HOW TO WRITE A GOOD WHITE PAPER FOR YOUR ICO IN 10 STEPS

What Is a White Paper?

A white paper is a complex presentation of a project concept. Its purpose is to give prospective clients the opportunity to assess a project’s potential and make a decision about investing in it. A white paper is a document that describes a difficult situation in the marketplace and provides a solution through the application of decentralized technologies. It explains in detail the new technology of your ICO project along with its functioning methods, token purpose, and potential profit. A white paper is a cogent, influential, comprehensive review of an existing issue that indicates the problem and guarantees a solution.

Thus, the goal of the white paper is to convey your company’s philosophy, clearly explaining what the project is about and inspiring trust in the consciousness of potential clients.

WHITE PAPERS FOR ICOS

White papers are great instruments for establishing trustworthy relationships. If you choose to compose a white paper for your ICO, you will have to be certain that it will induce investors and users to purchase tokens, which you release as part of your business plan. Besides presenting the project plan to investors, the white paper also ensures the proficient status of your corporation. It supports the embodiment of a new product and provides technical evaluation or comparison of several proposals. A well-structured white paper raises awareness and influences competitors.

WHY TO WRITE A WHITE PAPER?

Statistics show that the white paper is the most frequently used decision-making document. Specifically, it has been in particularly widespread use over the course of the last year. This shows that potential customers react to useful information, not advertising.

In addition, the white paper contains information about specific solutions that cannot be found anywhere else. This is a unique presentation of your company and the technical specifics of your project.

WHITE PAPER BENEFITS

Written correctly, a white paper can function as an effective guide for fixing ideas in the reader’s mind. It is a powerful, solution-focused tool that works to give an academic presentation of an idea, subtly assuming that your business has experience in your specific field. Here are some advantages of this document:

• creates interest in your project and ideas among potential investors, without making direct reference to your products and services
• helps your ICO project find financially profitable investments and generate higher sales
• motivates customers to purchase the output in order to resolve market problems
• If you compose every element of your white paper correctly, it will be successful. This increases the reliability of your business.

 WRITING YOUR OWN WHITE PAPER

When you write a white paper, make sure you offer your target audience options that address larger problems. “White documents” are written with certain goals in mind, and are meant to help you inform your clients and promote a specific methodology. The document should include the following elements: introduction, problem, solution, inference, and supplementary materials. First and foremost, you need well-structured content. A standard white paper contains 25 pages.

STEPS TO WRITING YOUR OWN WHITE PAPER

 STEP 1: TITLE

Design a headline that will catch your reader’s consciousness. Before putting information into the document, find responses to the following issues:

• Who is your main audience?
• What are the biggest necessities and concerns of your prospective clients?
• What problems are resolved in the document?
• To create an appropriate name, search the internet to learn which expressions appear most often in queries.
• Reveal the primary yardsticks in your business, and use this information while projecting its name.
• Analyze the white paper names being used nowadays, and identify which of these are the most effective and powerful.
• Make your headline concise and comprehensible.
• The title has to be exactly what is described in the document.

 STEP 2: ABSTRACT OR OUTLINE

The abstract functions as yet another instrument to capture your readers. Remain brief, simple, and accurate in your statements. Usually, the advisable length is between 150 and 250 words. Make sure that it clarifies the following issues:

• What does this document contain?
• Why should potential investors/clients read this document?
• What are the inferences and propositions of this white paper?

STEP 3: INTRODUCTION

Your introduction should warn readers about the problem and suggest an appropriate decision. As in the previous step, you must engage your audience and encourage them to read on. To compose a meaningful introduction, you have to:

• raise the problem and show where centralization leads to inefficiency
• describe the roles and why their interests are not being respected
• use facts to prove your points thoroughly
• give additional information about the contents of the document.

Create an introduction that will be relevant to the entire body of the document, as if arranging the background for a plot. Specify the purpose of the white paper, the motivation to achieve it, and material that will be included in subsequent chapters. The Tezos White Paper contains an introduction using mathematical formulas:

STEP 4: PROBLEM/MARKET CONSIDERATION

Despite the fact that rivalry in the ICO market is quite rigid, a good white paper can help to share the triumphs. The presentation of a market analysis is an essential aspect of any successful ICO, as in any other original business concept.

Examples of issues to be considered and answered in this chapter:

• What is the actual condition of the market/business today?
• What are your customers’ particular complications and requirements?
• What are the prospective advantages of referring these problems and finding a solution for them? (The answer to this question will help readers to realize why your decision is significant, and encourage them to continue reading).
• What specific information is used in response to the preceding issues?
• What structure, shape, or form can be used to increase readers’ comprehension of this data?

