News/Article Roundup - 11/17/2019

VC funding for startups with at least one female founder more than doubled in 2018

Bumble founder tells Tyler women how to build companies around solving problems

Fisher Investments founder’s crude comments about women led to an unusual request

Companies With a Female Founder Are Exiting More Quickly Than Male-Founded Startups

Founder of women's organization stepping down to run for Congress

100 Women in Finance's Carol Kim on Empowering Women to Achieve Their Professional Potential

How one female founder deals with imposter syndrome?

3D Leadership Group co-founder named Woman of Fire

How to do your New Year Planning.

It's that time of the year. In addition to egg nogs, rum cakes, and pumpkins spice lattes, the season of hopes also brings with it the inexplicable energy to start over. To turn a new leaf, and plan anew for your future.

Here is a round-up of some useful resources on the internet to help with the planning of the new you.

How to Plan Your Ideal Year

A Planning Hack To Help With Your New Year's Resolution

4 Things You Need to Do to Plan For The New Year Before January

New Year Planning: The Secret to an Epic Year

New Year, New You: Five-Step Plan For Keeping Your 2019 Resolutions On Track

News/Article Round up - 11/1/2019

She climbed Everest nine times and set a world record – so why doesn’t she have sponsors?

Why We Need to Rethink "Women in Tech"

The Trillion-Dollar Opportunity in Supporting Female Entrepreneurs

How to De-Stress Over the Holidays

In the know: Women in the news 10/28 - 11/1

What women want in the IT workplace: 6 key factors for hiring and retention

Women’s entrepreneurship program doubles in size

News/ Articles Roundup 10/28/2019

Dealing with FOMO? Women Founder Magazine to the rescue.

California and the AB5 mess

Serena Williams invests in crypto-currency tax start-up

Personal Branding Trends that you need to know about

Venture Funding for female founders falls

All about SAFE notes

Finding a co-founder - questions to ask

Richest Self made women in Tech

Old, but Gold - Tax Considerations for start-ups

Book Recommendations - Don't buy them! Check if your library has e-books on Libby.

No time to read books? Then check these podcasts out

https://www.businessinsider.com/women-owned-business-month-october-tips-strategies

Valuation for your start-up

A collection of useful articles

https://cp.ventures/blog/how-do-you-value-a-startup/ - the VC perspective

https://seedcamp.com/resources/how-does-an-early-stage-investor-value-a-startup/

https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-calculate-the-value-of-your-early-stage-startup--cms-65

https://medium.com/parisoma-blog/valuation-for-startups-9-methods-explained-53771c86590e

https://hackernoon.com/how-to-value-your-startup-when-raising-series-seed-equity-4ddaf1e5c716

Starting a business

Starting a business is a monumental decision. Once you have made the decision to start a business, here are some things you should do:

- Identify the purpose of the business. What does success mean to you?

- How much money are you willing to put in? If you are quitting a job, how long will your finances stretch if you do not make any money in 3, 6, 9, 12 months? Make sure you understand the financial impact.

- Find a name that matches the business's purpose and vision. Make sure you can find a website domain (google domains or GoDaddy)

- Create social media handles based on where your audience hangout - Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Blog, Twitter, Pinterest. Engage with your customers consistently.

- Order business cards

- Find complementary businesses and set up some referral bonuses

- Create a website. Go for something simple and cheap initially and understand what content works before you spend a ton of money.

- Do the work.

LLC Creation 101

When should I have an LLC?
- IMHO anytime you are doing any business transaction. The money you spent in setting up the entity is totally worth the liability protection it provides.

I don't have tens of thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer.
- There are several online services that will do it for fairly cheap.
- I can't say about every state, but if you are creating an LLC in Texas, it is a very simple online form that you fill out. It takes 5 min and you don't need a lawyer for that.

What about formation documents?
- You can find fairly simple templates on legal zoom and other websites.

OK, what else should I be doing after I set up the LLC?
Here are some key tasks:

- Get an EIN - https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/apply-for-an-employer-identification-number-ein-online

- Set up a bank account

- Get a credit card - https://www.creditcards.com/business/

- Get up financial books. Unless you are going to have a large transaction volume, I would recommend that you start with a simple Google sheet to track incoming and outgoing expenses.

- And make a note when franchise taxes are due. 

Registering a Delaware C-Corp

If you are working on a Tech Start-up that needs to raise institutional investment, then most investors require you to have a C-Corp. If you are the DIY type and/or cannot afford to get a lawyer, here are some useful resources to get started.

1) Get a Delaware Registered agent. The agent does nothing so find the cheapest option you can. Here is the list of approved agents
https://corp.delaware.gov/agents/

2) File the paperwork with Delaware Secretary of State. It's a one-page document. Anyone can fill it. Seriously.
https://corp.delaware.gov/corpformscorp09/
Most tech companies would probably need this one - https://corpfiles.delaware.gov/incstk09.pdf

3) Create all incorporation documents - you can use this website as reference.
https://www.foundersworkbench.com/document-driver/

4) Get an EIN
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/apply-for-an-employer-identification-number-ein-online

5) If you are based out of a different state than Delaware, register your corporation in your state. Check your state's secretary of state website.

6) Get a business bank account

7) Set up accounting. Unless you are going to have a large transaction volume, I would recommend that you start with a simple Google sheet to track incoming and outgoing expenses.

8) Get a business credit card. You can find one that fits your needs here.
https://www.creditcards.com/business/

Most importantly, do the actual work!

Good Luck!

News Round-up 10/17

Too busy to catch up with the latest? Don't worry, here are some articles that we feel would be worth your time.

• Sheryl Sandberg Faults ‘Broken Rung’ on Corporate Ladder Over Work Inequities

• Systems Thinking' Fires Up Your Brain's Ability to Problem-Solve. Here's How to Do It

• 10 Powerful Women Leaders of HR Share Their Most Effective Strategies to Retain Great Employees 

• Bumble's chief brand officer explains how to build a successful brand