How to start a business in the US, in the right order

Start with your domain

Your domain is the first thing to lock down, for two reasons. It's first-come-first-served, so the longer you wait, the more likely someone takes yourcompany.com or a squatter parks on it and asks for $2,000. And you need it for the very next step, your company email.

Domains run about $10 to $12 a year. Namecheap is our go-to, with free WHOIS privacy so your personal details stay out of the public registry. Register it the moment you settle on a name.

Set up professional email before anything else

This is the order advice that saves the most hassle later. Once you have your domain, set up company email, then use that address to create every other account: your bank, your state tax portal, your software logins. Everything lands under one login you control instead of scattered across a personal Gmail.

You really have two choices, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Pick one and move on. We use Google and recommend it for most people because it's the fastest to set up, but Microsoft is just as good if your team already lives in Outlook and Excel. If you want to cut the time you spend in the inbox once you're running, our own Tiko Mail layers on top of either one.

You need a real address before you can incorporate

Almost every form you'll fill out, from incorporation to banking to state registration, asks for a business address. Your home address works legally, but it becomes public record in most states. A virtual mailbox gives you a real street address, not a PO box, for about $15 a month. Stable and Anytime Mailbox both scan your mail and take about ten minutes to set up. Already have a commercial lease? Use that and skip this one.

LLC, C-corp, or non-profit: the choice that shapes everything else

This is the big early decision, and people overthink it. Three rules cover almost everyone. If you're raising money from investors, form a Delaware C-corporation, because that's what they expect. Stripe Atlas is built for exactly this; it files the C-corp, gets your EIN, issues founder stock, and opens a bank account in about a week.

Not raising equity? An LLC is almost always right. It protects your personal assets, the taxes are simpler since profits pass through to your personal return, and there's less paperwork. ZenBusiness is fast and affordable for a straightforward LLC; LegalZoom is the better fit if you run into licenses or a professional entity and want attorney access. Forming a non-profit? You form a nonprofit corporation first, then apply for 501(c)(3) status, which is the harder part.

One more thing for profitable service LLCs. Once you're netting somewhere around $40,000 to $80,000, ask your accountant about electing S-corp taxation, which can lower your self-employment tax. It's a tax election on top of your LLC, not a different company.

Get your EIN, and don't pay for it

An EIN is your business's federal tax ID, the company version of a social security number. You need it to open a bank account, hire, and file taxes. Stripe Atlas includes it as part of incorporation, but plenty of formation tools charge an add-on for it. You never have to pay. You can get one yourself directly from the IRS website in about 15 minutes. Anyone charging a fee for "EIN filing" is charging you for a free government form.

Separate your money immediately

Run business expenses through your personal account and you're piercing the corporate veil, which means a court could decide your LLC or corp doesn't actually protect your personal assets. You incorporated for that protection, so don't undo it by mixing funds.

Open a business account as soon as you have your incorporation docs and EIN. Mercury is a strong pick for most founders, and Rho is what we bank with at Tundra. Whatever you choose, get a business card you use only for the company. You don't need bookkeeping software on day one; a dedicated account and card get you most of the way. When you do want books, BookJonas is free and built for new companies with simple operations.

State taxes are a separate step

Incorporating creates your entity. Registering with your state's tax authority is another step on top of that. If you sell physical products, you'll need a sales tax permit, which means collecting sales tax from customers and sending it to the state. The rules vary a lot by state, which is a big part of why Discern exists. A service business with no products still registers for state income tax through the state's Department of Revenue.

Licenses and permits: the part most people skip

Not every business needs a special license. A SaaS company probably doesn't. But construction, food service, healthcare, financial advising, and the trades almost always do, and licenses come from different levels of government at once. The SBA's license finder is free and tells you what you need based on your state and industry. Start there.

Put up a website

Customers and partners look you up before they reach out, and an empty search result reads as not real yet. For a simple marketing site, Squarespace and Wix both let you launch something clean without code. Want something custom? You can get surprisingly far with AI tools now, or you can get in touch and we'll build it.

Getting paid

If customers owe you money, you need a way to collect it, and the right tool depends on how you sell. Selling online, or online and in person? Shopify runs the storefront, checkout, and payments in one place. Purely in person? Square gives you card readers and a POS you can set up in an afternoon. A consulting business that invoices clients might not need either to start; your bank account's ACH and wire support can be enough.

If you have employees, don't DIY payroll

Payroll taxes are the one area where the IRS has no sense of humor. Withhold the wrong amount or file late and you can be personally liable even with an LLC or corp. Gusto handles payroll, tax withholding, and benefits and is our default for small teams. Justworks bundles better-priced health benefits, and Rippling adds device management for when you're handing out laptops. Set this up before you make your first offer, not after.

Insurance: the thing you hope you never use

Your LLC or corp protects your personal assets; insurance protects the business itself. A client slips in your office, a customer says your product caused damage, a competitor claims you copied them. Without general liability coverage, those legal fees come straight out of your business account. We use Embroker at Tundra, which is built for startups. Vouch is a strong alternative for funded companies, and Next (now ERGO) quotes in minutes for most small businesses. Expect $50 to $150 a month depending on your industry and coverage.

Why the order matters

Each step leans on the one before it. You can't open a bank account without an EIN, you can't get an EIN without incorporating, and you can't incorporate without an address. People who do these out of order get stuck, signing up for a payment processor they can't verify because there's no bank account yet.

If you'd rather not track the sequence yourself, our free checklist lays out the steps in the right order with cost estimates for your situation, and our cool tools breakdown covers which tool to reach for at each step.