Best shareholder management software for your company

With your company up and running, there may be a time where you need outside help in financing your businesses. For an entrepreneur to grow their company operations, capital is required. And the best way to obtain funding for a company is through the help of an investor. Investors give funding to a company in return for company shares. So as the company grows, the number of shareholders increases. This makes shareholder management in a company all the more important.

Shareholders

Let us begin by understanding what a shareholder is. A shareholder in the company is a person who owns at least one share of the company’s stock, otherwise known as equity. Holding equity means that the shareholders are also part-owners, and they also reap the reward of the success of the company.

The benefits for shareholders come in the form of the increased value in the company’s stock price. They are also offered financial profits in the form of dividends in the company (usually issued monthly, quarterly, or yearly, based on how the shareholders want to get paid). This also means that when a company loses money, the price of the shares drops, and so does the amount of the dividends offered. In case the company goes bankrupt, the shareholders can lose all their investments.

Types of shareholders

There are two kinds of shareholders in a company: common and preferred shareholders. Common shareholders hold the common stock in a company, and the preferred shareholders hold the preferred stock. Common shareholders are more prevalent and have the right to vote on matters in the company. They have control over how the company is managed, and have the right to file a class-action lawsuit against the company for any wrongdoings that harm the business.

Preferred shareholders are less common, as they do not have any voting rights in the company and do not have control over the company’s operations. Instead of this, they get the benefit of a fixed amount of dividends, which is paid out before the common shareholders. Although both types of shareholders have their stock value increase when the company succeeds, common shareholders typically enjoy higher gains.

Shareholder Rights

As per the corporation’s bylaws, the common shareholders in the company have the following rights:

• The right to inspect the books and records of the company.
• The right to vote on critical corporate matters, including who will be on the board of directors, and ensuring if or not to move ahead with potential mergers.
• The right to vote on crucial matters
• The entitlement to get dividends based on their share in the company.
• The power to sue the company for misdeeds of its officers and/or directors.
• The right to claim their part of the proceeds if the company is liquidated.

What are the roles and responsibilities of a company shareholder?

There are different kinds of shareholders in a company, including employees, owners, and investors. However, each shareholder has one main interest: increasing the share value in the company. This is because, at the end of the day, shareholders are entitled to benefit from the profits that the company gains.

The basic role of the company’s main shareholders isn’t just restricted to getting its profits, but to also ensure that the company operates smoothly and continues to grow. Here are some of the responsibilities of the main shareholders (usually the founders and some large investors) in the company:

• Brainstorming and deciding the powers they will give to the directors in the company, including appointing and removing directors
• Deciding on how much each director would get as a salary
• Making decisions on situations that the directors do not have power over, such as altering the constitution of the company
• Cross-checking and making approvals of the financial statements of the company

The Role of Employees

When employees and management are also shareholders in the company, they are usually motivated to work harder and make the company successful. This is because they too would be gaining from the profits of the company. So, the employees’ role is usually to work harder, offer more productivity, and avoid any mismanagement.

Shareholder Management Software

A shareholder management system is very important for every company. First of all, shareholder management, or share management, is the process of managing the company’s owners. Although this sounds like something straightforward, it is not that simple. It involves handling and reporting all the ownership changes, updating the documents, consulting the board of directors, communicating with the shareholders, and staying compliant.

Shareholder management is crucial as it helps the owners keep track of all the shares in the company. If the owner doesn’t pay attention to this, they can easily lose control the moment their ownership becomes diluted. This happens when the owner does not have a good handle on the company’s cap table and over-issues shares in the next round of investment. With a shareholder management system, all this can be taken care of easily.

How important is managing shareholders in a company?

Along with this, it is also important to keep the investors in the loop of what is happening to the company’s shares. Every investor who invests in a company wants to know who owns what and how much before investing in that company. With proper shareholder record-keeping software for startups in place, you will be able to show the investor all the details regarding your shares. It will also help you in notifying the existing shareholders when there is a change.

How does shareholder management software help?

As the company grows and continues to raise money, keeping track of the paperwork on an Excel sheet can become a huge headache. You would need to constantly update the records and share the updated version with your shareholders every time there is a change.

This is where you need the best shareholder record-keeping software. You need one streamlined shareholder management system that would help you take care of everything in one place.

Shareholder Management Software from Eqvista

When talking about shareholder management, the best system in the market is Eqvista. With Eqvista, you can manage all the shareholders using the company cap table. Everything would be updated automatically, and it would help you simplify all the time-consuming tasks like getting approval from board members, cap table access, sending investor updates, and running liquidity events.

In addition to this, the application offers round modeling and waterfall analysis tools that can help you make better financial decisions. The modeling tools will offer a better idea of how the company will respond to different changes like a new round of fundraising, shifting stock values, and investor exits.

