Building the launch-day cap table
Every token project's initial supply is sliced into buckets: team, investors, treasury, community airdrops, and ecosystem incentives (liquidity mining, grants). The size of each slice signals the project's priorities. A project with 50% going to team and investors signals founder control; 50% to community airdrops signals a bootstrap play.
These allocations compound with vesting cliffs. A project might allocate 30% to investors but lock it for two years. On day one, only 5% circulates.
Reading the intent in the allocation
Compare the allocation pie to the vesting schedule. If team tokens unlock linearly over five years, the team is aligned long-term. If they unlock after a two-year cliff, expect team members to exit as soon as they vest. The allocation tells you who's building and who's taking profits.