 There's many different things you've got to take in consideration before you invest in anything, whether that is real estate, whether that is a startup, whether that is an ICO. So before I continue, I do want to state this. I'm not a financial advisor. This is not financial advice, so take it for what it is. And the reason why I'm making this video is because, funny story, yesterday another ICO confirmed to be a scam. And so when participants who logged into their website saw a sign and said, penis, I think there's a screenshot right here. Anyways, that kind of stirred me to make this video to talk about just basic common sense when it comes to investing. And you can apply this towards an ICO, or you can apply this towards a regular startup. They're pretty much the same, small caveats on both. So when we're looking at an ICO, and so there's a couple of things to look at, there's different verticals and categorizations of tokens. Number one, there's protocol tokens. So that would be Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, Cosmos, these side chains, these are protocol layer tokens, which is necessary for the functionality and programmable logic within that ecosystem, meaning if you take that token out, everything falls apart. Then you have some other deviation of that. They call utility tokens, which most people are claiming in reality, there's no utility. It's almost like a casino where it's like, well, our token does X, and you have to pay us to get our token and use our token in our ecosystem, et cetera, et cetera, no different than a casino. And then there's app tokens, which are part of an application process. Okay, I'm not going to go into fine details. Anyways, those are kind of the three common ones. And finally, sorry, I would say four, they are security tokens, which should be told between you and I, I would say a majority of these new so-called utility tokens, they are securities. They are securities. And you'll see this year, the SEC here in Ontario, the OSC, they're going to be coming down hard on people. And there's a bunch of other legal ramifications when it comes to this stuff. Anyways, regardless of whether it's a securities token, utilities tokens, a platform tokens, or app tokens, this applies to everything we're about to talk about. Okay, so first thing, you know, you get this, I don't know, we'll use this right here, you get this white paper and you're reading it. For the most part, most white papers are written like a book, meaning there's a lot of fucking fluff in it, you know, you're going through it and you're reading it and then you come to a point like, I have no fucking idea what these people are talking about. I don't know the problem they're solving. I don't know how they're making money. I don't know anything. And let me tell you something, I read a lot of white papers, you know, lately, a lot of white papers and majority of them are shit, complete rubbish. You walk away more confused than when you baguette. It's crazy. Okay. So when you see a white paper, you got to ask yourself this question right away. Can this startup explain to me in the most common language, I mean super common language, can they explain to me what problem they're solving, how they're solving it and the business model behind it? And if they can't, that's not a good sign. So the first thing I look at, I look at simplicity when it comes in a white paper is the problem addressed, how they're solving the problem and how or what are the different business models around that. Okay. If they pass that test, I skip everything else in the paper and I go to the team. Okay. I don't worry about technology. Technologies can be filled in later on. Right. I'm really thinking on the psychology, the experience of the team and do they have the hotspot to actually execute this on what they're trying to do. And so basically I will do a deep dive on the team. I will spend my time investigating who they are, background, history, experience and get to know them as human beings. You know, Chris Saka, one of, if not the most famous Silicon Valley investor, he has a great saying is like, the three criteria is I look for, I think it's three. You know, number one, has he or she ever experienced hard work in their past, understanding what it takes? Number two, has he or she ever built a business and failed, which is really important, understanding how difficult it is to build a business. And number three, can I have dinner with this person for the next four or five years? And these are very important criteria. Mine are a little bit different. I look at, these are my three non-negotiables. Number one is, can I have, I'll go in reverse as Chris. Number one, can I have dinner with this person for the next five years? Number two, would I invite this person to my wedding in the past? And number three, can I vouch for this person? Can I actually attach my name and saying, yes, invest in this human being because he knows or she knows what she's talking about. Okay. So that's what I do. I look at the team, right? So we have first messaging. Do they properly address the problem they're solving and how they're solving it in the business model? Then we get to the team. If they've passed those check marks, finally we get to the Xbox. And the Xbox's variability is very difficult for you and I to control. And so Xbox is timing of the marketplace, geographical timing that is, timing, whether that is in China, United States, Canada, et cetera, timing of the global marketplace. And that's really difficult to calculate and put in your formula, but it's something to be cognizant of and aware of, right? And there's many different formulations when it comes to your own vetting, let's say, equation or your own vetting system. For example, Bruce Fentany has a spacesuit formula. I'll leave a link below the video. It's a great one. You can do the checklist and it's a deep dive. But for me, I always believe technology would be second. Human beings are first technology. You can always find people to build the technology. And obviously you have to because you're building a startup. You've got to hire people. And as a CEO, your job is to find the best, smartest people, much smarter than you and hire them. And your job is to build out the family as a startup. And so that's what I view as ICOs. I look at, do they understand what they're doing? Are they a strong fundamental team? You know, they're not here just to make a quick buck. And finally, segwitting over to the final creme de la creme, I look at the token, not even token economics or the crypto economics. I actually look at the basic question. And that question is this. Why do they need a token? And so we can revert back to the first question we ask ourselves is, did this team properly present the problem they're solving, how they're solving it in the business model, right? So this will be connected to why do they need a token. And for the most part, most ICOs don't need a token. It's a money grab. They have no business model, they could not raise money from regular investors. Hence, while they're doing a token, because right now we're in the space of fomonomics, if you're missing out on economics, so everyone's throwing money like crazy in hopes of a quick arbitrage, everyone's speculating they're not really your true customers or audiences, they just want to pretty much profit off you run to the next one. And you know, all these will groups jumping around everywhere. So when you ask that question, you know, is a token necessary? You need to do a deep dive. It's like, what is the token doing? Why is a token necessary? I always like to ask this secondary simple question that's this. If I remove this token, does this business model disappear? If the answer is no, then for the most part, they don't need a token. Meaning, if I can take this token, and then put like say Ethereum in there, since everything's on at ERC 20, so you can put whatever token you want, or I can put Bitcoin in there, or I can put whatever in there. If I can do that, there's no need for your token, right? And so to finalize, you're left with two answers after this. If the answer is yes, they need a token and obviously you've done your due diligence, you've spoke to people that understand technology, you spoke to people who understand crypto or token economics, same thing pretty much. If the answer is yes, then do your own due diligence. As I mentioned, these different sections I look at or these different criteria I have, and you can take your own calculated risk, like any investment, like any startup. However, if the answer is no, saying that you've come to the conclusion that they don't need a token, what you need to do is go back to the team and present them this statement. Guys, can you explain to me why? And I mean, without a shout of a doubt, like really hard core that you need to convince me, pretend you've tried to put a religion down my throat or whatever. Can you convince me why you need a token? And if they can't do that, that's a big red flag. And for the most part, guys, like I said before, I think ICOs are an amazing innovation. There's so many iterations that we can evolve from. But majority of startups don't need a token whatsoever. It actually disables their business as opposed to enabling their business. And in the future, we'll see more or less controlled token models that are attached to whether dividends or equity or some form of actual promissory payback for your investment during the founder stage. So that's my take on it. I didn't want to make it too technical or go into finite details. I want to give you the tools necessary to succeed. And this is applicable to anything, guys. This is applicable to a startup. This is applicable to real estate, like going to a neighborhood, understanding who you're buying from, why he or she is selling, what's the value of the neighborhood, looking if the neighborhood is going to increase in the future. At the end of the day, understanding psychology and understanding the people that you're doing business with. If you have any questions for me, leave a comment below this video. Like always, guys, if you want to learn about blockchain coding and if you want to become a blockchain developer, head over to Blockheeks, guys. Peace.