Legal & structure

  • Choose your entity type (LLC, corporation, sole proprietorship) — understand the liability and tax trade-offs first.
  • File formation documents and pay the state fee (standard flat-fee filings run from $35 in Montana to $500 in Massachusetts, before any expedited or electronic-filing charges; October 2026 figures; sources below).
  • Get your EIN from the IRS (free, online, minutes).
  • Register for state/local tax accounts you'll actually owe (sales tax, employer withholding).
  • Obtain required licenses and permits — city, county, and industry-specific.
  • Draft an operating agreement or bylaws, even if your state doesn't require one.
  • Set up a separate business bank account — never commingle funds.

Money

  • Build the full launch budget with our startup budget template — estimates, actuals, variance.
  • Price your product or service (see pricing your first product) and sanity-check it against unit economics.
  • Set up bookkeeping from day one — spreadsheet or software, but from the first dollar.
  • Arrange payment processing and understand the fees before you need them.
  • Buy business insurance: general liability at minimum; professional liability, property, and workers' comp as applicable.
  • Set aside estimated taxes — quarterly, from the start.

Operations

  • Document your core processes — fulfillment, customer service, returns — before volume forces you to improvise.
  • Choose and configure your tools: POS/ecommerce, scheduling, accounting, communication.
  • Line up suppliers with written terms: pricing, lead times, minimums, backups.
  • Hire or contract ahead of need for critical roles; onboarding takes longer than you think.
  • Test the full customer journey end to end — buy your own product, anonymously.
  • Prepare your opening-day staffing schedule and a plan B for no-shows.

Market & launch

  • Validate demand with pre-sales, waitlists, or letters of intent — not compliments.
  • Build the website with clear offers, pricing, and a way to buy or contact you.
  • Set up analytics before launch so day-one traffic isn't wasted data.
  • Prepare launch marketing: announcement list, opening offer, PR/community outreach.
  • Define what “success” means for month one — three numbers, written down.
  • Plan the first 90 days with our operating plan — launch day is the starting line, not the finish.
  • For structured launch execution, the mission resources at masterlaunchstack.com cover turning a launch plan into tracked weekly missions.

Assumptions and limits

  • US-focused; requirements vary by state, city, and industry.
  • Education only — not legal or financial advice.

Sources

Figures as of October 2026, verified October 28, 2026; reviewed whenever the official sources below change and at least quarterly.

  • State LLC formation filing fees for standard flat-fee filings run from $35 (Montana) to $500 (Massachusetts), before any expedited or electronic-filing charges — filing electronically in Massachusetts, for example, brings the total to $520. Per-member states can run higher: Tennessee charges $50 per member (minimum $300, maximum $3,000). Fees verified October 28, 2026, against Secretary of State fee schedules (MT, MA, TN linked in Sources). Basis: Montana Secretary of State, Business Services Filing Fees (articles of organization, $35); Massachusetts Corporations Division filing fees and 950 CMR 112.29 (certificate of organization, $500, plus the $20 expedited fee on fax/electronic filings); Tennessee Secretary of State, Form SS-4270 (per-member fee).

Common questions

What should I do first when starting a business?

Validate demand and choose your structure, in that order. Pre-sales, a real waitlist, or letters of intent come before formation; entity choice comes before branding and leases. This checklist runs legal and money steps before marketing for the same reason: money committed in the wrong order is the most expensive kind, because unwinding it costs more than waiting.

How far ahead should I plan a launch?

Most small launches need two to four months of preparation; regulated or buildout-heavy businesses need six to twelve. Work backward from opening day through formation, permits, buildout, and hiring, then add buffer at each step — permits slip, contractors slip, and inspections get rescheduled. A plan with no slack converts every small delay into a missed opening date.

Do I need a lawyer to launch?

Not for everything, but get one where the cost of a mistake is asymmetric: entity choice when partners or investors are involved, commercial leases, and anything regulated. The checklist's legal steps — formation, operating agreement, licenses — are the places a short review earns its fee. A few hundred dollars of review now beats a five-figure mistake you discover after signing.

Prepared with AI assistance; editorial approach and corrections are described in our method & editorial policy. Examples are illustrative, not case-study results. Last reviewed: . Educational content only — not financial, legal, or tax advice. Budgets shown are illustrative examples, not benchmarks; your costs will differ.