> Canonical URL: https://codingcat.dev/podcast/1-10-creating-a-startup

# Creating a Startup

![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfh83o0w/production/a2e8a72e363dcb5866adebe2b62d47cb09425321-1920x1080.png?w=1920&h=1080&q=82&fit=max&auto=format)[![Alex Patterson](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfh83o0w/production/a606dfaa381aab08ddbe16a33fe1d3e1fb37c927-400x400.jpg?w=96&h=96&q=82&fit=max&auto=format)Alex Patterson](/author/alex-patterson)[![Brittney Postma](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfh83o0w/production/f25e504779cb6ebb7c0dd7df367f2c7490e17784-735x735.png?w=96&h=96&q=82&fit=max&auto=format)Brittney Postma](/author/brittney-postma)[![Aaron Frost](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfh83o0w/production/9f1c40b518c922f06956fa4826be738b3b5c60dd-400x400.jpg?w=96&h=96&q=82&fit=max&auto=format)Aaron Frost](/guest/aaron-frost)[![Ali Spittel](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfh83o0w/production/f8e6279a30eadc3278fba57ae12c04386da0f9dd-400x400.jpg?w=96&h=96&q=82&fit=max&auto=format)Ali Spittel](/guest/ali-spittel)[![Kelly Vaughn](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfh83o0w/production/cb25ffe8ea6e2beff889e7aec2b3a046ce484bec-399x399.jpg?w=96&h=96&q=82&fit=max&auto=format)Kelly Vaughn](/guest/kelly-vaughn)[![Tyler McGinnis](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfh83o0w/production/b53571cba6aace5abe132f142a9e83d0585e8674-320x320.jpg?w=96&h=96&q=82&fit=max&auto=format)Tyler McGinnis](/guest/tyler-mcginnis)February 17, 2021

## Listening Options

[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1I1490zCsCREiMlUerlTUz)[Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-10-creating-a-startup/id1491655542?i=1000511447146)[YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE)[Pocket Casts](https://pca.st/episode/84474b64-a7cb-4b70-9b54-084f2a5df225)[Castbox](https://castbox.fm/episode/id2508485-id360909765)[Castro](https://castro.fm/episode/nv96dS)[Overcast](https://overcast.fm/itunes1491655542)[RSS](https://anchor.fm/s/115b203c/podcast/rss)

## Questions

- You have all founded companies surrounding web development, and I have watched you become successful over the years. Can you think back to the moment you made this decision and why?
- What is it like leaving a good paying corporate job and going out on your own?
- What Challenges did you face?
- If you have a partner what was it like negotiating a business that you created?
- How do you make everyone happy when you start that partnership?
- Did you need to establish a percentage between your partners, how did you determine this so it was fair?
- How did you structure your company? C Corp, S Corp, LLC
- Did you use A lawyer or Online (Stripe, Legal Zoom, incfile)
- What state did you incorporate in?
- Business Tools your using
- Pre-sales documents, like Statement of Work. (PandaDoc)
- Accounting (Deskera, Quickbooks, FreshBooks)
- CRM (Deskera)
- Have you ever sold your startup?
- If you have, was that challenging emotionally?
- Would you ever consider selling your current company?
- You each seem to have both a product and services, can you talk about how you calculate the pricing within each?
- To get more business and revenue flowing do you find yourself adding 1099 employees at times to cover a sale?
- Do you have people doing the selling, or do you find that people are often reaching out to you for your services?
- Are you still programming?
- Do you do your own podcast editing?
- Do you produce your own videos?

## Video Chapters & Timestamps

Jump directly to any segment of [**Creating a Startup**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE) on YouTube using the timestamped chapters below:

- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Introductions
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Aaron Frost
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Ali Spittel
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Kelly Vaughn
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Tyler McGinnis
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): How do you decide when it’s time to make the jump to freelancing?
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Tyler - How UI.dev started
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Ali - Full time job with a side business
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Frosty - Dealing with partners
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Contracting
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): How to decide the type of business. (LLC, S Corp, C Corp)
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Do you need a lawyer before incorporating?
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Where do you find clients?
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Learn to brag
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Vet your clients
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): NDA’s
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Services and contracts
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Customer Service
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): BlackCat LMS
- [**00:00**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE&t=0s): Accounting Software and “business stacks”

