How do I set the share capital of a company and the type of shares to allocate?

I intend to set up an IT company. As a one person startup, how do I determine what share capital the company should have? It can be $1, $1,000 or $100,000. Then, the shares can be ordinary or preferred shares. Given that I may need to rope in investors in the future, how do I decide these parameters when registering for the company?

If you're a one-man show right now, don't worry about how to structure allocation.

Here is how I structured it (I was a one-man show at the time as well):

• Par value is the minimum price that a corporation can issue its shares. I'd recommend setting par value to be $0.0001.
• Authorize 10,000,000 shares of common stock upon filing the charter. Issue 8,000,000 to yourself.

Since you want to raise money at some point, start with a Delaware C-corporation. I just addressed a similar question here: Which state to incorporate in if I plan to raise money eventually?

Keep one concern in mind going with a c-corp in your situation: in case you are not profitable, you can't claim the loss -- since the loss does not pass thru to the owner's individual return. This is the reason why you value the shares at $0.0001.

TL;DR:

• Delaware C-corp
• Total shares in charter: 10M
• Type of shares: common stock
• Par value of common: $0.0001
• Shares to issue to yourself: 8M