It is written down nowThe share, the schedule and the date are on the record from the day you accept. Not a conversation either of us has to remember.

It becomes real on incorporationThe day the company exists, this is the instruction its first share register is drawn from — the same record, handed to whoever does the paperwork.

Until then it is an intention, and says soNo company, no shares, no instrument. What you have is a dated, signed-off position — which is worth exactly as much as the thing it is a share of, and no more.

It countsBeing early, and every person you bring who stays. Nothing you have to manage.

It is sealed every monthWritten once, hashed, never recalculated. A number from October is still that number in a year.

If there is ever a companyThe record is what any allocation would be worked out from — one snapshot becomes the cap table, the rest are the evidence of how it was arrived at.