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Gust Launch — Legal, banking and accounting solution for startups
Gust Launch is the one click solution for founding and managing a high-growth startup. A unique 'software as a service' platform, Gust Launch incorporates your startup as a Delaware C corp, files with the IRS, sets up your equity, and then handles ALL of your legal, accounting, stock and banking needs as you grow...starting at only $99/month.
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Update: June 1, 2017: Our pricing has changed since the product was first hunted during its beta phase and the comments below were written. Today, Gust Launch offers the same features and more, available as a base subscription to the platform at only $99/month, supplemented by add-on packages that solve your company’s needs as you scale. In addition, Launch now includes an hour of real legal services each month as well as $15,000 in Amazon Web Services credit, 300,00 monthly emails through SendGrid, and more. For more information, see launch.gust.com
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Gust Launch was born out of the realization that founding and running a high-growth startup is much, much more complicated (and expensive) than any first time entrepreneur ever realizes.
We have therefore turned 'starting a company' into an automatic, software as a service solution designed specifically for high-growth startup teams. Wth a single click you can now:
Incorporate as a Delaware C Corp
Get your EIN from the IRS
File for Foreign Qualification in your home state
Handle all post-incorporation legal setup
Open your company bank account
Set up your cap table
Issue stock to you and your founding team
Set up your accounting system...
and then, on an ongoing basis, have all of your:
Legal
Accounting
Bookkeeping
Equity management
409(a) valuations
Investor reporting
Due diligence compliance
...handled for you, including both the systems (XERO accounting, bank account, cap table management, etc.) and the services (legal, accounting, bookkeeping, et al.) you need.
@jared_reitzin No, we're actually their largest competitor in the early stage space, and, in fact, have done many, many more 409(a) valuations than they have. They only started doing valuations themselves this year; our Gust Equity Management group, formerly an independent valuation company known as Preferred Return, has done thousands of valuations over many years for many of the leading high-growth firms out of accelerator programs like YC.
@abhib @davidsrose Cleartax has launched a similar program in India https://cleartax.in/services/sta....
@fishmanalex It is functionally equivalent, except that with Gust Launch everything is built in, integrated and locked so that you can't screw it up. That is, eShares is a way of documenting and managing an equity structure that you already have; Gust Launch actually *creates* the structure for you and provides bulletproof workflows all the way up to the board level. It's a unique solution that is only possible because Gust incorporates the company in Delaware in the first place, provides all the documentation and insures that you can't go 'out of bounds'.
@jamie_ross For the moment it's US entrepreneurs starting US companies. Q1 it expands to ALL entrepreneurs starting US companies, then by Q2 it should handle European startups as well.
@davidsrose Should definitely look to add visa support for those that want to build an American company but unfortunately weren't lucky enough to be American.
@davidsrose @jamie_ross This is exactly the product I will be needing in a few years. Any plans for you guys to add support for India?
@siddhant_patel Definitely for Indians looking to incorporate in the US. That should be in Q1. Incorporations *in* India are probably a bit farther down the road.
Really nice... What is the difference between Gust and Stripe Atlas [Disclaimer: I have my startup registered through Stripe Atlas] from the point of view a USA non citizen and non resident and What services you offer to them?
@engmsaleh Stripe Atlas is a nice, transactional solution for non-US citizens incorporating a US company. Gust Launch is a significant superset of Atlas, initially designed for US entrepreneurs, but expanding to support international founders next month. The basic difference is that Atlas is a one-time transaction, where Gust Launch is an ongoing SaaS platform that includes unlimited, ongoing legal Q&A, ongoing bookkeeping services, ongoing cap table management, accounting, 409(a) valuations, and much, much more.
While Gust has some products and services that are available to established companies (like Gust Equity Managent, valuations services, online funding applications, etc.), Gust Launch as a full platform only is available for companies that start out on the platform from the very beginning. By therefore guaranteeing that everything is done perfectly and integrated with everything else, and that you can never go off track and screw things up, we have been able to eliminate literally 90% of the cost of operating the mechanics of a high-growth company. What is live today is the first part of the solution. We'll shortly be expanding it to include setting up your option plan, providing payroll services, dedicated lawyers (working with the largest firms in the country), and much more. Stay tuned!
