It's unclear what technical specifications exist for Open Cap Table but it looks to be a common file format?
At a technical level, in addition to a common file format, I actually think that blockchain technology is a really good means of validating edits to the cap table data itself.
The current mechanism for managing a cap table - particularly for pre-seed entrepreneurs - are probably something like Carta.com as a paid cloud managed offering or worse - some Word doc or Google Cloud doc which gets passed around by founders and legal. Think Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and Dustin Moskovitz in a dorm stage type companies.
What I think would be useful is something more akin to Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet maintained with a non-forkable git repo that's shared among partners and requires consensus on PRs before merge.
For the record I'm skeptical of cryptocurrencies but bullish on blockchain technology (which I see as basically git with trust/consensus features built in). Particularly for maintaining consensus on documents among semi-trusted partners who need to track modifications to the document and who made them.
Also for the record I just finished binge watching Git as Blockchain by Michael Perry. So now every nail needs the blockchain hammer :) .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7U-V4EwoP8
At a technical level, in addition to a common file format, I actually think that blockchain technology is a really good means of validating edits to the cap table data itself.
The current mechanism for managing a cap table - particularly for pre-seed entrepreneurs - are probably something like Carta.com as a paid cloud managed offering or worse - some Word doc or Google Cloud doc which gets passed around by founders and legal. Think Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and Dustin Moskovitz in a dorm stage type companies.
What I think would be useful is something more akin to Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet maintained with a non-forkable git repo that's shared among partners and requires consensus on PRs before merge.
For the record I'm skeptical of cryptocurrencies but bullish on blockchain technology (which I see as basically git with trust/consensus features built in). Particularly for maintaining consensus on documents among semi-trusted partners who need to track modifications to the document and who made them.
Also for the record I just finished binge watching Git as Blockchain by Michael Perry. So now every nail needs the blockchain hammer :) .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7U-V4EwoP8