It is not easy to find profitable ICO,because of so many scams out there....I think you should do as much research as possible: see if project (ICO) has website,who is the owner,check the WHOIS of website,ask about it on Reddit or Telegram or Twitter,check if there is Bitcointalk thread about it,etc....Good luck with your choice!
I agree it's not easy at all. However, I feel like as a community if we research together and truly believe in the problem they're looking to solve we can help the coin lift off from the ICO phase!
Good point!