Bitcoin Forum

Hi all,

I was wondering what you look at when investing in ICOs and what you find the most important. Let me know I am curious to see.

Me personally I look for the raise amount requested, team background check, and what this project can do for not only the blockchain community but the world itself as well. You obviously need to consider more than 3 factors, but these are my biggest 3 for sure.

Mostly I go based off hype, if they have a large following on social media etc. After that I consider if I actually believe in the project (this does not determine if I'll invest or not but it makes the decision much easier). If both of those are ticked off I'll likely invest, if there's just hype then there's still a good chance i'll consider investing as a flip, depending on the current market, if it's a bear market then I stay away from almost all ICOs.

Things like the background of the team, whitepaper and a MVP is important for me. Therefore is the website design also important for me. This shows me easily the quality of a project.

As of my preview of those ICO. I always check their Personality background, Company Profile, and Innovation of projects which is very important and how it will sustain the company in the long run. Soft cap and Hard cap is not issue for me as long as they have the working products.

Do you care for instance if they have different allocation of funds when they hit soft cap vs the hard cap?

In my opinion what you need to look before investing on ICOs are check the background of the development team if they got enough experience then it is worth to invest then number of followers on social media if a project has more people means it was advertised more and the chance of getting success is more,then the escrow is also good to check because your investment will be safe.

For me the top 3 things to lookout are;
1) project viability and practicality.
2) Team competency and experience or previous work.
3) transparency and innovation.

I look at a smart contract, white paper, the importance of the idea and the experience of the team. I can not trust the ratings, because I saw how the positive reviews are sold. I also study the smart contract independently.

there are so many things to check before investing in any ICO project, surely more than 3 factors. I always try to read carefully the whitepaper, check the team and their social media accounts, and see if they are really experienced , also I visit the project's site, I check its roadmap, also the concept is very important and I make sure its really attractive before investing.

Before I invest in ICO, first i see the concept of the project, looking for information about the project such as roadmap plan, team, partner and etc. And all that helped me to invest in ICO.

The major 3 things are
 1. Clarity of the white paper
 2. Project development
 3. Hardcap/ softcap
These are important things to note down the ICOs because majority of the peoples are looking to potential platform so we must note down the three things in ICO investment.

Most important thing for me is about token of a project, some projects do not even care about whether it is listed on a exchange or not, they only say it will be used in our platform, it is not an investment... Some care too much and try to list the token in everywhere so it is better for us.

Uniqueness of the product of the company and product is user friendly or not, and also read the white paper of the company very carefully, and most important which team is working behind the project.I check these three things before investing in any ICO because these are the most important.

For me, the most important things are:

1. Opinion other people and popularity about this coin
2. Team and support ( fast help in  troubles is very important )
3. The size of growth and value

In my opinion there should be a regulating authority that sees over ICO, hell any new coin in fact. There are way too many scams going around and imo it causing a bad name for crypto. Ive seen 2 coins (i invested in both, luckily didnt loose much) where the dev's have disappeared within 2-3 months.

But where this authority should be from? Its a problem of jurisdiction. No one has global jurisdiction.

In my opinion, 3 most important things in ICO before I invest is:
-Roadmap and white paper.
-Information about dev's team.
-The way they are using to PR their project( in bitcointalk forum, I will notice comments of Senior Members of higher).

The first thing I always look at is (1). Innovativeness of project, a better idea out there will always stand out and draw in more investors and we all know that the rate of investors determines the success of a project. The next thing I look at for is the (2).Team background, this may be a very wrong approach to some people because there is this popular saying "Never judge a book by its cover", but undermining that I still get motivated by the projects team. As for my last option which is (3). The time they intend to go into exchangers, Hmmmm!! I don't really bank on that a lot because so many of them don't actually go into exchangers in the intended time, but the truth is that they will certainly do no matter the delay.

