Bitcoin Forum

As the question reads.  For me:

-  The concept/vision - is it innovative?  does it solve a real world problem?  is the problem it solves something I am interested in?
-  The team - Size and experience.
-  How the coin relates to the concept.  Is the coin a key part of the platform?  Are other payment methods available to users, etc.

I cannot stress this more, No.1 is the whitepaper. Always look at the whitepaper. If you can understand what the team wants to do, and like the concept, consider putting money - else no use. No2. is the team. Look at the engagement that they are having with the community, also look at how old are their public profile like linkedin. QUtm CEO changed his name recently before doing qtum, he has been known for doing frauds in past- so do look into the history of people involved. No3 thing that I check is the community around the project.

This is bang on the money in my eyes. Here is what i would look for in an ICO, a little more than 3, but they are all interconnected.

- Strong team - Both in development team and also the CEO's / marketing (People focus too much on the developers which is important but not everything. no point having a great team to create something, if nobody can advertise it and push the startup in the right direction.)
- Realistic vision - not aiming too high or if they do not reach their target everyone who invested will be disappointed
- Solid whitepaper - Well thought out, shows realistic goals, a strong good vision and a plan of action
- Strong social media presence - A social media that shows they are connected with everyone
- Good customer support - Shows they care, and they have invested time and money into making sure the average investor can ask questions
- Good website - A business who is willing to throw time and effort into a good website are less likely to be a scam
- finite supply - ICO's with no cap can be dangerous and can simply just damage their own coin by releasing more for more investment.
-Market they are getting involved with - Is this a new market? or a dying one? who controls the market?

Finally
- Good concept and catchy name - A good ethos and a name that makes them stand out. Personally i would avoid anything that is something "coin".

If these are in place, then it's a good sign. I am looking at Crowdholding at the minute, seems like a good upcoming ICO (They are in their pre-sale). I like this one because it is about co-creation (Which i am interested in, which also helps and i would advise) and also you can get more for your investment as they are in their pre-sale.

https://ico.crowdholding.com/

Thank you .. these are good points to remember...

Especially point No. 2 Does it solve a real world problem?

Some people just ignore this and blindly invest in ICO's

Basing on whitepaper isnt really reliable itself since there are good projects out there who do have the potential to progress is they are being funded well but there are really instances which the interest of people isnt there on which they do end up on failing inspite on having a good project. This is also my main concern or being seek it up first when i do decide to join or invest on an ICO. Next would be the experienced developers and next its roadmap, marketting strategy/partners and experiences.

I look for people. Are there lot of people wanna support this project or not? That is good enough to make some money over speculation. Also projects' dev team is important.

Surely everyone wants a gift from ICO if not a gift then much less. I work in this bitcointalk would want a very nice gift of a project. :)

Totally agreed the 3 points mentioned are important. To my surprise, I came across some projects without white paper. I totally ignore these projects.

Roadmap and the coin distribution, team and is it rational or not. If not rational I won't invest in ICO.

the team, the market cap, usually the two will determin to participate in or not, for more, i will look for the project its self, for example, is there already exited in the similiar project

You are fucking retarded idiots.
These are not "startups" nor are they companies.. nor are you investors.
ICO's are scammy .. every single one of them period .
You are participating in new age digital ponzi / pyramid schemes for profit.
You are NOT "investors".. but scammy idiots.

do i need to explain why yet again ?  ::)

https://maggieshayne.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/1801_Premiere.jpg

Go fund yourself assholes.

The team is definitely a priority. They should give backgrounds, social media links or linkedin so you could personally check.
I think it is important to be sure first if the ICO is not a scam before trying to evaluate if it will be successful.

yes. I also like you in looking at an ICO. Usually I see how the ICO will run with their vision, want where the project and how the team handle it. make sure they are really a professional team in their field. the last I saw their allocation of funds. If they think they have allocations and that are unreasonable or unrealistic, I choose to avoid them.

Team. Market. Product.  In that order.

for me, im looking is the concept that ico, what is developer offering for me, the team and their experince in blockchain

For me it's, something new, innovative, disruptive.

The first one is the whitepaper, you have to read whole white paper before invest your money to these projects. Because most of them just scammer with nonsense whitepaper which looks promising but fail at the end.

Team and Escrow should consider before invest, if famous team involved to their project (like CEO of Ethereum, Dash) and using ESCROW !! . Your funds probably safe even the scammer is out, your funds still safe on escrow and Coin Supply.

I think the team is the most important, a experienced team can bring out creative ideas and useful products and a powerful advisors can make good market performance. That is enough.

For me, the most important aspect is the whitepaper and how the technology will solve a problem.

Second is the team and that they have experience.

The third is for me the potential of the project.

However, there are occasions when it makes sense to invest even when the team is not experienced or unknown but the rest is great.

Also, I am also analyzing who else is investing. If good advisors with industry knowledge are on board, it is a huge plus point....

First of all i look investors thinks. Second, team.
Third, whitepaper and potential of project.

Firstly I look for the product - blockchain usage and an idea of the project (dose it have a potential) . Secondly, of course, the whitepaper. And last but not least is the team.

The first three things I look for in an ICO are, the whitepaper and it's project because it is really important if the project they are creating can be applicable and investors would think they could make money out of this. Second would be the team, if they have experience and how well they are capable to make the project work and lastly would be the budget for the whole project because it would really matter especially for the investors and the participants of the projects.

alway check profile team first... do they have exp, finance skill....
then check their whitepaper to see a picture about project
then wait till ICO open and see people have interesting project or not

You don't remember the developers are trying to raise the money caused by that will be used to develop the product and i think all of the project just try to offer the pre-alpha in my opinion. there is no one that already offered the real  product for us before the crowdsale.

for most ICO's this is right yeah.
not all but many.

Nothing.

ICO's at the moment unregulated has they are everyone can put up Vaporcoin and cash out slowly and discreetly.

People should stop opening their wallets and expecting huge returns for nothing. Do your research on a product and wait to see if its a valid product with a valid team behind it. The reasons for the creation of a given coin and most important the reasons for holding an ICO.

If a product is solid what you mostly need are trustworthy investors and a good team backing you, ICOs should be regulated imo and a last resort to give projects their kickstart.

You people still don't get it but once governments and agencies start taking an interest in the people behind ICOs things are bound to get funky.

https://maggieshayne.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/1801_Premiere.jpg

Go fund yourself assholes.
[/quote]

for most ICO's this is right yeah.
not all but many.
[/quote]

I sadly must agree on that! Lately I'm checking a lot of ico's cuz my company plans to run a icon for our start up project ( https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2129844.new#new) until end of this year. It is somehow depressing what nonsense gets funded. Its even more depressing that all kind of warnings just getting plain ignored.... marketing/pr/ and some well known promoters rule the show....


My 3 points:

1. The IDEA
2. The amount of Investment needed to realize the project
3. All the rest can be bought with money or can be faked and has not much value.... white paper, team, so on. You will need common sense when thinking about an investment. Stick to the basics.

A working product, a niche market, and a good way to promote that product. The last two is something I see often, but the most important thing is almost always missing, which is a working product.

Also, I check their progress before they KO the ICO. I personally don't invest in ICOs which are big marketing bubbles and no work done. I personally don't like lazy teams which are waiting for money before spending energy on their idea.
Usually I go after ICOs which have a working prototype and they are proudly showing it off and are open to discuss it in their Slack / Reddit.

Monetha is an example of massive marketing, tons of Videos and posts, hundreds of social media pumping, a lot of theorising and handshaking and no presentable work done.

Mostly, I agree with your post but I have another opinion. First, how they built communication with members/ users, are they friendly and always giving clear answer not only promises?. Second, will they keep their promise ( rules ) to participant?. As long the give what members/users as friendly expert team, I'll join the ICO. For me communicate is very important thing and will make members comfortable. Have a nice day.

I think the most important thing from a ICO is the Team because most participants will definitely see who the Team is dealing with a project and they will invest to that project if the team are trusted

Developers history
It has potential or not ?
Way of marketing the ICO (What methods does the team use to market their ICO ? )

First, the quality of the project and if it is relevant for the blockchain, then the team and  the expertise of the members, finally the amount of money they request to launch the project.

1. Business Model
2. Competitive Advantage
3. Problems and Solutions

1. Max supply cap. If it's limited and below 100M so that's good. But if it's higher than 500M then I will say good bye.
2. Don't care about white paper, it's bull shit
3. HYPE?

I think when reviewing an ICO, you need to keep an open mind as if you were investing in a company in the stock market...it includes risk. As there aren't quarterly reports telling you how the company is doing, you'll need to make sure the Whitepaper is complete and succinct, the idea has a feasible path to implementation, and a team with background knowledge and experience are running it. 

I mean...You wouldn't trust a guy who's spent his life as a baseball player to represent you in a court of law.  Similarly, I wouldn't trust a team that doesn't have experience in the crypto field.

I think the developmental stage is very important. There are too many grand visions with little substance and no proof of concept, even if the team is strong.

Our ICO spins of from long-standing crypto exchange LakeBTC.com. The LakeBanker system has been operating within LakeBTC in Beta for 1.5 years and already generates revenue. Now it's ready for the world. So we feel having a strong proof of concept should be one of the three most important things in an ICO.

