As far as I know, you don't incorporate federally, you incorporate at the State level. Hence the terms you hear thrown around like "Delaware Corporation," etc. You just need to incorporate in one state, but then some (maybe all) other states just require you to file certain paperwork (and possibly pay some fees) if you intend to do business in their state. If you're doing a webapp though, I don't think anybody really tries to enforce making you register in every state where somebody might try to use your app. But if you're selling a product you might run into sales tax issues, see Amazon's battles with North Carolina, Texas and some other states.
All of that said, the act of incorporating - in and of itself - isn't terribly expensive. IF you pay a laywer to do it for you, I've heard prices thrown around anywhere from $500.00 to $1000.00, but some lawyers who specialize in working with startups might do it for equity or on a deferred basis. Ask around.
If you do it yourself, it can be done for basically whatever the fee is to the State. I organized as an LLC in North Carolina, did all the paperwork myself, and it cost me like $200.00 or so. The downside to an LLC is that I'll have to reincorporate later if I get outside funding, but I figure if I reach the point where somebody wants to invest, then it'll be worth it to reincorporate as a traditional C corporation then. YMMV.
Comments
As far as I know, you don't incorporate federally, you incorporate at the State level. Hence the terms you hear thrown around like "Delaware Corporation," etc. You just need to incorporate in one state, but then some (maybe all) other states just require you to file certain paperwork (and possibly pay some fees) if you intend to do business in their state. If you're doing a webapp though, I don't think anybody really tries to enforce making you register in every state where somebody might try to use your app. But if you're selling a product you might run into sales tax issues, see Amazon's battles with North Carolina, Texas and some other states.
All of that said, the act of incorporating - in and of itself - isn't terribly expensive. IF you pay a laywer to do it for you, I've heard prices thrown around anywhere from $500.00 to $1000.00, but some lawyers who specialize in working with startups might do it for equity or on a deferred basis. Ask around.
If you do it yourself, it can be done for basically whatever the fee is to the State. I organized as an LLC in North Carolina, did all the paperwork myself, and it cost me like $200.00 or so. The downside to an LLC is that I'll have to reincorporate later if I get outside funding, but I figure if I reach the point where somebody wants to invest, then it'll be worth it to reincorporate as a traditional C corporation then. YMMV.