One-Day Company Setup (Ops and IT) | Hacker News Reader

One-Day Company Setup (Ops and IT)

blog.steelandsilicon.com

13 pointspingswept6 comments

There are still some major operations details up in the air:
# I’ve talked to one bank about business banking, checking, credit cards, and so on, but need to check out a few more.
# Accounting system: This is a big question. Quickbooks? An online system like Outright or Freshbooks? I need to talk to an accountant first.
# Final decision on legal structure (LLC vs. LLC taxed-as-S-corp vs. S-corp) and registration with the IRS, the state, and so on.
# Benefits planning (health insurance, 401k) and thinking about future tax implications.

# Various legal questions I’m working through.

Respectfully, those are the difficult things. We "all" know how to set up Google Apps for your Domain.

Certainly, I agree (I'm the author of the linked blog, I didn't even realize someone had posted it here).

Those are all things I'm working on in parallel and want to be more careful to take some time to do right, so I've been talking to a number of people I know who've started businesses to get their feedback.

What impressed me was that it's so easy and fast (compared to, say, 7 years ago when I last did consulting) to set up all of the medium-priority operational items on the cloud, without committing to long-term contracts or needing to buy server hardware or install my own software.

And while I'm sure everyone in the audience of this site knows all about Google Apps and so on, I still meet many small businesses who think Outlook, Exchange, Quickbooks, a dedicated phone system, and an office lease is "the way" you have to start a business.

My deviations would be:

- Use Basecamphq.com and/or ActiveCollab.com for project management and client doc sharing, bug reports, etc.

- Use several TK6000.com units, mixed with Grasshopper.com and analog phones, to provide VoIP numbers and a virtual PBX for very little money. Comes with advanced features beyond a typical PBX such as converting vmail to email. This reduces use of mobile minutes to some degree.

Thanks for the comment (I'm the author of the linked blog, I just now noticed someone had posted it here). I'll check those out, as I'm not sure the Google Voice voicemail approach will scale beyond a 1-person company.

I think there's more that goes along with setting up a company - like procuring customers, relationships, and so on. On your to do list at the bottom, I'd pass on benefits planning, credit cards, tax planning and accounting before really starting to build out your business.

Hello-- I'm the author of the linked blog (I didn't even realize someone had posted it here until I saw my traffic jump).

Yes, certainly-- I didn't talk about that because I already have a strong network of relationships and contacts from my past 6 years consulting in the field and involvement in various industry events and groups. Not that it's ever easy to build business (especially now), but this sort of network building, sales, and closing contracts is something I was doing recently at another organization.

It's the somewhat mundane operational and setup details that I needed to do for the first time, which is why I summarized them. Cheers!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com