It has become very easy to setup a legal entity, and I thought of sharing some of the activities you need to undertake if you are thinking of starting a business. Here goes:
- Decide on company name.
- Check companies house to ensure the availability of the company name.
- Make sure the URL is available.
- Register the company – I used Company4less, which costs £20
- Register the URL – I used 123reg
- Register for VAT – takes about a month
- Open bank account – takes an hour with HSBC – it helps if they know you
- Find an accountant – this will be a service that evigon will provide – watch the space
- Find a legal adviser – can help if you are in the North West
- Find an office – if you are a digital startup in the North West, I recommend Daresbury Innovation Centre. If you wish an office in Manchester, I recommend eOffice
- Design a logo – plan to use logomaker. Any suggestions?
- Get the website up quickly – recommend Ixis IT, if you want a great site using Drupal CMS.
- Find a hosting partner for your website – again, recommend Ixis IT
Nothing new there, but the process is quite simple. What is harder is choosing a company name! It is most likely, the URL associated with your first choice will not be available. Be prepared to burn several hours in finding a URL that exists. My constraints were:
- Company name must start with an “e”
- Must be a cracking name
The lesser the constraints, the easier your job will be.
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