
- Maya ChenHolder A
- Dev PatelHolder B
- Employees (4)Option pool 1
The key stays in the company workspace.
3 · Deal room
Project Kestrel · as of Jun 30, 2027
Cap table in the deal
Waterfall engine
+ price, cash/stock, escrow, earnoutPreferences
by seniority
Participation
caps & multiples
Common
as-converted
What-if scenarios · each run frozen
Low
$15.00M
Base
$40.00M
Stretch
$120.00M
Outside parties see pseudonyms only
- Your counselEditor
- BankerEditor
- BuyerViewer
Names come back in one place only
When the deal closes, the company owner joins the frozen results to the key to generate the files that need real names. Nobody in the deal room ever sees them.
Why free, and why us
Small companies need a correct record, not a compliance department.
You need an accurate record from the first grant onward, and one that holds up when a buyer's lawyers go through it. That's what we give away.
The spreadsheet breaks at the worst time
It works for two founders. Then come the first SAFE, the first grant and the first diligence request, and nobody is sure which tab is right.
You're paying for things you don't need yet
Paid cap table plans bundle 409As, e-signature and compliance work, and they're priced for it. A ten-person company mostly needs an accurate record.
Exit math is behind a sales call
The question founders care most about, “what do I get if we sell?”, usually sits in a top plan. It's what we do best, so it's free here.
Why we can afford to do this: Merger Waterfall is built for the moment a company is sold. At that point the cap table becomes a waterfall, and that part is what we charge for. If your records are clean from day one, getting to that point is easier for you and for us.
What's in the free plan
Everything a company needs before its Series A.
The work founders actually do: issue, grant, raise, check, and share. No per-seat trial clock.
| Feature | What it does | Why it matters now | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
A cap table you can trust Every issuance, grant, exercise, transfer and cancellation is kept as a dated entry. The table on any date is rebuilt from those entries, so it's never edited by hand. | Every issuance, grant, exercise, transfer and cancellation is kept as a dated entry. The table on any date is rebuilt from those entries, so it's never edited by hand. | When an investor asks what the cap table looked like on the day they signed, you can answer. | Free at launch |
Every security type Common, preferred, options, warrants, SAFEs (pre- and post-money) and convertible notes. Outstanding and fully diluted, by class and by holder. | Common, preferred, options, warrants, SAFEs (pre- and post-money) and convertible notes. Outstanding and fully diluted, by class and by holder. | Your first SAFE is where spreadsheets usually break. Here it's normal from the first day. | Free at launch |
Option pool & vesting Reserve a pool, make grants on a 4-year / 1-year-cliff preset or a custom schedule, and handle exercises and terminations. Returned shares go back to the pool. | Reserve a pool, make grants on a 4-year / 1-year-cliff preset or a custom schedule, and handle exercises and terminations. Returned shares go back to the pool. | You'll know how much pool is left before you make an offer. | Free at launch |
Stakeholder portal A read-only link for each holder showing only their own holdings, their vesting, and what their stake is worth at a price they choose. | A read-only link for each holder showing only their own holdings, their vesting, and what their stake is worth at a price they choose. | Your team stops asking what their options are worth. They can look it up. | Free at launch |
Migration, done with you Bring a Pulley or Carta export or your own spreadsheet to a free consult. We import it together, match it field by field, fix the gaps with you, and nothing is saved until you approve. | Bring a Pulley or Carta export or your own spreadsheet to a free consult. We import it together, match it field by field, fix the gaps with you, and nothing is saved until you approve. | Switching doesn't cost you a week of data entry, or a weekend alone with a CSV. | Free at launch |
Export anytime An Excel workbook, plus a CSV in the layout Carta imports. | An Excel workbook, plus a CSV in the layout Carta imports. | Leaving is easy, so you don't need to worry about lock-in. | Free at launch |
Exit calculator Enter a sale price and see what each holder gets, calculated by the same waterfall engine M&A teams use in Studio. | Enter a sale price and see what each holder gets, calculated by the same waterfall engine M&A teams use in Studio. | Know what an offer means for you before you take the call. | Free at launch |
Round modeler Model a priced round: new money, pre-money value, pool top-up, and how SAFEs and notes convert. See the cap table before and after, then save it if you want. | Model a priced round: new money, pre-money value, pool top-up, and how SAFEs and notes convert. See the cap table before and after, then save it if you want. | Walk into a term sheet conversation already knowing your dilution. | Next up |
Grows with the company
One record from incorporation to exit.
Each stage builds on the one before. Nothing gets re-keyed, and the numbers stay consistent.
01
Incorporate
You need
Founder shares, an option pool, and a record that isn't a Google Sheet.
Merger Waterfall
Ledger, share classes, and a stakeholder list with a date on every entry.
02
Hire
You need
Grant options without losing count, and answer “what's this worth?”
Merger Waterfall
Pool tracking, vesting schedules, and a portal link for each employee.