Check out our ANN thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2028648.0) if you're interested. Link to our whitepaper is on the front page.

This a great approach to put a certain ICO to test whether it is good or not, sound to invest in or not. I particularly look at the first requirement you have. I always appreciate projects that tend to focus on a certain problem and puts forward a proposed solution with brilliant and promising ideas. The third is of equal importance because there are projects with coins but at the end the coins are almost useless for the project to bloom.

1- project & vision: real use case or just technology?
2- team: seniority, advisors. Pre-existing business (ie: OMG)
3- Mcap asked: max $25M

Bull fucking shit.
All you guys "look for" is what is going to give you profit.
..then
You show up here posting idiotic garbage like this.

You all also posted attributes that are easily faked gamed or scammed up hard.
In other words even if you were sincere your comments are fucking stupid.

3 things in my mind before choosing an ico:
- the concept offered
- the background of the developers and team
- whitepaper and road map

I always spend a long time to read and understand the whitepaper. Reading the background of his team is a pleasure in my self. everyone who supports the project, and profit sharing that they are offered

The three things i look for in an ICO is that they can manage all the things that are needed in creating a project . I also look for  the things that they solve the problems that may occur as soon as possible. An ICO requires participants and investors to make the project successful but it depends the way things works. I look for an ICO that can make the best communication to all the users and participants that may ask somethings about their project or their given ANN thread. I look for a successful ICO that not only reach its goal but also push the limits to become the most successful ICO that exist.

Hi


-do the solve a problem
-Team (references, linkedin,companys)
-Github

All of your answers makes sense but it is much better if you're going to do your own surveys and studies on your perspective ICO. Always remember to be safe because we're all here to earn and not to be scammed.

The ICO is a scam by design..
Until you launch one or buy them for profit.
It's like saying some pyramid schemes are legit..

everything you say, is very much related to choice.
to choose an ico you have to do that research is paramount.

All of those are important, the first thing is to look at the white paper, many times the white paper is very short or not detailed enough if they cannot bother to make a decent white paper then, How we can expect that they are going to develop a successful project? Looking at the devs is important but now many icos are just bringing some people to be the image of the ico even if they are not going to be an essential part of the team so you need to be careful with that.

I would check the following

- Is there a product, or at least a whitepaper? Does it make sense to use blockchain or coin?
- Who are the investor and advisor?
- Who is the team and do they have proven track record in the area.
- How big is the market? What's the reaction in slack /social channels

I always check and analyze these three.

1. White paper and road map - truly I'm lazy reading this but of course I wanna know if its have a potential and not scam
2. The team - if its well known or credible when it come to this field.
3. Bounty allocation - how much percent will be able to distribute to the participants and the investors.

Whitepaper and team
Maketcap and distribution
Value of market they're entering

Check out Real ICO..
The crowdfunded real estate market will be worth over 300 billion in a few years according to forbes

Idea - If idea is not good don't even start crowdfunding. Idea sell the product.
Innovation - Is it new thing or did somebody else do it before? Innovation is important. Either make a new thing or make better product for current thing.
Team - They must be important people in their area. They need to follow roadmap and don't give promises that they can't make that happen.

Also see if they have a working product or prototype.
Look for competitors, their progress and current value

Also join their slack and telegram channels, see how many people have joined and follow the updates.

If the ICO offers a innovative technology, getting quite a lot of positive attention most especially on social media and lastly there is an overwhelming support from the crypto community as a whole.

Cross check against my own work experience, understanding of people and what the ICO is trying to solve.

A lot of ICOs pump out a lot of theory without regard of regulation, or think that their project is so brilliant that they can capture their market within a few short years.

Most of them are probably gonna burn through all the funds raised before achieving market acceptance.

ICO's are all about profit, profit for the creators and profit for the investors, there is hardly any projects out there that will offer you anything genuine, let-alone something tangible.

Most coins out there are marketing their coins on superficial promises, and most will fall short of anything near that's promised, I fully trust the coins who have shown over years of dedication to their infrastructure, but most of us have become millionaires at this point.

This is a good thread for ideas on how to avoid scams. There is an underlying undertone to every digital currency ICO or whatever.. profit

What about a project that's already at a mature developmental stage? That is not easily faked.

which I look for in ICO:
1.products in the project, whether the products on the ICO serve in the market.
2.vision of the project, all must be realistic and convincing the project in the future.
3.tim, because the team plays an important role for the sustainability of the ICO.
Tq

I personally participate in ICO in signature companies, and not as an investor. When choosing a campaign project, I first of all look at what sectors invest in money, where the coins will be created and therefore the future will be there. Then, of course, I pay attention to the team that is behind this project. However, everything here can hardly be calculated. It is all relatively and in part partly necessary to rely on intuition.

I just look for 1 thing:
Spoetnik's posts on the official coin ICO thread.

It is better than all the dumps, scams or pumps.

Before I can consider investing in any ICO, I have to understand the idea behind the project and determine the uniqueness of the project. I should be able to determine how I am going to benefit after investing in that particular project. I will have to determine whether the project is having potential and the team behind the project. Finally, I will have to read about it so that I can understand their concept better.

This has actually changed as time has gone bad. The big thing that I used to look for was the idea, the way that idea was presented, and at least some semblance of a plan to achieve that. But, so many of these over the past year have had a great idea, have had a great plan, and then once the money was raised poof they were gone.

I think few people thought ICO as Some of this was stealing, but I actually think that the biggest culprit is the fact that once you have to put your hands on that plan and make it happen it becomes so much more difficult and overwhelming. So these days, I still want a good plan, I still want a good idea, but I would love to have some of that plan already worked on and some of that technology already happening,

Actually, most things important when reseach about an ICO project is good or bad, real or fake ... you need check community, working attitude of devs, support team, website design, marketing and information about devs team too. If you know they fake all information, be carefully!

And it is so funny that some ICO leaders will tell you that this is too much to ask of them. I've seen people say: if there's no funding how to we do it? Nobody programs for free. Obviously this is the age where people say they have an idea but you have to give them money before they will get their ass moving. Welcome to the millenial era. 95% of ICO fits in I guess.

Actually, 3 thing is not enough for take a true decision in an ICO. You should examine and study hard to understand if its a good project or not. But in a nutshell,  i think that the whitepaper is one of the most important thing about a project. Than we count the topic and  concept, good plan and road map, and successful experieced team, general impression and trust, interest of community, marketing and powerful & permanent system...
All of investors or participants need to read and interpret every info and notice about a project and make their own decision.

First of all most important thing for me is trustworthiness of the project . I don't wanna waste my time or money on a campaign that I don't know anything about.
Secondly the potential of project is very important. I am always after a profitable business.
And the last thing is people behind ICO. I usually do a little search of people who is managing it.

For me 3 main things to consider ICO are:
 1. Escrow - of course it is not main thing but reasonable for me.
 2. Product - is it just idea for future production or it is something that you can "touch" already.
 3. Communication between devs and investors, how is it organized, questions/answers sessions.

- Team
- Whitepaper
- Just idea or already a product?
- Is what they promise technically even possible (often it is not!!!!)
- Cap (prefer low hard cap ... everything over 20M is uninteresting for me)

For me, there are not too many things for me to search at an ICO. First, what project was developed from that ICO? It needs to be a real project, never believe in phishing projects. Also, for projects, the potential is really one thing we need to keep in mind, avoiding investing in unnecessary projects, our profit depends entirely on it.

You question everything that is required for a project's success, if all three questions are answered and an ICO meets the criteria you are questioning, a project has a good future

For me IDEA - this have sothing interesting at end to cacth my attention
HARD CAP for funding like 20m$ maks to not be overfunded
Team - most important part but i belive that will be harder and harder to improve

I always consider he market capital, the moderator and its concept when choosing an ICO project. The market capital will determine how big will the profit be. I also consider the moderator because I think it affects the success of the ICO together with the concept if it is for gaming which is a trend as of this moment. I choose these three because I think all of these will be the factors of the ICO of it will be successful or not.

First is thw market capital, second is the concept or what kind of ICO is it, and lastly, the dev team and moderator. Market cap because it will reflect how will an ICO succeed, the higher the market cap  the more chance of being successful. The concepts such as gaming coins and the like is also a big factor on ICO project, gaming ICO is the new trend if im not mistaken. Lastly dev team and moderator, ofcourse they'll be the one to manage the project, if the moderator and team is good, the success of an ICO is assured.

I just don't get why you guys think if you go to an exchange and buy scammy premined ICO coins that you are an "investor".

Head over to the real stock markets and take note how that works.
Also take note how it is regulated.
Who in crypto has gone to jail for insider trading like Martha Stewart?

I can outline how every minute part of this ICO craze is pure fucking scam.
But it's pointless.. Because you all already KNOW.

You are greedy and don't care period.

yes. the first must be their purpose. if I find their goals uncertain or unrealistic, surely I will avoid it, the second is their team. make sure they really have a professional team, and the third is their budget.

ICO's are illegal so here are the 3 things:

1. Jail
2. Prison
3. Jail

The options do not look good...

