How to research a project

How to research any NFT Project like a pro!

COMMUNITY

Every project needs a strong community, without community it is nothing. It’s what drives a project to its future. All bluechip projects are driven by community and their cultural value

How do assess a projects community? How do I know if there is genuine connection between the members? Do you get the feeling that people are just talking for the sake of trying to get a mint list spot or are they in the project because they care about it?

Is the project built of hype or organic growth? A project built of hype will have Vc’s (Voice chats) Full of people talking over each other, forcing recognition, fake conversation etc. Organic projects discords should feel relaxed, not spammy, entertaining, founders/mods hosting games for mint list spots or they try to get the community as involved as possible. Whilst hyped projects do well it's important to know how hard you'll have to work to get whitelisted on such projects compared to organic ones which I'm sure you'll enjoy your time in much more.

Check the reactions on their announcements or sneak peaks If a discord has 15K-20k I would expect between 1k-2k reactions on good engagement. If a project has 50k in their discord, I would expect 5-8k reactions and so on

Check the server boosts I always want to see a fair ratio boosts to members of the discord. For example if the discord is 50K I would expect boosts 1K+ server boosts. If you see servers with 20K and 30 boosts it’s most likely botted.

Check their follower to like ratio on twitter. I use Follower Audit to check a project's insights on followers etc. Also check if their likes or comments are fake. Example, if someone who has commented is following 5000 accounts but only has 2 followers and no tweets it’s more than likely a bot.

Is the project linked to any celebrities? You can back some celebrity projects such as VeeFriends by Gary Vee as knowledge of his background would tell us he’ll go above and beyond to push & excel his project, he also provides mass utility with these NFT’s. Other projects such as FullSend NFT which are founded by inexperienced personnels in this space can be a riskier play. Other celebrity ‘backed’ projects such as the “Inbetweeners” took the baked celebrity Justin Bieber 8 posts to sell out. You need to make sure that whoever is backing a project is doing so for the right reasons and isn’t just a paid influencer.

FOUNDERS

Are the founders doxxed? (Identity is known) I always right click and search on google on a founder's image to make sure it’s not just a stock photo. Always double check the founders and research them to make sure they live up to their claimed reputation. Do not trust linked Twitter accounts with no profile pictures or photos/information about them. That is not a dox. LinkedIn accounts can also be bought and forged.

Do the mods or founders engage or help out members in the community? Have they hosted games nights or movie nights etc to help get the community involved and engage with each other improving their overall experience and connection with the project

Are they linked to previous established companies or brands? Have they founded previous successful projects or any successful brands which are involved in or out of Web3 that they can use to push the project forward?

ART

Does the art serve cultural value or is it following the recent meta/fad? Examples of art which serve cultural value is Azuki,The Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats etc. Derivative projects most likely follow a fad and have quick pumps but there is no long term vision.

Who is the artist, what’s their background? Always double check the artist and research them to make sure they live up to their claimed reputation Projects with artists at the front face of them include, Edgar, Karafuru, Fewocious and many more. They tend to go well if the artist is well known.

VISION

High mint price = High Utility or ambition A project can’t justify upwards of .3 eth if they don’t have major plans. Always double check the mint price, remember a project must have a high mint price for a reason! Most projects have a 0.08-0.2 mint price. You need to be careful of anything above that, especially with hyped projects.

ROADMAP What are the project's plans for the future? Are they donating to charity or supporting a cause? Do they want to make a game etc.

UTILITY This ties into the roadmap, how do they plan to add value to holders?. Some things in such as a token or merch store go over my head as unless the token is actually going to provide value to it’s holders and has good burning mechanics I don’t see it as valuable

DEMAND Are there enough discord members, a strong enough community and solid enough roadmap to create enough demand. Ex. If a project has 500k members and only 5,000 supply their will be a high demand if it has ticked off the other factors

COLLABS Are they collabing with any other projects in this space that have done well? Do these projects share mutual communities or vision? Intergrating traits to their NFT's from bluechip project helps bring big demand! Keep an eye out for collections launching with such intergration

RED FLAGS

• Excessively high mint price • Team is not doxed • No utility • Any recent issues? E.x The server/owners have been hacked or the team has responded poorly to damaging events • Are they copyrighting another project? Is the art is similar to other projects? (Derivative), Do they have permission to run this project as a derivative? • Is the project just built off mass advertisement and not organic growth? • Do they have a cause behind the project? • Do they have lots of fake followers? •Are their social media accounts very inactive? (They receive very few likes despite having lots of followers) • Do they have unlimited minting? ( People can mint as many as they want)

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor and the list above is made up from collective experience. You make your own decisions before investing in a project and I will not be held responsible or liable for any actions you decide to take based off this list or any information off the provided - Niall