How to research the project ICO team

One of the most important indicators in the investigation of ICO startups for investment is the project team. The risks of investing in ICO are not only that the project may turn out to be fraudulent, but also that the team will not be able to create a working and popular product, and you will be left with tokens that do not cost anything.

image

Examine the team carefully and if by all measures the project suits you, but there are intractable doubts about the team, then I recommend not working with this project.

As a result of the research, you should form answers to only two questions:

  1. Are these really real people?
  2. Do they have everything they need to succeed?

1. Look at social media profiles.


It is important that the landing page in the section with the team have links to social networks, it is highly desirable that it be LinkedIn. Go to their profiles, look at the posts, the number of friends, photos, experience, do the profiles look real?

Now there are a lot of startups that offer various KYC services in the crypto industry, but so far a sustainable group of leaders has not been formed.

2. Do a search for photos in Google


Download photos of the team and do a search for pictures in Google. Scammers have such a common practice: when adding fictional characters to the team section, they use presentable third-party photos from search or bank photos. Investigating ICO projects for my clients, I periodically end work ahead of time precisely at this point.

3. Chat with the team directly


If you have any questions about the ICO project, I recommend not asking them in common channels, such as threads on bitcointalk or telegram chats, there are special community managers who have a list of pre-prepared and extremely vague answers.

It is better to write a team member who is directly related to the issue. You will receive a more authentic answer and once again check the adequacy of the command.

By the way, if you are going to invest large sums in the project, I recommend you not to be lazy and get in touch with their leaders at least for a short chat. This approach eliminates many doubts and misunderstandings.

4. Look at the size of the team.


Periodically I meet projects that collect tens and hundreds of millions of dollars, and there are only five people in the team: a couple of managers, a couple of technical specialists, and that's it. Invest in such projects with caution.

Even if these people are incredibly talented, and the idea is interesting, they simply cannot physically create a working and successful project. They need marketers, PR managers, designers, lawyers, accountants, community managers, analysts, project managers.

Small teams are quite acceptable, but only for projects with small budgets.

5. How does the interaction within the team?


See how they work together, where they are physically located in relation to each other. If everyone is in different cities and working remotely, then the project may have problems due to insufficient communication. An ICO is more likely to succeed during and after an ICO if the majority of members work from the same city or office.

Technology has long allowed to work remotely and from different parts of the world, but large projects accumulate too many tasks and moments that, in the process of work, it becomes more and more difficult to convey to all workers.

As a result, the situation is obtained and gradually increases, when the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. This leads to strategic mistakes and causes direct damage to the financial well-being of a startup.

6. Are there any specialists in the startup niche in the team?


If the niche is specific, then the team should have experts in this field. If, for example, a startup collects funds for deep-sea research, then the team should have specialist researchers, if a crypto exchange is created, then the team should have crypto traders. Otherwise, due to ignorance of the subtleties of the niche, the project will too often encounter unexpected obstacles and fail.

7. Do not pay much attention to the advisors.


In most cases, the project simply pays the specialists for the permission to add their photo to the project page. And that's all. The amounts they receive depend on the authority and arrogance of each particular adviser. Someone takes a thousand dollars, someone a hundred thousand and a percentage of the profits.

As a rule, they do not provide any assistance at all. Their service is placing their photo on the project landing page. In addition, a type of fraud is being developed on behalf of pseudo-advisors, when people invent their own specific experience and sell their services to ICO projects. At the same time, due to the lack of real experience, often their help is counterproductive.

However, there are rare exceptions, when experienced advisors really work on the project and are useful. Now I am investigating how the ICO project advisors work and how much they earn and will publish the results in the coming weeks as a separate article.

8. Experience and results of work in the crypto industry


Leaders, technicians and marketers should have experience in the crypto industry. The rules of the game are very different here, and even successful specialists from the usual areas of the economy need time to adapt to new realities.

9. International team is a good sign.


Many projects are emerging from Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. In countries from these regions, English is not native, and there may be problems with international communication, therefore, it is important that there are people with native English with the staff. This is especially true for marketers, public relations and community managers and specialists in investor relations.

Also popular now: