ICOs are going wild; here are three things that must happen for an ICO to be successful.
Tokenization is currently a very popular concept in the Blockchain industry as a result of the numerous products that are being created on the Blockchain.
Blockchain technology is experiencing massive growth and the level of awareness keeps increasing everyday. Almost every innovator is finding ways of implementing Blockchain into their existing products or creating something entirely new from a fresh idea on the Blockchain.
The efficiency of tokenization
One of the major reasons for the growing popularity of tokenization is the convenience that it brings in quantifying and managing assets of any given product. When assets are tokenized, value becomes easy to trace and access. This makes it easier for existing businesses and startups to quantify their products for effective administration.
One area where tokens have proved to be effective is for the purpose of crowdfunding. The token sale is currently popular in the Blockchain industry, mostly in the form of Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Developing businesses and startups have found token sales and ICOs to be convenient ways of raising capital for necessary expansion or development, as the case may be. The reason for this is mainly due to the absence of regulation and the ability to receive funds from any location across the globe.
There are thousands of token sales that have been executed or are still ongoing in the Blockchain industry. Some have registered very successful figures and gone ahead to establish viable startups while others have struggled. The difference between these two groups most often depends on the quality of their token sales. These qualities usually depend on the various components that make up the token sales and its execution.
Factors to consider for an ICO
Christopher Franko, CEO of Borderless Tech, the owners of TokenLab.io tells Cointelegraph that the first thing that anyone needs before embarking on a token sale is a good idea, preferably in the form of a working product. However, for some projects a good business plan or whitepaper that details an idea has been good enough to base an ICO upon, although without a product it’s going to be an uphill battle.
Secondly, a solid team is needed that can execute the plan, and deliver the software or service as promised. Having industry advisors doesn’t hurt either.
The third important component according to Franko is a good marketing team and a starting budget, because any product that must be seen is going to cost some initial capital.
Neglecting these details or not paying serious attention to them has been identified as the main reason for most token sale failures.
Franko tells Cointelegraph;
“ICOs fail because the person hosting them didn’t account for an unseen force, either they didn’t market to the right people, their forecasts were wrong, or maybe the market just didn’t like their product. That’s not the end of the road though. Just tweak your product, fix the flaws and then come back and try again. Most importantly don’t give up. If you have a solid product that people would use, then just keep building and sooner or later it should catch on.”
Considering the above scenarios, it can be understood that some failed token sales may not be as a result of a completely bad product. Any of the above stated requirements could be responsible for a project not to attaining the expected level of success. For instance, a brilliant idea with the right team but a wrong marketing approach could lead to an unsuccessful execution.
Existing Blockchain services
The need for effective departments is the reason why there are specialized startups who focus on different aspects of project building. Companies like Never Stop Marketing, MarketAcross, ICOPromo are a few of the various PR companies within the ecosystem that offer professional marketing services, especially for startups. Taking it a step further, other companies like TokenLab claims to offer a total package where all that clients need to do is to introduce an idea and provide a little information, and TokenLab will execute a complete ICO package from tokenization to marketing and all.
The emergence of these professional services that serve as enablers to startups in the industry implies that we are likely to experience a greater influx of new Blockchain products, and the adaptation of existing ones unto the Blockchain.
