It is really difficult to judge today if is a worthy coin or just a scam. So you shouldn't risk big money. Personally I investigate the idea and docs, then I overview the team members and partnerships. One more important thing is a marketing campaign and social media. You had better find out if there is a big community and there are many people who trust it and want to invest.
Your direction is very correct and the point is to find out about the project as deeply as possible to their cooperation partners so that everyone can know about what the project will do and run before we go deeper or decide to invest in it.