I've participated like 5 ico's recently and i think it's more profitable waiting for the coin/token to be listed in the exchange platform than buying in first from the actual ICO, cause of DUMP from bounties. so i'm having second thought participating in ICO and would rather buy it in exchange .
I mostly buy in 2 parts when i decided to invest in ico. First i decide how much money i am going to invest. Then i joined the ico in the very first day with half of my money. And then if everything goes successfull i buy second half from exchanges. It is usually less risky.