Is ICO the way to fundraise for this company?

[daylateandadollarshort]

I have several questions about how ICOs work.
I see people raising crazy amounts of money for, often, very weak projects.

- If I have a good project, is ICO actually a viable path for someone like me*?
- Does the token need to have a function, or be backed by something specific besides the company itself?
- Does the token actually need to exist? Could someone just raise money and keep a database of donors and then issue them the "tokens" later?
- I see different types of tokens: pos, pow, etc. What's to stop someone from just using email addresses in a database and calling it a "token"? Like, what makes a token a token?
- can a token represent a share of common stock in a private corporation?
- if so, can I use an ICO as sort of like a "private" IPO? That's how it seems, which is what makes it appealing.
- Does the company/project have to have something to do with or otherwise utilize coin technology (blockchain etc)?

I had intended on starting a corporation and issuing common shares of stock.
Then, I planned to sell that stock to people privately in order to raise funds for my project.
This is a very common and standard way of raising money for a company.

Then I stumble into the world of bitcoin/crypto and I learn (kinda) about ico's.
Now I'm thinking, "shoot, I have a real project that has a fully developed and working alpha. I could throw it up on bct and raise a cajillion dollars with an ICO."

Can someone just school me on why or why not this is good thinking?

Thanks.

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* me = average person, not rich, not politically connected, not on board of any big corporations, etc. I am a software developer that works for a small company.

project = I have a legitimate project that I think is much more interesting than a lot of the stuff I have seen. My code is written and working including a server/desktop application, an android app, an ios app, and a website. But it has nothing to do with bitcoin/crypto in any way.

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[mudiko]

- If I have a good project, is ICO actually a viable path for someone like me*?

If the project is based on cryptocurrencies, it would be easier to raise funds.

- Does the token need to have a function, or be backed by something specific besides the company itself?
- Does the token actually need to exist? Could someone just raise money and keep a database of donors and then issue them the "tokens" later?
- I see different types of tokens: pos, pow, etc. What's to stop someone from just using email addresses in a database and calling it a "token"? Like, what makes a token a token?

Blockchain technology lets user track their shares more transparent and makes possible to exchange shares without control of the company. It is better, when shares are distributed through tokens.

- can a token represent a share of common stock in a private corporation?

Yes, if you legally promise that tokens are equal to stocks.

- if so, can I use an ICO as sort of like a "private" IPO? That's how it seems, which is what makes it appealing.

For a real world company, you should be too transparent in order to make your investors feel safe. ICO's are better for transparent and online systems.

- Does the company/project have to have something to do with or otherwise utilize coin technology (blockchain etc)?

As I said earlier, it is not a must, but rather preferred.

[daylateandadollarshort]

Thank you mudiko.

Blockchain technology lets user track their shares more transparent and makes possible to exchange shares without control of the company. It is better, when shares are distributed through tokens.
 earlier, it is not a must, but rather preferred.

If a token is built on top of etherum (which appears to be simple to do) do transactions for that token automatically show up somewhere public for people to check, like the ethereum blockchain I guess? Or is that something separate that I would need to implement?

[davis196]

If your idea has nothing to do with cryptocurrencies in any way,just don`t raise funds with ICO.It won`t work.Crypto users want to invest in crypto related projects.
I`m not the biggest expert,but i think that you will have to invest a lot in setting up and promoting the ICO.
You will have to build trust and provide proof that your project is legitimate.
Good luck OP.

[mudiko]

Thank you mudiko.

Blockchain technology lets user track their shares more transparent and makes possible to exchange shares without control of the company. It is better, when shares are distributed through tokens.
 earlier, it is not a must, but rather preferred.

If a token is built on top of etherum (which appears to be simple to do) do transactions for that token automatically show up somewhere public for people to check, like the ethereum blockchain I guess? Or is that something separate that I would need to implement?

Yes they do. They have their tokens blockchain connected to ethereum. As an example you can check GNN's token.
https://ethplorer.io/address/0xa74476443119a942de498590fe1f2454d7d4ac0d#tab=tab-holders

[gentlemand]

If your idea has nothing to do with cryptocurrencies in any way,just don`t raise funds with ICO.It won`t work.Crypto users want to invest in crypto related projects.

I dunno about that. I think soon enough people are going to realise that no crypto project will ever turn any actual profit, let alone bother to pay anyone back. Of course there are the token sales to greater fools to make up for that.

But a legit business fundable with crypto that has nothing to with crypto might be an unexpected hit.

You'd have to fix the exchanges rates and so on but I'd be interested to see someone attempt it. There's a huge amount of wealth tied up in crypto doing absolutely nothing and you might get some actual business people who have a vague clue what they're doing. Not the usual crypto dolts.

[daylateandadollarshort]

I appreciate everyone's replies; thanks.

Some people talk about how much work, time, credentials, etc. are necessary for an ICO to succeed.  And that makes perfect sense to me.

The confusion comes in when I look at the ICO's that are raising stupid amounts of money.  I review their project, credentials, white papers, etc. and they are garbage.  Half the time the white papers have basic spelling errors.  It is a joke. It makes it very tempting for someone who would actually act professionally.  It seems like you don't need to really do anything special except for make an ANN thread with a half legible white paper.

Again, I don't doubt that this is a misconception; things always appear easier than they are.  But, that is how it seems on the surface.

[SovPara]

Get yourself a team before you publicize anything. A good team is more trustworthy
than one sole creator. A one person company suggests someone trying to get rich.

As long as your project needs the blockchain as a backbone, in some way, I think
you could use and ICO for fundraising.