The first thing I do when I get acquainted with a new project is study WhitePaper. Only there you can find all the necessary information about the project, including the Idea, Team, Prototype, Token Sale and much more.
Yes first thing you should do is to check and analyze the projects whitepaper because this is very important that youve collected main information about the project before deciding to participate or not. It is very interesting and gives you a good and nice idea and perspective about the project.