It is very important to look at white paper, it should be clear and should answer all important questions about the project.

of all the things you mentioned is pretty clear that all have an important aspect before we start an investment activity on ICO but I just want to add some important things to do investors before making the first investment is Find out whether the team from ICO has a good experience and likewise is Try to understand the atmosphere in society by looking at the size of the community and its activities as you say that is about the number of followers in social media.

Planning to list the project on the exchange is the major things I look for before investing on any project . The teams that is behind the projects and the advisory board are the second things I look in a project before invest in it. The third thing I think I do look at before investing into ico or any project is how the project is published on social media and bitcointalk.

For me, we have to consider the innovativeness of the project, team background and the token rights that is the top 3 for me but actually we have to gain more information before we invest in one ICO project.

Do you review or are you able to review a smart contract?

I feel the marketing & promotion is more important zero fees for community growth and sustained usability of an altcoin.Website is: https://marineco.inMore details here  Yes 100 percent free no strings attached.  Marinecoin is an extremely fast coin that is eco- friendly and dev=less. mtc will be controlled by artificial iot intellgience and will be a real force in the crypto markets in the future.  https://marineco.in It is a time tested mtc network. Marinecoins block chain is 500% faster that Bitcoin community .

The whitepaper first, the roadmap second and the team third.. But that's not all! If they have a working or preview product version, then it is good ico.. Because, we wanna test the idea before investing!

For example I like Amon ico for it has a clear roadmap, a product preview and solid team. Amon combines the artificial intelligence with the crypto wallet and debit card too: https://amon.tech

In my opinion, the white paper is the most critical one, and you can clearly know the plan of the team through the white paper.
However, it is another important factor that gtihub's code is open source, because the source code can see the quality of the code.

What I usually pay attention to: the team, the rating, what the project is, in which direction they will work, the availability of the vaypayper and roadmap, on which exchanges they want to leaf their tokens.

First of all, it is necessary to pay attention to the product or service of the project itself, this is very important if the product can be in demand, then you can study the team and plans for the development of the project.

1. Community (what people say about this project)
2. Team (social media)
3. Listing
 ::)

I think in project is very important existence smart contract, which spelled out a soft cap and a hard cap. I also assess the possibility of implementing the idea by the team.

Before investing in ICO, I pay attention to a smart contract. If the project does not have a smart contract, then there are no guarantees for investors.

The most important things: this is a team, if there are no people among them who worked with large projects, I immediately refuse. Then there is the idea, if the world needs it and you think it will move well, then we go further. Here is the most important thing, you have to evaluate the project and compare it with the planned capital. Sometimes some people want too much money (usually Scam) or require too little money, which is not enough even for the promotion.

There are three major things i look out for when it comes to choosing an ICO. If they are cleared in these three major aspects, the project will not just be a promising project, but a successful one.
The first thing i look out for is the innovativeness of a project and not just a project that will say it will make the world a better place. The question is, what value will the project create or add to us.
Second, the white paper must be concise, precise and clear. A technical white paper that does not pass a clear and problem solving message, will not sell well.
Lastly, team background. This is what determines the legibility of the ICO.

First of all is there a need to for the solutions that the project purported to offer. Can it be done without blockchain? What significant improvement or impact will the project make to the current state of affairs.
Secondly, does it have an MVP?
Thirdly, is the team capable of carrying out the vision and deliver on its promise.
Fourthly, the tokenomics, the overall soft cap and hard cap.

Firstly I'd have to know their hardcap/softcap, from that i will know the amount raised so far. Also I'm always concerned about the team background, I will find out how far have they succeeded in their previous projects, then finally to the white paper to know their aim and study their roadmap.

I chose team background, percentage of the token and number of followers on social media.
First of all, i can guarantee that a bounty is safe when it is popular.
It means that it has influence with other bounty hunters.
I also consider the percentage that i can get because that is what im here for.
To earn money from those bounties.
And lastly, I like a good team behind them.
To make sure that they are trusworthy.

