The cap table is just a spreadsheet of who owns what. Employees don't need to see that level of detail to understand their shares, so there's no particular reas

The cap table is just a spreadsheet of who owns what. Employees don't need to see that level of detail to understand their shares, so there's no particular reason to pass it around, and plenty of reasons not to. Many startups are happy to give relevant details, though, like the percentage of fully diluted shares you own, the last preferred share price, whether any investors got non-standard terms, etc. Rather than asking to see the cap table, ask the questions you want the cap table to answer. If they won't tell you, maybe pass on working there.