Hello,
My name is Andrew, I'm located in the US, and I'm currently working on a startup (yes, by myself; I'm glad I know programming as well as graphic design.) And I really think it will be something a lot of people will find very useful, so I'm excited about finishing it (it's about 1/3 done).
I'm wondering though, how do I legally and officially create a company to back my startup? What steps should I take after creating my company, to make sure everything goes well? Also, does anyone have any tips for this kind of thing?
Thanks to everyone who helps me out.
The single largest business risk you face is whether a market exists for your product. Before you finish coding and graphic design, you should determine how you are going to sell your product by talking to prospects. Perhaps you have overlooked a feature or two that you will need to add. Or you may discover that you can cut your initial feature list by 1/2 to 2/3 (you may already be done!) and still find buyers.
Finishing sooner means cash flow sooner means viability sooner and external validation (people paying you is a far more serious endorsement than telling you they will buy when you finish) sooner. If it's just you coding on your own I wouldn't worry about doing anything more than operating as a sole proprietorship (which is how you are operating now) until you were reasonably confident you can generate revenue (profit often comes later).