Start your ICO
An ICO or Initial Coin Offering is a new way for companies to raise funds or capital through cryptocurrency.
Companies launch a digital coin or a token and can sell it to investors in exchange for other cryptocurrency, often Bitcoin (BTC).
This guide may help you through the process:
An ICO Launch Process is categorized into four stages:
a. Preparation
b. Pre-ICO
c. ICO
d. Post-ICO
a. Preparation:
1. Ask yourself if your idea is a good fit for an ICO.
Understanding the market is an important key to success.
Check out your competition, and make sure what you have to offer is better than what is out there.
Is your ICO going to be blockchain based? That has become the norm, but you may decide that is not what you want.
ICOs tend to be best for projects or products that have a global reach. If that is not your intent, an ICO may not be a good fit for what you are doing.
These are projects that have had successful ICOs and would be worth researching:
NXT – Blockchain as a service platform. Market Capital- $150M
NEO – China’s first digital coin and also called as China’s Ethereum. Market Capital – $3.6B
Ethereum – An open-source public blockchain-based platform, sold for $0.31 and has reached the value of $1000. Market Capital – $61B
Now these are some very successful examples, but not all ICO’s are that big. Of the 1600 coins in the market and many are based on an ERC-20 standard.
Great ICO ideas may incorporate these facets:
The product could utilize the blockchain to be decentralized.
Blockchain technology could be a part of its development.
The idea may be large enough to involve multiple individuals or companies.
The idea or project would generate widespread interest over multiple markets, cultures, and forums.
Even if the idea is complex, you must have an accessible presentation that also helps people see the value of what you are bringing to the market.
This in turn will explain why there are logical and strong reasons to expect a demand for your tokens.
There also needs to be an “eternity” factor, something that will ensure that once you, the originator retires, that the tokens will continue to have a use and value.
Generally,in business, if you have a brilliant idea, you may just need to hunker down and make sure it works, but in the ICO world, there is no substitute for research and due diligence that helps you understand not just the market, but specifics about your audience, competitors, and other factors specific to your idea.
There are ICO websites like ICO Bench and Track ICO that can help you decide on valuations and quantities of coin to offer.
The next step is to put your idea into a whitepaper format.
2. Draft a whitepaper
A whitepaper specifically explains every facet of your idea. It is the proposal that you will make available for all investors.
Key tools of persuasion in this whitepaper will of course highlight your goals, and will also include strategies for development, technology architecture, market analysis of how your project is needed and should be received, and information on the token and its distribution. Legal issues should be discussed as well as information about crowdfunding, and advisors to and investors in the project.
The whitepaper should be as long as it needs to be in order to help the investor make an informed decision. It is true that not all investors will read this whitepaper, so it should be written with those who would read it in mind. It is often those types of investors that may be able to bring more significant funding your way.
Professional writers or editors can be very helpful in writing a whitepaper but having someone that really understands your project and the technology involved can make all the difference.
3. A good team can help you win the game. Choose them wisely.
Now you are sure you have a great idea. The next step will be to bring on knowledgeable advisors. You will need people who have a strong working knowledge of ICOs, and also people with expert knowledge in accounting, cryptocurrency, marketing, and developing, Legal advisors are important as well.
It is important to do your due diligence on these people to make sure that they played a significant/leadership role in previous success stories to make sure they bring the operational knowledge you will need. If they have strong experience, but not necessarily in ICOs, this may not be optimal.
Your investors will be looking at who you are trusting as advisors. A strong team can attract people who know and invest in the business. A strong start can be a competitive advantage in this field.
Once your team assembled, it will be important to bring in your legal team before the introduction of your ICO.
4. Your legal team
It is not always easy to find a qualified legal advisor because ICOs and cryptocurrencies have not existed for a long time in the marketplace. Getting an experienced advisor is essential.
One trick to finding a good lawyer/team is to go through the ICO listing websites and look to find who the top ICOs are using. From here, you can reach out to some of them. By explaining what your project is, you may be able to find a good advisor.
The first thing you will want to know if your advisor approves of your token and its nuances.
Other important things to discuss with your legal team are how to deal with issues in countries where tokens may be considered illegal. Be thorough. It is better to ask the questions before you start and to know how to handle as many challenges as you can before they occur.
Your next step will be to get your message out to the investing public, which will require a website.
5. Launch a website
There are a lot of ways to start a website. Key things to consider are ones that run fast and securely. You will want hosting protecting and be able to protect your website from DDoS attack.
Websites with higher conversions for ICO launches have some common characteristics:
Projects are well explained
Investors will need to know what your project is, how you are planning to build it, what service it provides, how it works, and how your token will be distributed.
Compelling visuals are included:
All investors are not big readers, and with a global project, you may have some that do not speak your language well. Photos, charts, illustrations, and videos can be a huge help. Pictures should illustrate your planned steps of development. Videos should demonstrate how your project will work. Graphs or charts will help people understand how your tokens will be distributed.
