I'm going to take the opposite view and suggest that this is not a good idea. While I whole-heartedly endorse bootstrapping when you can, there is a huge risk to not having a professional look at your incorporating documents, especially when there are multiple co-founders involved. That's why this is the first thing incubators like YC and AlphaLab require. Many attorneys (if you ask) will do incorporation for a flat fee (ours was $2500).

Specifically our attorney helped us with the following issues:

- What is the structure of the shareholder agreement?

- What happens if a co-founder leaves?

- Filling out the 83(b) Election Form (so that you pay capital gains taxes on the shares you're about to be issued now rather than later)

- Mutual confidentiality agreement amongst co-founders

- Proprietary rights agreement

Believe me, I know what it's like to be a starving startup. Any cash outlay is terrifying. But you must be able to separate fear from the decision making process. $2500 is not a lot of money. And if you can't bring yourself to pay that much for something as important as an attorney, are you really starting a business? Or is it just a side project that you hope will become a business? There is a serious difference.

One last thought. We (http://www.shoefitr.com) didn't incorporate until we quit our "real" jobs to go full time. This gave us time to mitigate some technology risk and get comfortable working with each other before shelling out $2500. I think that's ok too. But if you're at the full-time stage of things, consult a professional.