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).