How to start a business in 2024 🏢

If you're wondering how to start, you're in the right place.

Starting a business is daunting, but it's simply putting one foot in front of the other after taking the first step.

A month ago, I wrote about deciding to start something. That was the first step, and the most important one because it started from within.

Since then, I've put the necessary pieces together to start.

Broadly, this what I got done:

• Formed the company
• Setup necessary software
• Prepped for initial clients

Keep reading for the juicy details and pitfalls I ran into.

Link to this headingForming the company

First thing was picking a name.

To be honest, this was more difficult than I expected. I ended up time-boxing myself and committing to the best thing I had after a few days.

During the naming process, I:

• Reviewed domain availability
• Checked trademarks from the USPTO
• Checked social media handles
• Checked existing business names filed in my state

I ended up choosing SkyPorch LLC. It worked for me, and ultimately, the name isn't something I have to live with forever anyway.

Like many things in life, just gotta commit and get the ball rolling instead of letting this kind of stuff bog you down.

Next, I purchased a domain skyporch.co and spun up a 'coming soon' page.

I then decided what kind of business entity to form (LLC vs S-Corp vs C-Corp vs Sole Proprietorship) and filed for an LLC in my state. I chose an LLC for its simplicity and flexibility and lower fees. Note: it takes up to a week for the LLC to be fully formed. You'll need to wait for those formation docs before opening bank accounts or setting up certain software like Deel.

Once you've done that, it's easy to get an EIN from the IRS. You'll need this for setting up official business accounts later for tax purposes.

Link to this headingSetting up business software

As a software guy, this felt fairly straightforward and was one of the few points in the process that was enjoyable for me personally as I'm familiar with most of them.

I landed on this software stack for running the business:

• Mercury for banking
• iPostal1 for a virtual business address
• Deel for payroll and contracts
• GitHub for code
• Vercel for infra
• Slack for communication
• Linear for project management
• Notion for wiki
• Google Workspace for Gmail, Drive, Calendar
• Namecheap for domain registration

Some things I learned as I was going through this process:

• Mercury is simple and free, but to use the credit card, you have to keep 25k in the account at all times which is still better than Ramp needing 75k.
• iPostal1 charges $4.50 each time you have a piece of mail that you want to have scanned and shredded on top of the annual fee.
• You only need to spend ~$100/mo on the above software to run a small business with a few people.
• Some companies like Deel and Mercury want additional evidence of your business being real, like a LinkedIn page, a live website, or bank statements, which are tricky if you've only just gotten started. Fortunately they're not hard and fast requirements.

Link to this headingTakeaways & current status

Key takeaways: Don't let any one step block you for long. Remember: nothing is set in stone. Things can always be fixed later. Important thing is to build and ride momentum while your motivation is strong, because that is brittle and fleeting. Never lose your sense of urgency.

Looking ahead, tomorrow will be our first real day getting started, as our first hire onboards.

Our goal in the first week is to setup a landing page to route prospective clients to, to start establishing a brand identity, and to determine what our first app launch will be this month.

We are also fortunate to already have four clients lined up, so kickoffs will be happening in parallel.

I'm really excited to see where this goes, and am aware that this is only the beginning.

If you want to tune-in more closely, follow me on X/Twitter.

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