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 07

Non-Dilutive Funding

Every dollar of grant or award funding is a dollar of equity you did not sell. At pre-seed, non-dilutive capital can extend your runway, strengthen your investor narrative, and signal government validation of your technology thesis.

The landscape

Non-dilutive funding comes from three primary sources: federal government programs (SBIR, STTR, DHS SVIP), state and regional economic development programs, and accelerator programs that provide capital without taking equity or on favorable terms.

AI prompts

SBIR topic matching

My company does [one sentence description of technology and market]. Review the current open SBIR/STTR solicitations from [NSF / DHS / DoD / NIST] and identify the three topics that are the strongest match for my capability. For each topic, explain why it matches and how I should frame my technical approach.

Grant application narrative

I am applying for a [SBIR Phase I / state grant]. The topic or focus area is [description]. My company's technical approach is [description]. Draft the technical narrative section: problem statement, proposed solution, why our approach is innovative, and our commercialization pathway.