I'm working on a startup, how do I take care of the business aspect of it?
3 comments
Creating a company is the administrivia aspect, determining how to make money (and a profit) separates a hobby from a business.
The single largest business risk you face is whether a market exists for your product. Before you finish coding and graphic design, you should determine how you are going to sell your product by talking to prospects. Perhaps you have overlooked a feature or two that you will need to add. Or you may discover that you can cut your initial feature list by 1/2 to 2/3 (you may already be done!) and still find buyers.
Finishing sooner means cash flow sooner means viability sooner and external validation (people paying you is a far more serious endorsement than telling you they will buy when you finish) sooner. If it's just you coding on your own I wouldn't worry about doing anything more than operating as a sole proprietorship (which is how you are operating now) until you were reasonably confident you can generate revenue (profit often comes later).
The single largest business risk you face is whether a market exists for your product. Before you finish coding and graphic design, you should determine how you are going to sell your product by talking to prospects. Perhaps you have overlooked a feature or two that you will need to add. Or you may discover that you can cut your initial feature list by 1/2 to 2/3 (you may already be done!) and still find buyers.
Finishing sooner means cash flow sooner means viability sooner and external validation (people paying you is a far more serious endorsement than telling you they will buy when you finish) sooner. If it's just you coding on your own I wouldn't worry about doing anything more than operating as a sole proprietorship (which is how you are operating now) until you were reasonably confident you can generate revenue (profit often comes later).
Short version from someone in the middle of doing this:
Get a Delaware-incorporated C-Corp. You don't want any other structure if you want to raise VC money. Delaware is good for tax.
You can do this easily online. Should be $US200-500.
Have a small amount of shares at first. You can change this later. I forget why.
google delaware site:news.yc.com for more info.
If you live outside the US, get a a US postal forwarder. Also handy for the USPTO and getting Apple products without being priced gouged (eg, if you live in Australia or the UK).
Get a Delaware-incorporated C-Corp. You don't want any other structure if you want to raise VC money. Delaware is good for tax.
You can do this easily online. Should be $US200-500.
Have a small amount of shares at first. You can change this later. I forget why.
google delaware site:news.yc.com for more info.
If you live outside the US, get a a US postal forwarder. Also handy for the USPTO and getting Apple products without being priced gouged (eg, if you live in Australia or the UK).
Hope this helps ...
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=79626
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=79626
My name is Andrew, I'm located in the US, and I'm currently working on a startup (yes, by myself; I'm glad I know programming as well as graphic design.) And I really think it will be something a lot of people will find very useful, so I'm excited about finishing it (it's about 1/3 done).
I'm wondering though, how do I legally and officially create a company to back my startup? What steps should I take after creating my company, to make sure everything goes well? Also, does anyone have any tips for this kind of thing?
Thanks to everyone who helps me out.