The team, the token status and the innovation

As chosen, there are a lot of things I usually consider when its comes to determining a good ICO. However, if I will  pick out my best three so far that will be first; the innovativeness of the project, the team behind the project; their background, success and previous successful feats if anything like that. Lastly I usually consider objectively the chances of hard/soft cap realisation.

Apart from a lot of things that one should consider before investing in an ICO, the top most important things should be:

• There is a Prototype/Product
• Detailed White Paper and Roadmap
• Team should be capable to do what they claim
• Smart contract code is public

Apart from the options above
I personally look at their bonus rate ( I believe the more the bonus during ico, the more the tokens dump on exchange because when there’s too much bonus, traders will feel the need to dump)
I also look at hard cap, tokens with specified hardcap encourages me a lot

Similarly I look at the prospect of their decision on tokens
Do they burn the unsold tokens during ico or keep it ( if they keep; they spoil the value )

For me is knowing first what project is about,
2nd is check the group plan and lastly is
check the project in social media if the project is have a lot of followers.
More followers much better.

Yes, that is a good ICO test strategy. But I think it lacks some detail.
I think you should check on the investor and how the management of telegrams. There are actually many large scale projects and the number of participants in their telegrams is over 50k. But that's just a virtual number, they've fooled a lot of investors. I have made such mistakes and I hope you will not make the same mistakes I made.

A solid team with good reputation and strong professional experience; A great idea that really needs the blockchain technology to achieve and a well managed community and marketing strategy. All in all, you need to do your DD and background checking and be responsible for your decision!

My basis when i invest to ICO is Check always their team background read the roadmap All of about on their project when and where it will be listed exchange if theres an possibility that it will increase the price in a certain time, how many investors they have, theirt achievement how the people in social media react of their project, and most important is if theyre token has a potential that make a profit when investing to them.

Yes, I fully agree with your opinion.
That is something that an investor needs to understand and check out meticulously. If one of these conditions is broken, we should not invest in that project anymore.
What we need most is the credibility of the project members and their marketing strategies.

In my opinion, it is better to make your own research and trust your guts.

The most of the privacy coins are undervalued right now.

The best opportunity is to find a privacy-related project with a low total supply (less than 100M), that way the price will be increasing much faster.

I recently found one project called Ethereum Meta, it is related to anonymity and untraceable transaction. They have a very interesting project to build the Anonymous E-Market Place.

They are on Pre-ICO stage right now, you can check their website: https://ethermeta.com/
Or even better go through their Bitcointalk thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2659058.0

Innovation of project which could be found with white-paper and after that background of team are the prime factors for me to decide about an ICO for going with them it could be either just participating into their bounty or investing my hard earned money. In my opinion, both are completely same thing as participating bounty is nothing but spending our time and efforts. So, all the time, I do consider these three factors very carefully.

Indeed. The amount of money raised by the project must be taken into consideration. Because usually more the money raised, more efficient the project is and it shows that it has got investors and people are willing to show them support.

Utility is a factor that must always be considered before investing because unless a token has some utility in the real world and helps in solving some real world problems, it’s useless and is likely to degrade over time and it won’t have any support from community or investors.

Apart from the whitepaper, project and team for me its important to see evidence that the team is truly invested. So a continuous attempt to form new partnerships and gain more advisers and presence at conferences and summits

I divide ICOs for 2 types - for flipping and for holding. Those projects that doesn't have fundamentally strong idea but have a huge hype are usually very good for flipping, So in this case number of followers in social media is the most important for me. And if I choose a good project for holding then I would check the team, whitepaper, hardcap, token metrics and all other important parameters.

Usually good projects and ICO’s show sign of hype because there is demand among people and due to it, more money is raised for the project platform to develop. Hype doesn’t really show whether a project is good and worth investing because hype can be created by an ICO’s by doing proper promotion, advertisements and by arranging bounty programs and signature campaigns. Therefore, hype can provide a signal towards some project in market, but investment must be done based on pure research.

