2 ms·

Hey HN, As someone who is thinking about attempting to monetize some side projects, should I incorporate a company before I begin? Or is it ok to just publish

• deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
• hugs 9y ago
  Just publish. If you're in the US and don't have a co-founder, the second you start selling, you're a sole proprietorship. You'll probably need to file some paperwork if you hire employees (to get a tax ID) or if you want to use a "fictitious business name" (aka a "Doing Business As" filing.) But for a sole proprietorship, no legal entity paperwork is required to get started. Your biggest issue is finding a customer! (I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, yadda, yadda....) I only incorporated my last project (Tapster) when a major European car company ordered 10 of my robots. Until that point, for two years, it was just a hobby/side-project and revenue was included in my taxes as a sole proprietorship. But a real order from a big company made me take sales/support/development/liability issues more seriously, so that's when I incorporated. Incorporation will probably also be required if you take angel/pre-seed/seed/accelerator funding. But again, bigger issue is making a product and finding customers. Don't get bogged down in paperwork issues until you've found a customer willing to pay.