The Essential Components of a Full Stack Token Offering Platform

Below is a bullet-pointed outline of the key elements that characterize the best turnkey ICO launch platforms. These are the strategic, tactical, technical, and legal components of a token launch platform that enables an ICO or STO to establish optimal tokenomics, a solid technical and legal foundation, and the ability to reach hard cap.

STRATEGIC

Winning is rarely certain, however, nailing down a clear-headed strategy at the heart of your token offering project sure does make it easier.

There are a lot of utility and security token offerings vying for the attention of investors. Your project must set itself apart from its competitors, not by simply being better at what it does, but by being better and different at what it does through the design, planning, and implementation of the strategic components listed below.

• Concept validation of a use case and tokenomic model that leverages the blockchain network effect and nurtures transparency.
• Team acquisition and structuring, including strategic partnering and advisor onboarding.
• White paper copywriting that documents, among many other things, the viability of the tokenomic use case as applied to the project’s service or product, and its potential for token value appreciation.
• Corporate identity, brand creation, logo design, and website conceptualisation and layout design.
• Project and token issuance roadmapping.
• Sales rounds structuring.
• Token pricing, allocation, and circulating supply determinations.
• Discounting structure.
• Lock-up and vesting periods for STOs.

Good tokenomic modeling and token sales strategy are about making choices and trade-offs. The strategies listed above must be carefully formulated, documented, and implemented via broad and deep collaborative brainstorming and planning between the project team, its advisors, and the platform provider’s token sale experts.

TACTICAL

The token offering tactics listed below must be roadmapped into a chronological order that creates the most cost-effective set of actions necessary to achieve the project’s goals, with a budget that is carefully calibrated to be adequate but not excessive.

• Company incorporation.
• Banking setup.
• Marketing plan and budget.
• Token name selection.
• Seed funding and early-backer engagement.
• Website development and deployment, logo design, and white paper look & feel refinement.
• Website conversion optimization via analytics and A/B or multivariate testing.
• Team credentials disambiguation with credible and absorbing LinkedIn, AngelList, and/or Twitter profiles (founders, in-house generalists and specialists, partners, advisors).
• Mobile development and security.
• Press releases and other promotional communications.
• Professionally-designed pitch deck with cover slide, executive summary (problem, premise, proposed solution), ‘why now’ marketplace validation, market size substantiation, business model, competition/competitive advantage.
• One-pager pdf for print and email.
• Explainer video.
• SEO (optional depending on length of “seed to public sale” period).
• Content marketing including Medium, YouTube, and Quora.
• Media kit (optional)
• Influencer outreach.
• Community building and reputation/sentiment management where appropriate for the nature of the project. May include SMM, forums, ICO and STO rating sites, chat apps, newsletter copywriting and list building, and advertising and other paid media (Bitcointalk, Reddit, Telegram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Slack, Discord, AWeber, banner ads, etc.).
• Roadshow & conference planning.
• Affiliate/bounty program and airdrops development and deployment.
• KYC/AML/PEP vetting and whitelisting for STOs.
• Escrow setup.
• Wire transfer management.
• Exchange listings. Public, OTC, and broker exchanges hold around 0.15–0.25% of transaction volume as the fee for hosting your token on their platform, while peer-to-peer exchanges usually allow the buyer and seller to decide on the discount to be applied to the sale.
• Tax planning.

Though the tactical items listed above should be planned, budgeted, and implemented with the utmost diligence, even the best and most well-planned and set of token offering tactics requires that the project team, its advisors, and the platform provider’s tactical consultant be fast on their feet, adaptive, and able to thoughtfully pivot at key moments. Strategy will dictate the set of tactics necessary to reach a set of goals; however if the goalposts move, the tactics must move to match them.

Regarding team profiling on the token offering website, know that investors are alarmed the moment they spot a fundamental incongruency on the website’s “Team” page for a founder or any other key employee when compared with the LinkedIn profile or what a Google search reveals about the same person. If the project team feels that posting a profile that is in any way manufactured or fallacious is a good idea, the company really has no business selling digital tokens.

TECHNICAL

Requisite for any successful token offering are a project manager and coding team with a history of developing and implementing blockchain technology and smart contracts that are strong, stable and secure. Below is a list of the essential technical components. These must be understood in full by your in-house and platform provider technical teams.

• Blockchain platform selection, whether it be Ethereum, Waves, NEO, NEM, NXT, BitShares, Stellar, or a custom build, using one of many consensus algorithms.
• For ICOs: configuration of upgradable utility token built on the ERC-20 or another technical standard.
• For STOs: configuration of upgradable security token built on ERC-20, Polymath ST-20, or another technical standard for fractional ownership, dividend payments, or share of profit, with vesting period and transfer limitations.
• GitHub for project and team management, documentation, code review, integrations, and social coding.
• Mining or minting process structuring and coding if applicable.
• Smart contract design and coding for quick and safe tokens sales, semi-automated KYC/AML, whitelisting integration.
• Beta testing and testnet trialing.
• Development and testing of a maximally secure subdomain and backend admin dashboard from which to run token sales.
• Development and deployment of a robust multi-signature wallet to secure raised funds.
• Investor cabinet development with web-based dashboard for wallet creation and token balance monitoring, and, optionally, external cryptocurrencies or other token or fiat trading functionality, multi-factor authorisation, and/or a tiered referral program.
• Affiliate/bounty tracking setup.
• Blockchain and smart contract auditing.
• Token-swap functionality development and deployment.
• OTC liquidity provisioning.

If you are coming up short when assembling your technical team, think beyond the big jobs sites like Indeed and Dice, and consider placing ads on some industry-specific jobs boards like LinkedIn Blockchain Jobs, Coindesk Career Center, Crypto Jobs List, and Blocktribe.

LEGAL

You should choose a full stack token offering platform with an experienced crypto-sector law team, either in-house or on retainer. Below are the essential legal components that a token offering platform must provide.

• Reviews and legal opinions for business model, token model, and white paper.
• Prospectus and other securities documentation and disclosures for STOs.
• Development of operational procedure for converting a portion of funds received from the token sale into fiat currency or cryptocurrency for project development, implementation, and marketing.

It you need further legal counsel, it may be quite challenging to find a token offering attorney who is not only available but also not overworked and stretched too thin. If you must look outward for legal counsel because of jurisdictional or other concerns, the best place to start may be a Google search for blockchain attorneys.

Conclusion

Your full stack token offering provider can also help your project succeed after the conclusion of your ICO or STO. It can, for example, provide token listing solutions. Post-ICO/STO success may depend, more or less (ICO ‘more’, STO ‘less’), upon how quickly your tokens appear on an exchange. Establishment of liquidity confirms token legitimacy and raises market cap. List your token on the public, OTC, broker, and peer-to-peer exchanges for which it is approved.

As the use cases for the underlying concept and technical structure of ICOs evolve beyond the issuance of digital coins and utility tokens and into the issuance of “smart,” programmable, securitized tokens, there is growing demand for end-to-end launch platform solutions for both ICOs and STOs. The essential strategic, tactical, technical, and legal components outlined above can be used as a checklist when shopping for the best full stack token offering platform.