 Idea and mission are most important for me.
 If ICO has good thoughts behind, which wont just enreach people but first of all serve peace on our planet, will definitely try to safe this planet and unit community with a totally new idea, which will reveal new direction.

Probably many of you truly believe in such criteria for a good ICO as having a good team, good announcement thread with some pretty pictures and

A long OP inn length, some are even gullible enough to trust a project just because they have someone famous as their advisor or consultant but when

I want to decide about a project I actually imagine a picture with moving parts more like a GIF in my mind of the product or service which they are

Claiming to deliver, if it works for me, if I could open my browser and visit a website to actually use the service and if it has a real world use, I know

That there are potentials and it can become something useful.

I think it is also important to look at their ANN thread in the forum, if there is something wrong with the project you will see many complains and doubts being raised, if a satisfactory answer is not given then you are most likely in the presence of a scam or of a project that is not going to be successful so it is better to look for another project.

1- purely based-on-technology coin without a end-consumer purpose -> only experts can understand, looks very technical and state of the art...
2- huge amount of tokens, and over-valuated Marketcap (>$250MM) -> but ultra-low token unitary price to lure noobs in...
3- unexperienced linkedin profiles for the team -> ...but girl in charge of PR & Communication is hot...


How2: Buy at ICO, sell 3h after it hits exchanges. Go golf...

I definitely agree to this! It is great to have a good plan regarding how to achieve the aims and objectives however, what makes that plan so promising is knowing the team have the relevant experience, expertise and networking to make it happen. Having said that the marketing plays a vital role too, to ensure the right message is put across, right?

It is more then 3 aspect we need to look at one p4oject.
1. Development team
2. The project ( is it posaible to do that project or just dream )
3. How much money they need and how much money the minimum and hard cap
4. Road map

Etc...

Agreed. Each of these points, as well as the consistent communication within marketing and community channels also helps express the potential and values of the business.

   Creator of this thread approach was more technical, and how many of us have deep knowledge about technology. Your 4 aspects is what was I watching before I invested in few ICO`s.
   I invested in BitDice, BetKing and TrueFlip ICO`s. Developers of this ICO`s are well known in this community, casinos will be here always, and bitcoin casinos are the future. This projects
can change the way people invest in casinos and earn from them. All of this 3 casinos already have millions of dollars invested, and road map they presented is what I like the most. Both
BitDice and BetKing plan to have sports book, more games.
   This casinos are already popular, and in future if they gain more popularity there will be more people and more earning for people who invested in early stages.

The 3 things I look for from ICO are that 1. profitable, 2. learn, 3. get token. that's the 3 things I love about ICO.

for me is these three:

1. White paper and road map - I wanna know if its have a potential and not scam
2. The team - if its well known or credible when it come to this field.
3. Bounty allocation - the percent will be able to distribute to the participants and the investors.
see you guys ;)

1. White Paper - if they didn't have take time to create a good White Paper, will they spend enough time to make their product really good? The paper should contain a considered plan and realistic goals.
2. Team - good team, not too big, not too small; experienced. Always check for their background and see if they are active in social media.
3. Growth potential - if the product doesn't have where to grow it will hardly bring you any profit. Make sure to check for competitors as well, because the competitors might have a much better product, even if this ICO growth potential is really good.

1. Can you see a whitepaper that is a shit? All whitepapers and roadmap should have a good output because it will be looked by those investors.

2. We can't say if their experiences is really their experience.

3. Well yeah Im considering bounty percentage before joining any bounties.

Overall, investing on a ICO project is risky as we didn't know how it will turned out providing they have a good team and wonderful roadmaps. So for choosing, it's all about self analyzation about the project.

i think the most important thing is the project located in China or not, then we can think about other questions, the team, the concept, the roadmap, the market cap, and so on

1. Product.
2. Potential.
3. Whitepaper.
4. Roadmap and business plan.
5. Comparison with competitors.
6. Bitcointalk threads.

After viewing the ICO sites, I look at the information on the trackers like https://www.cryptocompare.com/ or http://coins.expert
Total supply, Crowdsale supply, Mincap, Hardcap, Bounty campaigns.

By the way, no one post – the smart contract...

 Strong team - Both in development team and also the CEO's / marketing (People focus too much on the developers which is important but not everything. no point having a great team to create something, if nobody can advertise it and push the startup in the right direction.)- Realistic vision - not aiming too high or if they do not reach their target everyone who invested will be disappointed- Solid whitepaper - Well thought out, shows realistic goals, a strong good vision and a plan of action- Strong social media presence - A social media that shows they are connected with everyone

Surely everyone wants a gift from ICO if not a gift then much less

Roadmap and the coin distribution

the team, the market cap,

the whitepaper, you have to read whole white paper before invest your money

Before I can consider investing in any ICO, I have to understand the idea behind the project and determine the uniqueness of the project

working attitude of devs, support team, website design

Team - most important part

For me ,
 the idea , is attractive or not.
 the dev ,  promising or not .
 the time of money back, will it on exchange soon .I like quick money from icos.

ICO's are illegal so here are the 3 things:1. Jail2. Prison3. Jail

Idea and mission are most important for me.

White paper and road map

Thank you these are good points to remember

This is well put!

It is vital for the strong team to obtain the relevant skillset and experience in order to build the confidence of the product and aims.

In regards to marketing, this aspect is key as a great product cannot be known if the communication and marketing is not executed effectively, right?

Above all, which follows onto the vision to make it realistic and ensure people believe in the concept just as the business does.

I would also like a member of the development team with a strong business background. I think what happened with cryptocurrency is developers and coders got out there in the Forefront and their ideas got destroyed because they didn't have the business background to handle everything properly after that and the either failed because they could not handle the finances or they just got ripped apart by the business portion.

A strong business background is key. The team will essentially be the face of the company and what it stands for. If the experience and skills are strong and trustworthy, I believe that is what will make the business operations and their products noteworthy to the investors in order to actually consider them over many of the companies out there.

1. I take note of the team and manager's specifics
2. I take proper note of the activities to be done and stake distribution.
3. I also note the duration.

Most important things for me are

Is the team full of competent people

Market cap

Is the idea doing something thats needed.

for me;

team

escrow

market

I think mostly users will have the same thought of what things to look for an ICO project. Ofcourse there will be the team, because I know for a project to be sucessful it needs a great team behind it. They will also provide the concept of the project and how it will operate. And users will also look forward what product it will be endorsing and also how profitable the project.

Good team
Good roadmap
Coin distribution

- The idea itself, how is this project going to change the world we know
- its user-friendliness
- benefits I can get

People are trying to put anything and everything on a blockchain, including the kitchen sink.

Many times, they don't make sense or they're trying to squeeze a square block into a round hole.

"Never invest in a business you cannot understand."   --  Warren Buffett

I pay attention to the developers and owners of a project, I always see from their active development system especially active in answering all the questions that exist, the second is their process in managing campaigns and launching a special strategy when ico runs, the third is that they are consistent with road maps and products they promote even after entering the trading market.

What about established products? Do you care if the project is already working or it's just a roadmap in a whitepaper?

Yes, it is definitely MUCH BETTER if the project already has some working software.  That is even better than having code in Github.

Very few ICOs have working software.  Most of them have simply put together a nice looking website.

Before investing in an ICO I always look into their product if they have. Because in this way we can determine if their product is good. But mostly here in ICO project most checking is the whitepaper, roadmap and who funded their project. The most thing to check is how they can create a market strategy to attract investors because this is one of the most important also.

Many ICO projects have no evidence that they can program or develop software.  Many of them say in their bios that they have software experience with titles like CTO or Developer, but there is no software or website that we can use, to confirm that they are indeed developers.

(1) Is it easy to understand? A lot of bad ICOs hide behind vague and technical mumbo-jumbo. There's no excuse for this.

(2) Team: Have they built any other tech products? Where are they based? Will they suffer real consequences if it's a scam?

(3) Is it something you're passionate about? If you know nothing about video games, don't invest in a video game blockchain project.

Marketing does really give a big role on promoting the project because no matter how good it is if it doesn't have a proper marketing then it would still fail because investors wont really see it. Real world products is one of the things I do really check first when I do see a particular ICO.If I do see that it is good and does have potential then I usually put up funds on those projects.

The first thing I see is the prospect of the ico listed on the whitepaper. After that I glanced at the team that handles ico whether it is trusted or not. Then look at some developments during pre-ico. If the pre-ico in the beginning of good in my opinion the future will be able to grow into big. I think that is enough to see an ico that will Growing the future

For me first Im looking for the devs. Im researching about their data's and if they are real or not. Next is the fundaments and the project. then the product if it is possible or not.

Thats what i look for when researching some ico. I am reading the white paper and more research about that project after that when i know that it is ok so thats it.

team background
team vesting token
project significance

one of the first things to consider is ;
--the team and what they bringing on board
--the project road map
--the feasibilty of the product or service

#1 existing prototype / product <--- this everytime... are you investing in a piece of paper or an existing proof of concept?!

First, and the most important thing is their whitepaper.
Understanding its project mission and vision and their roadmap.
The team behind their project and how serious they are.
Also its prospect, that's all.

