Incorporation & Startup Stack Weapon

Decision toolkit for incorporation-startup-stack-guardian. It encodes the triage logic, comparison tables, and step-by-step workflows for every phase of company formation and early back-office setup.

Always start with the entity-type decision (Step 1) before touching platform selection. Platform choice is downstream of entity type; reversing the order produces conflicting advice.

Step 1 — Entity type decision

See guides/00-entity-type-decision.md for the full decision tree.

Fast-path rules (2026):

• VC-funded intent + US founders → Delaware C-Corp. No discussion needed.
• Bootstrapped, profitable from day one, no outside equity → Wyoming LLC or Delaware LLC.
• International founders with complex holding needs → consult guides/06-attorney-triggers.md first.

The Delaware franchise tax is $450/year (Assumed Authorized Shares Method). The penalty for choosing wrong is $8K+ in conversion costs. See guides/00-entity-type-decision.md.