Good starting article.
I would be more explicit about the fact that ICO's are not for every startup though. I saw you mentioned it but maybe with a bit more venom. Too many startups are creating an ICO for no other reason apart from to raise capital.
Agree completely agree with this statement. We need to be tougher on projects who are only wanting to create an ICO for a quick buck. I agree as well, I will make the changes to the article. |
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May be the better question would be to ask how to create blockchain technology?) since ICO without technology behind it is a scam
I agree completely and the after the ICO articles maybe articles on blockchain will follow. But people invest into ICO's without any knowledge of blockchain technologies. I feel knowing how ICO's are created and prepared might help people look deeper into ICO's and not just invest in ICO's that advertise all over the internet. |
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This is a great post, thank you for the information. I am looking to break it down into parts, hence the first part. The second part will focus on the whitepaper, the website and the creation of a wallet.
I don't believe that it is 99% marketing though, i do believe that marketing is extremely important but it still needs a strong team and a great concept. The crypto world still has a lot of people who are not throwing their ETH just because of a flashy site and look into all the flaws and information available about the new altcoin.
OK, maybe "99.9%" was a bit sarcastic but marketing is a HUGE part. In our experience, people don't want to read through the details, they want the 1 minute video. It's understandable and graphics/videos can explain things quickly (picture is worth a 1,000 words). It's human emotion. INFORMATION makes people THINK. EMOTION makes people BUY. So a shiny, graphical website will do this much better than a black and white site but I wish more people would focus on the "great concept" as you said, and then look for viability of that concept (i.e. a Back To The Future hover board is a great concept but is it implementable?). I also think teams are important but how can you tell who a "strong team" is? Unless you are talking about a "Mark Cuban" type backed ICO/or these Names that pop up on every ICO now, but then this gets away from the creativity side. This is where I think REAL Due Diligence comes into play, which is NOT LinkedIn Profiles and Images (these can be created by ANYONE and falsified). For example, if there is an incorporation behind the ICO which requires real KYC/AML due diligence (certified passports, proof of residence, bank references, etc.). Anyway, just my opinion. Great to see people like you doing the research and providing the info "prior" to creating/investing in the ICO. Keep it up  I agree with a lot of your points, Marketing is a very important tool not just for reaching out to as many people as possible, but also to get those people to believe in your project. Sometimes ICO's fall down just down to the fact that they can't sell the idea in under 30 seconds and people get bored. I do believe that there is more than marketing, I company who has a very flawed concept with a great marketing team will surely fail at some point whether that's after the ICO or before because people will look at their idea and think it is stupid. What I mean by a strong team is a large strong team on all aspects, marketing, developers good CEO's with experience and finance experts with some great advisers on top. True you can probably fake some LinkedIn profiles and pictures, but honestly i think most ICO's don't, only the scam ones. True that is something that could be implemented. I am happy to have your opinion, that's why I created this thread! I want honest opinions and ways to improve, so thank you  |
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We have had a great turn out for our first blockchain meetup in Prague! Looks like a success! Will you be holding more events? I am actually in Prague next month. We will be having more events in the foreseeable future. You can follow any events on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Crowdholding/ |
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Do you mean in China and/or South Korea? In my country, you can launch as many Ico's as you like. Regulation is yet to hit us. It seems a flash ANN thread is all it takes these days. But with so much competition the new crop of ICO's have to make the extra effort.
A good concept/Idea is necessary, website, a strong team - developers and such, and enough funds to hype the whole shebang to the "moon" is required.
I think they mean both, or if any future countries ban ICO's. |
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We have had a great turn out for our first blockchain meetup in Prague! |
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Looks a very promising project, I have joined the telegram and looking forward to the 1st of November.
How many startups are on the application? and what are you aiming for in the foreseeable future?
Currently we have two startups on our platform, but we are aiming to have 35 projects on our platform by February 2018. We are selective of what startups will go on our platform. |
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Thanks for this. Will be joining the telegram for this ICO.
When is part 2 coming out?
Part 2 will be coming out this week, I am currently writing it Glad you enjoyed it! |
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Be careful, we already have the similar thread.
Can have more than one thread on a topic, especially on something as important as the very creation of what people are investing in. |
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Want to buy it for the first time. Which websites would you recommend?
I would recommend looking into the announcement section on this forum. You can find all the ICO's, their information and you can communicate with them. Thanks for the info, nice thread  Cheers! |
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I think it should be pointed out what is needed for a "successful ICO" and what is needed for "successful business AFTER the ICO" are two completely different subjects.
