What Are Articles of Incorporation

If you're trying to understand what are articles of incorporation, you're looking for a clear answer and — just as importantly — what it means for your cap table once the paperwork is done.

What This Actually Means for Your Cap Table

At its core, this touches on business entity and ownership structure. Most explanations stop at the legal or procedural definition — this one is written for what happens to your ownership records next.

This is exactly the situation what are articles of incorporation comes up in for most founders.

Where This Fits on Your Cap Table

Business entity and Ownership structure both depend on the same underlying ownership data, so getting this right keeps your cap table accurate instead of quietly wrong. Lovie's cap table platform treats this as connected data, not a one-off filing.

Most explanations of what are articles of incorporation stop at the legal definition, not the cap table impact.

• Business entity should be reviewed whenever your ownership structure changes
• Ownership structure changes the math for every existing stakeholder
• Most mistakes here come from tracking this in a spreadsheet instead of a live cap table

What are articles of incorporation is easiest to get right when it's tied to a live cap table, not a static filing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are Articles of Incorporation?

It depends on your specific situation, not a general rule — articles of incorporation is best checked against your actual cap table, not a static example.

• Confirm business entity against your latest cap table, not an old spreadsheet
• Get any resulting change in writing before it affects a funding round
• Re-check this every time your ownership structure changes

Who needs to know about this on your cap table?

Most founders get this wrong by treating it as a one-time task. It's worth revisiting every time you issue new equity, add a stakeholder, or close a round.

• Update your cap table the same day the change happens, not at quarter-end
• Loop in whoever else relies on the cap table — co-founders, investors, your accountant
• Keep a record of when and why the change happened, not just the new numbers

The Lovie Advantage

Lovie's advantage here isn't the legal filing itself — it's what happens after: articles of incorporation updates your cap table automatically, so your fully diluted ownership is never out of date because a filing happened somewhere else.

For a related question founders often ask right after this one, see How is a LLC Taxed.

See This on Your Own Cap Table

Lovie turns this into your actual numbers, not a generic example. This is worth getting right on your cap table from the start. Start Free with Lovie keeps this connected to formation and funding — not three separate tools.