One step that I would add as #1 to the list – tell EVERYONE about the business. Many entrepreneurs get caught up in the idea of secrecy during the planning stage of the business, which is a mistake. Telling your friends, network, colleagues, family, etc. all about the business, market and plans is a great way to get some free advice, help and more connections. In my experience, the business owner’s business increases over the first few years as the business scales. You may not have time for *years* to engage this part of your network in your business, so do it now. Starting a blog or sending email updates can be an important part of this step.

Some websites that can be helpful in getting started are: 1. Legalzoom – having a stock set of docs needed to start a company can be really handy. Eventually you probably will need an attorney, but looking at some basic docs in advance, and having a template to work from, can speed up the process a lot and reduce the cost. If you are planning n raising money, also keep an eye on the NVCA model docs – http://www.nvca.org/model_documents/model_docs.html – for the same purpose.

2. Crowdspring – I always have a hard time figuring out what I want the website / corporate identity to look like. I have recently become a fan of this company (there may be other similar ones out there) because it is a cheap way to get several independent ideas for the design. Even if you ultimately choose a designer based on relationship, having some already sketched-out ideas will help you figure out what you like and don’t like and ensure that you don’t waste your designer’s time.