Retain a business lawyer and sign their engagement letter. Look for a law firm in your area that specializes in serving venture-backed companies, as they may be willing to do this and the next few steps at a reduced or deferred cost.

Select an initial address. This can be your home, a co-working space, or your law firm.

Ask your lawyer to incorporate you. The cost is usually under $1000. They may agree not to bill you until you raise seed capital.

Open a bank account. Silicon Valley Bank, SquareOne, and others have special programs to win the business of venture-backed companies. So go to one of those and you can avoid fees. You will need your incorporation number.

Direct lawyer to draft founder documents. These cover initial shares, vesting, IP assignment, voting, and Board seats. You may also set up a stock option plan at this time that will address restricted stock and handle unvested founder shares. Founders sign the founder documents and buy their founder shares; usually just $0.001 per share or a few $K. That goes in the bank.

If you really think your personal shares could have an exit value that brings you over the lifetime exclusion cap for estate planning, then the founding of a company is a special moment when you may avoid estate taxes to some extent. You have to own vested shares. If you do, immediately upon buying your founder shares, you can move some shares into a family trust where your spouse and kids are beneficiaries. Since the shares are only worth $0.001 at time of transfer, you may be able to put a wad of stock into their names without using up your lifetime cap and thus you may avoid estate tax that would have been due if you kept the shares in your own name.

Founders, friends and family chip in some cash. You deposit this in the bank. You can write a simple letter to each, that says the company owes them the money, either with or without interest. Later when it is time to finance the company you can roll them into a seed round or convertible debt round. Or, if they will be putting in serious money like $100K or more, ask the lawyer to draw up a convertible note.

Keep all receipts of expenses you pay. If founders need reimbursement, make sure they get receipts.

If you need a license, start working with the licensing officer. Ask for a 3-, 6- or 12-month option letter, which means you have the right to take a license later on known terms and conditions, but will not actually have to pay much cash up front or negotiate the complex contract until you get the company off the ground. If you came out of a university or job and you feel that you invented IP during the time you were there to which they have no rights, you can confirm that for yourself and your investors by asking the university license office to give you a waiver letter that agrees they have no rights.

Begin executing your plan, developing materials, interviewing customers, and recruiting advisors.

If you conceive or reduce to practice a patentable invention after incorporation, find a patent agent or attorney and file a provisional. For frontier technology companies, doing this comprehensively is one of the first priorities since days may matter for patents.

Select a web host and put up a landing page and email auto-forwarding.

You may wish to sign up for G-suite and set up email accounts.

Choose a logo and if you desire, make cards. Update your social media.

Go and raise the seed capital you need in your plan (see Pillar's full guide on raising Seed)

Once the seed is raised and deposited, you can open a payroll service like Gusto or ADP. Get everyone’s information and set them up for payroll.

As they become needed, ask lawyers to also provide you with the following blank contracts: 1-way NDA, 2-way NDA, offer letter, employee documents (IP assignment, NDA, non-compete/solicit if appropriate), agreement to hire outside consultants (if needed), advisory board documents (if needed).

After that, personally I use Excel to manage the cap table and finances until the company has closed seed financing and can hire a part-time accountant. You may wish to sign up for Carta for the cap table and Quickbooks for the accounting. You may wish to open a payroll account, for example with Gusto. (You do not need worker’s comp at first. Once you have employees who are not founders, then you will have to sign up for worker’s comp.)

A checkbook from the bank will eventually arrive in the mail.

Having tried both virtual and physical offices, it is strongly urged that you pay some rent and bring everyone together in one office.

Set control points for the organization and communicate to your staff in writing. For example, set these four rules: you are the only one with bank access. You must sign all offer letters and contracts including all NDAs. You need to sign off on any purchase over $1000. You will only reimburse expenses over $25 if there is a written receipt submitted.

Make sure any person hired receives a written offer letter and signs an Employment Agreement that includes an IP Assignment clause.