I built a one-click US company formation platform for global founders
The problem:
- Doola charges $297 for LLC + RA. Then you still need a domain ($15), email ($72), and hosting ($120). That's $500+ across 4 vendors.
- Firstbase charges $399 flat, same story.
- Most services are English-only. Chinese-speaking founders have zero options.
- Nobody bundles formation + domain + email + hosting + website in one package.
What I built:
TopStartNow — all-in-one US company formation. LLC + Registered Agent + EIN + domain + email + hosting. One payment. One account.
By the numbers:
- $200/yr: LLC + RA (all 50 states)
- $299/yr: + domain + email + EIN (most popular)
- $399/yr: + hosting + AI website builder
- Free tools: company name checker + AI website builder
Current status:
- 200+ companies formed
- Honest competitor comparison pages live (Doola/Firstbase/LegalZoom vs TopStartNow)
- Free AI website builder: topstartnow.com/ai-website
- Free name checker: topstartnow.com/name-check
- Launching on Product Hunt July 21
- Bootstrapped. No VC. No plans to raise.
Would love honest feedback — especially on pricing and positioning. What would make you choose this over Doola or Firstbase?
Bundling the domain email and hosting with the formation is the part that stood out. Most founders don't wake up wanting an LLC. They want to start building without juggling five different services.
I can picture someone asking ChatGPT how to start a US company from overseas without an SSN and without bouncing between providers. Before they compare prices they're probably just hoping to find one path that feels complete from day one.
I'm curious if you've noticed people talking about the convenience of having everything in one place more than the lower price itself.
You put it better than I could. "Most founders don't wake up wanting an LLC" — exactly. They wake up wanting to launch, to get paid, to build something. The LLC is just paperwork in the way.
And yes — the convenience question is interesting. What we're actually hearing from early users is less about price and more about "I don't know what order to do things in." They don't know whether to buy the domain first, or register the company first, or set up email first — because no one tells them the sequence. That's the real pain point we're solving: not bundling for the sake of bundling, but giving someone a single path from zero to operating business.
Appreciate the thoughtful framing. It's helping me sharpen the messaging.
I think that's an even stronger position than competing on price. People rarely remember every feature in a bundle, but they do remember the product that removes uncertainty.
The interesting part now is making sure that message exists beyond your own website. If someone asks ChatGPT or another AI, "What's the easiest way to start a US company from overseas?" the recommendation won't just depend on pricing—it'll depend on how much authority and third-party validation exists around TopStartNow solving that exact journey.
Have you started thinking about building that external authority alongside the Product Hunt launch, or is the launch your main focus right now?
Honest answer: I've been thinking about this a lot but haven't executed yet.
Here's what I've built so far on the authority side:
— 27 SEO guides covering every question a non-resident LLC founder would ask (EIN, taxes, BOI, bank accounts, Stripe, annual reports, dissolution, etc.). Estimated ~55K monthly search volume covered.
— 5 honest competitor comparison pages (Doola, Firstbase, LegalZoom, Northwest, Stripe Atlas) that don't just say "we're better" but actually recommend competitors for specific use cases. Google ranks these surprisingly well.
— 3 free tools: company name checker, AI website builder, pricing page.
— A /blog page with search, categories, pagination — built to be crawled and indexed.
What I HAVEN'T done yet:
— No backlinks from other sites. No guest posts. No HARO responses. No third-party validation beyond the site itself.
— No mentions on other people's blogs, YouTube channels, podcasts, or newsletters. No external footprint.
— The Product Hunt launch is July 21. I've scheduled it, written the first comment, prepared the gallery screenshots and cover GIF. But it's one spike — not a sustained authority strategy.
The content is the foundation — but you're right that it needs external validation to work for AI recommendations. A blog post I wrote about BOI reporting carries more weight when a tax professional's site links to it.
Curious — if you were in my position, what would you prioritize first after the PH launch? Guest posts? HARO? Building a YouTube channel? Something else?
I'd probably prioritize earning authority before trying to be everywhere. A few strong mentions from trusted startup, legal, or founder sites can compound much more than spreading yourself across every channel at once.
