How Much Does It Cost to Do an ICO?

Today, the cost to launch Initial Coin Offering (ICO) can be provided even without making many investments. But a successful one demands enough amount of money and time. So, an important question arises: how much does it cost to run an ICO?

To find the answer you’ll need to think of all the necessary details concerning the cost to do an ICO in order to objectively evaluate all of its nuances and capabilities. Creating a budget plan is another important issue. This will show how much does it cost to do an ICO and areas in which money can or can’t be saved. In the end, this will help you to avoid borrowing or taking out a line of credit.

Let’s look through the main areas of an ICO to determine the required budget to launch a successful ICO campaign.

Technical aspects

One of the top-level expenses categories is technical aspects of an ICO. These include:

• ICO cabinet
• ICO advisory and support
• a suite of ICO smart contracts
• white paper

ICO Cabinet is a special area for sign-up, verification and accreditation, purchasing tokens and managing an ICO for an easy tokens distribution. KYC process helps to verify each customer’s identity and residence, thereby minimizing the legal risks associated with anonymous payments.The cost of an ICO cabinet with basic set-up is US$20,000.
Also, smart contract suites help to implement smart contract respectively. They include:

• pre-ICO and ICO tokens
• ERC20 tokens
• tokens allocation for the team
• smart contract for minting

Today, white papers are an integral part of any developing ICO and should include all of the necessary requirements. The white paper should be aimed at presentation of the product, showing how the token is going to be used. Based on this information, investors decide whether to invest in the project.

It’s recommended to create a white paper by the founders, and then have experts check it. Many companies prefer using external resources to create a professional white paper. The cost of it is US$20,000. On the other hand, it can also be created on your own if the budget is limited.

By the way, coworking with Applicature provides a successful white paper for which the price-quality ratio is one of the highest. A full white paper text, including technical components, is presented; in addition, concept design, business plan, token economics.

Cost: US$50,000 – US$100,000 

Website

Looking for information and projects on the internet is becoming more and more popular. This makes a website an obligatory requirement for every business. The website represents the main idea of the project and has to be attractive, friendly, and, of course, informative and adaptive to users.

The content has to be constantly updated to inform and interact with potential investors. To make a website a real advantage of an ICO, spend time looking for a skilled developer.

Also, while creating a website, don’t use pre-existing templates or WordPress. Websites built from scratch are of higher quality.

Cost: from US$6,000 to US$36,000

Smart Contracts

It is recommended to use an ERC20 token standard when creating a smart contract. Because they are compliant and easy to use, they can be transferred from one wallet address to another.

The problem is that it’s difficult to find a professional developer, as in most cases, the best of them are already working on their own ICOs. Don’t try to find someone who will do all the work in a week. Even a skilled developer needs enough time to create a smart contract with all of the necessary and secure requirements. His work is not only to develop, but also to check all characteristics of the work to make it more accessible for users.

Look through the main requirements how to create smart contracts quickly and easily.

At present, an experienced developer’s rate is more than US$100 per hour. Writing the code, checking all technical details, and testing it with audits takes approximately 2 weeks. Working daily 8 hours/day, 5 days a week, his cost will be approximately US$8,000.

Cost: US$10,000 

The Smart-Contract Program for Crowd-Selling

The next step is creating a smart-contract program to run the ICO and spread it to the right people. This exposes all the mistakes that might be in the code and rewrites it in the proper way. The time of launch and the price depend upon the specific conditions of the ICO and its desirable characteristics.

Additional features take much more time for a developer to create. Accordingly, the cost for this contract will be about US$10,000 if paying US$100 per hour.

Cost: US$10,000 

Security Audits

As smart contracts govern the carrying-out of cash transactions, they must feature a high level of security. If it can’t provide security, the token won’t attract the attention of contributors. A simple error can cause great loss that cannot be fixed.

Of course, it’s impossible to be completely sure of its security, but the weakest sides of the contract can be found out and corrected by audits.

The cost of a high-quality audit runs up to US$50,000. The next solution is to hire an expert for about US$10,000.

Cost: US$10,000 

Marketing

Marketing is the art of storytelling about a project, which has great power and influence in the business context. The methodology of ICO presentation to investors shapes further cooperation and market trust. A well-thought-out marketing strategy and well-paid ICO marketing cost can provide a reasonable online activity which will be targeted toward the appropriate people.

You can create a professionally-developed ICO, but if no one knows about it, it has no value among others. So, be ready to spend a lot of time, effort, and money on it.To ensure a successful ICO, offer something of value that stands out from the crowd.

Total cost: US$100,000 – US$300,000 

Post-ICO

Another opportunity to increase an ICO project’s popularity is placing it on exchanges. The cost of this varies from US$50,000 to US$500,000.

In addition, provide email marketing to send important information, such as:

• news
• new updates and capabilities of the ICO
• notifications concerning investment
• ICO links.

Cost: US$100,000 – US$550,000 

Community Management

Promotion of the project in mass media and social media marketing is fundamental in the creation of positive opinion and the announcement of team success, expertise, and reliability. The true purpose is to create a community that will support the whole project, not just the token and the profit from it. A dedicated team is very important for providing successful long-term functioning of an ICO.

Social networks such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google, and Facebook are the key platforms for gaining clients’ attention and growing your company’s results. For example, tools like Mailchimp can send up to 2,000 emails and autoresponders at no charge.

Maintain good relationships with your clients to build a strong and effective client base for further cooperation. It costs about US$5,000, but this will result in bigger fruits, including buzz marketing, which should not be underestimated.

In order to make it more effective for your ICO, hire a community manager who will publish useful and relevant content. The cost of this is approximately US$10 per hour, but as a result, users will be provided with crucial information. The cost will be about US$400 per week or US$2,000 per month.

Use communication platforms such as Telegram and Slack for optimization and governance of the teamwork process. Gather to discuss current issues and plans, and, of course, work with influencers. This will improve the results of your total work and make a much bigger profit.

To spread a project among potential users, pay attention to the placement of informative press releases.

A well-planned paid advertising program is an essential part of the marketing process. It is one of the ways to gain market popularity.

1. Identify your target audience for a purposeful advertising campaign. This will save money and help to indicate priorities during distribution.
2. Identify the websites where your target audience spends the most of their time, including social networks and different crypto-forums. Create special ads promoting it to the people who are interested in it.

Cost: US$50,000 as monthly salary for the whole team, and US$50,000 for paid ads.

Legal Fees

It is essential to provide appropriate legal conditions before running an ICO. Develop specific software, and represent the ICO as an entity. Provide compliance and disclaimers, terms of use, and waivers. This will make it credible for your clients. Legal representation will protect the project and provide credibility to the ICO. This will keep investors safe from any kind of scam.

Cost: US$50,000-US$150,000 

Don’t forget to check out examples of trending ICOs launch a successful ICO campaign for an experience that will help you prepare the running processes of your ICO in the best way possible. Also, contact Applicature to create an ICO of your dream with all desirable characteristics.

To sum up, the total cost to launch an ICO varies from US$350,000 to US$1,000,000. It depends on the characteristics of the ICO, the level of professionalism of its developers, and, of course, the number of investments.

Manage resources objectively. Don’t regret the large amount of money spent on crucial expertise, as it is worth the investment. And, of course, remember that a really valuable project will receive a bigger amount of feedback than those that have not been thought out fully.