Bookkeeping and Accounting Setup
Assess whether your new business has a bookkeeping system, chart of accounts, and process to keep clean records from the start.
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For founders, new owners, and anyone starting out
Business Name and Trademark Check
Check whether your business name is available for entity registration, domain, and trademark, and what to clear before you commit to branding.
5 guided steps
Private in your browser
Official guidance links
Start the free checker
Your free guided checker
Answer a few quick questions below. It is private - nothing is submitted or stored - and takes about a minute.
Informational business-formation diagnostic only; not legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice. Confirm entity, tax, and state decisions with a qualified attorney and CPA.
The questions this tool walks you through
Here is what the checker asks and why each step matters. Prefer to talk it through? Contact us and we will help directly.
Will the name be mostly descriptive of what you sell - words like "Fast", "Fresh", "Quality", or your city plus your product?
Descriptive and geographic names are hard to protect as trademarks and easy for competitors to copy; a coined or arbitrary name is far stronger.
Choose a distinctive, protectable name before you register or brand.
Official guidance: SBA choose your business name
Will you sell across state lines or online, or plan to expand beyond your home state within a few years?
A multi-state or online footprint means you need protection that is national in scope, not just a home-state entity-name reservation.
Use the interactive tool above to see how this applies to your situation.
Official guidance: SBA choose your business name
Is the name already in use by another business in a related industry, or is the matching .com domain owned by someone else?
Another company using a similar name for similar goods is the core test for trademark conflict - reused names invite refusals and infringement claims.
Clear the conflict or pick a different name before you commit.
Official guidance: SBA choose your business name
Are you ready to launch and spend real money on the brand - signage, packaging, a website, or advertising - within the next few months?
Federal registration takes many months, so filing an application before you invest in branding is what secures nationwide rights ahead of the spend.
File a federal trademark application before you scale the brand. Lock the name and domain now, file the trademark when you launch.
Official guidance: SBA choose your business name
Will you operate under a name different from your own legal name or your registered entity's exact name - for example a storefront or brand name?
Trading under any name other than your legal or registered entity name usually requires a DBA (assumed-name) filing so the public can identify who is behind the business.
File a DBA and clear the name at the county and state level. Reserve the entity name with the state and secure the domain.
Official guidance: SBA choose your business name
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