Using this shareholder management system, you will be able to:

• Add more shareholders easily: With a platform like this, you can easily stay organized, spend less time on paperwork, and focus more on growing your company.
• Save time and money: This shareholder management system would help you take care of your equity right from one place. If you change anything on the app, it will automatically update and all the other shareholders will be able to see the same, saving you a lot of time and money.
• Impress shareholders: With the latest technology embedded in the app, you will be able to impress new investors who are thinking of funding your company. A neat and clear cap table is something that always impresses investors.
• Stay complaint: Eqvista will help you comply with the various rules and laws regarding your shares.

Having a sound shareholder management system in place is what helps a company succeed. So if you are about to begin your company, then it is time for you to think about getting the best shareholder management software in Eqvista for your company. The greatest thing about this software is that it is FREE to use during the initial stages when you have fewer shareholders. As your shareholders increase, you can sign up for the premium plan to add more shareholders to your company.

Before we can talk about adding shareholders, you will have to create a new profile on Eqvista and create your company. Once you do this, you will reach the dashboard of the company, from where you can then add the various shareholders of the company. Here is a step-wise guide to help you in using the app.

Adding Shareholders

Step 1: Log into your account on Eqvista and select your company’s profile.

On the left side menu on the dashboard, click on the option that says, “Shareholders”.

Step 2: You will reach the following page where you can see the various shareholders in your company and add more shareholders as you choose. To add a shareholder, click on the button in the top right corner stating, “Add Shareholders”.

Step 3: You will see an option that says, “Individual” when you are adding the shareholder’s details. By default, this option is selected.

Add the name of the shareholder and select the kind of shareholder the person is from the drop-down menu. When done, click on “Save”, and the shareholder will be added to the shareholder management system.

Invite to View the Company Cap Table

The next feature that you can benefit from is sharing the cap table with the shareholders so that they can see the needed information right away. Here is how to do it:

Step 1: To invite the shareholder, click on the “Manage Access” button near the shareholder’s name as shown below.

Step 2: When you do this, a panel will appear where you can then add the email of the shareholder and share it with them. Add the email and click on “Search”.

Step 3: When you click on this after adding the email, a new panel will appear where you need to choose from the kind of access you want to share with your shareholder.

Here, we select “Shareholder Access” and click on “Provide Shareholder Access”.

Step 4: Here, you can see if the shareholder has accepted the invitation and has access to the cap table or not. You can also remove access whenever you want by clicking on the option “Remove Access”.

Issue Shares to Shareholders

The next process is to issue shares to the shareholder that you added to the cap table. You can easily issue electronic shares directly from Eqvista. Here is how to do it:

Step 1: From here, click on the option that says “Start Issuing” under the transactions panel.

A drop-down menu will appear that says, “from Equity class”. Click on that and you will reach the next page. Just ensure that you already have the equity class created before you issue the shares. To know how to create an equity class, click here!

Step 2: When you reach the page after starting the issue shares process, you will get the option to choose the equity class name. Click on your desired equity class, which will appear below:

From here, click on “Add New Grant”.

Step 3:  You will be redirected to a page where you can begin issuing the shares. Here, you will need to first type in the shareholder’s name in the field and select the added shareholder from the right-side panel.

Click on “Select” and you will be directed to the next page.

Step 4: Add the details and then click on “Submit” as shown below.

With this, the shares will be issued and you will be redirected to the page where you can see the shares issued to this shareholder.

Create Share Certificates

One last feature in issuing shares to a shareholder includes giving them the share certificate. Eqvista is a shareholder management system that helps you do this as well. Here is how to do it:

Step 1: After you have issued the shares, you will be redirected to a page where you can see the equity class and the shares issued, as below.

Here, click on the shareholder’s name under the “Equity Grants”.

Step 2: When you do this, you will be redirected to the page where you can see the shares issued to the shareholder and the other details.

Step 3: To access the certificate, click on “Admin Records” on the left-hand side to get a drop-down menu and select “Certificates”. Then, click on “View Certificate” to download the certificate.

The certificate has two looks – Classic and Modern. In this case, we have selected “Modern”. Here click on the download button on the right-hand side.

Note: You can download the certificate, once the executor signs the certificate,  The person who is selected to execute and sign the certificate should be either the director, the secretary, or the President. Company users can only be assigned as executors. To know how to add a company user read this support article.

Once the shareholder has signed the certificate, you can then download the completed certificate. The shareholder would also be able to download the certificate once they sign it. To know more about how to download the certificate, check out our support article here!

Step 4: With this, the certificate will be downloaded in a PDF format in your system. You can then share this certificate with the shareholder and keep it as a record with you.

Just like this, Eqvista can help you with shareholder management in your company. Try out the app here today!