Since nowadays lots of ICOs scammed, so we need to be more careful and do some research.

There are indeed some of the ico who have sufficient levels of harm to investors who take the path to the ico position. But one thing we did have to hold off all ico, that if a team is in the ICO is very solid I'm sure everything will end up at a huge profit. Because a solid team can provide a lot of fun things for the future, even plans that they create will be much better and more profitable for investors. keep thinking positively and always do an analysis.

I bareky invest in ico because most the claims are promises they make in their whitepaper are not applicable in terms of raising money.
• I look for any real life effect of the money raised like launching a app , a business or anything which has a affect on the physical world and not only on bitcoin world meaning many gambling sites are doing ico but that is again development for their bitcoin gambling site so very less people get introduced to bitcoin
• I also look of their past history and their existence in the real world weather all the claims they are making is true or false

First two steps are a quick glance at the ICO, to avoid wasting time with bad fundamentals:

1. I first look at the field it is trying to change and the main idea of the token (whitepaper). If I don't think there is potential here, I don't waste any more time.

2. Next I check how the token is used:
Is it central to the functioning of the platform / i.e. is this something that wouldn't work without a token? If not ICO is just a way to raise money, so not worth it. If token is only for raising money and handing out profits / revenue share - this token can be classified as a security, so exchanges will hesitate to list it (SEC issues) and I avoid it.

After this it is time to look at the project in more detail:

3. The team + advisors:
Past work, experience, international team? Unknown team with no experience / proof of past work is a big red flag.

4. Timeline for development and working prototype:
- How far along is the project? Avoid projects just starting out (ICO at a very early stage) unless willing to take additional risk.
- Have they met deadlines for previous steps? If not may want to avoid project - unrealistic planning shows a dysfunctional team.
- And maybe most important in this section - do they have a working prototype before ICO? If not question whether they are really able to develop on promises. I usually avoid ICOs with no working prototype.

5. ICO details:
- What is the marketcap for ICO? No marketcap, no way :o If the marketcap is very large consider what marketcap it would have to reach for you to get a desired return (example to reach 10x n initial investment). Is this marketcap realistic for such a project?
- What share of coins are being sold in ICO? Preferably at least 50%. How is the rest distributed and what are the proceed of ICO to be used for?
- Presale? What kind of discount for presale and how many coins were sold? If too cheap and too large share of all coins you can probably expect presale participants to dump once token starts trading on exchanges.
- How is participation structured? Whitelist and individual caps? Will the ICO be used to guarantee wide adoption and decentralisation? Or are they just hunting for whales?
- And finally are you looking for a quick flip or will you look to hold long term because you are a true believer in this project? I invest only in project that I believe in long term, because this is whee the real money is made  ;D

This are the basics.

After this, try their slack and other channels to get a feel for the team - ask the difficult questions and see how they respond. This way you will see how thought out the project really is. Are they defensive and avoid answering or are they willing to explain things? Great sign of a good team!

If the devs are trying to explain clearly about their project and can answer even the harder question regarding the summarize of their project, i always assume that the devs are really serious about the project. if you found that some of devs who trying to start an ICO are lack of these thing. better to stay away. but, some of the devs maybe not responsive because they are busy. but will eventually answering all your questions.

Based on the above points mentioned by you and myself, I am putting my money on Blackmooncrypto!

Their vision is to eliminate black box  investments. They have mentioned this in their whitepaper and many other places. This stuck out to me significantly. If you are familiar with some unethical strategies that are implied is the regular financial system, you will know that  building a portfolio of lets say questionable loans and then selling those assets to a pension fund is the kind of behavior that was a major contributor to the 2008 financial crisis. Because selling funds to pension funds that you know are toxic to some unwitting buyer, this is what you might call black boxes. This happens when local municipalities who are not professional investors and do not understand how the investment funds work and is structured and hence they make poor decisions. So creating transparency on what is in each of these funds that are available is exactly what blackmooncrypto is focusing on and I think they should get credit for this.

By providing the investors with tools to get detailed information about what is inside their funds that they are about to invest in, the investors are more aware and can hence make much more informed decisions. More awareness investors have, more better decisions they can make.

More details of the project can be found at:

https://blackmooncrypto.com/
https://t.me/blackmooncrypto

These are good basic things to lookup.
Personally, I check for 2nd degree data.
 -What is the history of the peoples involved. Sometimes you find bogus dev, then it's a big no-no.
 -Is it a cloned coin/tech : ex: ZEN -> ZEC, PASL -> PASC. Big no-no
 -Is the whitepaper bullshitt based. AKA if you're reading the white paper or the website and it feel more like an car/appliance adds, big no-no
 -Is it backed by knowledgable peoples. aka KyberNetwork is backed by Vitalik -> Big YES-YES !

good luck

I like the way you think. I've seen too many ICOs I just can't believe someone could invest in the claims made.

Those are very good points:


Quite often, I don't understand their technical mumbo-jumbo, and I've worked in the technology industry for many years.

Some ICO teams are in countries that are corrupt. So, don't expect their governments to help you out if the team members are corrupt.  You also have to wonder if the country's culture of corruption is representative of the people in the country.

we can count basically;
Good, usefull original idea and project.
Experienced and successful team
Realistic and exact whitepaper + general desing
but except those, there are so many things should be exist an ICO.

First of all the team. I start research about each team member. After that i read the whitepaper to check the idea and the form. Also the website should look professional.

I think the vision, purpose and team are the most vital. so you should be able to choose it sharply.

I think this is the truth that we always see these three things mostly .
Here the first point in the OP post that the vision/concept that should be unique , if the concept of the new project will be like the old then i don't think it will be better option to have that coin .
And Second factor of the better team work and also experienced team work because the activities by the team shows that what they are doing and also increasing the popularity by taking part about the coin news .
And the last factor about the coin is use at different different platforms . Here I can give the example of the ATC coin , and i found that coin was listed at 4-5 shopping sites and also the team of the this coin making new new payment options , so this coin now jumped to about 60×times , so here you can expect that how much these things have more importance in our life of trading and investment work .

First i look team members and project reallyty then i look marketing strategy. If marketing budget is more then normal its a red flag for me.
Then if ICO has refferal system i stay away from them. All ponzi schemes has referral system.
Also presale or softcap is a nice indicator for a successful ico

The team, the vision and the market in no specific order.

For me i look at team, social media and techonology that they want to provide, but mostly there was more factores that you need to look at before you invest in to ICO's really important is the techonolgy and the realisation at White paper almost all of the good projects they have a nice described token realisation

Since people are thinking in investing in icos it makes sense they are looking for something that makes them money but at the same time that is the most difficult thing to find, since there are many coins that are not worth a thing but that some pump groups decide to buy, and even if you invested in a coin without any technical merit you could earn money, but you could be left with the impression that you have some kind of great insight that you do not have, you were just lucky.

1. dev information
2. their vision
3. their hard cap

I only check one thing before I buy an ICO... if Paris Hilton is buying ???

Thanks for this list, mate! This is a very good checklist that everyone should learn to check before joining or investing any ICO. Innovation is one key. Otherwise, if you end up investing in an ICO which is mostly similar to a project that had just finished their own ICO, there is a probability that it won't sell as quick. The reason is that it might be construed as a simple copy.

lol. I just check how many people had invested in this ICO. :D then buy.

Paris Hilton is involved in a new ICO related to ad fraud.

This is actually not the right criteria if people are buying so let buy. Its always good for everyone to due their due diligence before investing in any of those coins. Many numbers or people will of their own and not outsider and it could be easy trap considering every one is investing.

I prefer to check the team involved, their whitepaper report and their future growth prospects.

I would take into consideration the following things:
1) a solid whitepaper coherent with a product itself;
2) its low risk rating and high investment profile;
3) its potential value for customers and other interested parties in general.

;D
I will definitely avoid to involve into the ICO which the presidents of the TOP countries proclaims to be the best to invest to :))

Hi Guys,

Check this topic:


The second ICO our of Korea is coming soon (BOScoin was the first). DAYLI Financial Group (formerly Yello Finance Group) is preparing to launch a coin called ICON. The site was opened on the 2nd. Of all things, the Korea version of the Whitepaper attracted me the most, and after reading through, I felt the company was well prepared.

ICON is an interconnecting blockchain network. ICON can connect independent blockchains without the use of additional third-party intermediaries. Various blockchains can communicate with each other through the ICON platform. By connecting siloed blockchains, ICON aims to become the largest blockchain in existence.

ICON tokens are named ICX. ICX is used as an intermediary currency when transacting amongst the various blockchain networks. As an inter-chain blockchain, the ICON platform will be able to host other ICOs on the ICON platform.

The ICON ICO will be the largest ICO in Korea. Overall, ICON aims to raise $44M over the span of 2 weeks. The ICO starts on October 20th, 2017 and ends on November 3rd, 2017. ICON will distribute 400,230,000 ICX which can only be exchanged with Ethereum (ETH). 1 ETH has a conversion rate of 2,500 ICX (1 ETH = 2,500 ICX).

https://icon.foundation/en/

The devs are the most important part of the project even if the idea is not the most original they can beat existing coins if their execution is better, if the end product is better, so always check that the developers are who they say they are, also look for fake pictures, if there is any that is a big red flag and finally once you have determined they are real then you can look at their experience.

