1. What is the idea behind the ICO?

What problem is being solved by the project, and is it truly economically important? This is the first decision you need to make in order to understand if the ICO has a high chance of being successful. You also need to take into consideration the competition the coin, or token may have. Does the product have advantages over its competition? Is there a market for the product, and how profitable will it actually be?

2. How strong is the team in place for the ICO?

Does the core team have any experience successfully running companies? Also, understand when I say core team, I mean the full-time employees who are constantly around and working on the product, this excludes advisors and partners. Is there a development team in place, and do they have experienced blockchain developers and or engineers? It’s also worth considering if the management team have any tech or blockchain experience, as each industry comes with a different set of challenges. Is there Key person risk? What I mean by key person risk, is that if the head man or woman decides to leave the project for unforeseen reason would the company then fail, or continue to progress and run successfully?

3. What is the token model behind the ICO?

The first question you need to ask when looking at the token model is if the token actually has utility. Could the project simply use Ether or Bitcoin, or does it actually need its own token? What is the circulating supply starting out, and what is the max supply? Is there a pre-mine, and or how many tokens is the team keeping to “run” the project? What are the tokens use case? This ties into the actual tokens value, which is very important to consider when taking a look at an ICO.

*These are not the only things to take into account when considering participating in an ICO, as there are many other factors that contribute to a successful ICO. I simply wanted to bring to your attention 3 questions you should be asking when beginning your research into an ICO. Alos, as a disclaimer, this is in no way financial advice, and when making an important financial decision you should always contact a professional financial advisor.