Include contact information:
6. Crowdfunding
When people hear about crowdfunding, they imagine it is a way to his massive numbers of people to raise support. Generally, though, is more likely a way reach out to family, friends, investors that frequent such pages, and potential customers.
Crowdfunding will help you hone your message, help you with startup costs, market research, and may give you feedback on your business plan and prototypes. Large investors and institutions usually do not “jump in” at this stage, so keep in mind and those that may generally invest in this market.
Crowdfunding campaigns discuss token allocations, min cap, max cap, and other issues such as how you have decided to handle unsold tokens, and how long you your campaign will last. Here, a knowledgeable investor will examine min cap/max cap ratios to determine how serious you are.
If you do not raise the minimum cap, then you must be clear about whether that money will be returned to the investors.
b. Pre-ICO:
1. Announcing your ICO
There are now websites that list ICOs and rate them. Members will also rate their performance. If you announce your ICO on these websites, they will be looking to see the progress you have made, information about your team, and information about how your tokens will be distributed. They will also be looking for a link to the whitepaper.
Ad and email campaigns targeting possible users of your product/idea and investors can be another way to get your ICO offering “out there”. These need to include a description of your project and what makes it better that what is out there and how it works. A description of what your token can be used for is also important
Once your ICO is being marketed, you will want to hone in on your Proof of Concept.
2. Your Proof of Concept (PoC)
A Proof-of-Concept focuses on the main business problem your idea addresses. You will need to demonstrate that your project is feasible and has real potential for sales and growth. At this stage it is important to not be too ambitious and stick with the problem/solution model.
A PoC consists of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) accompanied by a minimum feature set, or a visual prototype without supporting code.
There are several stages in creating a PoC: Theoretical build-up, Prototype, and MVP.
3. Steps to development:
Your plan will include a timeline for each step
First comes Alpha release where internal testing of a full featured product is done.
Next will is Beta release when an external team takes your product “for a test drive”.
Evaluations from these two stages will dictate the form your product takes in the public release. Development should anticipate future improvements and applications.
Roadmap in hand, it is time to consider what you will need from your ICO launch.
4. Creating your tokens
Clearly, the survival of your project and dream are linked to the success of your token launch. First you will need to decide on how many tokens to issue, and how many to sell during each initial stage.
Once you have created your tokens, it is now time to turn your attention to security.
5. Security of your ICO Platform
Your ICO contribution address is all that is needed to attack your website. Your smart contract needs to be able to defend itself against attackers.
A wise investment in security expertise for both your website and network can help keep your platform secure.
With these issues addressed you will want to start to focus on honing your message, growth hacking, and marketing to raise the money you need.
6. PR and ICO Marketing
Marketing is not cheap. Done effectively it builds trust and helps you find the right investors for your offering. Ads start at around $400 and go up from there. Forum and Google ads can generate a respectable number of leads. Planning a PR campaign is like deciding on a battle plan. You need to anticipate what will be effective and count the costs.
There are many ways to get your message out. Ad campaigns, social media, email, and forums are all ways to get your message out.
Having your channel on the platforms like Slack or Telegram allow you to have a centralized even feed of your project right alongside your chat. People enjoy this venue because they can have access to you and your team. Timely responses and good access around a successful project and lead to positive chat around your product, thus building help momentum.
At this stage you should be ready to launch your ICO and start a crowd sale.
c. ICO:
1. Crowd Sale
The crowd sale is the step where a company will sell tokens to the public in exchange for money. Creating a sign-up option on your website allows investors to register to purchase your tokens for cash or in exchange for other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Rewards, as in your pre-sale, can attract attention and create a buzz in the market.
Offering support and some sort of newsletter to your investing community can nurture the relationship with your investors.
2. Support and Nurturing Your Supportive Community
Support on crypto forums and social media can allow customer access to help to understand and use your project. An emergency helpline too, will build trust and keep your clientele and investors happy. This trust, in turn, can be helpful in attracting positive reviews and more sales.
Keeping the community, your investors, and early and potential users informed on your project is also very important.
Now that you have funding coming in, it is time to really focus on your project.
d. Post-ICO:
1. Create a product
Your product should use the launched tokens. If the tokens are blockchain based, a team of blockchain development experts will be important. They can help you make a scalable, secure, and robust product on the blockchain.
Keep your roadmap in mind. Investors will be watching and waiting for your product to be available.
2. Introduce your tokens on Exchanges
In order to introduce your token to an ICO exchange, they will be looking for a request with the following information:
Token Name
Token Logo
Token trading symbol
Github link
Compliance fee (optional)
Description of Project and Token
Link to the website
Source Code reviewed by the trusted third party
Hopefully your ICO will be successful. It is important to keep marketing and work hard to continue to meet your goals. We hope this guide will help you toward a successful launch.
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