Three things look for in an ICO, I feel important are;
1. Whitepaper
2. Vision
3. Platform [on what the tokens for the ICO are being build upon]

1. Of course it's obvious they should have a whitepaper

2. Also a commong thing

3. Should

But the bottom line here is, whitepaper , vision and roadmap are easy to create. They can just put good and positive thoughts about the project and that's it. For me the best factor should be "exposure" like devs doing seminars and travels to show what project is or having a regular conference to some crypto related news institution. In that way, we can see that they are serious in the project and all we need to face is the risk of investing to them.

As said before, the golden rules for an ICO are:

1- purely based-on-technology coin without a end-consumer purpose
-> only experts can understand, looks very technical and state of the art... because its only purpose is technology

2- huge amount of tokens, and over-valuated Marketcap (>$250MM)
-> but ultra-low token unitary price to lure noobs in...

3- unexperienced linkedin profiles for the team
-> ...but girl in charge of PR & Communication is super hot...


How2: Buy at pre-ICO, sell 3h after it hits exchanges. Go golf...

1. No scam

2. Over demand for flipping

3. Good team for long term investment and clear exit strategy

This are good lists. I usually look at the project it self if people would find it helpful and the project would be helpful to people. Usually, this kinds of ICO's attract investors. Who would invest in a project that people wouldn't find useful when the ICO is finished. I also consider the team behind it, because those teams whose name is already established mostly has successful ICOs.

I think this lists are good. Usually, new concepts and ideas attract investors. If I were to invest big amount of money into an ICO, I would look for an ICO that is something new and that people would really use in the future. And, the project should be user friendly and not complicated to use. People nowadays are lazy to understand the whole concept of things. So, everything should be made simple.

Has to be a great team, doesn't mean they have to have 10 successful projects, but I want them to be accessible and available.

Something new that has a real use, I love possibilities the much as the next guy, but if it isn't viable in the next few years you are paying someone to "see" if they can make it work


Being as open and as transparent as possible.

for me - idea (it has to be interesting), whitepaper and team as well.

1. The need for the token in the ecosystem (business model: is ICO required)
2. Team/ Advisors
3. Ability to execute on the idea

Here's my blog where i do 1-page visual summaries of most promising projects, you are welcome here:
https://medium.com/@StorifierCo (https://medium.com/@StorifierCo)

more or less I agree with you, which you explain it has included a very important thing for the analysis in an ico, but no less important is the whitepaper and roadmap of the project

1) Project Category (Infrastructure and Blockchain service +, Real Estate, Social -)
1) Hype Level (how many people around)
2) ICO Conditions (Hard Cap, % on crowd sale)

Example, ICON
1) New Blockchain from Korea (it's Infrastructure)
2) Hype Level - High (a lot of people in international chats)
3) Hard Cap only 50$mill (it's very small if compare with EOS, TEZOS) & Presale with maximum personal cap! (everyone can to participate)

= Best category of project (best ROI - statistics) + Hype Level OK (The project will quickly collect money) + Good Conditions (small hard cap, personal cap)

My approach is aimed at a quick return on investment (return the invested money and HODL profit)

Here we select the most interesting ICO
https://icodrops.com (https://icodrops.com)

I look for
1- Valuation
2- Team
3- Vision & Business applications (Will it make profit in the future? If not, it's not worth an investment.)

These are the list I am looking at ICO:

-Strong Team - Developer that have reputation and real person [better to check their names and profession]
-Vision - how the team sees future in their project
-Whitepaper
-Roadmap
-How the coin will solve the existing problem
-how many token or coins will be release
-what happen if the token or coins are not sell during ICO or after ICO
-live support that can answer questions immetiately

Coin concept - Do they need a coin in their system?
Great team- Good dev team, but also marketers and CEO's are needed. Also nice to see a mixture of nationalities (different viewpoints to push the project forward)
Whitepaper - Needs to be solid

One pre-sale i am looking into is Crowdholding, matches all my criteria.

https://ico.crowdholding.com

One of the most important part is the potential of the project on blockchain technology. Is blockchain technology even needed for the project or just for a sake of adopting new technology they are opting for it. After that team and whitepaper need to be solid enough. We also can't neglect the marketing area. If the project isn't marketise properly, it won't get enough investment even if it is a good project. Competition is way too high in the market right now. ICO need to be marketise wisely.

Advisors, team, news, press, community and raised funds (if it had already started). These are my main aspects of choosing a good ICO. Also community feedback.

Whenever, I would invest in the ICO I consider the concept, the team behind it, it's potential, it's target market and the plans of the team in the long run. There's a lot of things to consider before investing. And, I think this things are very important.

dont forget to add community. if there is no community icos not reaching hardcap easily.

I look for a solid community. One that the people behind it are in it for the long run. They are dedicated and worth with one another to make it better and grow the community. The team must be professionals and also the website needs to be great or I would not invest.

I'd add that the business model proposed really needs a blockchain. Today, everybody is creating ICOs even for business that don't really need a decentralized ledger or have no strict privacy requirements

This looks like a nice summup of the stuff you want to look at before getting into an ICO.
For me an actual product is another thing to look at.

Depends on what you are looking for.

If you want to flip for a quick profit, the only thing you need to look at is hype and supply and demand.  If there is much more demand than the available supply the price will go up after it gets released and you can flip for a quick profit.  For this case, the team and the actual product is really irrelevant.  Something like Kyber will instantly produce profit because hype but who knows if they will ever release a product.

If you are looking for a 1-4 month hold
1) Market cap / Hard cap  (A company raising 10M will have bigger short term growth potential than company raising 50M due to supply and demand)
2) How close the product is to release.  If close to finish product it will be less likely to be a scam and the team is working hard to finish it.  This creates hype.
3) How much is the team putting into marketing.  More in to marketing, more hype.

If you are looking to hold for 1year +
1) Team
2) Market potential (If its something that the mainstream person will use then it will get adopted and used much quicker.  Something niche will take a lot more advertisement and marketing)
3) The community that is backing it.  (ie bitcoin and etherum have a very strong community for development and growth)

I loled as well, who in their right mind is going to invest in a coin in which Paris Hilton seem to be the image of the coin, she is good at selling perfumes and stuff like that but crypto? Anyway how many people have invested in the ico is important if too many people have invested then that is not good but if too few people invested that is not good either.

I definitely go for analysing team, project, vision, whitepaper and website. But before investing, I always wait for 3-4 days and analyze the investment growth. If they are already raising millions in initial days, then yes that ICO has some potential and I myself invest in it. Otherwise, I either wait more or just completely ignore the particular ICO. Sometimes the project do have potential, but it didn't get marketise properly. Investing in such ICOs isn't worthwhile too.

The things I look for in an ICO are
Team composition,Bitcoin talk.org thread,stage of the project,what do they need the token for?,token distribution,whitepaper,etc.

Correct some people think that investing in a new coin with a new concept is the best way to go but if the concept has never been tried and there is not a beta or something that tells you that this is going to be a complete gamble, if it works you could earn a fortune but if you fail you could lose all your money since it could be one of those projects that never presents a working product.

The first thing is funcitonallity it's really important because it shows the futures second it's team behind the project if they are providing enough information about campaign and token third it's unique technological opportunities

Before investing I usually define my investment principles as follows:
1. The size of the product and the platform of the project to the whole market
2. Their work team is serious and frequent interaction with investors
3. The project must have a strong enough community to promote the project
4. The road map of the project must be reasonable
5. The supply of the project

BetKing will re-activate its bitcoin casino platform announcing the start of its ICO for August 7, 2017. The famous online bitcoin casino BetKing will soon be back with a new and improved platform. The re-launching of the platform follows an ICO campaign that began on August 7, 2017 and continued through September 4. BetKing's ICO offered investors and customers an opportunity to support the re-launch by buying BetKing Bankroll tokens. The new BetKing avatar will integrate many new features, including new casino titles and support for additional cryptocurrencies. Launched initially in April 2013, an earlier version of BetKing with a three-year period of success, becoming one of the most famous online casinos. However, dissatisfied with a current offer, one platform issued profit payments to all its members and suspended operations in December 2016 with the intention of doing a relaunch the following year.

I think the first and the most important thing to look for in an ICO is the concept in which the ICO is based upon. The idea behind the ico has to be unique and innovative if you want good amount of returns.
The team is another important factor. A good team ensures high returns in less time.
The third factor according to me is the popularity of the ICO as a popular ICO is like to raise more funds which are essential for development of the project.

