printf("Hello World\n");
printf("Hello World\n");
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Ok, I’m not a business guy, but I have ideas and I want to make a business out of them. I can’t decide if I want to just do business as my own name, or begin making a name formyself by filing for a formal DBA (Does Business As). Or maybe I’ll go for broke and file for an LLC.
As I understand it, an LLC creates a legal entity in name of the business and could be subject to certain fees and licenses, etc. However it has its advantages because then if I ever do something really stupid and lose a bunch of money, or if someone sues me, it will be against the business’ assets, not my own. A DBA doesn’t offer that kind of protection.
Now… herein lies the delima: In the software business, there’s all sorts of bullshit about copyright infringement. I’ve seen it happen to a few business owners that I know first hand. If someone sued me over copyright infringement, I could lose, and I could owe a lot of money out of my own pocket. However, if that same scenario happened to me but I was under an LLC, I could owe everything that my business is worth…. NOTHING. Which is a lot better than paying buku bucks to some dude I pissed off.
I’m not sure what to do. Am I even ready to start a business? Its been on my mind for some time now, but I can’t make myself go through with it unless I’m absolutely ready. The stuff I want to do requires some serious startup capital, which I can’t raise myself. If I have to get investors involved, I’m going to want an LLC and not a DBA for the reason of protection. But if I start it small, using my own funds, I can just build the business as a DBA, then roll it into an LLC if I need to work up some major venture capital or something.
I’m still not sure what kind of paperwork DBA’s have to file in the way of taxes and stuff. Luckily, my girlfriend just got her BS in Business Management. Maybe I can make her my first employee, haha, and let her run the businessy-paperwork stuff.
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