In a nutshell, ICO, or Initial Coin Offering, is a way to drive funding to startups and high-tech projects through selling cryptocurrency to the investors.

This form of investing is neither new or rare. You may already know about hundreds of companies that have successfully used this strategy to get funding. However, starting your own ICO campaign is not as easy as it seems.

The world of cryptocurrency has no set rules, and its trends are constantly changing. To complicate matters, the competition on the market is insane, and only a small number of projects can make their way through it.

How to prepare for these challenges and how to start an ICO that brings results? In this article, we have gathered some handy tips and guidelines that will help you bring your ideas to life and succeed!

How to Start an ICO: Complete Guide

If you are reading this, the chances are that you are up for the challenge and ready to contribute time and money to create an ICO. What should be your first move? What does it take to get started? In the guide below, we have collected the main steps you should be making to create a successful project.

Know Your Competitors

The best way to get a sense of this market is to get to know the competitors. Thus, we suggest you get started with some in-depth research on other ICOs being offered.

Learning from competitors who have failed or succeeded before is a great way to see what you can do to avoid mistakes and get the most benefit from your project.

Work on Your Idea

There are plenty of cryptocurrencies out there. The competition is fierce, and the only way to survive it is to ensure that your ICO will be in high demand. This is something you should think through before starting the campaign.

Therefore, your next step is to come up with the idea that offers a solution that the market craves. Make sure that it is better than all the rest. 

To do this, you need to study the market carefully, get to know your target audience, outline the goals, and make a solid plan for the implementation of the idea.

Study the Regulations and Laws

Next, you have to study the legal side of the matter. This probably should go without saying, but launching an ICO campaign, it is vital to find out whether it is legal in your area. 

Also, you have to learn all the rules and regulations related to the market to make sure that you won’t be breaking any laws with your project!

In the world of cryptocurrency, there are lots of scams, but only fully transparent projects have chances to succeed.

Create a Token

While some projects prefer to build their own custom platforms, most choose to go the easy way and use platforms that already exist.

According to the stats from the ICOWatchList, over 80% of projects choose the Ethereum platform to create their token, and for a good reason. 

The main advantage of creating a token with Ethereum is that it is quick and easy. On their website, you can find premade codes needed for creating your own token.

However, it is worth mentioning that customizing your tokens is much trickier than creating them. Therefore, it is a great idea to hire a professional for high-quality assistance.

Develop a Solid Distribution Plan

Another vital step is to think about how you are going to distribute the tokens. There are plenty of strategies and tricks that can be applied. Thus, it is crucial to outline the pros and cons of each and find out what works best for you.

To create a solid plan, define what stages you should have in your token sale and think how many tokens you will be issuing.

Create a White Paper

Now, this is one of the most responsible steps that have a significant effect on the project’s success.

In a nutshell, a white paper is a document that contains all the technical details related to your project. In a perfect scenario, this piece should include every single detail, including the project’s objectives, token info, distribution plan, market analysis, etc.

What is it needed for? This document will provide potential investors with the answers they are looking for. Of course, not everyone will read the whole thing. However, you should do your best to prepare a clear and detailed white paper reflecting all the critical details.

You can engage in writing a white paper yourself. However, if you are new to the world of ICOs, the smart way will be to hire a custom essay writer to help you out on this stage. 

Professional writers from college writing help services mostly focus on helping students to cope with the assignments they get in a studying process. However, most of them have just the right education and experience you need to create a perfect technical description of your project.

Launch Your Website

Creating your website, filling it with engaging and relevant content, test-running are among the most time-consuming stages in the whole preparation process. They also require some attention and effort.

Creating and launching your website, it is vital to find the right specialist who can implement all the ideas. As long as you can hire the right professional, your chances to succeed will be pretty high!

These are the main steps you should take to launch a successful ICO project. After you go through each of them, all that is left to do is to work on your marketing campaign to spread the word and finally launch your ICO.

What Tools and Skillset You Need to Start an ICO?

First of all, it is worth mentioning that starting an ICO can be pretty costly. Sometimes, it may take tens of thousands of dollars to grow your idea into a project that has the potential to be successful. 

However, money is not all you need to get on track. The world of cryptocurrencies is fast-paced and somewhat unstable. Therefore, it takes a strong skill set to enter the competition and survive. Some of the necessary skills you will need are: 

• Strong sense of the market, target audience’s needs, and industry trends;
• Good analytical skills;
• Deep understanding of the product;
• Ability to think outside the box;
• Mastered technical skills.

All these skills are must-have for launching a promising ICO project. Of course, you may not possess all. However, before you get started, be sure to gather a good team with members complementing each others’ skills.

What about some special tools? Thanks to the Internet, you have almost unlimited resources for planning, launching, and managing your ICO campaign with the maximum benefit. Here are some of the best tools to keep at hand: 

Trade.io

Trade.io has successfully launched its own ICO in 2018 and raised $30 million. Currently, they provide advisory services to those new to this market. Therefore, if you are planning to start an ICO, you can take advantage of trade.io vast experience in this field and use their advice for your success.

BitcoinTalk Forum

This resource is an absolute must-have if you are planning the ICO campaign. Here, you can find relevant tips and ideas, search for new talents for your team, ask questions, and test-run your suggestions. 

Ambisafe 

This company offers sets of tools and services needed for building ICO platforms and creating tokens.

If you are at the very beginning of the path and have no clue where to start or lack resources to bring your ideas to life, be sure that at Ambisafe, you will find everything needed to get started. 

ICOBench 

Knowing your competitors can help in succeeding and avoiding mistakes. ICOBench is the best resource to conduct research, study, and analyze various ICOs. This website gives you access to a listing of thousands of projects with objective ratings and comments from the pros. 

BlockStarter

The last tool on our list is a platform that helps entrepreneurs to launch and manage their ICO campaigns smarter.

Wrapping Up

Now, armed with the knowledge on the necessary skills, be sure to check all the tools mentioned in this article.

A smart approach, bold ideas, and some effort are the elements of your success. Good luck with your ICO!