
Starting a real business - alexkon
https://stripe.com/atlas/guide
======
markdog12
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13180312](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13180312)

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astraelraen
This is a really bad idea from a tax and legal perspective. As a CPA, I don't
deal with silicon valley startups. However, I do deal with people who want to
start small businesses fairly frequently as well as their needs for legal
advice (which varies). For most of America, a Delaware C-Corp is a horrible
idea for any person starting a business.

Paying Delaware state fees (which are likely not necessary) at best are just
another administrative and cost burden to a new startup and at worse, are just
another function you have to hire out to an advisor, which will then cost you
even more money.

Fun story, I had a client starting a new business (whom I had partially
advised) take a few extra steps we had not discussed. One being going down to
a bank to open a checking account. The client was attempting to do step 5
before step 2 (proverbially speaking) The client did not have an EIN yet and
the bank of course, could not open the business a checking account without an
EIN.

The BANK applied for the client's EIN at the branch and effectively advised
the client on entity structure by choosing their entity type for them during
the EIN selection process. I'm sure the bank has some sort of BS policy where
they can disclaim liability in that they made the client chose the entity
type. I can tell you with 100% certainty, this client did not have any idea
what the entity type was.

And to top it all off, after the bank account was setup. The bank provided no
documents letting the client know what entity choice "the client" (ha!) had
chosen.

Business is complex, I understand people are hesitant to pay (what seem to be)
exorbitant fees to start a business. However, I've found that (nearly) 100% of
the time when you start a business and ask the wrong questions you will always
get the wrong answer, which is always more expensive to fix at a later date
(if its possibly without severe tax or legal issues).

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Bluestrike2
Ouch. The bank's actions seem kind of ridiculous.

The guide doesn't seem to push Delaware C-corp status on its readers, but the
specificity might give them that impression anyhow. Personally, I'd split that
section into two: C corps in general, and Delaware in particular. I'd also add
a paragraph or two that discuss why people might choose _not_ to incorporate
Delaware in favor of another state. That way, it would avoid unconsciously
guiding readers towards a choice that may not be much benefit to them.
Reincorporating elsewhere might be more difficult later on, but it could help
you avoid immediately incurring some additional costs in the interim:
additional reporting requirements, franchise taxes, registered agent, etc.

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neom
This is awesome! Some of the partners they have selected are pretty intense
for the starting a business stage. We use a boutique law firm (aka one dude
and a desk) and we use a small CFO as a service consultancy here in Manhattan
($250/mth-ish) for the financial/book keeping. Justworks seems fine for HR
stuff.

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ploggingdev
This guide is a very good introduction to get an idea of what running a
business involves. Great job patio11.

Since running a business is incredibly complicated and involves so much that
founders generally would like to outsource, is there any startup that takes
care of all book keeping, taxes, contracts, insurance and filing for
IP,trademarks? This will resonate with the early tech startups (among others),
who want to spend all their time building a product and talking to users.

~~~
bpicolo
Stripe is definitely aiming to be all of the above it seems, though much of it
is through their partnerships atm. (Though they haven't dipped into insurance
/IP afaik). It would be pretty hard for one small startup to have all of those
things packaged, they're all huge tasks on their own.

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quickConclusion
>Services, on the other hand, almost always are governed by contracts, and the
contracts get very extensive.

I try to have extremely light contracts. I'd rather have the payment structure
reflect the work and the value over time. If we don't agree, we part ways,
this is cheaper than arguing with lawyers.

Also: trust & repeat clients. Little need for contracts anymore. Then yes, I
can get screwed, but that's the cost of doing business, and they can only
screw me once, protecting my downside. Still cheaper than lawyers.

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_lex
I particularly like the discussion of LOIs in
[https://stripe.com/atlas/guide#transactions-and-
agreements](https://stripe.com/atlas/guide#transactions-and-agreements).
Should be very useful to new companies, and is rarely discussed.

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BrentOzar
Once you read the Shatner's Seat post, you'll look at the Stripe Atlas logo a
little differently.

~~~
chatmasta
For anyone else who has no idea what this is referencing...

[https://www.quora.com/I-always-see-this-small-black-
triangle...](https://www.quora.com/I-always-see-this-small-black-triangle-on-
the-inside-of-airplane-walls-What-does-it-mean-or-do?share=1)

(I still don't get it)

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alexkon
It looks like this PDF is the Orrick Legal Guide that is available to Stripe
Atlas members: [https://stripe.com/files/atlas/orrick-legal-
guide.pdf](https://stripe.com/files/atlas/orrick-legal-guide.pdf).

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ptrptr
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13284879](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13284879)
\- previous discussion with insight regarding creation of this guide.

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ijafri
what CMS they are using or theme for their blog? custom?

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patio11
We spell CMS "erb."

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tuyguntn
I am always amazed by @patio11 writings, how did you become so good at writing
and explaining things with so much detail?

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_lex
This should have been a series of posts, compiled into a guide. It should be
easy to cut this up into digestible pieces, but it's sort of a massive throw
up right now.

(edit) Ah - now i see- it is a guide. But it's a single page layout, with
navigation on the right. So I guess it just violated a few of my assumptions.
I think I also assumed it was a blog post since the h1 title doesn't call it a
guide (though the html title does).

