You Should Have an LLC
Zach Holman argues that in today's fast-moving startup world, incorporating an LLC should be a priority, not an afterthought. He shares how building Calendearing took four hours but launching took a week due to legal setup, and recommends getting an LLC preemptively for quick action. An LLC costs about $500 a year and provides liability protection and financial separation. He notes GitHub started as Logical Awesome, LLC.
Ideas are cheap, and building them has never been cheaper. Be ready the next time when that shower thought hits you.
- BugsJustFindMe
> "An LLC will help you force a separation of personal and work finances"
No it won't.
> "it’ll help you accept payments"
No it won't.
> "or sign up for a bank account"
No it won't.
An LLC doesn't make those things any easier than they already are (very easy) as a sole proprietor.
An LLC only does the liability thing. And that's fine. Just don't make other things up. You don't need to.
- _Bruno42
LLCs are great, but you should be aware that single-member LLCs may offer less liability protection than you expect, and in some circumstances it can be easier to pierce the corporate veil.
- skyberrys
There are all sorts of circumstances you will find that having and LLC is a chance to go through the easier/faster door. The whole article starts off with a painful javajoke and the punchline is sometimes you need to go really fast. That's what already having an LLC handy for helps with.
Recent personal discovery about an LLC, useful for gaining PDK access to proprietary fabs, so I can finally try touching lower process nodes again that are not open source, despite being out of university and not having a job that gives me the PDK access.
- theptip
For all these things I think just having an EIN is simpler.
You don’t even need that to start; you set up Capital One (for example) business accounts using your SSN. The EIN is just to avoid putting your personal SSN on invoices.
LLC matters if you think you’ll have liability risks.
- zrail
I feel like a lot of people (not holman) are looking for permission, as if having an LLC is a marker that says "I am a serious business doing serious business things." You don't need permission. You can just do things.
A formal business structure is good (but not required!) if you have employees and/or business partners, or if your attorney tells you you need one. IME as a solo entrepreneur an LLC (or two, in my case) just invited more paperwork into my life.
You know what actually functionally limits liability as a solo business? Good contracts backed up with business insurance.