Category: Incorporation & Formation
-
Why Your Startup’s Founders Stock Should Vest Over Time
How to vest your startup company’s founders stock over time to prepare for an exiting founder
-
Series FF Stock: How Some Founders Get Liquid at Funding
How Series FF Stock Provides Startup Company Founders with Cash at Funding
-
How to Make Sure Your Startup Company Will Fail
1. Don’t form an LLC or incorporate. Make sure you and your partner have all the personal liability legally possible. 2. Don’t have any difficult conversations with your partner. Leave important global issues with your partner unaddressed so that you can fight over them later when you have less time and more stress. 3. Agree…
-
Why Customizing Your Startup Documents to Your Industry is a Mistake
You need to customize your articles of incorporation and corporate bylaws if you are serious about doing things the right way at your startup company. But be careful how you customize these important startup documents. Don’t fall into a common trap where you think you are customizing your startup documents, but in reality, you are…
-
How to Make a Late Election for S-Corporation Status
Filing for S-corporation status with the IRS requires compliance with strict time guidelines. Form 2553 must be filed by the 15th day of the third month after your corporation’s fiscal year. For most corporations, that means you must file by March 15 for the S-Corporation election to be effective for the current fiscal year. If…
-
Top 5 Reasons to Incorporate in Delaware
Corporation-friendly law is just one reason your startup should incorporate in Delaware
-
Why Bylaws are Important for Your New Company
If you’re forming a corporation, you should treat your bylaws as required infrastructure, not ceremonial paperwork. The short version: bylaws are the rulebook that makes your board and stockholder actions valid, keeps governance disputes from turning into existential ones, and gives investors and acquirers confidence that your company can actually make decisions the way it…
-
Call Your First Organizational Meeting Sooner than Later
Running a startup, you have a billion things to do. Don’t forget to add “First Organizational Meeting” to your to-do list. This meeting should take place after the issuance (or effective date) of your certificate of incorporation. But don’t wait too long, as you have some important business to handle, such as: adopting share certificates,…
-
Where to Incorporate
After you have made the decision to incorporate, the next question is “where to incoporate?” You can incorporate in your own state and be considered a domestic corporation, or you can incorporate elsewhere and do business in your own state as a foreign corporation. Generally, if most of your business will be conducted in your…
-
Choosing a Name for Your Business: Stick with It
When choosing a name for a new startup, you should make sure the name is one the public will remember and associate with your business. It can be catchy or dull, short or long, but this name should be permanent, as a large portion of your company’s goodwill will be the name itself. Some lawyers…