I have a few ideas around building long-term organic traffic and what I'd focus on after the Product Hunt launch. They're a bit too detailed for a comment, but if you'd like, feel free to reach out.
mumar [at] growwithmumar [dot] online
Congrats on 200+ formations, shengjun. The bundling is the right call, most competitors leave founders juggling four vendors. The thing I would want proof on before recommending this to a global founder: the handoffs between steps. Does the domain and email actually provision automatically once the LLC is formed, or does something stall waiting on a manual step. That is usually where bundled services lose trust, not the pricing.
I do product testing and walkthrough videos for early tools. With your Product Hunt launch on July 21, I would be glad to run through the full formation flow end to end before then and put together a video showing exactly how smooth (or not) that handoff actually is, something you could use as launch day proof. Happy to talk timeline if useful.
This is exactly the right question to ask — and the one I lose sleep over.
The handoff is the hardest technical part of what we're building. Right now: LLC formation triggers automatic domain registration and email provisioning via API (we use ResellerClub for domains and DirectAdmin for email). But if the state filing hits a delay — which happens — we don't let the domain and email stall waiting. The customer gets those immediately after payment, regardless of state processing speed. The only piece that depends on the state is the EIN application, which requires the Certificate of Formation.
Would love to take you up on the walkthrough video offer. Having an independent product tester document the real flow — smooth parts and rough parts — is exactly the kind of launch-day proof that matters more than any marketing copy. Let me DM you to set up a time.
Hi! Sorry for the delayed reply.
That architecture makes a lot of sense. Decoupling the domain and email provisioning from the state filing is a smart decision since customers can get started immediately instead of waiting on government processing.
I would love to do the independent walkthrough and product test. Since Indie Hackers does not have DMs, what is the best way to reach you? Feel free to share your email, LinkedIn, or another contact method, and we can set up a time.
Looking forward to trying the product and sharing honest feedback on both the smooth parts and any friction I find.
Hey! No worries at all on the timing — this is the kind of conversation worth waiting for.
On the architecture: glad it makes sense. That decoupling was one of those decisions that felt obvious after we made it but took way too long to see. The government timeline is what it is. The customer's clock is different. We just had to stop coupling them.
For contact — you can reach me at [info@topstartnow.com] and we'll figure out a time that works. I'll send you a walkthrough link you can go through at your own pace, no call required unless you want one.
What would be most useful to me: go through the flow exactly as a real customer would, and note every moment where you pause, squint, or think "wait, what does this mean?" Smooth parts are nice to hear about. Friction points are the gift. Don't soften them. If something is confusing, unclear, or feels like we skipped a step, I want to know exactly where and in what words you'd describe the problem.
Talk soon — and genuinely, thank you for offering to do this.
Do you get my email?
Thanks again! I’ve just sent you an email through obasekoresamuel@samchamplify.com . Looking forward to diving into the product and sharing detailed, honest feedback on both the smooth parts and the friction points. Talk soon!
What stood out to me is that you're reducing the number of decisions a founder has to make, not just the number of vendors they have to use.
Starting a company is full of small points where momentum gets lost. If the product consistently removes those decisions instead of just bundling services together, that's a much stronger value proposition.
This is the insight that made me re-think the entire value proposition.
Early on I was pitching "four services for one price." But what you're describing is deeper: it's decision fatigue. Every time a founder has to stop and ask "wait, do I buy the .com or the .co?" or "should I use Google Workspace or something else?" — they lose momentum. Some of them never come back.
The real product isn't the bundling. It's reducing the number of micro-decisions from twenty-something to maybe three: pick a name, pick a state, pay. That's the bar. Thanks for putting words to something I've been feeling but hadn't articulated.
Interesting.
Reading your reply made me think less about reducing decisions and more about what the product quietly commits itself to once founders begin relying on it to remove uncertainty instead of simply bundling services.
I don't think I can explain that line of reasoning properly in a thread without oversimplifying it.
If you're interested, what's the best email to reach you on?