1. Ability to implement - Many of the ICO's right now are mostly fluff with no clear way to implement their product in the real world. ICO's like Kin who is being spun of Kik Interactive, Unikoin gold off Unikrn, and one coming up called Kudos which is being implemented by the team behind Skedaddle,(the rapidly growing on-demand long distance transit network) have a distinct advantage putting their coins into action. An already established user base is vital toward kickstarting the network.
2. Vision - Is this product actually going to fix a problem? Despite all it's promise, blockchain isn't always the answer. Many companies are using blockchain just seemingly because. I look for companies that are using blockchain to solve problems that were previously difficult or impossible to fix, and now with the advent of blockchain can be properly addressed.
3. Development/Advisor teams - In a space so heavily saturated with ideas and speculation you need to have faith in the people behind it. Ensuring that the team behind the token sale has adequate experience growing seed ideas and creating user-friendly software will in many cases be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful ICO. Having the right mentorship and connections from advising teams feeds into this as well.

The first is concept of the project is interesting and different than the others
Second is management team has experience and expertise in the field
Third is whether the product is needed and has a larga market share

For me, the number one thing to look at is the team, their expertise and experience. Then the core concept, the road-map and its real life applications if any, I'd always prefer something that has real life application or usage. And finally, I do take into consideration its vibe, how the public is actually perceiving it, because after-all its the people who can make it successful or a failure.

If only 3 thing , i agree with you.
but, just additional for concept , The idea make sense , will deserve to be considered .

There are three fundamental factor that l put into consideration before I get on any ICO. Namely:
1. An idea that change status quo in any giving sector or industry
2. A team of experienced professionals who has work all their lives on the idea they are prompting.
3. A working something. What I mean by 'working something ' is something of value I can hold on to in an exchange for my money. Working software, existing customers etc.

Personally I have 4 specific aspects that I focus on.

1. Logical idea with a sound white paper to back it up
2. Solid and interactive team
3. Token valuation: I always look for low valuations
4. Community involvement / "Hype"

1-Team members
2-Project realty
3-Affiliate and referral structure
4-Token distribution
5-community activity
these are my key points
usually team members are very important for me and communication through telegram will be a light

- White paper
- Team
- Website design  ;D

First is their concept, objectives, mission and vision to prove that their ICO will be success in the future. Second is their whitepaper, read the whitepaper from start to finish. Before I join in the ICO, I want to see the sincerity and integrity of the team. Then, third is the budget allocation and price. If the budget is big, the tokens you can earn is big. Be aware on the ICO scam.

For me my three are:-

- The concept - Do they need an altcoin? or are they just doing it for an ICO?

- The team - Developers, their experience, the CEO and how big and strong the team is in all aspects. I feel that people focus too much on the developers and miss off the CEO, marketers etc. A developer can create the next best thing, but if they do not have the team to steer it or sell it, It won't get far.

- Whitepaper - Check numbers, roadmap, how it works. If the whitepaper misses anything it looks a little shady. They should be completely transparent.

Bonus

- Their social media presence - Creating their own content, growing it organically and connecting with the public.

1. Catchy name : An ICO having a catchy name makes it interesting.
2. Good amount of stakes that will receive : When there is a good amount, it makes you work harder.
3. Good concept : If an ICO has a good concept, it is a sure success.

What are the 3 thing you look for in an ICO?

1. No ICO
2. No ICO
3. No ICO

;-)

Hear people! This a good list for ICO investors. Especially to the ones asking how to gauge whether the ICO is worth investing or not. This entails a good deal of time and effort though. That is why ICO investment needs a serious effort before being done finally. Better than safe than sorry, so it is always worth it to undergo all these investigations.

1. S O L I D team or some form of credibility with past ventures

2. Idea: it has to be a good, applicable idea

3. Proof of concept

So far, my favorite ICO's that fall into these criteria are Civic and UnikoinGold. Strong teams and lots of execution.

At this moment there is lot of ico out there. But find a good quality ico is really tough work. But if we attention some points like solid white paper, strong team, magnificent website, believable concept then we can also find a great ico.

Their team, if they are anonymous or not; if they are fake or not, did they have good experiences or not.
I check if the project is innovative enough or not.
Quantity and distributions of their tokens how much they take for theirselves.

According to me three things should be - 1. reliability 2 public profile 3 team size.  If the company is reliable than its public profile  will be good in the community and its team size and work automatically increases.I think this three things are must for ICO.

I completely agree with op’s statement over that I will look into solution provided by the project for real world problem. And also I will look for competitor and potentiality for the returns last but the least I will mostly look into working product or already proven organisation.

Concept, management and the strategy of the ico. If the ico is more on just their promising ideas but lack of strategy and good management, they will not reach success. Same goes with failed  management.

When looking at ICOs, read:

There are 3 kinds of ICOs - Protect Yourself
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2243157

Connection, Team and hardcap. But having connection to get user adoption is a must.

The three things are look for in an ICO are :

IDEA- a project based on a unique idea has a higher potential than a project based upon a copied idea. the chances of growth are also high for a project based upon unique idea.

TEAM - a strong and experienced team will spend your invested money wisely and will try to ensure that the project is successful.

WORKING PRODUCT - a working product helps you to judge of the project is legit or not.

That's right, the most important is public profile. If the devs of an ICO project used fake profile and want to lie us, I do not think I will invest into a project like that, because only the faith they still can not give us, how to develop their project?

The three things that I look for an ICO are the following. First the Website where we could see almost anything about the project specially the ideas, it's mission and vision. Second is the team where we could see their achievements or experiences in terms of dealing with a specific project. Third is the roadmap where we can see their future plans and updates regarding the projects status. But yeah we have different styles and perception so much better to stick with our standards or maybe we have to do a lot of research about the project and get an advice from higher ranks that has a lot of experience in dealing with ICO's and they might tell us on what are the do's and don'ts.

This is a good question. Well I would be looking for the following..
Objective - I prefer investing in an ICO where in they have a positive project that would benefit not just the Industry but also the members or users.
Realistic- an objective of a project must be achieved or can be achieved. Making or building a project must not only promise but also be implemented.
Team- the team will make everything possible with good character, attitude towards their goal. A good team will make the project as realistic as possible. And their effectiveness will reflect on the project itself to success.

I look for :-

- The concept - Do they need an altcoin and does it make sense?
- The team - Not just developers, but also the rest of the team
- The whitepaper - This is the general plan of the company, and if this doesn't make sense it is red flags.

1. Viability and uniqueness of the idea
2. Good professional team
3. Style of communication - if I see that the team does not make announcements, does not pay bounty and does not answer questions - I'm leaving

1) real product
2) real people in the team ( wiht links , guys! there are no people who don't use social media now. so pleaseeee)
3) realistic plan of ICO

reasonableness

usability and future planning

and the reality of people's comments

these 3 things are very important to me.

Private investors, project goal and team previous experience.

For me #1 - innovative and realizable idea and road map, 2 - solid development team, understandable WP

1) Small (realistic) market cap
2) Idea that has real life use
3) It has certain requirements that makes it harder to invest in (will be worth more once it hits exchange)

For me it would be 1- Team, who they are, how many etc. 2- Aplication/inovation, how unique it's the idea behind the project, if it can solve any real problem 3- Marketing strategy, this goes in hand with the team factor, so if I see a good plan to spread the word about the project then the team factor gets more credit.

I will first see the what influence it has in the market and how importance to have it.I will also look at team and their LinkedIn profiles.

________________________________________






Hello PHOENIXDOWNDEE!

Very well said!

Your break down of what matters in an ICO is very well thought of, and the description you made is lacking nothing in my view.

I couldn't agree more and I've actually "stolen" something of yours and taken inspiration for our own Energy Market focused ICO.
I hope you don’ mind.

PROSUME

The ICO we're promoting is called "PROSUME" (www.prosume.io)

Reading your post, I realized that on the PROSUME ICO side, we're lacking two things which you mention (but I promise that they'll both be sorted out within Monday), which are:

1. a strong media presence;
2. a very available and responsive customer service platform.

Objectively speaking, I was happy to assess that PROSUME is actually really good concerning all the other points you listed.

PROSUME’S HISTORY AND MISSION

PROSUME is an ICO aiming at building a business, geared to provide effective customer friendly solutions, for some of the major challenges the energy market is facing globally.
The business divisions we are implementing have all been devised as a result of extensive energy market related experience, most of which has been experienced directly by PROSUME’s team members.

Nearly three years ago we grouped up with the best people we knew in the tech field in order to devise cutting edge digital solutions addressing pressing present needs.
 
At the same time we started thinking about how to structure a company able of providing products and services, effectively devised to face the needs which are clearly going to become predominant in the near future, in order to aim at the most sizable opportunities connected to energy.

We quickly came to the conclusion that PROSUME could become a provider of solutions having an objectively global reach and started testing our concepts, on an informal and friendly basis, with a number of established energy companies globally.

Substantial work has been put into this ICO, mainly in devising the range of products (better defined as "improvements" or "solutions") which we are bringing to the market.

PROSUME is fashionably "disruptive", but I prefer to think of PROSUME as a real generator of added value, facilitating and enabling significant improvements in existing business segments.
We're a platform enabling energy related transactions, and we’re inter-connectors.
We help our clients to quantify and measure, we help them maximize and we provide them with tools enabling them to buy and sell more efficiently, for a better price, no matter if our customer is an Energy Utility, a Transmission System Operator, an Energy Trader, the owner of a Renewable Energy Power Plant or a simple retail energy consumer.  

