California Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Menlo Park, California
Contemplating starting a business in Menlo Park, California? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Menlo Park.
Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?
Before announcing to the world that you are going to start your own business, take inventory of your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Menlo Park. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
Which Business to Choose?
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. We recommend that you read Evaluating Your Idea.
For in-depth how-to guides on how to start specific businesses, browse our Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our How to Start a Barbecued Meats Business guide or our Starting a Boat & Yacht Brokers Business guide.
Always keep in mind that you are starting a business in Menlo Park. If Menlo Park already has plenty of the kind of business you want to start, you might want to change your plans. Study Menlo Park demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.
Menlo Park, California Demographic Information
Menlo Park has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Menlo Park demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Menlo Park.
Businesses
As a new Menlo Park entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Menlo Park 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
Is a Franchise Opportunity Right For You?
As you drive around Menlo Park, you'll notice that many local entrepreneurs have gone the franchising route. But is franchising the right option for you?
Our advice is to consider franchising as an option. This site has dozens of articles on franchising, such as Detecting Franchising Scams. Become a franchising expert of sorts by reading more of our Articles on Franchising.
You can review hundreds of franchise opportunities by browing our Franchise Directory.
Representative franchise opportunities include Americlean Dry Cleaning and ServCorp International. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Video and DVD Rental Franchises and Child Photos and Portraits Franchises.
Note on Menlo Park Franchise Opportunities: To find out if a franchise you are interested in is available in Menlo Park, you will need to get in direct contact with the franchisor.
Company Formation in Menlo Park, California
It's essential that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
When forming a company, you will decide among many company types, such as a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.
Incorporating 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 California, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in California. As it turns out, you can incorporate in the state of your choosing. 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 How to Incorporate. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Menlo Park, California, our web page covering Incorporating in California may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in California.
Where to Get Money to Start a Company
Obtaining startup financing for your Menlo Park business will be harder than you might expect. If you don't have a rich uncle to fund you, you'll need to be creative in how you approach your fundraising efforts.
Take advantage of our many articles on securing funding, such as Attracting Investors.
For Menlo Park entrepreneurs on the hunt for startup funding, we have assembled a List of California Angel Investors and our List of California Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Business
To rise above the crowd in Menlo Park and advance your business, you need a solid marketing plan.
You can learn plenty about marketing on our site. Competitive Analysis is a good read to get your marketing creativity flowing. That's just a sampling of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Moving Forward
You have a dream -- starting a business in Menlo Park. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Menlo Park and throughout the United States . We have a wealth of experience in business start-ups, financing, marketing, sales and more...and we've made all of our knowledge available to you.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Menlo Park, California
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Menlo Park.
- Resources for Menlo Park, California Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Menlo Park entrepreneurs.
- California Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in California.
- Fresno, California Small Business Development Center - The UC Merced SBDC Regional Network assists Central California entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling, training and business information.
- Los Angeles, California Small Business Development Center - The Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Network (LA SBDC Network) is part of the national, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) effort to provide free one-on-one customized consulting services and low-cost training workshops to growing businesses and start-up businesses.
- Sacramento, California Small Business Development Center - As Northern California continues to grow demographically and economically, the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center (NECSBDC) at CSU, Chico is committed to helping communities prepare and plan for future growth.
- San Diego, California Small Business Development Center - The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Southwestern College serves entrepreneurs and small businesses in San Diego and Imperial Counties. The SBDC provides no-cost business assistance to start-up & existing businesses.
- San Francisco, California Small Business Development Center - The Northern California Network of Small Business Development Centers helps individuals start, manage and grow their businesses.
- Orange County Small Business Development Center - The Orange County SBDC is a leader in providing consulting, training, and technical assistance to the small business community.
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