How to start an successful ico

[Saidmod]

Hello!

I would be interested in stories about ico's that didn't work out. (Maybe the project it self had great potential)



What are the main reasons why an ico can become unsuccessful?



On what ico startups need to watch out before they go live?



The theory about ico's is perfectly clear to me, but like with everything in life, theory is one thing and real experience the other. I do believe that failures are a very good sources to learn from. My personal experience is that in many cases people do learn more from failure examples than from success examples.


I ask for unsuccessful ico stories because my company will soon launch an ico for our 2 projects: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2129844.msg21279456#msg21279456 and I would like to avoid "mistakes" that could possible turn out to be unsucessful.


>>> List:

- Make sure your website is secure, i.e don't get 'hacked'
- Make sure your ETH or BTC address doesn't change on your homepage
- You should have a good design
- Detailed whitepaper
- List of team members with their previous projects and social profiles
- If you distribute tokens through web or client software, make sure that those products are rock solid and secured against possible threats
- You should recruit some people who have been popular in this forum for your ICO team
- You must have a fund for first development
- Create a detailed roadmap too, and don't delay it
- Always provide a working and secure product
- Do not focus only on getting fund

So far the list to be need is almost done and perfect from the previous ico that knows only to run the ico without securing the most expensive things the investments of the crowd. I will add that i think is very needed not only in ico it must be before and after.

Keep in touch with the investors even you were busy you should provide an announcement of progress. In the ICO Thread and in social medias.

[DAVETUN]

After said,market your product to the word through the social media,let your presence be felt,with constructive post regularly.follow up on all your team to be sure they all understandthe road map

[VTS]

I will make a list and DM you some in the next could days.

thx! take your time tho

[VTS]

Well this are good lists, I had joined a campaign before and the team was composed of popular people here in this campaign. But, the ICO didn't end up well. There were a lot of supporters during their ICO but only 1/4 of the coins were sold during the ICO. I wonder what went wrong, maybe it's because there's a lot of ICO going on every day, is it because of competition?

Sorry to hear it didn't work out! Thx for the hint to choose the proper time for the ico!

[barnes13]

Make sure your project is unique not just a copy paste project, and one of the concentrations of investors is an exchange that will list your coin, it will be very interesting for investors if you can show documents or some evidence that your coin will be listed on major exchange immediately after the ICO finish.

[Westfiled]

Make sure your project is unique not just a copy paste project, and one of the concentrations of investors is an exchange that will list your coin, it will be very interesting for investors if you can show documents or some evidence that your coin will be listed on major exchange immediately after the ICO finish.

That will be so difficult because we must need to see the code, if that was just another forked code from another Project and just stay away from there but that was not easy as you said that.
There are some reasons to use the same basic code with another Project. to make your own improvements.

[VTS]

So far the list to be need is almost done and perfect from the previous ico that knows only to run the ico without securing the most expensive things the investments of the crowd. I will add that i think is very needed not only in ico it must be before and after.

Keep in touch with the investors even you were busy you should provide an announcement of progress. In the ICO Thread and in social medias.

thx, I added it to the list!

[VTS]

Make sure you have a well written business plan alongside a pitch deck that will define your business and revenue model. Most whitepapers I've seen only detail on the technical side and ICOs of the projects. And it's so unfortunate that most ICO investors don't care about what the company business model is, they wanna start trading their token and watching 10x or 100x. Period.

Thx! added to the list

[MattHoo]

Most companies have not proven anything and their valuation are staggering. Many will not succeed, a few will become behemoth. 

[VTS]

I will add benchmark analyses seems to be a reasonable thing to do :-)

[VTS]

Will add: -  Inform yourself about legal situation (i.e. US citizens regulation)

[Getmon]

I would mention a couple of terrible projects, not just ICO. Skyway ICO is one. Well, they are mentioning a very large ICO turnout which is believed to be just another made-up figure. I think Skyway is a scam right from the get-go though. Monkey Capital is another. They are already listed on icobazaar.com and others. But for some reasons which involves unexplained internal problem, the ICO didn't push through. But the pre-ICO happened. Investors lost their money.

There is really a need for a thorough review of the project you will invest into. No less than that is needed.

[shaggy404]

Determine the total supply of coins (initial / final) and then stick to it. Don't change the supply in future.
Also, if there is going to be any 'pre-mine' or any funds reserved by the development team / company, be transparent about it and don't lie.

[VTS]

Determine the total supply of coins (initial / final) and then stick to it. Don't change the supply in future.
Also, if there is going to be any 'pre-mine' or any funds reserved by the development team / company, be transparent about it and don't lie.

Thx! added to the list

[VTS]

I would mention a couple of terrible projects, not just ICO. Skyway ICO is one. Well, they are mentioning a very large ICO turnout which is believed to be just another made-up figure. I think Skyway is a scam right from the get-go though. Monkey Capital is another. They are already listed on icobazaar.com and others. But for some reasons which involves unexplained internal problem, the ICO didn't push through. But the pre-ICO happened. Investors lost their money.

There is really a need for a thorough review of the project you will invest into. No less than that is needed.

Thx for the info!

[thend1949]

Make sure your project is unique not just a copy paste project, and one of the concentrations of investors is an exchange that will list your coin, it will be very interesting for investors if you can show documents or some evidence that your coin will be listed on major exchange immediately after the ICO finish.

Well having a bad experiences from unsuccessful ico projects was a very disgusting moments of altcoins campaigns hence that copy pasted idea leads people to participate and being scammed. It's better to be more vigilant on the platform of the currency ico and  the coin has a successful coin exchanger registration, so you can be assured that you belong to the success of the project. It's not necessarily to the major coin exchanger but important is the exchanger is legit in order for us to have good tradings. 

[VTS]

Make sure your project is unique not just a copy paste project, and one of the concentrations of investors is an exchange that will list your coin, it will be very interesting for investors if you can show documents or some evidence that your coin will be listed on major exchange immediately after the ICO finish.

Well having a bad experiences from unsuccessful ico projects was a very disgusting moments of altcoins campaigns hence that copy pasted idea leads people to participate and being scammed. It's better to be more vigilant on the platform of the currency ico and  the coin has a successful coin exchanger registration, so you can be assured that you belong to the success of the project. It's not necessarily to the major coin exchanger but important is the exchanger is legit in order for us to have good tradings. 

Thx! added to the list

[VTS]

I will add: 

If you need pre-ico investment offer at least 1 investment security method like escrow + muli-sign

[VTS]

Adding: - Make a clear statement what will happen to the collected funds if the ico does not succeed. Refund? Keep the funds?

[VTS]

Added:
- Be aware before creating an ico, with the only intention to fund another shittcoin, you lower common peoples trust in crypto and you damage the hole ecosystem!