In our experience what is needed for a successful ICO;
1. Very Flashy Website
2. Big Team with Beautiful Pics and LinkedIn Profiles
3. Whitepaper with lots of graphics
4. Informative and Promotional Videos
5. $100K Marketing Budget to use popular ICO alert/listing services
It is 99.9% about IMAGE. It is unfortunate but most people invest in what "looks" good (many people even believe team pics = due diligence!) However this is also why there are so many "successful ICO's" which will fail as businesses AFTER the ICO because they lack basic business fundamentals (and most of these were only interested in raising money for the ICO to filter into their pockets and never had intentions of running a business).
I put this in posts before and from a venture capital standpoint there are certain criteria most ICO's are lacking.
For example, in venture capital you have analysis strategies;
Basic Venture Capital funding starts with "Show me a"...
1. Simple explanation of the business (1 sentence, what do you do?)
2. Clear revenue stream (How does the business make $?)
3. Defined exit strategy (How does the investor make $?)
From an investor standpoint, the Company should have...
1. Industry (growth with first mover advantage)
2. Exit Strategy (investor liquidity event)
3. Financial Return (significant for early stage, +50%/3yr.)
Making the investment...
1. Look at Big Picture
2. Find the downside
3. Protect your downside
What we believe makes for a "good" ICO should have the following:
1. Transparent Team
2. Use of Escrow
3. Team Tokens limited to Milestones
4. White Papers
5. Business Plans
6. Practical use of Technology
7. Token Distribution %'s
8. Limited Token Supply
And I would add to this to look for INDUSTRY IMPACT (in the "real" world outside the ICO/Crypto), FINANCIAL PRODUCTS (not necessary but they seem to have more impact), MARKET PENETRATION STRATEGY AND VIABILITY (how many times, especially in our market, do we see "Global"... i.e. we are going to be a "global" platform... that is a nice idea but you can sell hamburgers "globally" before you have traction in a local market - try to show me one business that went global before it was local - this will be one of our Medium articles).
This is a great post, thank you for the information. I am looking to break it down into parts, hence the first part. The second part will focus on the whitepaper, the website and the creation of a wallet. I don't believe that it is 99% marketing though, i do believe that marketing is extremely important but it still needs a strong team and a great concept. The crypto world still has a lot of people who are not throwing their ETH just because of a flashy site and look into all the flaws and information available about the new altcoin. |
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How much token sold out during Pre-ICO? Hopefully with the successful Pre-ICO, the ICO will run smoothly near future. It seems to reach minimum threshold isn't so hard based Pre-ICO condition.
Our pre-ICO was pretty small (0.8%), but very successful. We managed to achieve over a 250% of our target. We are selling more of our tokens during the ICO (around 44%). Our minimum threshold is $1 million. |
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When is part two coming out?
I am hoping it has a lot more details and unknown information.
Some time this week. |
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Do you still need any whitepaper translations? I would like to offer my services.
Yes we are, please send me a private message, hope to hear from you soon! |
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What are next steps? Only 2 weeks left for ICOs and ICOs in general are not very successfull right now. You could maybe adapt Quantstamps "Proof of Commitment" system which incentivizes people to create new content and marketing for Crowdholding. I really like the project, and I do not want to see it fail due to a minimum cap not reached Currently we are working on events to connect with more advisers and investors, increasing our staff, marketing pushes, recruiting new startups onto the platform and changes to the ICO website. Our ICO launches on the 1st of November (In two weeks) and we are confident we are getting everything ready for the launch. We will look into Quantstamps, thank you for the idea! We are always open to hearing new concepts and advice! |
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I have been looking at the altcoin announcement board in this forum and it is going to collapse soon, it is incredible the way that there are everytime more founders in that section, and most of them doesnt even receive attention on their ANN.
Investors are only caring about Airdrops like deeponion, and this has been the only succesfull airdrop that is on the forum, the others are pure garbage.
Maybe this is a new era of ICO's?
Maybe, only time will tell if it is a new era for ICO's, personally I think we are not going to see any changes for at least 6 months. There is already more and more people getting involved in this eco-system and even celebs are getting involved which will increase the awareness to the general public. |
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Thank you for sharing this article with new people so that they have more experience in this field. Each of us with knowledge will contribute to making the market cleaner and more developed Thank you for the kind words! part 2 will be coming out this week |
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I prefer the new website from the older one. I feel it suits your altcoin more and looks more professional, I found the images on the previous site a little child like. Thanks for the response, we are constantly looking to improve ourselves! We are happy with the site! |
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Good first article.
I am glad you started with the thinking process instead of just jumping in and talking about whitepapers and wallets.
True, something must be started, but I'm also looking forward to seeing the beginners talking about such things. It's always best to start and then when you pull in and treat it like a hobby, you're sure to get well. Thanks for the kind words guys! |
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