Sooner or later, the startup is faced with the issue of its legal registration. This usually happens in two cases: customers want to pay you or you have an investor partner. So, in this article, we will discuss what documentation for startups you need and how to do it securely.
How to organize a startup?
The first thing you need to do before registering a startup is to decide on the legal form. If we talk about the creation of a startup, in today’s reality the most acceptable form of registration of a startup is a legal entity – a limited liability company or a sole proprietor – a natural person-entrepreneur. These forms allow the startup to choose the most profitable forms of taxation, and the procedure for their registration is simpler than others, and in general, these forms allow you to choose simpler ways to address the operational activities of startups.
A startup is usually a project that requires constant investment, especially at the initial stage of development. Therefore, the question arises where to get funds, and if there is a source, how to properly formalize the legal relationship with the investor.
When founding a start-up and building on it an established company, numerous legal and tax issues arise. When registering a startup, the question may arise whether you need to open a bank account and make a seal. The bank has the right to open an account to run your business until the entire registration process is completed. In particular, there is a need for printing if you plan to settle with counterparties in non-cash form.
Virtual data room for secure document management
Nowadays most companies use virtual data rooms for sharing business-critical data. It is a secure cloud-based data repository and collaborative workspace for deal-making. All stages of the deal with customers are monitored in the data room. It stores the history of contracts and related documents, which are available to both managers and executors. The following functions during startup deal-making can be transferred to the data room system:
- automation of concluding agreements with tracking the status of each specific position;
- simplification of document circulation due to the automatic formation of contracts, invoices, and bills of lading;
- building individual business strategies and marketing policies towards specific customers and clients based on financial or behavioral analytics;
- long-term planning of business communications and setting up automatic accounting of time and cost of services provided;
- automatic personnel management with a visual assessment of the effectiveness of each of the managers based on business intelligence, etc.
The list of documents needed for a startup company
Startup projects can be developed for some time without registering a legal entity. However, as the innovative idea of a startup turns into a certain business project, there is a need for the legalization of this business. Registration of a legal entity is a prerequisite for consolidating property rights, including intellectual property, determining the shares and conditions of the partnership between participants, attracting investment, obtaining specialized licenses, etc.
To do this, you need to collect and submit some necessary documents:
- certificate of opening a separate bank account for grant money;
- confirmation of intellectual property rights and know-how (if necessary, for example, it may be a trademark registration certificate or a patent for an invention, etc.);
- certificates from various registers confirming the absence of arrears of taxes/fees, the solvency of the startup, and all the facts of state aid to the startup for the last three years, etc.