## Resources, Links & Official Documentation

- **Watch on YouTube: ** [Creating a Startup Full Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE) (plus [Subscribe to CodingCat.dev](https://www.youtube.com/@CodingCatDev?sub_confirmation=1))
- **:02:55 - Ladybug Podcast: ** [https://www.ladybug.dev/](https://www.ladybug.dev/)
- **:04:45 - Atomic Habits: ** [https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299](https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299)
- **:05:22 - Financial Intelligence: ** [https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Intelligence-Managers-Knowing-Numbers/dp/1591397642](https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Intelligence-Managers-Knowing-Numbers/dp/1591397642)
- **:06:05 - Start Freelancing Today: ** [https://startfreelancing.today/](https://startfreelancing.today/)
- **:06:55 - Shopify Blog: ** [https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-start-a-business](https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-start-a-business)
- **:07:34 - Stripe Atlas: ** [https://stripe.com/atlas](https://stripe.com/atlas)
- **:08:28 - Incfile: ** [https://www.incfile.com](https://www.incfile.com)
- **Show Pick: ** [Stripe Atlas (picked by Alex Patterson)](https://stripe.com/atlas)
- **Show Pick: ** [IncFile (picked by Alex Patterson)](https://www.incfile.com/)
- **Show Pick: ** [Start Freelancing Today by Kelly Vaughn (picked by Brittney Postma)](https://a.co/d/hKFwi3u)
- **Show Pick: ** [Shopify Blog, How to start a business (picked by Brittney Postma)](https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-start-a-business)
- **Show Pick: ** [Favorite TikToker (picked by Aaron Frost)](https://www.tiktok.com/@goddessmia20)
- **Show Pick: ** [Ladybug Podcast (picked by Ali Spittel)](https://www.ladybug.dev/)
- **Show Pick: ** [Atomic Habits (picked by Kelly Vaughn)](https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits)
- **Show Pick: ** [Financial Intelligence (picked by Tyler McGinnis)](https://a.co/d/1RIpPI9)
- [**Aaron Frost Guest Profile & Episodes on CodingCat.dev**](/guest/aaron-frost)
- [**Aaron Frost on GitHub**](https://github.com/aaronfrost)
- [**Ali Spittel Guest Profile & Episodes on CodingCat.dev**](/guest/ali-spittel)
- [**Ali Spittel on GitHub**](https://github.com/aspittel)
- [**Kelly Vaughn Guest Profile & Episodes on CodingCat.dev**](/guest/kelly-vaughn)
- [**Kelly Vaughn on GitHub**](https://github.com/kellyvaughn)
- [**Tyler McGinnis Guest Profile & Episodes on CodingCat.dev**](/guest/tyler-mcginnis)
- [**Tyler McGinnis on GitHub**](https://github.com/tylermcginnis)
- [**Stripe Developer Documentation:**](https://docs.stripe.com/) Payment intents, webhooks, subscriptions, and billing architecture
- [**MDN JavaScript Reference:**](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript) ECMAScript specifications, Web APIs, and runtime fundamentals
- [**Google AI for Developers Documentation:**](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs) Multimodal models, structured outputs, tool calling, and agentic workflows

## Related CodingCat.dev Tutorials & Podcast Episodes

- [**Creating Great Ecommerce with Jamstack**](/podcast/1-26-creating-great-ecommerce-with-jamstack): We sit down with Flor Antara and James Vidler to talk all about Ecommerce and the solutions for Jamstack.
- [**Build a Custom No-Code App in 90 Minutes**](/podcast/build-a-custom-no-code-app-in-90-minutes): Curious about no-code app building? Dive in as we explore Adalo vs Bubble, micro SaaS ideas, and real talk on launching products without code. Drop your thought...
- [**Firestore for Unity and C++**](/podcast/1-14-firestore-for-unity-c-plus-plus): We talk with Patrick Martin from Firebase all about game development and how Firebase's Firestore is now available in Beta.

## Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

### What are the main takeaways from Creating a Startup?

Creating a Startup is hard! Learn from the experts who have created great startup companies. Everything from an LLC to Stripe's new C-Corp tool Atlas. 1.10 - Creating a Startup: https://codingcat.dev/podcast/1-10-creating-a-startup 1:08 - Introductions
1:13 - Aaron Frost
1:56 - Ali Spittel
2:48 - Kelly Vaughn
3:56 - Tyler McGinnis
6:50 - How do you decide when it’s time to make the jump to freelancing?
10:50 - Tyler - How UI.dev started
12:30 - Ali - Full time job with a s Throughout this podcast, Aaron Frost and Ali Spittel and Kelly Vaughn and Tyler McGinnis breaks down real-world implementation details for Stripe, JavaScript, AI so developers can apply these patterns directly in production.

### How do you implement Stripe best practices in production?

When adopting Stripe and JavaScript in a production stack, start by validating your configuration against the [**Stripe Developer Documentation**](https://docs.stripe.com/) (Payment intents, webhooks, subscriptions, and billing architecture). Focus on incremental adoption, automated testing, and observability so your team can measure performance and developer velocity improvements at each stage.

### Where can I watch the full Creating a Startup walkthrough and find related code resources?

You can watch the complete video session for [**Creating a Startup**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvVjBAP_BE) on the [**CodingCat.dev YouTube channel**](https://www.youtube.com/@CodingCatDev?sub_confirmation=1). For a deeper dive into Stripe, check out our related guide: [**Creating Great Ecommerce with Jamstack**](/podcast/1-26-creating-great-ecommerce-with-jamstack).

## Episode Summary

1.10 - Creating a Startup: https://codingcat.dev/podcast/1-10-creating-a-startup

1:08 - Introductions
1:13 - Aaron Frost
1:56 - Ali Spittel
2:48 - Kelly Vaughn
3:56 - Tyler McGinnis
6:50 - How do you decide when it’s time to make the jump to freelancing?
10:50 - Tyler - How UI.dev started
12:30 - Ali - Full time job with a s

## Picks

### Aaron Frost

- [Favorite TikToker](https://www.tiktok.com/@goddessmia20)

### Alex Patterson

- [Stripe Atlas](https://stripe.com/atlas)
- [IncFile](https://www.incfile.com/)

### Ali Spittel

- [Ladybug Podcast](https://www.ladybug.dev/)

### Brittney Postma

- [Start Freelancing Today by Kelly Vaughn](https://a.co/d/hKFwi3u)
- [Shopify Blog – How to start a business](https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-start-a-business)

### Kelly Vaughn

- [Atomic Habits](https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits)

### Tyler McGinnis

- [Financial Intelligence](https://a.co/d/1RIpPI9)

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