The first thing is how much roi that invester can get. The second thing is the team. The third thing is the safety of investment. Never invest in any project which is not provide clear information and must be legit. Invest in cryptocurrency is very risky but it isn't mean that we should invest regardless of safety of investment.

Indeed. Those 3 points are the ones that everybody must look for. Project is useless if it’s just on paper and can be applied for practical purposes. Experience of development team and team of advisors of project determines how efficiently the ICO will grow and how successful it will be.

And transparency from the team of developers is always appreciated, because it provides a reason for people to trust the process and ensure that it’s not a scam.

Recently there was fork of LTC called litecoin cash. One of the developers has a photo of donkey on his profile on website. This helped people to know that it was nothing more than a scam.

For me, it has to be in a field I'm passionate about, have a minimum viable product, and be developed by a team with relevant experience who know what they're doing.

Surprisingly enough, this criteria is pretty hard to satisfy and find in a proper ICO. :D

Well as we know the team background means a little in modern world. Even a huge projects are tainted with such a nasty things like putting random IT specialists at their team list

Important things that I look for before investing in ICO’s are :
1.   Innovativeness of the project.
2.   Hard cap/soft cap.
3.   Team background.
I also read their whitepaper in order to see their roadmap, purpose of their project and how they plan to carry it out. I usually am firm on these points; the rest I do is join their twitter and telegram group and check their transparency and support for customers.

well, there's so many things we need to examine before investing on an ICO, at least we have to do some research. For me myself, before investing on an ICO i will look up through their website and telegram, i want to see the hype of the project. i will also skimming their whitepaper, just to see some details to make me sure even more on that ICO. But for me, the most important things to see is the hype. :D

As i have polled - Team, Project, Hard/softcap

ICO if researched thoroughly can earn you huge profits on your initial investment. ICO has the potential of multiplying your investments in short period of time. But due to lack of regulations and high percentage of scam ICO.  It becomes tough to find out the best out of the lot. What I look in an ICO before investment is that how much ratings it has got on various websites, who are the partners and advisors, team, project potential and roadmap and the social media presence.

Project should be something new,the product must be very useful to most of us,the team member should be legit because if not we are going to get scammed by these scam projects,that is why we need to check all of the possible redflags before joining any ICos in the community because most of these new projects are created just to raise funds and eventually going to steal people's money.

Innovativeness of project, Clarity of the white paper, and Team Background iis best choices if I can select only 3 of them. But you know these 3 are major points but not enough, We have to consider many options before selecting an ico.

Team for you to know if the project will turn into a scam because im sure you they wont if they are using their own identity because it is much easier to invest into a project which most of the team members has using their faces thru video,interviews and articles so that you wont be doubting that these people will try to steal investor's money.

Team Background is a good start as it shows the individuals that make the team are more than capable to deliver.

Percentage of tokens for the team also helps reduce volatility of coins if they are getting a small percentage and people get to have confidence to..

Plans to list token on a particular exchange does play a role expect sometimes you cant plan for such.

Minimum viable product.

Team experience and whitepaper.

Idea/goal behind project.

I understand that's more than 3 but there's a lot that goes behind evaluating an ICO and it's never simple. So all in all, it's really a mix of things that make an ICO good and truly stand out.

Didn't even vote....

Remember any ICO may later be deemed a security and then considered fraudulent, a lot of these ICOs are distributed so unfairly it undermines the whole point of bitcoin in the first place.

I now see why some are bitcoin maximalist.... seems like there anymore there only a few true crypto currencies that really had a fair and honest launch and distribution.

Most important before ICO is check the project team member background and check the project private/pre-sale progress, I've scam by some ICO before, so I'll wait for them listed on exchange

There are many things which are important for selecting the best ICO and investing over there and they are like Innovativeness of project and i would invest in a project which is master in its sector with low or no competition, something which has good value and attract many investors and traders all around the world, something which has good team background and some good trustworthy members supporting it and something with smart contract made public no matter whatever the project status or condition might be.

