Lessons from my first exit

> I had a dedicated TinyPilot GCP project, but it was within my personal Google account.

This sounds crazy to me. Never ever mix your business and personal accounts for anything! The point of an LLC (in any jurisdiction) is to keep your personal and business concerns separate, so why would you break that rule for Google? Which is why my reaction to these lines:

> I always sent emails related to the business from my @tinypilotkvm.com email address.

> I always used @tinypilotkvm.com email addresses whenever signing up for services on behalf of TinyPilot.

was along the lines of "Well, DUH!" Of course, that's the first thing you do with a new business: dedicated bank account, dedicated email address.

I don't know which project is going to make it and which is not; will be very painful opening companies for all of these. So I open one once something is doing $5k+/mo only.

That doesn't really contradict my point. Create separate accounts as soon as you open a business, not as as soon as you create a new directory under ~/projects/.

The pain and cost very much depend on one’s jurisdiction (hey, once upon a time it literally required an act of Parliament!). And there are levels to it, too. Absolutely, the first time one sets up a company one needs to hire a lawyer. But after that it’s more of a judgment call.

$5k/month is $60k/year — I am not myself comfortable with the unlimited personal liability risk that brings without a company.

> $5k/month is $60k/year — I am not myself comfortable with the unlimited personal liability risk that brings without a company.

Yeah, here that's not such a problem; I wouldn't do a LLC at all if it would not really help with selling it.

Yeah, so my entries under ~/projects are 'new' until $5k/mo, so that works.

Regarding GCP migration: I would just add the new account(s) as Owner to every relevant project. Then they can remove you after the 30 days or whenever they're comfortable.

if you have a couple projects making a couple thousands a months, you could still open one company to manage those projects

Author here. Thanks for reading.

>This sounds crazy to me. Never ever mix your business and personal accounts for anything! The point of an LLC (in any jurisdiction) is to keep your personal and business concerns separate, so why would you break that rule for Google?

The finances were always separate. The company GCP project was on a dedicated billing account within GCP, so I don't think it violated any rules about business/personal separation of an LLC.

>was along the lines of "Well, DUH!" Of course, that's the first thing you do with a new business: dedicated bank account, dedicated email address.

Dedicated email address: yes.

Dedicated bank account: no, not from the start.

What bank do you use that will give you a dedicated account for every business idea you have before you even know if it will materialize into something?

I have a business checking account under my sole proprietorship before I know if the business will turn into anything. A few months into TinyPilot, I registered an LLC and created dedicated bank accounts at that point.

But there's so much work and friction in opening a business bank account in the US that I couldn't possibly do it as soon as I have the idea for the business. I had ~10 other businesses that flopped before TinyPilot. It's impractical to have dedicated bank accounts for each one ready to go on day one. And registering an LLC is ~$600 all-in plus a few hundred in yearly renewals, plus $200 to shut it down.