link to previous article on stages of ICO investments - https://steemit.com/steemit/@cryptobanyan/ico-investment-series-6-stages-of-ico-investment
Each topic that I touch upon can be very detailed and complex. Where possible I give links that help give deeper details. I refrain from any deep discussions because of 2 simple reasons - 1. I am not authority on these topics, but more importantly 2. I want to cover a broader perspective of ICO investments and any deep discussion will take us away from our goal.

How to evaluate an ICO (stages of ICO evaluation)

To evaluate the investment opportunity an ICO brings to us, we follow a 3 stage model.

• Stage 1 - High Level - Online research to understand what experts are saying about the ICO.
• Stage 2 - Intermediary - Key Factors that will determine the ICOs investment worthiness.
• Stage 3 - Deep dive - Break down the Key Factors into detailed sub factors and arrive at an investment score.

Depending on your preference, you may interchange stage 1 and 2 (many like to do their own analysis first before reading about what others have to say, I am just a little lazy, so I read what others have to say first, though my approach is fraught with risks of getting swayed by paid reviewers faulty analysis).

It may be evident that if you directly go to stage 3, then there is no need for stage 1 and 2. If you have been reviewing ICOs lately or have been around ICOs for a while, you would already know that there is seldom time for stage 3. Most interesting ICOs are already in sale stage or their tokens can only be purchased on the exchanges. There is very limited time and this almost always causes some amount of FOMO and you may end up making a hasty investment.

Advantages of following a staged approach

• ICOs provide limited time to do detailed analysis

• The process to register for an ICO can be long and often time consuming.

• The staged manner of ICO evaluation suits the ICO registration process well.

• You may invest in ICOs in two ways

  • A little after each stage depending on outcome of the stage. Positive outcome is validation so you increase your investments in stage 2 and 3 in proportional manner.
  • Just go through the motions of registering for ICO and in parallel complete all 3 stages. Only after a positive outcome on stage 3 you make your investment. Worst case you would have spent considerable time following ICO updates and completing KYC, but in the end if your conclusion is negative, it is still best to walk away from the ICO, than make a wrong investment against your own analysis. The risk you run in this approach is that the ICO token sale may close in a flash, leaving you no time to complete your research (in which case I would suggest you just walk away from the ICO, even if it is a good investment).

In this article I cover stage 1.

Websites where ICOs can be researched

ICOs can be researched on almost all of the links I shared for finding ICOs in the first place.

• Google the ICO for reviews and start reading the reviews. Most sites will differentiate between paid / sponsored reviews and unpaid reviews, but there is no way to tell if the review is honest or it is biased.

• I frequent the below websites and trust their reviews. I have briefly validated their previous reviews and found that most of the ICOs they have given a thumbs up to have fared very well on the exchanges (the ICOs in current down market being an exception).

https://crushcrypto.com
https://www.smithandcrown.com
https://cryptobriefing.com/ico-reviews/

• Search in Youtube for the ICO reviews

Most of the Youtube reviews are paid reviews and it is very difficult to find good reviews. I frequent the below youtubers for listening in to their ICO reviews. I don't make a decision on this, but it gives me another interesting perspective.

Coin Bloq - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrsEzLxi1oxHr6xW9S5vSzg
Crush Crypto - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu1-oBOM-DzJ89o02Bx3XYw
Oh Hey Matty - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3p3s3WJkEG56W275gGbQlw

There are many more popular ones like Ian Belina, Suppoman, et, al, but I have not followed their reviews much.

In this article I have given some ideas and links for online research. I kept the list brief, but I would encourage you to research online more and find more ICO reviewers that you would like to follow. Over time you will develop an ability to discard the review or walk away from the ICO based on the review, whichever suits your style. You must develop your own style of how you will let the online reviews affect your judgement.

I have seen many ICOs do extremely well despite poor online reviews and vice versa. I have also seen great ICOs not reviewed until whitelisting or KYC was closed by the ICO. I still recommend doing online research first because 70% of times good reviewers would have already done most of the job for you.

Disclaimer - I am only sharing my limited knowledge and for the sake of knowledge alone. This is in no way an investment advice or legal or taxation counsel. I am not qualified to provide any of these. This is also not a recommendation or encouragement to invest in cryptocurrencies or ICOs