Starting a Business: The Progression Cycle

1. Take advice, both legal and accounting. Get professional advice as early as possible: if you work in a vacuum, how can you protect yourself?
2. Prepare your business plan. It is the foundation of any successful start-up.
3. Decide where and how to incorporate, or whether to register as a sole trader with a business name.
4. Name your company, and research website availability while you are at it.
5. Make sure your liability is limited, with a constitution that reflects the business to date and the business as you expect it to develop.
6. Consider whether you need a shareholders' agreement from the start.
7. Equity or debt: decide what funding will be sought, from whom, and on what terms. Consider the trade-off and tailor the offering.
8. Take a step back and take a breath. Re-evaluate the business plan.
9. Protect your intellectual property: register trade marks, logos, ideas and concepts.
10. Put in place shareholders' agreements and employment contracts: these are the essential documents protecting the business internally.
11. Be fully insured, to protect yourself and the business against all risks.
12. Plan for staff: contracts, health and safety regulation, and your own obligations as an employer.
13. Develop your website and conduct as much market research as you can.
14. Prepare your terms and conditions of engagement.
15. Talk to other established businesses.
16. Retain legal flexibility throughout.
17. Prepare for the next stage in the life cycle.
18. Get funding-ready and investor-ready.
19. Consider the possibilities: IPO, sale, merger.
20. Look at your exit options.

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