The next ICO I’m going to participate in should meet the following criteria:
1. Financial traction for at least the last year. I want to see their income, expenses, revenue, and whether they generate profit. Financial audit should be done by relevant company.
2. Real life product applicability. No more degen stuff. memes or short lived DeFi. They should be moving toward integration with the real economy, with customers outside the crypto community, and demonstrate clear value.
3. Offline presence. Many products are built remotely today, but I don’t believe in this approach. Serious businesses have offices, production units, etc. This builds trust and shows responsibility.
4. Founders should have a business/entrepreneurship background. It can be successful or not, but I want to see what they’ve built before. We need to move away from devs, who think they can become founders with no business experience yet raise millions from investors.
5. They shouldn’t be baked or incubated from the start. Founders should be responsible with their own money - meaning they used their own budget to build the product before raising from investors. Ideally, it’s a product that’s been running for a few years, is at least somewhat profitable, and has a clear growth plan.
6. I want to see the assets they own and a valuation based on those assets.
7. The project should not be about AI agents - this will likely be the next exit liquidity trap. It can be biotech, robotics, pharmaceuticals, HoReCa, food production, or any other company with clear value and vision.
This might not even be a classic ICO, but token distribution is still key.