FinelystCap Table Explained: How to Read and Model Ownership
A cap table shows who owns what in your startup. Learn how to read one, how rounds and option pools change it, and how to model dilution step by step.
Blog
Practical startup guides on founding, fundraising, cap tables, vesting, burn rate, runway, pricing and first hires, with formulas and worked examples.
Equity & cap tables
Co-Founder Equity Split: A Fair Framework That Works
How to split equity between co-founders: equal vs unequal splits, a weighted scoring method with a worked example, and why vesting matters more than the number.
Employee Option Pool Explained: Size, Timing, Dilution
What an employee option pool is, how to size it from your hiring plan, why a pre-money pool lowers your effective valuation, and how to negotiate it.
Founder Vesting Schedule: Cliffs, Leavers, Acceleration
How a founder vesting schedule works: the 4-year schedule with a 1-year cliff, a month-by-month example, good and bad leaver terms and acceleration on exit.
Team & founders
First Hires for a Startup: Who, When and How
Who your first hires for a startup should be, when to hire, how to mix salary and equity, what each hire does to runway and how to run a lean hiring process.
Founder Productivity: A Weekly Operating System
A practical founder productivity system: weekly priorities, time blocks for deep work and sales, a metrics review, decision rules and a template you can copy.
Go-to-market
Go-to-Market Strategy for Startups: A Practical Plan
Build a go-to-market strategy for your startup: pick a beachhead segment, positioning, pricing, channels and sales motion, then test it with clear metrics.
How to Price a SaaS Product: A Practical Framework
How to price a SaaS product: choose a value metric, pick a pricing model, design tiers, test willingness to pay and check it against your unit economics.
Fundraising
How Much Equity to Give Up in a Seed Round
How much equity to give up in a seed round: the rules of thumb, a method to work out your number and worked examples of dilution across future rounds.
Pitch Deck Structure: What to Put on Each Slide
A proven pitch deck structure, slide by slide: what each slide must answer, examples of strong and weak content, design rules and a pre-send checklist.
Pre-Money vs Post-Money Valuation: Formulas and Examples
Pre-money vs post-money valuation explained with formulas, worked examples, price per share and the option pool trap that changes what you really get.
SAFE vs Convertible Note: Key Differences Explained
SAFE vs convertible note: how each works, valuation caps and discounts, interest and maturity, worked conversion examples and when to choose which.
Startup Fundraising Guide: From Pre-Seed to Series A
How startup fundraising works: stages, investor types, instruments, the process step by step and the numbers to prepare before you talk to investors.
Starting up
How to Build an MVP: Scope, Tools and Metrics
How to build an MVP step by step: pick the one assumption to test, choose the right MVP type, scope it to weeks, set a budget and measure what matters.
How to Start a Startup: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to start a startup step by step: pick a problem, validate demand, build an MVP, set up the company, manage runway and decide if and when to raise money.
How to Validate a Startup Idea Before You Build
Validate a startup idea with customer discovery interviews, landing page and pre-sale tests, clear pass/fail criteria and a scorecard before writing any code.
Startup finance
How to Calculate Burn Rate: Gross vs Net Burn
How to calculate burn rate step by step: gross vs net burn formulas, a worked example, how to handle one-off costs, and how burn translates into runway.
How to Extend Startup Runway: 15 Practical Levers
How to extend startup runway without wrecking the company: cost, revenue and financing levers, a prioritisation method and a worked example with numbers.
LTV to CAC Ratio: Formula, Rules of Thumb and Payback
How to calculate the LTV to CAC ratio and CAC payback period, what the 3:1 rule of thumb really means, and how to improve unit economics with worked examples.
Startup Financial Metrics: The 12 Numbers to Track
The startup financial metrics that matter: burn, runway, revenue, margins and unit economics, with formulas, worked examples and a monthly review routine.