Frequently Asked Questions

Start with Equity Matrix now, even before incorporating. It's a great way to track contributions and build trust with collaborators. When you're ready to formalize, you'll have a clear record of everyone's contributions to inform your equity split.

Equity Matrix works for any business where multiple people contribute and should share in the ownership. Whether it's a consulting partnership, creative agency, or family business—if you want to track and fairly distribute ownership based on contributions, Equity Matrix can help.

Yes. Every new account starts with a 14-day free trial on the Growth plan. No credit card required to start.

Your equity percentage is based on the value of your contributions relative to everyone else's. Time contributions are calculated using your hourly market rate multiplied by hours worked. Cash contributions are tracked separately. The system continuously recalculates ownership as new contributions are logged, so equity always reflects actual input.

A traditional cap table locks in ownership percentages at the start, often before anyone knows who will contribute what. Dynamic equity adjusts ownership based on actual contributions over time. This means early decisions don't have to be permanent, and equity naturally reflects who's really building the company. You can convert to a traditional cap table when you're ready (like at fundraising).

An active contributor is anyone currently logging time or cash contributions to your company. Archived or inactive members don't count toward your limit.

Yes. Equity Matrix supports "Protected Equity"—fixed percentages that remain constant regardless of new contributions. This is perfect for founders who bring IP, initial capital, or want to ensure a minimum ownership stake.

Equity Matrix includes built-in protections for departures. You can archive members and their equity is preserved based on their contributions up to that point. The system handles vesting schedules and loyalty protections automatically, so there are no surprises.

Equity Matrix generates dynamic equity agreements that can serve as the basis for legal documentation. We recommend working with legal counsel to formalize agreements when you're ready to convert to a fixed cap table.

Setting market value for each contributor's time is one of the trickiest parts of dynamic equity. The best approach is to use actual market rates—what you currently earn (or could earn) for similar work from clients or an employer. There are also tools for estimating market value based on role, experience, and location, and AI can help with research. The key is agreeing on rates upfront and documenting the reasoning.

Cash and time contributions are tracked separately but contribute to the same equity pool. Cash is straightforward—a dollar is a dollar. Time is converted to value using each contributor's hourly market rate. You can also apply multipliers to adjust how cash and time contributions are weighted relative to each other, depending on what your team values most at each stage.

You can estimate and add historical hours for contributions made before you started using Equity Matrix. Even if it's not perfectly precise, having a reasonable estimate creates a fairer starting point than ignoring early work entirely. Document your assumptions and get agreement from the team on the estimates.

Equal splits feel fair at the start, but they rarely stay fair. Contributions almost never end up equal—one founder might go full-time while another stays part-time, or someone might invest cash while others contribute time. When reality doesn't match the split, resentment builds. Dynamic equity lets ownership reflect actual contributions, reducing conflict and creating accountability. Learn more about the hidden costs of equal splits.

The right time to convert is when you have traction and are ready to raise outside capital. VCs need to understand the deal in their terms, which means a traditional cap table structure. You'll know it's time because investors will require it as part of due diligence. Until then, dynamic equity gives you flexibility to keep building without locking in percentages prematurely.

At fundraising or liquidity, Equity Matrix helps you convert to a standard cap table structure when you need to. We export to formats needed by legal firms and cap table management tools, ensuring a smooth transition while preserving your dynamic equity history.

When you convert to a fixed cap table, equity typically vests immediately—similar to how it works in a startup acquisition or sale. The dynamic equity model has already accounted for contributions up to that point, so the conversion captures everyone's earned stake at that moment in time.

We recommend choosing one model or the other. Mixing dynamic equity with traditional stock options creates complexity and can lead to confusion about who owns what. Dynamic equity works best when it's the primary way you track and distribute ownership among contributors.

According to research from Harvard Business School and Noam Wasserman's book "The Founder's Dilemmas," cofounder conflicts are the leading cause of early-stage startup failure. Common issues include disagreements over equity splits, role expectations, and perceived fairness. Equity Matrix addresses these by creating transparency and contribution-based ownership from day one.

Equity Matrix shares similarities with Slicing Pie in tracking time and cash contributions, but we've built on that foundation to address some gaps. Equity Matrix adds loyalty protections (like vesting cliffs) to prevent early departures from walking away with unearned equity. We also include legal structure and agreement templates directly in the platform, rather than referring you to an external lawyer network which can have mixed results and add significant fees.

Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade at any time. When you upgrade, you'll be charged the prorated difference. When you downgrade, you'll receive credit toward future billing.

Yes. Annual billing saves you 20% compared to monthly. You can switch to annual billing at any time from your account settings.

Your data remains accessible in read-only mode for 90 days after cancellation. You can export everything at any time. After 90 days, data is permanently deleted unless you reactivate.