Picking winners

5 min readSep 14

The importance of asking questions

Ok, we know the title is miss leading, you can’t pick winners with 100% certainty, if anyone who tells you they can, then be very careful of them!

However, what you can do is research and due diligence.

Questions to ask

The more research and due diligence you do, the more understanding you have of a project, a team, the space they are in and their competitors. This is what will help you make informed decisions.

Does a project have a strong grasp of the issue they are looking to solve?
Do they have a solution they are hoping to create that makese sense?
Is the skill set mix in the team strong , covering all core disciplines?
Are their finances stable?
Do their tokenomics add up and are they reflective of current market conditions?
What does their future sell pressure look like?
Do they have a thought out plan in place of launch
What does their post launch marketing plan look like?
Do they have a community in place and are they active?
What do their socials look like?

These are some of the questions you may want to think about when doing your own due diligence.

If you get positive answers to these points, it does not mean you will always pick winners, but it does mean you will go in knowing far more about the project and hopefully have confidence in them.

Deep dive

Asking sensible questions of any project you look to invest in, is a very important part of doing your own due diligence. And this is no different for us.

We have a duty to our community to try and bring high potential and high calibre projects onto our platform. The due diligence we do is some of the toughest in the space and we feel this is one of the key areas that set us aprt from other launchpads.

We want to give you an insight into how we select projects who IDO with us, it is not straight forward!

Working with leading partners across the space enables us to find genuinely high potential projects. This is just the start.

Our team conducts indepth due diligence on all aspects of the project; this includes doing a deep dive into all their documentation, interviewing their senior team, reviewing their launch plans and much more.

Over 90% of projects that come to us don’t pass our due diligence, so we are very selective.

The due diligence we do is very intensive for both our team and also the project. It can take a few months to complete.

As we go through the due diligence process we work very closely with the project. We want it to be a positive experience for them. The team we have in place to do our due diligence are experts in their respective fields, and the advice they gave is of huge value to a project.

If we have an area that raises a concern, we will often work with the project to address this point and help them review that particular area to ensure it is rectified.

Green light

Only when we are happy will a project be given the green light.

Keep in mind, although the due diligence we do is significant, it in no way replaces your own research and due diligence. Any investment decision you make is yours and you must be happy with this.

If they get the green light, then we move on to the briefing phase in the run to their IDO.

This phase will incorporate an announcement article, which will introduce the project to our community.

Importantly, this article will also include an insight from our due diligence team. This will explain how we reviewed and accessed the project, also it will highlight a number of points regarding the project that we felt really stood out.

As we get closer to the date for the project’s IDO, we will share an IDO briefing and whitelisting guide. This will normally happen roughly 2 weeks prior to the IDO date.

Tips for a project?

If you are reading this article and you are project thinking about doing an IDO, be that with us or anther platform, we wanted to give you with some genuine value adds.

We have a lot of experience in supporting projects, getting them ready to IDO and ultimately to launch successfully.

Here are 5 tips our due diligence team pulled together for you, that we hope might be of some use:

Button down your dealroom in DocSend. DocSend generates links for your assets you upload, which stay constant even when you update the files. Your dealroom should contain: Pitchdeck, tokenomics, whitepaper, investor FAQ, signed deals you can disclose, and any other pertinant materials to the investor.
Tokenomics. Work with an experienced tokenomist to build your token offering, token economy and model it in Machinations to check for sustainability, especially on P2E, DeFi and GameFi.
Engender Community. Use tools like Zealy, ChappyX, Galxe and Wall to build your community, product usage, and enhance your social visibility. Be sophisticated and consider this as an overarching plan for multiple phases of your company’s journey. Get that community to care about the tasks.
Market Makers Matter. Find market makers who will introduce you to their client base for references. You want a MM who bills you monthly, and takes a % liquidation fee. This creates alignment of shared success, and an understanding that if they don’t perform, they will be replaced. This form of incentive and deterent creates a potent mix that bonds you both to an aligned journey. MMs don’t just help to support orderly liquidity, they help you make money and replenish your token treasury.
CEX is a Journey. Stagger your listings strategically, and research the exchanges with projects that listed there recently. Each listing should build on the one that came before and become powerful marketing rallies your community can celebrate. Furthermore, each listing requires liquidity and fees. Building your way from one listing to each other allows your Market Maker to build the liquidity, and absorb new users as you cover costs and prepare to increase your reach.