Founders maintain cap tables as ownership arithmetic. Investors read them as a map of consent rights. The second reading is the one that matters when you need a decision made quickly.
Find the blocking positions
Protective provisions attach to classes, not to percentages. A holder of 4% can hold a veto over a fundraise, a sale, or an option pool increase if their class was drafted that way. Map every consent right in the articles and shareholders' agreement against the register before you plan a transaction, not during one.
The question is never who owns the most. It is who has to say yes.
Keep the register, the articles, the option grants and the conversion instruments in one place and reconciled quarterly. Diligence failures at Series B are rarely dramatic; they are usually four unsigned board resolutions and an option grant nobody can locate.