One Startup. 30 Days. No Secrets. Start at the beginning.
Today I realized I don't know shit about a lot of things. I am excited that we have a company name (and domain) as these two things allow us to move forward. But moving forward requires action on some topics that are new to me, and thus, as many entrepreneurs do, I am winging it.
Legal: LLC vs. S Corp
Per our original plan, we want to "make it official" so I began to research what type of legal structure MixedMade should be. This is a confusing topic I haven’t thought about since college, as I was not involved in this step while at IdeaPaint. I started with our simple requirements:
- Make MixedMade a legal entity
- Provide personal liability protection
As it turns out, there is plenty of great information on the topic that is informative, but left me feeling like we were doomed either way! After a few deep breaths I realized that both options will satisfy our above requirements. And since we have no intentions of raising outside capital or making this business too fancy, and really need the lightest, fastest and cheapest option, an LLC will be perfect for now.
But how? A few Google searches led me to Legal Zoom which appears simple and cost effective, but I have concerns that our only support option would be a customer service agent who knows nothing about us or our business. I contacted a business lawyer friend who advised that we can file as an LLC in Delaware for $500 total, which includes no charge for his time but did include some fees for a faster filing process. While Legal Zoom seems much less expensive on the surface, the total costs are actually higher than they appear once I read the fine print. After additional online research I decided that the peace of mind in having a personal contact to advise on questions or issues is worth a few extra dollars.
While we have a limited budget and will bootstrap as much as possible in most areas of our business, I am inclined not to skimp on having our legal bases covered. Further, Casey and I want to focus on having fun, learning through trial and error, and selling spicy honey, rather than having to become legal experts.
And with a quick reply, MixedMade is officially an LLC!
With still a long way to go, we are making progress. Less than a week into our sprint we have a company name, have filed as an LLC and set up our domain. Some days it feels like a ton of work results in such little actual progress. My commitment to is make at least one definable point of progress every day, no matter how small, because doing something will get us closer to our launch.
I just got an email from Casey saying his Kitchen looks like a honey-bomb went off, but that he thinks he nailed the recipe! More to come on that soon.
Action: We want to hear about you doing something that gets you closer to launching your own business. Leave a comment telling us what you're doing to get one step closer.
Chart Source: iCharts