The PROSUME business concept isn't only “a platform”, it also comprises, and is embedded with, an array of solutions facing current problems we all experience daily when it comes to energy.

Most of our team members have extensively worked with and had access to historical customer service stats and data, we've accumulated years of relationships with all levels of management, at traditional State Owned Energy Utilities, Corporate and Private Clients as well as with Renewable Energy power plant stakeholders.

So, in substance, at PROSUME we know what the issues are, and we have a series of "ready to deploy" solutions which effectively answer some of the most relevant demands Grid Operators, Energy Generation Businesses, Traders and end customers need.

PROSUME’S TEAM

Please check out each of our team member profiles on PROSUME (www.prosume.io).
PROSUME has very senior energy professionals on board, having an extremely relevant array of experiences, in both the traditional fossil fuel energy market, as well as in the renewable energy business. Storage and Electric Vehicles are also business segments PROSUME team members master and are developing actively.

The Team Members of PROSUME have been directly responsible and personally involved in the development and construction of over 1,5 GigaWatts of different kinds of power plants globally.  
All Energy Group members of the PROSUME team have sat in decision-making positions concerning deals of major relevance on a global scale.
In fact, most of the members of the Prosume team presently work in some of the largest and most influential companies in the energy market.

PROSUME – RISK ASSESSMENT

We're aware of regulatory restraints and we’ve carefully assessed all risks our business model faces today and may face in the years to come.
We have no fear of regulations and Laws and we do not see them as an obstacle to PROSUME’s success.
We are in fact already providing extremely substantial services to certain major European Energy Utilities, based on existing regulation.
Most of all, as shareholders of PROSUME, we’re all newcomers and we are part of a new digital generation, so by definition, we strive to be flexible and to learn all day, every day.
 
According to our internal assessment and based on extremely qualified Legal advice, Regulatory hurdles, however notable, rank amongst the least problematic risks that Prosume will have to tackle.
As a company, following a successful ICO, we will have to interview and select a sizeable team of qualified professionals, able of hitting the ground running and confortable with teamwork based task assignments.
Selecting, securing and retaining top-notch human capital will be our most challenging and expensive task.
Anyone who has been an entrepreneur or has been involved in human resources selection and management knows how difficult and important finding the right people is for an organization.
Our hope is that talent will attract talent and that our work place environment will represent an element of strong seduction for the best people out there.

PROSUME – BUSINESS CASE

We all use electricity. More and more of it every year.
On a global scale, we will use TWICE as much electricity (this is a very conservative figure) per capita globally, only within the next 10 years.

Why?
-Because of the billions of people which are struggling to come out of a life of poverty, who want to own a fridge, a TV and be able to turn on lights at night, or even have air conditioning and heating...
-Because at a pace never experienced in history, we create, transmit, modify, share, store, need to protect MORE AND MORE DATA, of higher and higher quality, in UNPRECEDENTED AMOUNTS, which grow every day.
- Because our cars, our phones, and all other appliances in our lives, are becoming more sophisticated, are powered by electricity and becoming progressively more interconnected, powerful and “intelligent”.
 
Based on projections of penetration of electric cars alone, the world will require additional power plants able of generating 10 times the electric energy presently available, and we’re only taking developed economies into account.

Electric Vehicles, which are estimated to gain a market share of around 15% of global vehicle sales within 5 years, will require cities to be completely transformed, especially power grids will have to become purely data driven and able of processing and prioritizing colossal amounts of complex data inputs.
The blockchain and smart contracts are the only present solution, able of making this daunting challenge possible.
 
None of the objectives listed above can possibly be achieved unless a true digital transformation is implemented.
Fundamentally, digital disruption and the realization that technology can enable impressive new possibilities is changing most markets profoundly and very fast.

- When it comes to Energy, some of the most frequent and relevant questions we face are:

Can we pay less for it?
Can we possibly choose where it comes from?
Can I buy locally, maybe from my neighbours PV plant?
Can we choose to buy energy generated from clean sources, rather than energy generated from very polluting sources?
Can we keep extremely polluting energy generation accountable and somehow discourage its proliferation?
Can I invest in renewables and storage and does it make any financial sense?

The answer to all of these questions is YES
Prosume was conceived in order to make it happen.

PROSUME - PRESENT ACTIVITIES – BUSINESS CASES
 
PROSUME is currently working with leading European traditional utilities on a variety of projects.
A common request Utilities ask us to implement is aimed at pooling a small to medium sized sample of their existing clients, some of which produce energy with solar plants (for example) who agree to be joined into a “micro-grid”, in which energy exchanges between energy producers and consumers become possible with the help of smart contracts and by means of crypto-currency payments or exchange of services between the beneficiary of the energy and the supplier.

These transactions happen seamlessly, without any requirement for personal actions on behalf of sellers or buyers, simply based on algorithms automatically programmed to select the closest, cheapest energy source available and buying it when one of the members needs energy.

Clients can pre-select and choose where they buy energy from and save money buying from different generators which are part of the microgrid. Producers maximize their returns on renewable energy investments because they are enabled to sell the excess energy produced by their power plant to private or corporate clients for a higher price compared to the price the Utility would have paid them.  

Another major application PROSUME is actively deploying with a European leader in distribution and transmission is described below:
 
TSO (Transmission System Operators), are often State owned and are the owners of the medium and high voltage electrical power lines.
TSO’s have an outdated and obsolete business model and face pressing needs when it comes to maintaining the stability of electric grids in the face of renewables which by definition are non programmable energy sources.

Their business model as it is doesn't make sense any longer. Not from when renewables have become a relevant part of the global energy mix.
Their dispatchment and transmission lines are used to transfer energy from one place to another, from producers to consumers, based on obsolete pricing systems, based on obscure and imprecise algorithms used to price transmission costs...
The electric transmission system is one of the most inefficient and primitive markets of the world today and TSO operators work under great stress and we risk blackouts due to instability and demand-response issues and inefficiencies.
  
PROSUME has initiated talks with major European TSO's, in order to implement a blockchain based system under which each unit of energy can be tracked by each TSO in connection with the distance it covers, the source it is produced by, whether it is local energy or "imported", whether its clean or dirty, the priority ranking the demand side ranks under (Imagine the TSO where able to distinguish between "energy priorities", such as the demand for energy coming, for example, from a breathing machine in a hospital. We all agree this kind of need would have to have priority over an electric oven)

This is a good part of what we’re striving to achieve.

I'm available to answer any questions with all the spare time at hand.

Giacomo    

In addition with this, is to look their roadmap and it's capitalization. Because we all know that, thay have attractive and promising rewards, and we can't really know at start if it is legit or not. But looking  for their roadmap it could be a big help for us to determined its purposes in the future and we can track them easily.

These are my some of important things to discover are
1. Look about the company information
2. Why did they started and for what purpose.
3. Are they really exists or not.
4. Margin capital money for promoting ICO.
5. Can it be successful or not.
6. Developer experience

There are several things, but scams always hijacks everything, however in these days ICO's are more than 200 per month.

for me = idea, Developer experience and bounty manager

I agree with what you've mentioned. The concept of an ICO is important because it will capture the attention of the investors that determines the succes of an ICO. The team will also be a part of an ICO's success since some people are being trusted by the investors which again, welcomes more people to invest in an ICO.

I am relatively new to this space, but I have done some research and I think one way of approaching it is to decide on sectors that are promising first and then weed out the 99% useless projects which are often the once with the most aggressive marketing and ridiculous bounty strategies.

Then the whitepaper needs thorough reading, and the team needs to be top notch - not only from the blockchain side, but also from the "traditional" business side of the company sector, and then the structure of the actual ICO needs not to be detrimental to participation.

A good white paper is paramount as it outlines what the plan, product and projections etc. The next thing is the team behind it, they should have relative experience in the ICO i.e. if it is in gaming development there should be people in there who have expertise not just people making an ICO for the sake of a crowd fund payday. Finally the idea needs to be solid, if the idea is a duplicate of something else it needs to have both things mentioned before plus a new fresh approach or it simply won't make it.

Thank you for this ! I am new and these kind of posts help a lot - will check your website as well. Great. Especially the third point seems to make a lot of sense to me. It seems as when the projects do not only have the backing of participants from the ICO world, but also the backing of people from the underlying industry, there is a real connection between the two sometimes which can be very good.

I take care of these three things first
1) I look at their team
2) White paper
3) Social media activities and popularity

Thorough read of the whitepaper, the team, the numbers, is there potential to grow? and the IDEA that plays the biggest role.

Here the first factor for me , always forces me to see the what the unique quality or concept is with the coin that is making it much better and unique from another coin .
Beside of this quality for me the better thing to analyse is numbers of the units of the coin that will be specify by the team before the launching .
Here no. Of coins really tell about the price of the coin , Because here if the no. Of units of the coin will be less then the price will be high performance coin and that will create a big difference in buy and sell price of the coin , and in that case we will be able to make small small amounts of bitcoin to that coin trading to make profit .
Another thing that I see usually is the background of the business of the coin's owner Because background is a big thing for the coin's future , if the owner of the coin's is rich person and also famous then we can expect better results from the investment in that coin .