 STEP 5: SOLUTION

Present a compound solution that will contain a distinct clarification and pattern of your proposition. This element of your white paper should contain an understandable description of how your project works. Submit a detailed, comprehensive market analysis in order to demonstrate how your product is positioned in the preexisting market. For better perception of information, use visual data and layouts. The Filecoin White Paper serves as an excellent example of how to explain your decision using formulas and tables:

Make an accurate depiction of each section of the decision. Use subcategories to help readers distinguish the difference between specific parts of the resolutions. Subcategories also help your audience to maintain your thought process and consume the information. Be distinct about the benefits of each decision. Correctly present precise data and figures, technical characteristics, and depiction of the benefits. This will help the launch phase and familiarize potential consumers with your new product. Send your findings to various audiences to increase the relevance of your document. Create a special page to help readers picture your solutions.

A key aspect of the solution description is a clear motivation for decentralization in the market. Describe whole roles within the solution, and explain why certain roles are excluded from it. Indicate what motivates users to become part of the ecosystem. Blockchain always requires the use of tokens and solutions to provide clear incentivization for all parts of the ecosystem. Each decentralized solution is the basis for reaching a consensus among users that includes a technical side (how we will prove ownership, trust, and independence of transactions) and a value side (the value granted to this token, and the services/commodities/benefits users will receive for it).

In this chapter, it is also very important to present a roadmap that explains how you will provide and extend the value of your tokens. This part of the document tells your investors where you are now, and where you see yourself in the future. In the images below, you can find examples of the CrowdWiz roadmap and the INS project roadmap.

  STEP 6: TOKEN SYSTEM

This is one of the essential aspects of any ICO project. It is vital to give a detailed description of the token operating system, addressing the following issues:

• the significance and essence of the cryptocurrency: value consensus (assets, tokens representing intellectual property, safe unauthorized coupons, utilitarian tokens)
• economic aspects/funds (how your token will offer benefits over the time, and how it will make a profit)
• technical aspects (token creation period, technical terms on the number of tokens you will issue, and expenses associated with its release)
• distribution (method of dissemination, token dissemination time).

 STEP 7: PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

The white paper itself focuses on the problem and suggests the product as a solution. In this section, it is necessary to describe the product and the strategy of its development. Detailed technical aspects should be given about the product itself and where blockchain will be implemented. Information on the launch of the infrastructure and its future prospects should also be given. Demonstrate a product model/prototype (if available) for a more precise elucidation of your ICO project. For more information about launching an effective ICO, please contact the Applicature team.

STEP 8: LEGAL ASPECTS

It is highly recommended that you list all aspects of regulatory jurisdiction. This part of the white paper should explain all issues relevant to your legal security plan. Potential customers should be provided with a clear explanation of a reimbursement system, if there is one. The client should understand the risks. This will protect the future of your business against possible speculation.

STEP 9: REVIEW OF THE TEAM

The inclusion of profiles for all team associates really contributes to increasing investors’ trust and curiosity. If anyone on your team has experience that includes successful ICO development, provide that information in this segment. Keep in mind that investors are interested in seeing who is participating in the project and what their background is.

Here are some typical roles you can include in the ICO project:

• the project manager is responsible for the entire development process and supports the whole team
• technical and marketing content providers
• writer
• copy editor
• production stuff.

 STEP 10: SUMMARIZE THE PURPOSE OF THE WHITE PAPER

Sum up everything that has been stated in the document. Write a conclusion emphasizing solutions for all problems and explaining their significance to your target audience. If you have a goal of selling your output, it is essential to mention this in the conclusion. Your product must be skillfully and appropriately recalled in your summary. In this chapter, it is also appropriate to mention the method of creating your project, its fundamental concept, and its potential.

USEFUL ADVICE FOR CREATING A WHITE PAPER

The information in your white paper should bring out the following issues: project concept, legal features, marketplace analysis, presentation of a solution, technologies used, the value behind decentralization, financial and economic indicators, roadmap, team personalities, project experts and consultants, ICO and tokenomics, and other terms and conditions. Take into account all possible features: sociological, psychological, demographic, and other.

Try to be persuasive through the use of interviews, facts, tables, diagrams, infographics, calculations, research results, and surveys. Here are some useful recommendations for creating your white paper:

1. All illustrations and images in your white paper (graphs, diagrams, drawings, histograms) should be created using the colors of your company’s logo.
2. Proofread and edit your white paper. Use only professional and qualitative editing. As soon as the client loads your white paper, you cannot make any changes. Proper orthography and grammar will strengthen your argument and confirm the status of your corporation.
3. Use your white paper to address other documents or publications on your site, but only if they are important for the main issue. Concentrate your attention on your clients’ problems and requirements without constantly mentioning your company’s products.
4. Focus on the value of decentralization and how the token implements a consensus. Don’t forget to indicate why the token will provide benefits; explain why solutions with intermediaries will be insufficient without Blockchain.
5. Be professional. Use business-letter style. Demonstrate experience and competence in problem-solving.

A good white paper defines the success of the ICO and gives a detailed explanation of the commercial, technological, and financial details of the new coin offering. In a simple and comprehensive manner, it explains everything one needs to know about the project in order to make a decision and invest in it.

If you need support with your project, the Applicature team would be glad to help you.