For me better to buy from exchange because from that what I see recently almost 80% of the project after listing on exchange trading at the price below ICO price
Buying from an exchange after listing is smart but waiting all the time for a coin to get listed before purchasing does not work out all the time because not all the coins experienced a fall in price after listed although majority do. If a project is found to be promising with all the capabilities of becoming huge in the future, joining the early bird sales which normally offer incredible discounts could be a smart way to purchase the tokens.