

The Administrative Stuff (especially for NYC folks) - fatveesh

This is a question for the guys in NYC. As you know, it's unreasonably expensive to start a company in NYC. The state registration fees are bearable (~$400 after everything), but then the requirement to advertise in local newspapers costs you a good $2000 due to NY advertising prices and the fact that the state randomly picks newspapers so you can't just pick cheap ones. Given that cost, i've decided to incorporate in Delaware. Of course, it didn't take me long to realize if i actually wanted to open a bank account / conduct transactions, etc, i needed to open a "sister LLC" in NY, or basically register as "doing business in NY state" which basically costs the same as registering a new business in NY, so now i have to pay two states. Great.<p>Anyway, i've also found that accountants/lawyers on Craigslist who claim to help with all this startup administrative stuff don't really help at all. They don't care to offer advice, they just tell you how much they'll charge you to fill out standard paperwork.<p>So my question is -- what have you guys done to figure out all the administrivia, when on a tight budget? Like i want to give this new programmer some equity that vests in 6 months. Do i just write him an email saying "You officially now have x% of the company, provided you complete yyy hours over the next zzzz months"?. I heard you can print out stock certificates. But couldn't anyone just go to a printer and print a stock certificate for some random company for some random number of shares? What document/company/bureacracy actually owns all these allocations? Is a locked Google spreadsheet with people's names next to ownership stakes good enough to hold up as "the official company ownership charter" in a court?<p>Mainly, have you found good people in NY who help you with all this crap? Anyone gotten free advice form the Small Biz Admin, or any of the little initiatives Bloomberg has setup supposedly to help struggling entrepreneurs?<p>HELP! lol
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mathattack
Very good questions. I'm here for answers too.

Can you describe more about the newspaper requirement? Seems like an outright
subsidy to old media.

