When ECVC Structure Breaks the Deal
Bridging the Gap Between Product Vision and Investor Risk
In ECVC, the deals that stall aren’t always the ones with weak market fit. More often, they’re the ones where structure didn’t keep up with vision.
Have you seen this before? Founders racing to ship product. Investors focused on risk and returns. Legal pulled in late to paper a structure no one aligned on.
That disconnect isn’t personal. It’s functional. It shows up when product, capital, and legal decisions aren’t working together.
We recently worked on a deal that looked solid. Great team, traction, smart use case. But the token was doing too much—compensation, governance, access. Each stakeholder saw something different. It didn’t kill the deal, but it slowed it down. Conversations shifted from growth to control.
Just because something looks market doesn’t mean it’s aligned. Just because it works in the deck doesn’t mean it survives diligence. And clean documents don’t mean the structure actually supports the business.
What Misalignment Looks Like
SAFEs and SAFTs stacked without modeling total dilution. Tokens doing multiple jobs with no governance logic. Foundations and Labs formed without clarity on who controls what. Cap tables that leave out fully diluted token economics.
Clarity Over Complexity
We help ECVC teams structure for execution—cap tables that hold up in real conversations, token plans that align incentives with governance, and dual asset models that still work under pressure. Structure isn’t overhead. It’s signal. It shows the team understands value, has thought through control, and is ready for diligence and scale.
One Last Thought
The strongest ECVC advisors aren’t just legal or commercial. They’re translators—between founder intent, investor terms, and regulatory limits.
That’s where we sit: at the intersection of intent, execution, and capital.
If your structure doesn’t yet match your story, let’s talk. It’s a lot easier to align early than fix it midstream.
And if you’ve seen structure save—or stall—a deal, we’d love to hear about it.
— Salim Jones | Counsel & Strategic Advisor · Connect on LinkedIn
* * *
Attorney Advertising—Anderson P.C. is a U.S. law firm and provides this information as a service to clients, prospective clients, and other friends for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or relied on as legal advice or to create a lawyer-client relationship.
Anderson P.C. is a boutique law firm dedicated to defending clients in government investigations and securities enforcement actions initiated by the SEC, FINRA, DOJ, and other regulatory bodies. We provide focused, strategic counsel and regulatory guidance across the full spectrum of federal laws and regulations affecting broker-dealers, investment advisers, banks, asset managers, private funds, public companies, senior executives, and digital assets. Our deep expertise allows us to navigate complex legal challenges and deliver results-driven solutions tailored to our clients' unique needs.
If you have any questions or need legal assistance related to government investigations, securities enforcement actions, or regulatory compliance, please don't hesitate to contact us. Our team at Anderson P.C. is here to provide the expert guidance and support you need to navigate these complex challenges.