03
Raise
You need
Stack SAFEs, then price a round, and know your dilution before you sign.
Merger Waterfall
SAFEs and notes on the cap table. The round modeler turns a term sheet into a before-and-after cap table.
04
Exit
You need
Know who gets what when an offer comes in, with the preference stack read correctly.
Merger Waterfall
Try exit values for free. When there's a real deal, bring the cap table into Studio as a full waterfall.
The question behind every offer
What does everyone take home?
Move the sale price to see what each holder at Kestrel Robotics gets. The SAFE takes the better of its cash-out or converting to common, and the app works that out for you.
Sale price
$40.00M
| Holder | Takes home | Share of sale |
|---|---|---|
| Maya Chen | $18.87M | |
| Dev Patel | $14.67M | |
| Employees | $2.46M | |
| Seed SAFEs | $4.01M |
This is the math that matters. Your percentage ownership doesn’t tell you your payout. Preferences, SAFE cash-outs and option strikes all change it, and founders usually see those effects for the first time on a term sheet.
In the free plan you can try any sale price against your real cap table. When you have an actual deal, with escrow, earnouts, a preference stack and a buyer’s lawyers, the same cap table opens in Studio as a complete waterfall.
For illustration only. Assumes no debt, fees or taxes, and that every granted option is vested and net-exercised. Unissued pool shares receive nothing. Uses YC post-money SAFE liquidity terms.
Leaving Pulley? Bring your cap table here.
Pulley is moving its customers to Carta. The opt-in deadline is November 30, 2026. If you’d rather move somewhere free and keep your own records, book a free migration consult. We’ll import your exports with you on the call and check them before anything is saved. Your data stays available in Pulley only until January 31, 2027.
Before you go, download
- 1Cap table workbook (Dashboard → download)
- 2Stakeholders report (Reports)
- 3Your data room: SAFEs, grants, board consents
Bring them to the call. We load the workbook together: the importer recognizes Pulley’s layout, shows which fields matched and which are missing, and flags problems like duplicate holders or over-issued classes. We fix the gaps with you, and nothing is saved until you approve it.
When you'd pay
Free while you build. Paid when there's a deal.
You upgrade when money is on the table and other people, like investors, buyers and counsel, need to see the numbers.
Free
For foundersFounders & small teams
- One company cap table
- Every security type
- Option pool, grants & vesting
- Read-only stakeholder portals
- Free migration consult from Pulley, Carta or a spreadsheet
- Excel + Carta-format CSV export
- Exit calculator
Pro
When you're negotiating a round or a sale
- Everything in Free
- Saved & shared scenarios, multi-round models
- Full merger waterfalls in Studio: preferences, earnouts, escrow
- Per-stakeholder distribution detail
- Deal provision templates
- Up to 10 read-only viewer licenses on deals
Enterprise
Deal teams, funds & counsel
- Everything in Pro
- Collaborative editing with outside counsel & bankers
- Unlimited viewers
- Up to 10 hrs/mo of hands-on deal-modeling support
What we leave out, on purpose
Your lawyer and a valuation provider handle these better, and leaving them out keeps the free plan simple.
No lock-in
If you outgrow us, say at Series B when you need 409As and e-signature in one place, export an Excel workbook and a CSV in the layout Carta imports, and go. We’d still like to model your exit.
Free consult
Rather do it with us?
Pick your situation. About a minute of taps, then a free 30-minute call where we arrive with your plan.
Questions
Founders usually ask these.
Will you help us move our existing cap table?
Yes, and it's free. Book a migration consult and bring your exports. We import them with you on the call, walk through anything that doesn't reconcile, and you approve the result before it's saved. If you're starting from scratch, you don't need a call: try it free and set it up yourself.
Is it actually free, or is this a trial?
It's free, not a trial. The paid plans are for doing deals: saved scenarios, full merger waterfalls, and working with bankers and counsel. A founder running a clean cap table shouldn't need them until a round or an exit is on the table.
Why give the cap table away?
Our business is the exit. When you sell the company, the cap table becomes the waterfall, and that's where Merger Waterfall earns its keep. If your records have been clean since day one, that step is quick. Charging you for a spreadsheet replacement along the way wouldn't help either of us.
What happens to my data if I leave?
Export it whenever you want: an Excel workbook, and a CSV in the layout Carta imports. We don't hold your records hostage.
Who sees my stakeholders' names?
Names and emails stay in your company workspace. When you model a deal, holders are pseudonymized by default, so you can share the model with a buyer or their counsel without sharing your team's personal details. Names appear only in the exports you choose to make.
Do you do 409As or legal paperwork?
No. Valuations, e-signature, board consents and filings belong with your lawyer and a valuation provider. We keep the record straight and do the math.
Start with a clean cap table.
Starting fresh, try it now. Moving an existing cap table, book a call and we’ll do it with you.