Initial Coin Offering/ ICO is generally an unregulated method that innovative startups often adopt to bypass the conventional regulatory requirements.
The case for investing into ICO is simplistic: if investors make it right, tremendously explosive gains can be reasonably expected of. However, ones should pay particular attention to its downsize: highly speculative nature and many frauds exists
From my perspectives, below are a few criteria that might increase your odds of making a successful ICO investment.
1. Use case that has potential to bring disruption into traditional business: for instance, back to the days, NEO, with its value proposition of applying smart contract to disrupt the commerce in China, can be considered a potential project.
2. The ICO project should at least have a working beta. Ones should at least have a tangible sense of what they are putting money into
3. There should be a highly-qualified team of developers and experts that engage meaningfully in the project. If influential investors and private equity fund also have a stake in it, that is a good sign of a real disruptive project.
4. The project should preferably have a strong community presence. For instance, its Telegram channel should have a fair number of supporters, or the project has been endorsed, given good reviews by crypto influencer on Twitter or Youtube.
5. The ICO should have a clearly defined token lock-up duration that is long enough. This mean that founders and early investors should not be allowed to liquidate/ dump their tokens for a meaningful period.
6. The market capitalization that the project is about to raise should be reasonable. This ensures that some rooms for profit are left to investors to really dedicate to the project.
One last note, the above are just a few considerations that might boost your odds for investment into ICO. Deeper research into the use case, the developer's background and token sales information should be carried out on ones own.
More posts on ICO in time to come if it is really of interest and value to the community. Lots of thanks.