A startup, something most everyone has debated investing time into. The process behind making a startup is rather tedious, but potentially rewarding in the long run.
You begin by filing for a company, whether it be a C-corp, S-corp, LLC, LTD, or non-profit corporation. In the case of a few states, such as Florida and New York, this can be easily located on the ‘Division of Corporations’ website for your state; otherwise, locate the filing information on your state website.
Next, make sure that you file for an EIN (employment identification number) with the IRS, you must have this to file your taxes and to hire employees.
Next, you are going to want to find out what your local, state, and federal tax requirements are. To do this, follow these steps…
- Locate your city website, and find out if you must file for a (city) business tax receipt. You may be able to file this online, but you will have to print out the application forms and submit them to your city clerk if not. You should get charged upon applying.
- Locate your county’s website, and find out if you must file for a (county) business tax receipt. The process for this is similar to filing a city business tax receipt.
- Locate your state’s website, and find out your state tax requirements. In the case of states such as Florida (my home state,) you may not even have to file taxes on a state-level.
- Visit this page on the IRS’s website in order to learn about federal tax requirements.
Once you have filed, you are going to require funding. There are a few ways to go about this, but I will list the best below:
- Apply for a federal grant
- Sell equity, convertible notes, or debt to investors
- Crowdfund
In all honesty, crowdfunding on sites which do not allow you to sell equity or convertible notes is a waste of time, as there is very little chance that you will receive anything other than venial amounts of funding, unless your product is incredibly innovative. If you are going to crowdfund, use a website such as WeFunder.
If you are interested in applying for a federal grant, visit this page. Receiving funding by means of a federal grant is the absolute best way to receive funding, if it is possible.
You may also find investors through a variety of means, but I would recommend scrolling through and ‘Googling’ active SBIC’s on this page with the Small Business Administration.
Finally, and very importantly, you are going to need a web presence. On top of managing social media accounts, it is a necessity to own an attractive website for any modern business or startup. Sunshine Tech and Media will offer you with web hosting, a free .com domain, and a free SSL certificate for just $2.99/month. Due to us utilizing premium enterprise software in conjunction with our cloud-based servers, our platform has the ability to perform up to 11x faster than industry leaders, such as GoDaddy. We also offer professional website design from just $300 upfront, along with media marketing.
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Congratulations! You have completed the necessary steps to create a startup. With persistence and dedication, you have the ability to make something great out of it.