Definitely do your due diligence when looking into new alt coins. Look at the team members and what their background is. Read the white paper and if they don't have a white paper don't invest. If all they have is a website that is not enough to convince me.

Using REQ as an example, it sounds like a great coin and I will probably end up investing. If you are more cautious like me then wait for them to produce some deliverables on their roadmap before investing. You may miss the first pump, but at this point you will know the team is reliable. You'll still be in time for a lot of growth and feel more secure knowing that the team can deliver.