Ask HN: For those building 'microstartups' – how do you manage payments?

5 points by aumakua 5 years ago | 9 comments

I'm a SWE and have been interested in building something on the side, but don't have any ideas that I think are particularly brilliant at the moment. I've seen a recent trend of people building what they call 'microstartups' which seem to essentially be very small, very specific products that they've able to ship quickly.

My question is – how are you guys handling payment processing for those kinds of businesses? Presumably you're not incorporating a new business each time?

I've incorporated a Delaware S corp once before and had to be very explicit with the purpose of my business when I was filing for incorporation, and also when I was opening a bank account, and also when I was registering with a payment processor (Stripe). Thus it seems like it would be difficult to incorporate a new S corp and use it as an umbrella for a bunch of unrelated side projects, unless I'm missing something?

Bit a of newbie to all of this, so any insight is very appreciated!

akg_67 5 years ago |

When I started my last company, I setup business formally and opened a business bank account only after a potential customer sent me a check of $1000 drawn to startup name as an advance and bank wouldn’t let me deposit it in my personal account.

I believe in “sell first, spend later”. So, I will suggest start with your project, worry about everything else later.

kureikain 5 years ago |

You don't have do incorporated at all.

All you need is an idea and build an app. Connect Stripe to your personal account to receive payout. That's all.

Unless you do consulting or have business partner, I think you just stick to a sole proprietorship. As in, dont have to do anything, SaaS and Bank account all under yourname. Just get a separate bank account.

Focus on your app, get paid customer first, withdrawal money to your own bank account.

radihuq 5 years ago | |

Wow I always assumed you needed a business bank account to receive payouts from Stripe et al. Thanks for this info!

mihailpalelogu 5 years ago | |

Wait. Is it possible to open a personal account at Stripe, or is there some loophole I'm not seeing?

kureikain 5 years ago | | |

yes, you can totally open a Stripe account. and connect with your personal bank account. I used to do that and it works and I can receive payout from Stripe just fine.

tacostakohashi 5 years ago |

You can use business name that is different from your own name / company name without incorporating a new entity each time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_name#United_States, also google for "doing business as" / DBA.

lmarcos 5 years ago |

1. Build something 2. Offer it for free (e.g., "register now and get a 3 months trial period for free!") 3. See how it goes 4. If after 3 months enough users are still using your product regularly, then incorporate and start charging.

In my opinion, it's not worth to setup a business if you don't know if your product wil actually be used or not.

dyeje 5 years ago |

Yes, I incorporated a single person LLC that I am using for all projects because I don't plan on raising capital and I'm concerned about liability.

smarri 5 years ago |

You can connect a personal account to Square too.