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Ask HN: Do I need a TOS&PP, Accountant, Incorporation, Trademark before launch?

• Amir6 11y ago
  I would say the only thing that you need is sales. Everything else can come later on. I'm not sure about the priority of each item you mentioned but once you have sales you can reinvest the profits to do the legal and paper work.
  • faizshah 11y ago
    Yeah, I was just wondering if I start selling without all that stuff will it come back to bite me? Or is it not a big deal and I can just do it later?
    • Amir6 11y ago
      I guess it very much depends on the type of work you do and service you provide. May be you can look into some similar businesses and see whether they are a registered corporate (should be able to check online on government databases), have a good TOS or have trademarks and other stuff. If they dont maybe it can be postponed for some time.
• davismwfl 11y ago
  My 2 cents. Depends on the potential liability of your service. If your service is in a high risk market or has high potential to cause damage then most all those things are really necessary. If it is a small side project where you are sending some emails or doing things that are not mission critical to a businesses revenue then you are generally pretty safe (IMO) to launch prior to all these. Reasons on both sides: Taxes get more complex when you have a company, but at the same time, if you do things outside a company and then need to transfer revenue and assets into a newly formed company it can be interesting to do it right. Not setting up a company correctly can leave you vulnerable to liability, almost as badly as just running the business in your personal name so doing it right is important. Get an accountant after you have enough revenue to worry about, sorry but adding an extra 10-50k of income isn't worth worrying about getting an accountant immediately over, your normal tax accounting can take care of that. I would however, always at least have a basic TOS & PP. You can use one of the free online generators as they will at least get you all the basic clauses and then if/when things grow you can have it reviewed by an attorney and revised. But this will help insulate and protect you quite a bit. Generally, I have launched marketing, signups, limited trials etc all without having anything other then the TOS&PP. Then if I see it actually has legs I get the corporation and banking setup and grow some more, then get an accountant, legal etc involved a little more down the road. Basically don't needlessly spend money just to say you are a business.
  • faizshah 11y ago
    Ok, so in general you would say that when releasing a product and trying to get traction you should only worry about creating a basic TOS&PP before launch? Then if you start getting revenue >10k you should form an LLC/incorporate and get a lawyer to look over the TOS&PP?
    • davismwfl 11y ago
      Yep, in general. The revenue is a bit arbitrary based upon personal risk, but I use roughly the $10k figure or a steady pattern of growth to indicate I should make things more formal. If you have never setup a company before, you can expect it to cost you about $1-3k depending on where in the country you are and what type of attorney you use. I have done it a few times, so I now have template documents to work from that we just adjust for specific circumstances. So sometimes I can get away with no more than a few hundred dollars plus filing fees etc. Remember, when you incorporate, you need to get things like liability insurance, E&O insurance and a bunch of other things. Again, some of it can wait, other parts are more important to do early on. But always get a little traction and validation before spending a bunch of money, at least IMO.
      • faizshah 11y ago
        Thanks, I appreciate the advice!