@davidsrose Thanks a lot for detailed answer, it really sounds nice. The point of that ongoing platform with all services under the same roof. I really enjoyed Stripe Atlas approach and it helped us a lot, but I still think the point of ongoing services handled all together is still missing... Please keep me updated when you launch the new services.
@davidsrose @engmsaleh I hope it'll be okay if I incorporate using stripe Atlas (this Jan) and then move to your platform. Or will you open up for Indian entrepreneurs on a beta mode.
@jerriclynsjohn While you can't move on to Gust Launch *after* you're incorporated, we do have many services that are available to all companies, including cap table management, co-founder equity split tools, valuation calculators, online funding applications and much more.
Very cool David and Gust team! One question I have is for companies that have already started and set up a lot of this "stuff" would this services still be helpful? For example, let's say you start a company as an LLC in your home state over the weekend, 6 months later you start to get some traction and realize you actually need all of this stuff set up properly. Is it too late to use this service?
@adamhoeksema Ah, good question, and there's the rub. The only way we're able to pull this off, and deliver a solution that is truly 10x easier, 10x better, 10x faster, and 10x cheaper...is that the platform coordinates everything from the very beginning and doesn't allow you to go 'off the rails'. As a result, the full Gust Launch platform is therefore only possible if you start at square zero.
That being said, it depends to an extent on how far you've gone down the road with the do-it-yourself approach: if you've just incorporated but haven't done anything else (like raise money, issue options, generate revenue, etc.), then the easiest way is to simply close down the original entity and restart from scratch on Gust Launch (and our team can help walk you through that process.) But, if you're already a more mature, operating company, while you can't be part of Gust Launch, you can take advantage of some of its component features, including things like Gust Equity Management, valuation services, fundraising, and the like, which are best-in-class and available to everyone.
What is the unique proposition? Helping startups focus on productivity in their actual business by having a comprehensive visibility management tool?
@fusioncatalog Yes, plus much, much more! Gust Launch is not just a visibility management tool; it takes care of ALL the gnarly back-end stuff at a startup, from the moment you decide to incorporate all the way through to your exit. By handling a perfect corporate set up (incorporation as a Delaware C Corp, foreign qualification in your home state, EIN from the IRS, registered agent in Delaware, etc.) as well as all of the ongoing legal, financial, equity and bookkeeping support, and then integrating everything with bulletproof board workflows, providing all of the supporting platforms (such as Xero Accounting and Gust Equity Management and even a bank account) as well as the services (unlimited legal Q&A, ongoing bookkeeping services, accounting, etc.) it eliminates all of the required-but-nonproductive stuff so that you can truly focus on your actual business.
@davidsrose @fusioncatalog David, this is absolutely amazing. I have a ton of people I want to share this with. I have some questions. Good email to reach you?
@davidsrose emailed ya, this is so super relevant to a lot of new apps that come out.
@abhib Cleartax has launched a similar program in India https://cleartax.in/services/sta....
Looks nice! And would be a decent shove for a lot of entrepreneurs starting out. An all encompassed pricing is a great idea and transparency with pricing helps more than what most people think. Of course, the state level fees and taxes will be extra, but those are manageable once you know the core costs.
How does this fair for foreign entrepreneurs?
@shakeyji This initial launch of Gust Launch is only the beginning. Today it's for US-based entrepreneurs (with a US SSN) forming a US-based company. Coming in the near future, it will be expanded to international entrepreneurs forming a US company, and then later in the year it will expand even further to a completely international solution with non-US incorporation (keep in mind that Gust is a global platform. It's the official platform of the early stage investment federations in 28 countries and continents, and supports startups in 190 countries.)
@davidsrose congrats for launch.gust.com idea. Any ETA for international founders (allowing us to incorporate a Delaware C-Corp using launch.gust just like US founders)?
Missed me by 30 days. I just formed a Delaware LLC 11.21.2016 .. and wrestled with whether to organize as a C corp or not. However, I seek to remain a one person, bootstrapped company.. but that could change. I really love the idea of everything under one service for one price, AND compliant.
Please do let me know when you can take on someone like myself. And, yes, I would consider converting from LLC.
Really great to see a service like this out there.
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