Are You Structuring the Fund for Yourself… or Your Target LPs?
Designing a fund vehicle ‘for convenience’ is like launching a luxury brand without understanding your clientele. Structure is strategy. And your LPs can smell misalignment before the pitch even ends.
The GP Trap—Convenience Over Conviction
Here’s what often happens:
A GP team domiciled in France opts for a French SCSp or SLP—because that’s what the local lawyers push.
Terms are lifted from a previous fund or adapted from a U.S. VC model.
Regulatory filings are barely compliant, lacking thought for cross-border marketing or LP disclosure standards.
Result? A fund that is easy to launch, but impossible to sell.
“Just because you can raise it locally doesn’t mean you can scale it globally.”
LP Archetypes—And What They’re Secretly Assessing
Institutional LPs, fund-of-funds, and family offices aren’t just looking at performance or strategy. They’re silently asking:
Can I trust this structure across jurisdictions?
Is the GP signalling professional-grade governance?
How painful will this be to onboard and monitor?
Structure Is Strategy (Not Admin)
Fund structuring touches everything: legal form, jurisdictional passporting, substance rules, investor onboarding flow, tax and carry.
If your structure isn’t frictionless for LP onboarding, you’re signalling that you’ve built a garage project, not an asset platform.
Smart Structuring: The New Differentiator
Forward-thinking GPs now build funds that:
Offer multi-jurisdictional optionality
Integrate AI-driven compliance layers
Embed LP-friendly features from the start such as liquidity and capital protection elements thanks to capital markets’ structure products
5 Structuring Traps That Repel Sophisticated LPs
Too local
Too founder-centric
Too shallow
Too generic
Too reactive
What to Do Instead—An LP-First Blueprint
Define your top 5 target LPs, then work backwards from their DD checklists
Map regulatory obligations across their domiciles
Choose structuring experts who challenge your assumptions
Bake in transparency from Day 0
Use fund design as a strategic edge
The Dorhyan Navigator Approach
Dorhyan is not a law firm and we don’t sell templates. We help funds:
Pre-empt compliance blockers at setup stage
Automate LP onboarding readiness
Simulate structure design aligned with investor appetite and regulatory strategy
We turn structure into signal. Not sludge.
