I do think that the coin distribution is an important factor. If a small percentage of people is holding most of the coins then this is definitely something that would scare me off from investing into that project at the first glance. You always need to check carefully though or ask in the telegram what those wallets are. I had this with Drip Network for example where i think more than 70% of all the tokens is in just 1 wallet, which would also be a huge no-go at the first glance but if you investigate a little further than you will see that this wallet is not owned by any person but it is the treasury wallet of the whole project where all the interest is being paid out from.