New York Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Buffalo, New York
Thinking about starting a business in Buffalo, New York? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Buffalo.
Do You Have What It Takes?
Most new ventures do not succeed, in part because the entrepreneur did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary to succeed. So, before jumping into the world of entrepreneurship, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
Here are three things we recommend you do before you fully commit to starting a new business of your own.
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Buffalo. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
- We recommend reading Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Have a candid conversation with friends and family. A support network of family and friends can be a great sounding board for good advice before you decide for sure to go into business.
Buffalo, New York Demographic Information
Buffalo has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Buffalo demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Buffalo.
Businesses
As a new Buffalo entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Buffalo for each business category. By looking at this chart, you can get a general sense for how much competition there is in the business niche that you are pursuing.
Businesses
Choosing a Company Name
A big decision when starting a company is choosing a company name. Believe it or not, choosing a good company name can be a big contributor to your business success.
Even if the name doesn't do it by itself, many naming experts believe there should be a story behind the name that ties into your company mission.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Branding Advice.
On a final note, given that you are opening a business in Buffalo, it's imperative that you check now that no other New York company is using the business name you want to use.
Company Formation in Buffalo, New York
It's very important that you form your business as a legal structure. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
The entity you form can be a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.
Incorporation is a very popular way to form a business. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. Just because you are starting a business in New York, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in New York. In fact, you can incorporate wherever you want. However, if you do incorporate in another state, you'll have to register as a foreign corporation in your home state.
There's a lot to know about forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Piercing the Corporate Veil. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Buffalo, New York, our information on Incorporating in New York may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in New York.
Don't Skip the Business Plan
Writing a business plan is vital to the health of your new business. Indeed, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Starting a business without a business plan will greatly reduce your chances of business success.
Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in New York.
Letting the World Know You Exist
Whether your goal is to attract Buffalo customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your doing well.
There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Creating a Web Presence discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just a sampling of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Improving Your Entrepreneurial Skillset
Successful business owners know that what they know now may not be enough to ensure their future success.
Given that you are starting a business in Buffalo, New York, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby New York universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any Buffalo networking organizations.
Buffalo Entrepreneur Interviews
Here, we'll keep a running list of interviews we've had with Buffalo entrepreneurs.
Now It's Up To You
Most new Buffalo businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Buffalo and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Buffalo, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Buffalo, New York
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Buffalo.
- Resources for Buffalo, New York Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Buffalo entrepreneurs.
- New York Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in New York.
- New York Small Business Development Center - The New York State Small Business Development Center delivers high quality business counseling and training to New Yorkers who want to start a business or improve the performance of an existing business.
More Business Startup Guides for New York
Starting a Business in Brooklyn
Starting a Business in Callicoon
Browse All Business Startup Guides for New York
Starting a Business Guides for Other States
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs