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
Startup Funding Readiness
Screen whether your business is ready to seek funding (self, loan, or investor), what documents lenders and investors expect, and what to prepare.
4 guided steps
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Official guidance links
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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 you fund the business mainly from outside money - a lender or an investor - rather than your own savings and revenue?
Self-funding and external funding lead to very different preparation: a bootstrapper's job is runway discipline and clean books, while anyone taking outside money has to satisfy a third party's diligence - so this is the first fork.
Build a runway and milestone plan and keep clean books.
Official guidance: SBA fund your business
Will you raise that money as equity from investors - selling ownership - rather than borrowing it as a loan you repay?
Debt keeps your ownership but must be repaid with interest and usually needs collateral and personal credit; equity brings no repayment but sells a share of the company and is built around specific structures - so debt versus equity determines everything you prepare.
Use the interactive tool above to see how this applies to your situation.
Official guidance: SBA fund your business
Are you already a C-corporation with a clean cap table, and do you have a pitch deck and a data room ready to show investors?
Priced equity and standard startup instruments assume a C-corporation with an accurate capitalization table; investors expect a pitch and a data room of core documents - so if these are not in place, that is the gap to close before you raise.
Prepare the equity raise - cap table, pitch, and data room. Close the gaps before approaching any funder.
Official guidance: SBA fund your business
Do you have historical or projected financials, and the collateral and personal credit a bank or SBA lender will underwrite against?
A bank or SBA loan is underwritten on financial statements, projections, cash flow to service the debt, collateral, and the owner's personal credit and guarantee - so having those assembled is what separates a fundable applicant from a premature one.
Prepare the loan package - financials, projections, collateral, credit. Close the gaps before approaching any funder.
Official guidance: SBA fund your business
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