A soft cap is the minimum needed for the project to proceed and a hard cap is the amount that they will accept no more than. For instance a soft cap could be 10 million and a hard cap 30 million meaning if the project does not attain 10 million it will not proceed and also if it reaches 30 million no more can be contributed.
Thanks for sharing your experiences on hard hats and soft caps. I joined the ICO but I never paid attention to completing the hard hat and soft hat of the project. I think the larger the community, the more successful the ICO will be