How to track your equity across multiple startups

The multi-company owner's problem

Say you hold 80% of Company A, 51% of Company B and 30% of Company C. Company A has two investors holding convertible notes. Company B just granted its first employee options. In Company C you also earn a revenue share for work you did before you became an owner.

Quick: what do you own in each company on a fully diluted basis, what has each stake paid you, and what is still owed?

If that takes more than a minute to answer, you have a tracking problem. Many founders keep each company's records separately, if at all, and have no single view of what they own. This post is about that owner's view. For running the companies themselves, see how serial entrepreneurs run several companies at once.

Why the owner's view matters

Concentration

If most of your net worth sits in one company's equity, you're exposed to that one company. You only see it if every stake is in one place.

Decisions

When a co-founder in Company B offers to sell you their 20%, the right answer depends on everything else you hold. Without the full picture, you're guessing.

Tax

Exercises, sales and distributions across companies all land on your tax return. A complete record makes the conversation with your tax advisor quicker. Talk to them before you time any exercise or sale.

Estate planning

Your stakes may be a large part of your net worth. Estate planning needs a precise list of what you own, where and on what terms.

What makes it hard

Different entity types

Company A might be an LLC with membership units, Company B a C-corp with common and preferred stock, and Company C might have SAFEs outstanding. Each works differently.

Different vesting schedules

Your Company A shares might be fully vested, Company B on four years with a one-year cliff, and Company C on milestones. Each schedule needs watching.

Constant change

New rounds dilute existing holders, option pools are created and expanded, notes convert and partners come and go. Each event changes your percentage.

Equity and revenue shares mixed together

A revenue share isn't equity, but it's still something you're owed. If you only track shares, you miss it. If you record it as equity, you overstate what you own.

No common format

Some companies use a cap table tool, some use spreadsheets and some use nothing. Pulling it together by hand is slow and error-prone.

What to track for each stake

For each company:

• Your ownership, today and fully diluted
• Shares or units, vested and unvested
• Your vesting schedule and the next vesting date
• Convertible instruments outstanding and their likely effect on you
• Any revenue share you hold: the percentage, the cap, the end date and what has been paid
• The latest valuation reference, such as the last round price, with its date

Across all of them:

• What you've been paid, and what is still owed
• Upcoming vesting dates
• Known future dilution, such as planned rounds or pool top-ups

Practical approaches

A master spreadsheet

You can build one sheet that pulls from each company's cap table. It works until one company updates its records and forgets to tell you, a note converts and the math gets complicated, or you need to see the effect of a round across everything you hold.

Records that update themselves

The better option is for each company's records to feed your view directly. For companies on HYVV, each one keeps its own Cap Table. HYVV tracks real equity — shares or LLC units, options, vesting and grants — and revenue shares for people who shouldn’t hold equity, on one record. Your Portfolio then pulls those records together: your role in each company and what each has paid you, with each payment's calculation behind it.

For companies that aren't on HYVV, keep your own record and ask for a cap table extract after every round, grant or conversion.

Five habits for better tracking

1. Update after every event, not in the scramble before a fundraise.
2. Model before you commit. See the dilution before you sign; our dilution modeling guide shows how.
3. Know your next vesting date in every company.
4. Include convertible instruments. SAFEs and notes are future equity.
5. Review quarterly to catch discrepancies early.

Treat it like a portfolio

Stakes across several companies can add up to a large part of your net worth. Tracking them with the care you'd give any other investment portfolio isn't overkill; it's how you avoid surprises.