Think Business First before you ICO!

Coming from a banking and investment background and I’ve seen many business plans and I’ve also written a few business plans myself. I recommend anyone looking into investing or creating their own ICO to honestly put in the time and research on how to build a successful business. If you could get at least a good understanding of the fundamentals, you’ll be able to have a clearer understanding of your investments and how they can succeed. Talking with a seasoned business owner or business adviser can go a long way.

When ICOs were the hottest trend in 2017, I chose to stay away from them. Not because I’m against ICOs, but because the whitepapers I read were terrible. Whitepapers are just like business plans, but “Business Plan Lite”. Everything of a business plan except without the business part.

Most whitepapers in 2017 gave you a small glimpse of what their vision was but the real big kicker to target possible investors was that the purchased coin or token would be worth 10x to 100x within a few months after the ICO. Nothing really on how the funds raised could be converted to start a real profitable business with proper market & consumer research. No real breakdown of possible staffing and the cost to actually build their business. Most whitepapers just had a pie chart on how they would divide up the token. Even the published road maps weren’t realistic as they were just mostly a projection made with no real basis on reality. Its no wonder that there was and still is such a high percentage of failed ICOs!

Now I’m sure most of you have heard that nearly half of ICOs have failed and that number is rising. This large failure rate largely due to the incompetence of the teams and their failure to have a proper business plan and how to properly implement their business to become profitable. But the high rate of failures among ICOs are not solely at the feet of the founders. The people

whom invested into the ICOs of poorly constructed ideas are also to blame! Crowd funding is one of the greatest tools to gain popularity within the internet age. No longer are great ideas being held back due to lack of funding and hard headed VCs. The business investment landscape is changing and there is a lot more room to grow. But the average Joe probably doesn’t know how to properly invest in a business and mitigate risks. They aren’t full time Venture Capitalist. Most consumers are emotionally driven when it comes to investments and this was evident in the massive increase in funds raised in ICOs during 2017. Most investors sank their money into ICOs hoping to get rich quick. Some got lucky, but unfortunately many got burned. If they haven’t already taken their losses they are stuck holding the bag hoping that 1 day things will turn around.

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