The amount and type of content displayed on the website. As it is said that content is king. So a good ICO will ALWAYS have quality and in-depth information which clearly explains what the particular ICO is all about.
The background and social media/online presence of the Founder, management/staff involved in the ICO concept. Very important that the ICO be founded by someone who has had prior experience in the relative field along with a team of strong developers and legal advisors. LinkedIn and Medium in particular are great places to check out the professional background of the ICO team and their expertise. Whether the ICO has been published on major platforms like Forbes, Cointelegraph, Cryptocoinsnews, Fintech magazines and other similar publishing platforms.
The Whitepaper: If the whitepaper involves content that is in no way relevant to the particular ICO concept, then one must understand that there is something fishy or there has been plagiarism involved. It is crucial to check whether there is any sort of source codes/ algorithms/ logic-diagrams used which indicate the technical features of the project.
The target market and use-cases: There are many altcoins who have a defined set of targeted businesses they look to focus on and this must CLEARLY be mentioned whilst describing the ICO on the website or whitepaper. The investor should get a fair idea whether the project matches his/her interest/skills and must be convinced that the project can have enough demand in the coming near and far future. Then comes the particular use-case the altcoin would be used for and how it would provide value to individuals or businesses for that matter.
Strategic partnerships / angel-investors : This is another key factor to take a look at. Which large entity have joined hands with the project or which billionaire venture capitalist/ entrepreneur has decided to be a part of the Initial Coin Offering.
Finally, if the ICO has an uncapped limit to which investors can invest, then this is certainly a negative point as they will then come under the radar of regulators and could face a lot of problems in the future.
Feel free to add anything more which needs to be considered while investing in an ICO.
Credit : Sudip Nair