I am looking to be a shareholder and buy in with enough margin...

I am looking to be a shareholder and buy in with enough margin of safety. Before i can buy in i need to establish what the upside and risk profile of the business is. This requires me to look at a multitude of objective and subjective metrics or filters i.e i need to complete my due dillegence. Understanding how John Jones acquired his shares gives a me an appreciation of the capital structure and the ability of management to bring value to retail chumps like myself. I was hoping an existing shareholder could assist here.

examples of some pretend answers could be:
John acquired his shares through performance rights through years X to Y because he was hitting goals.
John acquire X share because he contributed Y% of capital at IPO
John acquire X shares because he could contribute Y capital in year Z when no other shareholders were willing