Day 20 : building in public — here's the real story behind TopStartNow.

A friend spent 2 months trying to register a US company for his SaaS.
He picked Delaware because "that's what everyone says."
→ $300/year franchise tax. Wrong entity type. 8 IRS phone calls.
→ $800 wasted. Two months gone.

When he finally asked for help, I walked him through it in one afternoon:
→ Wyoming LLC — $60/year, not $300
→ Called the IRS at 6:00 AM ET on Tuesday — EIN in 15 minutes
→ Mercury bank account approved in 3 days
→ Stripe connected by Friday

Total: one week. $250.

The worst part? Nobody told him about Form 5472.
$25,000/year penalty if you forget to file.
Most formation services never mention it. It's not their problem.

That's when I decided to build TopStartNow.

**Where we are now:**
• Bootstrapped — no VC, no pressure to jack up prices
• 58 guides published covering everything from LLC vs C-Corp to Stripe setup
• Served founders from 15+ countries
• Launching on PH this Tuesday (July 28)

**The biggest lesson:**
Foreign founders don't need a cheaper formation service.
They need one that doesn't lie about what comes after
"congratulations, your LLC is approved."

Ask me anything ↓

#buildinpublic #solofounder #indiehacker