Set up the company right
Incorporate, split equity, protect your IP, and make your first hires.
4 steps to get you moving, each with a resource worth your time and more waiting underneath
Think of this as a friendly starting line, not the last word. Each step gives you the gist, then a resource worth your time from founders who've been there. There's always more underneath, more questions and more resources, whenever you feel like digging in.
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1
Incorporation & legal setup
Set up the entity right (US & India).
When should I actually incorporate my startup?The gist Incorporate once you have co-founders splitting equity, you're taking money (from customers or investors), or you're signing contracts and hiring, before that, it's often premature paperwork. The trigger is real commercial or ownership activity, not a launch date. Don't over-optimize timing: the day you bring on a co-founder or take a cheque, you want the entity and vesting in place.
Stripe Atlas: Incorporate your startup (Delaware C-corp) stripe.com/atlas The most popular guided path to a Delaware C-corp for global and first-time founders, with Cooley-drafted templates, EIN, founder stock, and 83(b) handling in one flow. It removes almost all the guesswork. -
2
Co-founder agreements & equity
Split fairly, vest always, write it down.
How should co-founders split equity fairly?The gist For most early teams, split close to equal, an even split signals you see each other as true partners, and long-term contribution rarely matches whatever you'd predict on day one. Obsessing over 55/45 vs 50/50 usually costs more in resentment than it saves in ownership. What actually protects you isn't the exact number, it's vesting and a written agreement.
The Founder's Dilemmas Princeton University Press The definitive, data-driven book on early founding-team decisions, drawing on quantitative research covering nearly 10,000 founders. It replaces gut-feel folklore about co-founders and equity with evidence. -
3
IP, licenses & regulatory
Protect your idea, stay legal to sell.
How do I protect my idea when I have to share it to get it built?The gist You mostly can't, and you mostly don't need to. Raw ideas aren't protectable and aren't worth stealing, execution is the moat, and the people who could build it are busy building their own thing. Share the problem and the vision freely; hold back only the specific know-how, data, customer relationships, or code that took real work to create.
Will Somebody Try To Steal My Startup Idea? (Startup Therapy, Ep. 50) Startups.com The most grounded, non-lawyerly take on the fear that keeps first-time founders up at night. Two founders who've tracked hundreds of thousands of startups explain why idea theft is largely a myth, and, crucially, what to share versus hold back, without the alarmism that pushes people into wasteful NDAs. -
4
Hiring your first employees
Your first ten hires are your culture.
When should I make my first hire?The gist Hire later than feels comfortable, the best YC companies wait, because employees add cost, complexity, and communication overhead you can't easily undo. The trigger is a clear, recurring bottleneck that a specific role removes, not general overwhelm. Until then, do things yourself so you understand the work well enough to eventually hire for it.
How to hire your first engineer (YC Startup Library) YC Startup Library Battle-tested YC advice on landing your critical first engineering hire, from founders who've done it at scale. It reframes hiring as a founder-led sales and persistence problem.
