What business structure should I choose for my startup?

Most venture-backed startups incorporate as a Delaware C-Corp for QSBS tax benefits and investor familiarity. Bootstrapped businesses often start as LLCs with optional S-Corp tax election.

What is the best bank for a startup?

Mercury is the default recommendation for most seed-stage startups — no fees, FDIC coverage up to $5M, and strong integrations. Brex is best when you need cards and banking combined. Bluevine works well for service businesses needing credit lines.

How can AI help startup founders?

AI serves as operational infrastructure for small teams: content pipeline automation, outreach personalization, meeting preparation, document synthesis, and financial tracking. It lets a two-person team compete with a twenty-person team.

What security should a new startup have?

Minimum security setup: password manager (1Password or Bitwarden), MFA on every service, YubiKey for email and banking, email aliases for service segmentation, and domain registrar lock.

Chapter 11

First 90 Days

This chapter tells you how to sequence the work. You are doing everything simultaneously, pre-revenue, with limited capital and no team yet. This is what the actual operating cadence looks like.

The reality of pre-revenue operations

The standard advice is to focus on one thing at a time. That is correct in principle and nearly impossible in practice at pre-seed. The question is not how to serialize the work. It is how to batch it and protect the high-leverage activities.

Days 1–14 · Foundation sprint

Legal and banking: Entity formed, EIN obtained, bank account open, payment processor configured, domain locked, business email live.

IP and co-founder paperwork: IP assignment agreements signed. Equity splits documented. Vesting schedules in place. Co-founder agreement executed.

Security baseline: MFA on everything. Password manager deployed. Domain registrar locked. This takes one day.

Days 15–45 · Signal sprint

First 10 outreach conversations: Not pitches. Discovery conversations. The goal is to validate the problem statement, not to sell.

Content engine activated: Three to four LinkedIn posts per week starting now. Build the public record of your point of view before you need it.

Investor pipeline seeded: Identify 20–30 target investors. Warm introductions requested for the top 10.

Days 46–75 · Validation sprint

First pilot or LOI: The goal is one signed pilot agreement or letter of intent. This is the single most important milestone at pre-seed.

Non-dilutive applications filed: SBIR or SVIP application submitted. State grants applied for.

Financial model built: 24-month model completed with actuals for weeks 1–6 already populated.

Days 76–90 · Raise sprint

Formal raise initiated: With at least one pilot signed, open the SAFE round formally. Update your narrative to reflect the traction.

Investor update cadence: Monthly updates starting now. Keep them to 200 words: what you did, what you learned, what you need.

Operating rhythm locked: Weekly team sync, weekly metrics review, monthly financial close.

AI prompts

Weekly sprint plan

I am a pre-seed founder at day [current day] of my company. My current priorities are: [list 3–5 active workstreams]. My most critical milestone in the next 30 days is [milestone]. My available time is approximately [hours per week]. Build me a weekly sprint plan that sequences the work to hit the milestone.

Investor update template

I need to send a monthly investor update. My company does [description]. This month's progress: [what happened]. Key metric movement: [numbers]. What I learned: [insight]. What I need: [specific ask]. Write this as a 200-word update that is direct, specific, and makes the reader want to forward it.