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Ask HN: Forming a Delaware LLC and registered agent

by ohxh on 1/25/23, 11:49 PM with 19 comments

• by justinludwig on 1/26/23, 12:57 AM

  If you live in the US and you're setting up an LLC just for yourself, it's cheaper & simpler to form the LLC in the same state in which you live, since a) you can act as your own registered agent, b) you'll still have to register with the state in which you live anyway, and c) it'll be easier to set up a bank account.

  Delaware in particular can be more pricey than most states, since their infrastructure is oriented towards enabling third-party services (DelawareInc, IncNow, etc) instead of interacting directly with your business. Prepare to wait weeks for them to mail you copies of your documents unless you pay a third-party service to expedite.

  The advantage of forming in Delaware is that there's lots and lots of settled business case law; but that's generally not relevant to a sole-proprietor LLC. (It is relevant, however, if you're forming a company with the aim of raising venture capital -- in which case you really want a Delaware C-Corp, not an LLC.)

• by Leftium on 1/26/23, 5:04 AM

  LLC University is probably the best resource on this: https://www.llcuniversity.com/

  Matt explains why you should just register in your home state, not Delaware: https://www.llcuniversity.com/delaware-llc/why-you-shouldnt-...

  A big discount on LLC registration and Registered Agent fees at the best place to register them online. (Also good explanation of Registered Agents): https://www.llcuniversity.com/when-forming-an-llc-who-is-the...

  There's enough info on the site to do all the paperwork yourself, if you wanted to.

• by cloudking on 1/26/23, 12:05 AM

  I used https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/ they have reasonable fees and a good web portal system.

• by dieselgate on 1/26/23, 12:02 AM

  Oh interesting - I haven’t formed an LLC in Delaware but recently formed one in Washington state.

  You should check out Delaware state specific websites (probably a .gov) site for all of this stuff. That’s likely where you can file and pay for the whole process. They (the state) should be the primary source of truth for all process/legal information.

  A quick search turns up https://onestop.delaware.gov/ as the “one stop” page for formation. Just do what they say - you’ll likely need the registered agent handled before filing for the LLC.

  I’ve heard Delaware has “certain advantages” for business formation so not sure on the specifics there or what that means. Good luck - I’m sure others on here have Delaware specific advice

  Edit: regarding registered agent - I pay a service to be mine and they also provide a Principal address for the business. If you can it’s probably best to be your own Registered Agent

• by binarynate on 1/26/23, 12:21 AM

  I used Stripe Atlas to create my Delaware C corp in 2019 and highly recommend

• by BilalBudhani on 1/26/23, 8:42 AM

  I formed LLC in Wyoming last year via Firstbase.io as a non US citizen. I picked Wyoming because it is relatively cheaper than other states & requires very little paperwork.

  Firstbase –– The entire process went very smooth and straight-forward to understand. However, their UI is beyond terrible.

• by slater on 1/26/23, 2:39 AM

  Someone should make a single-use website for where to incorporate, i.e. "i want to register my [whatever company type] in [state]" and it tells you all the costs associated with it

• by amaotox on 1/25/23, 11:57 PM

  I want to do this in the future. Stripe Atlas looks good https://stripe.com/atlas

• by aw-engineer on 1/26/23, 12:59 AM

  Run this by your attorney.