Yes. You are right. Real backers with a real team are so important. I am trying to find recycling and energy projects. Most have teams with no relevant experience. And what you are saying about the coin amounts is VITAL. Look at Powerledger issuing tokens irrespective of amount raised in the ICO. So everyone will be diluted and no one can make money except themselves. And they must have been greedy, because their sector is the right one.

Prosume has a much better team, much better future, on the board they have Ernst and Young and sovereign wealth funds - and their structure is correct. Best one I have found so far.

When you select the ICO I always pay attention to a few things.
1 Whitepaper it is important to understand that the team wants to do what the results are, and what kind of a road map.
2 the team Itself. if there half human even though there is a great idea for a trillion dollars nothing will happen
3 response from the community, some projects are still under PRE-ICO are already gathering a community of a few thousand, and then quickly develop. A large number of people at once suggests that the project is needed.

You know I often invest in ICO and in those ICOs I often look at the future concept of the project and the profit involved in the token. If the token have a good discount in the ICO then I do not hesitate to invest in them because when they release the token in the exchange after the end of ICO then I can get the discount amount as profit and when the project has a good future and it will get more demand in the future then I often hold my token to that time and get a good profit.

First and foremost thing is their project and future of it, second is the team behind the project and third is the road map of the project, how and what is their schedule of full launch. White paper is also a requirement of study and if all these are as per your expectations, then you can look for that ICO.

Yes, it is important to get the longer term profit of the real projects - short term as an extra and then long term with the real projects for serious profits.

Team background, ICO scale, and application prospects

You must to know before choose a project for long term, you need to checking and consider carefully, do not hurry and make you have mistake. Long time as 6 months or few years is not a small number, it is very far and make you waste much time if you do not receive anything after hold tokens in a long time.

First potential of project, second whitepaper and team, and the third one is investors. These three are  important.

1) White paper
2) Roadmap
3) The opinions of experienced people

 I can give  u my receipt of successes. Find projects that you can properly understand and be sure that ppl need it, and invest in. For example, read one article and author said  that smart contract for person and small business is a very needed projects. And i find one, that should start in November, I also check it for scam, and imho it isn't. You can google it, but I recommend to join their telegram chat Confideal - @confidealioeng
So list looks like - idea, team, business plan

Well, that's interesting ideas and as a newbie I have to read very carefully the details of those ICO platforms which been presented in the bounties of altcoins. Most importantly the reputation of the manager can give us an assurance to trust the project, like checking the spreadsheet of the campaign so you can determine how promising that ico been raised to generate good profit. But, we must be more vigilant as always because an ICO doesn't mean successful all the time, there maybe scenario that it will fail like from previous other projects who failed.

I check those 3 things before I do any investment for any ICO

-  The team members - their history of successful projects?
-  The roadmap - what do they plan to achieve?
-  Investors - who are backing them?

idea is the most important thing you should look out for. Look for projects with unique and promising ideas. These projects are sure to grow in future and can help you earn huge profits

team is another important factor to look out for as a strong team will surely help a project to grow.implementation of the idea is carried out by the team so team is important.

popularity of the project also matters as popular projects tend to grow quickly and are also able to raise handsome amount of money during the ICO. Money is needed in every phase of growth.

my list - 1.Team and it background, 2.Timeline of projects a clearly and easily to understand, 3. Good support in social media, and good customer service in official resources. Due to this reasons I choose Confideal

1- their technology
2-coin supply
3-it's price

Thanks for sharing. Many new points to note. I'm new in ico's investment and all i check is the roadmap and if the team is experienced.
I should be more careful with this huge number of scam ico's.

SOLID TEAM
WHITE PAPER AND IF THE IDEA IS UNIQUE

I look 3 things in an ICO
1st their roadmap , which is very important for an ico
then i look at their team
and lastly i look their whitepaper ....

we can not just to look for only three things in an ico but if we do or i did i will probably look for first, the team ,second the whitepaprer, third and the intial coin price. 

Having a legit product is the most important thing whenever there is a project. A lot of these ICO's have good ideas -they can't do anything else without an actual product.

i think i am looking for ICO project who have many investors due to my knowledge in ICO project is less, i only follow another people who experienced in that.

yepp, it seems that they are all scammers.

my list - 1.Team and it background, 2.Timeline of projects a clearly and easily to understand, 3. Have partnership with fonds or organizations.
For this reason I choose Confi, https://icobench.com/ico/confideal. Good reputation of project and team, good rating also

we all should be very careful considering the fact that we are facing with 200+ ICO every month

I take care of these things;
-experience
-investors
-roadmap

I have not really taken part in any ICO yet, but I know that the major things to look at includes, 1. Their white paper, read and understand what they are planning to carryout 2. Roadmap, when their coins will be out for exchange and accessible in sites, 3. The team, the CEO, and their backers.

-Technical depth of the project
-Team and their experience
-Their approach to solve the problem

The manager has nothing to do with the success of the ICO but yet hes the one who do handle on such marketing stuff been required for him to do on such project. If we do really look up for the ratio on success and failed ICO or projects we would really able to see that Fails is more than on success.This is the reason why we should really be keen on selecting projects on which we would decide to invest on to our money.Usually I do look up for its project potential like usage/real life benfits,next developers experience and transparency.

1) First I check if the numbers of their business plan have any relation to the reality, because many ICOs state an expected profit that has nothing to do with the reality, just to draw investors in.

2) Is their marketing plan and budget promising? Without a good marketing strategy and budget most projects will fail because the competition is high

3) Do they have a unique and promising idea?

I look at the whitepaper , the dev team , and the support of the coin.

1) Whitepaper
2) Command
3) opinion of some personalities

i think yes. I also like you in looking at an ICO. Usually I see how the ICO will run with their vision, want where the project and how the team handle it. make sure they are really a professional team in their field. the last I saw their allocation of funds. If they think they have allocations and that are unreasonable or unrealistic, I choose to avoid them.

The manager also as us, they don't know the future of the ICO they are promoting. Therefore, the success of the ICO is depends on the buyer, it isn't depend on the worker or the manager bounty campaign.

1) idea
2) team
3) real usage of the coin
4) status of the project during the ico

Best ico now = Pally app

1) competitor to airbnb - connecting people and provoding experiences to tourists
2) highly skilled and very experienced team
3) provide activity to tourists and get paid by Pal tokens
4) Beta version already alive and the final will be by Q3 or Q4 2018 ;)

Join now w/ 25% discount! https://pally.co :)

A long term service. Very important.
A lively community. Everyone should be participating on how it could be more valuable.
A strong and active developer and all of its crew. With that everything is possible. Answering every problem or query that have been made is telling people we are a good service.

First, you look the whitepaper and know the works of the team in an ico to get more informations if it is real. Second, be sure that the number of participants who works on projects are more who manage in ico are have reliances to their participants. And lastly you know first how to handle the projects by their participants to completely it and to inspired others.

Team and whitepaper basically.. White paper concludes their mission, target and concept.. If Team and whitepaper both are really good , theres a big chance of that ico becoming a good coin..

For me, I will care about: the team(experience, Founder, advisors), Ideas (possible execution), mobilized capital,...

Approach it just as one would with any regular investment.
-See the whitepaper, that is the portfolio. A sound portfolio always stands out.
-Next see the logic behind all of it, what exactly are they aiming to achieve and does what their doing really help the problem?
-Try to find the financial logic behind what they are asking for.
-See who is in the project, the more experienced people are involved the lower the risk in general.

The list could go on and on, but you get the idea. There is no 100% success rule, but using simple logical and analytical approach you could minimize your risk of involvement to as little as possible.
Good luck on your investments!

I would see basically the whitepaper & their complete details thorughly about their product if any and understand whats the basic vision. Next , i would see their team involved and would also cross check their social media presence and their previous accomplishments to make me feel more comfortable. Then , i would take a glance on their website and customer support as well to understand their collaboration with customers. I can even take a look into their present commitments and their accomplishments as well for understanding their seriousness towards the project.

It is important also if we check their platform as it will guide to any investors. Team capabilities and experience, and its capitalization will attract more investors to make a certain project into a successful one.

1. How serious looks the project : communication, team, whitepaper
2. Smart contract : does it fills what is promised

Don't even need number 3, more than 90% of ICO don't fill 1 and 2.  :o

totally agree with you, it seems you have do a lot of research before investing in an ico, and i would like to know whats the result, does it do help

I ask myself before investing whether there is a possibility for long-term finance planning, in other words, whether the project can sustain itself beyond the ICO and how it will finance operations in the future. It's very important for any project to have a financial plan, and break up the various expenses for departments IT expenses (hardware,domains,severs)/Marketing and advertising/Legal Expenses/Salaries etc. There should be some sort of break down explaining in detail all these expenses. Other questions that can be asked, are whether for example there is market demand for the specific product/service, what the target market is, and even growth projections for the industry the project is sailing forth. Experience as you've mentioned is one of the most important questions to answer, if the team has a great idea but lacks the technical know-how on how to implement, then the idea become worthless. There are a lot of factors to consider, and even if everything does look alright, things might happen in the future that are unexpected *cough Tezos *cough.