Doing your own research
Nobody vetted these teams. Here is the checklist we would use.
6 min read · Updated Aug 2026
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Every raise on Backable is . Backable does not review the pitch, call references, or test the demo. Escrow and claims enforce specific fund-flow rules. They do not verify the business or guarantee performance. Use these checks before committing.
1. What did they sign over to the entity?
Every raise here forms a before it can submit, and that company answers to the DAO. This is the part that has no equivalent on other token platforms, so it is worth knowing what to look at: not whether the entity exists, but what the founder actually assigned to it. The IP checklist on the raise page lists each asset class and what they declared for it, code, brand, designs, domain, accounts. Compare each declaration with the linked product and repositories. Check any asset marked “not applicable” against the company's public materials.
2. Did they file a transparency disclosure?
The covers prior token sales, market-maker arrangements, insider allocations, and known risks. Every raise files one, so the question is not whether they did, it is how much they said. Treat each answer, including “none,” as a founder-provided claim that requires independent review.
3. Who is actually funding this?
The backers module on every raise page ranks commitments by wallet. is not automatically bad, an anchor backer can be a genuine vote of confidence, but it changes the picture. If one wallet is 60% of the raise, the “142 backers” headline is mostly one person, and their later decisions move the token far more than yours.
4. Do the numbers describe a real plan?
- Budget vs goal. Divide the available treasury by the monthly budget when both are current. This gives a runway estimate at the published budget.
- Valuation vs stage. Compare the launch with the company's product, revenue, and market evidence.
- Team share and unlock ladder. Look at what fraction of supply the team holds and at what price multiples it unlocks. Record the minimum lock period and each price threshold before comparing packages.
- Supply to backers. Compare the allocation sold in the raise with the remaining supply and its stated restrictions.
5. Read the risks the founder wrote
The risks section is written by the founder. Compare each risk with the company's dependencies, contracts, market, and use of funds. A specific supplier or concentration risk is more testable than “market conditions.”
6. Verify the identity claims yourself
Domains and X accounts on a raise page can carry a verified marker, which means the founder proved control of them. Verified means the account posted the proof, not that the person behind it is who they say. Click through. Look at whether the X account existed before the raise, whether the GitHub has commits from before the pitch, and whether anyone outside the raise has ever mentioned the project.
7. Let an agent do the first pass
Every raise publishes an agents.md , the same page as plain text, built for AI assistants, and each raise page carries a copy-a-prompt button that hands your assistant a diligence brief. The machine-readable set also includes llms.txt and the raise-sizing and GTM & pitch skills. An agent can collect and compare the published fields. You still decide how to interpret the business and risk evidence.
A reasonable way to size a commitment
Decide the number you would be able to write off entirely without changing anything about your month, then commit that. There is no informational edge to gain by committing more, since everyone pays the same price per token regardless of size.