What's up guys, I am relatively new to the crypto world and although I've read a lot and watched countless videos on crypto and how to do your own research, I was wondering what are the most important aspects of a project, and what are the most important factors and things to look for. If you could give me some advice on the resources you guys use that would be really great. I was also wondering if someone could explain to me what is a vesting schedule and what a good token distribution looks like vs a bad one.
When looking for an investment opportunity, I would focus on the following things: media coverage, community, finances, famous people or companies behind the project. 5 years ago I would've said that you should look at their whitepaper, but now I think it's a waste of time. It might be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that the concepts don't matter if there's no way the team will actually succeed in implementing them, and projects that are very similar but have lots of funding can become successful even if they're not original.
So skip the whitepaper, and start with their social media. How many followers do they have, compared to numbers of followers of some projects that became very successful? How many likes and other engagements are available? This stuff can be bought, but if they have the money and willingness to invest in marketing, it's a good sign.
Then look at the media coverage. Have any famous news outlets written about them? Again, you can choose a successful project and compare with its coverage at the time when it was a new one.
Another very important thing is the team. Is there anyone famous there, and what are they famous for? Keep in mind that ICOs might lie about their team members, so make sure to fact-check if a certain person indeed has anything to do with some project.
As for the financial part, I wouldn't trust the mere numbers on their official website or media profiles, as those can be fake. What counts, instead, is any big companies or famous investors giving money to this project.