🏁 Preparing for Token Launch: An Insider's Perspective For over a year, we have been preparing to launch the $FTON token for our fantasy game on Telegram, @fantongamebot. Throughout this period, I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about the potential pitfalls and the dos and don'ts of executing a successful token launch. A crucial note: we haven't launched our token yet, so my advice should be taken with a grain of skepticism and not as the ultimate truth. However, if in six months we see a positive trend on the $FTON chart, this article might serve as a valuable resource for other founders (and not just founders). When we began preparing the token for launch, the most daunting task seemed to be the technical implementation: generating the token, integrating it into the game, and setting up exchange integrations. In reality, the most challenging aspects turned out to be entirely different. It wasn’t until I delved into all the details and spent hundreds of hours on calls with top industry experts that I understood the full picture. I believe having all this information upfront would have saved me tens of thousands of dollars in my time, team time, and marketing costs. Fortunately, we had excellent advisors (primarily the guys from Open Builders, Sasha and Valera), who helped us avoid making foolish mistakes. Our friend/advisor Misha from the Gotbit hedge fund was also incredibly helpful. So, you’ve decided to launch a token. Or rather, you’ve come up with a project idea and need to attract investment. You’ve heard that it’s easier to raise money with a token than by selling equity in a company, and you start thinking about how to put everything together. Here are the tasks you need to tackle: 1. Understand Why You Need a Token (Utility of the Token) 📈: Devise a mechanism to link the project's economy with the token economy so that the token price rises as the project develops. 2. Develop Tokenomics 💹: Create a financial model for token distribution with a token unlock schedule over time and token pricing. 3. Choose a Blockchain for Token Launch 🌐. 4. Raise Funds for Project Development and Community Building 💰 (this step is optional; you might not need investments). 5. Grow the Project and Build the Community 🌱. 6. Drive Marketing 📢: Find advisors, good funds, and partners to gather as many prominent names around you as possible. 7. Organize a KOLs Round 🎤: KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) are influencers. 8. Select a Platform for IDO or Design a Cool Airdrop if IDO Won’t Happen 🎁. 9. Find Listing Partners for Launch 📋: 10. Recalculate the balance of supply and demand for the listing (this is where we are with $FTON currently). 11. Find a Market Maker for the Launch 📈. 12. Secure Liquidity for the Token Launch 💧. 13. Prepare a Staking Program for Early Investors 🔒: Ensure tokens are locked rather than sold immediately. 14. Choose a Date for IDO and TGE 📅: Announce and intensively warm up the community beforehand. Activate all KOLs from step (7). 15. Conduct IDO and TGE 🚀: Distribute tokens. 16. Listing 📊: Manage initial price movements. Maintain the token price in a range that shows growth and allows those who want to exit to do so, while avoiding a sharp rise followed by an irreversible crash. 17. Support Demand Post-Listing for Several Months 📈: Announce various partnerships and build the project economy in conjunction with the token. 18. And Finally, You Can Breathe Out! 😌 In future posts, I will delve into each of these points. Ready to dive in? 🚀