Establish the Business
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Steps to Establish Your Business
To establish your business as a legal entity with a commercial identity (Venturize, 2018). . .
- Select your business name and register as a business entity at the federal and state level. State requirements vary. When you register the owner, be sure to consider the opportunities available for women-owned businesses (more than half owned and managed by one or more women).
- Select a domain name for your website.
- To make sure existing patents will not block your business idea, conduct a freedom to operate (FTO) search. You may want to hire a patent attorney.
- Obtain federal and state tax IDs. Get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) through the IRS. An EIN is needed to pay taxes, obtain licenses and permits, hire employees, and open a business bank account. Registration takes up to the next business day. State tax IDs vary.
- Obtain a trademark through the US Patent and Trademark Office if you want one.
Reference
Venturize. How to Turn Your Small Business into a Legal Entity. Venturize.org. September 8, 2018.
Licensing Your Invention If You Work at a University
If you developed your intellectual property (IP) while working at a university, the IP belongs to the institution. You must license the IP from them to use it in your business, usually for some financial compensation (Chitale et al., 2022). You must disclose to the university the value of your company, the role you will play, and the time you will commit to the business. Your business’s attorney will negotiate the details of the license with the university’s technology transfer office (TTO), including a conflict management plan and milestones your business must meet to maintain the university’s support of your business.
Reference
Chitale S, Lawler C, Klausner A. So you want to start a biotech company. Nat Biotechnol. March 2022;40(3):296–300. doi:10.1038/s41587-022-01239-9.
Tip
Select the domain name for your new business’s website (URL) and business name simultaneously because one may affect the other. The availability of your ideal business name or domain name is not guaranteed.
Read More
Types of IP and Their Protection
Business Name, Tax IDs, and Insurance
Challenge:
A (fictional) startup business is being established and needs a name. The business will produce a device that takes a new approach to using robotics to do physical therapy. To learn some of the challenges in finding a name for a business, select the name that you think will work the best from the following list of potential names. Then review what was determined by thorough research about each name.
