Names and Logos

The first step in registering a business is providing a business name. I believe this is unfortunate, since it forces a marketing decision very early in the process. It is also not very useful for the government since it is the address and legal representative that counts. This is what I treat as my real company name:

Unfortunately, the IRS (as well as other government agencies), do not recognize characters beyond A - Z, a hyphen, decimal numbers, and the ampersand. So, legally, I have to go by "Z to Z Technologies" when I really want to go by "ℤ→ℤ Technologies". (For those curious, ℤ = Unicode 2124 and → = Unicode 2192.)

Why ℤ→ℤ Technologies? ℤ is the symbol for the set of integers, so speaking mathematically, the company is about mapping the set of integers to the set of integers which is (depending on your model of computation), equivalent to saying the company is in the computation business. Philosophically, I've been heavily influenced by the theory of computation and the study of formal languages, so I've had a personal attachment to the meaning behind ℤ→ℤ ever since my professor wrote it on the blackboard.

Banking

As a next step in the process, I've opened up a business checking account. I reviewed a number of options, but finally went with SmallBusinessBank. Why them?

I don't anticipate a large number of checks. Consulting tends to bring larger checks spread over time; internet retail tends to be aggregated on a weekly basis. I'm not operating a pizza shop. Starting out, cash flow is a concern so I don't want to tie myself to large minimum deposit. These two conditions basically rule out the large banks -- they don't want to bother with small-fry like me. (They enforce this by charging money for your account every month for the privilege of the account existing.)

There are a few financial outfits catering to businesses like mine, including SBB and the Bank of Albuquerque. The Bank of Albuquerque had a similar offering as SBB but with the advantage of local service. However, since I don't know if Albuquerque will still be local five months from now, that benefit is largely negated. Furthermore, BoAbq requires me to visit them during banking hours to open an account. In comparison, SBB allowed me to file the paperwork at any time of the night and I never need to drive into Kansas to see a banker.

I started the process on the 18th and concluded on the 24th. This is a fair turn-around time since I was only able to reply to their document requests outside of their hours. (It was fortunate I bought a printer/scanner a few months back so I can easily transmit the appropriate paperwork.)

I think SBB is proud of their security, but, like many U.S. bank sites, it's still single-factor. Adding more "stuff you know" to the process does not mean that you gain extra factors. I think U.S. banks need to catch up to their European cousins and add real extra factors -- "stuff you have" and "stuff you are". (Although, for the latter, biometric sensors are still pretty dire.)

Programmatically, the next step will be a domain, business email, and a business website. However, that will have to wait until I get my business card in 10-14 days...

Registration

Tonight, I mailed my new business application to the city of Albuquerque. With this, the creation of my new business is official. Amusingly, the rational choice is to not register with the city --- the penalty for not registering is a third the cost of registration.

Oddly, the Albuquerque registration form is a Word document. It opened fine in LibreOffice but normally PDF forms would be used for this purpose.

After reviewing a few lists, I've been following the SBDC guide for the overall "Starting a Business" process. Their guide appears to be the most comprehensive, although registering with the city is an implied step versus an explicit one. If the state really wanted to spur new businesses, they would create a single portal (the Secretary of State site is quite unfocused) and not hit applicants with questions about their accrual methodology so early in the process.

If the Feds believed in growing jobs, they could start by eliminating business hours on the IRS website.