Important for me is always innovation and idea of the project, the whitepaper and the background of the team. My attention is also on the website of the project.

My basic three guides are whitepaper, how innovative the idea behind the project is, and the background of the team who will work on the project. Other criteria can follow.

3 MOST IMPORTANT things for me.

1.Innovativeness of project
 
2.Clarity of the white paper

3.Team Background

Almost all things that are represented here has nothing essential in reality. Because the truth is that projects we a talking about doesn’t exist. This is a phantom on the paper, nothing more. See on team background. This is a core.

There are much more indicators that we need to react, but the most important for me are:
1.Strong Team
2.Escrow
3.Alpha version of product

Used to go off hype but that is not enough anymore.

Whitepaper, Application (real use) or DApp, Team Members (preferably someone with some social status to pull in people - or a few advisors like this). Ah yes also the competition.. no use jumping in if everyone is doing the same

See how the ICO is advertised. In my opinion, ICO that has been or is being advertised through Google will have a high trust value for investors. Generally, big name ICOs are ready to advertise on Google. Advertising on Google is expensive and costly. Spending large sums of money to advertise their coin project will build the public's view that the owner is really serious about building a business together.

Mariencoin will have value in the future because it is a dev-less artificial intelligence coin.  .MTC. is making a return from 2013 because the crypto space has changed a lot since then.  mtc has extremely fast speeds, is eco-friendly, and its a community coin. Once this community of thousands have been established the next goal is likely to see Marinecoín n with the backing of this community to get it adopted into commerce / other larger economies. MarineCoín ecosystem is not dependent on miners, developers or individuals.Details: 

There is no well-known full-time developer on an ICO project team, which is usually a danger signal. If no one in the project management team has vertical market expertise, then it should be more careful.
When looking at a team and its qualifications, platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn are very useful. However, it is worth noting that they are not absolutely reliable because personal data can be forged. If team members claim to have a connection with the university or company, we can review this information through a trusted third-party source (such as a university newspaper or company website).
ICO projects often list their own consultants on the website, and we should also verify the status of these consultants.

Basically, I am working for bounty and get free coin but whenever I get to ICO investment then I first look out the Company website if that is HTTPS or not? If, yes then I look for the White paper where I can find all the solution if the company project will viable in the long run. Then I invest 5% of my total funds.

To invest in ICO, you must understand three basic things:

1. To invest in ICO projects you need to have a crypto currency.
Because basically projects expose the price in the ETH or BTC. Although there are projects that accept and fiat money, but there are fewer.

2. No one will return your investments in case of fraud.
No one gives you guarantees for the return of your investment or the fact that you will definitely earn.

3. It is best to invest in several projects, since not many are successful.
Choose 7-10 projects, this will be enough to catch a successful project.

the most important thing before investing in ico project, are:
1. Team

The initial check to be done is whether the team really exists, too many projects have tried to mislead investors by having a star team. Most ICO sites will have a team page with Linkedin profiles. Do an in-depth study of their experiences to ensure they have knowledge of their respective areas of expertise. The advisory board should provide additional substance and fill gaps in the skills and understanding of team members.

2. Whitepaper

Whitepaper is the standard of every ICO and is usually a very detailed document consisting of:
o Summary and Executive Summary
o Market research and analysis
o Details of products and architecture that have been summarized
o Roadmap and financial forecasts
o Token token structure
It is important that Whitepaper should be read carefully and there are specific questions directed to the management team.

3.Technology / Platform / Currency

Before you invest in an ICO program, surely you have to find out about the technology, platform, and currency they will use in the market. In addition, you should also check the permission of the company, so you will not be deceived. Because, now there are many people who use the lack of public information about ICO to seek a profit. Therefore, you must be careful in determining your investment place.