Live data from Hacker News

Startup Company Form: LLC or S-Corp? Which is easier and which is better?

news.ycombinator.com

31–32 of 32 posts

Re: Startup Company Form: LLC or S-Corp? Which is easier and which is better?

#31
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our actual product is different than our original idea when we formed the LLC although it uses technology from the original. What do you think of the idea of forming a C corp for the new application that is then owned initially by the LLC? (Our idea is to have core technology provided by the original LLC to a series of applications)

These multi-company organizations are almost always a bad plan. And even if they weren't, all investors think they are, so this sort of thing is a big red flag.

Let's say you have developed your own programming language/infrastructure, such as Arc or GOAL or whatever. You want to use your tools for a new venture because they give you a lever your competition doesn't have. On the other hand, if the venture doesn't work out, you don't want your language/tools to be part of the liquidation, so you are not deprived of them in the future.

This is impolitic, but if you were starting a new venture and Arc were ready to be used in production, would you want to put it into the new company and, if not, how would you handle investors? This is a little more than hypothetical since you are using Arc in Ycombinator business, but it seems like a different situation than when forming a company with investors you barely know.

Re: Startup Company Form: LLC or S-Corp? Which is easier and which is better?

#32
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These multi-company organizations are almost always a bad plan. And even if they weren't, all investors think they are, so this sort of thing is a big red flag.

Let's say you have developed your own programming language/infrastructure, such as Arc or GOAL or whatever. You want to use your tools for a new venture because they give you a lever your competition doesn't have. On the other hand, if the venture doesn't work out, you don't want your language/tools to be part of the liquidation, so you are not deprived of them in the future. This is impolitic, but if you were starti…

I would make the language separate from the company, drawing the line perhaps at libraries specific to the company's project.
Post reply on HN