How to Evaluate a Blockchain ICO

alienhunt (27)in #blockchain • 7 years ago

There are too many ICOs going on today for any single human being to properly keep track of all of them, which is why it's important to create a standard evaluation process that helps you quickly determine whether or not it's a good idea to invest in a particular project.

In 2014, ICOs raised $26M USD.
In 2015, ICOs raised $14M USD.
In 2016, ICOs raised $222M USD.

In 2017, ICOs have already raised over $1.2B USD.

What that means is there is a tremendous opportunity to invest and profit long-term from the Blockchain industry, however before you can evaluate an ICO, you have to know how to find them.

SO WHERE CAN I FIND UPCOMING ICO's TO EVALUATE?

The best websites to look at are:

Once you know where to find them, you have to create a standard process for yourself, and below is the process I work with.

EVALUATION PROCESS

Who is the founder, what is his/her background? (Have they built and sold a company before, or a new entrepreneur?)
Why did they start this company?
Does it seem like a novel idea?
Do they have a professional website?
Do they have a professional whitepaper? Does it have proper structure and language use, does it explain the problem, solution, team info, allocation of funds, development roadmap, etc.?
Where is the team in their development? Is there something you can interact with now, or how long until the beta is ready for users to test?
How much money are they looking to raise?
How do you send them the money? Is there Escrow or direct to a company wallet?
Why is the coin necessary? What is it used for? Can it be traded for other coins? When will it be listed on an exchange and become tradeable?
Do they have social media accounts? (FB, Twitter, Steemit, Medium, Slack, Bitcoin Talk Forums, etc.)
Have they posted their committed code to GitHub?
Is the code solid? (You might need to find a technical person to help you evaluate that).
How is their customer service and tech support doing on those media accounts?
Are there any industry experts backing them financially or as advisors?
Have they raised private investment capital before their ICO? (does a professional, career investor back them?)

Now that you know what proper investors (including myself) use as a measuring stick for whether or not to invest, you can use this model to decide for yourself too.

Look for my next article, where I use this list to evaluate why I invested in PreSearch.

If you liked this article, why not read my last one titled PROS AND CONS TO BUILDING ON ETHEREUM.

I have invested tremendous effort and capital over the past 18 months researching and experiencing different aspects of the Industry.
I have been hired by clients to provide services such as Blockchain industry analysis, consulting, advising, public speaking, and fundraising for Pre-ICO and ICO stages.

If you want to learn more, click here.

(These articles can also be found on my LinkedIn, Facebook, and my Website).