Get acquainted with the partners, sponsors and the advisory board of the company — this will allow you to assess its maturity and professional level.
Highly qualified startups usually enter into partnerships with leading players not from the blockchain sphere or attract funding from venture capital companies that have proven themselves in this area.
For example, Pantera Capital is the first cryptocurrency fund in the United States, founded in 2013. He has invested in many successful crypto projects that form the blockchain sphere today. The presence of such partners is always a positive sign.
Other venture funds also include ConsenSys Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Ethereum Foundation, Gitcoin Grants, PolyChain Capital, Binance and Blockchain Capital.
Current status
Has the project created a prototype or an MVP? Or is he already conducting a test of the blockchain network? Try to determine the maturity of its technology — it indicates the current state of the startup. Ideally, the creators have already started developing the product and have gathered a small community of beta testers.
If people voluntarily want to try a product, it means they see real value in it.
Projects that have not yet started development should be avoided. Many startups promise to provide scalability, compatibility and low fees, but this never happens.
Team composition
This factor can tell a lot about the “secrets of production” of the company. If an extensive marketing team and only a few developers are working on the project, then you should be wary.
Projects that have received funding from venture funds do not need to worry about marketing. Their main task is to create a valuable product as soon as possible. And this requires engineers, marketers, designers and HR specialists. Also pay attention to the following posts:
tokenomics designer (Token economy designer);
Cryptography Specialist (Cryptographer);
Distributed systems engineer;
Smart contract engineer.
These specialists make a big contribution to the project and they are hard to find.
Long-term vision
Usually, the long-term vision of a crypto project is presented in the form of a Roadmap. With their help, the team explains how they plan to achieve their goals and implement their idea.
To assess the feasibility of the roadmap, people with non-technical education should pay attention to the description of each stage. It should explain how, according to the project, users will accept the product — it is this factor that connects the company’s vision and reality. If this information is missing, you should be seriously wary.
Even with detailed plans, startups often delay deadlines and do not launch the promised functions. Blockchain is not an easy area in which errors can occur.
You should not abandon the project if it has violated the deadline. Evaluate how its creators report their failure to the community and how justified this delay is. Transparent communication is an important distinguishing feature of a successful crypto startup.