If you’ve assessed your options for structuring your business (e.g., LLC v. Corporation) and the corporate form is right for you, or you’re thinking about raising capital, registering as a benefit corporation at startup can help you achieve your long-term goals as a mission driven business.

Baking your mission into the very DNA of your company from the beginning can provide many benefits:

It’s easy to become a benefit corporation at inception

• Incorporating as a benefit corporation at the start means you don’t have to undertake votes to achieve the ⅔-shareholder vote requirement or the impact of dissenters rights

• There’s no potential of a name change requirement or reprinting of stock certificates

It’s good for your businesses

• You create clarity by baking your mission into the very DNA of your company from the beginning

• Workers, suppliers and consumers know from the start that you are a different type of company, and can begin creating this distinction when messaging is easiest

• Investors know your mission and know you’re legally required to consider your stakeholders. There is no risk of mission loss due to shareholder lawsuit.

• Fulfilling the reporting requirement reduces the time required for investor due diligence and allows investors to easily find your company in a confusing marketplace

It connects you to other businesses

• You are halfway to qualifying as a Pending B Corporation, plugging you into the network of over 1,000 Certified B Corporations.

• You stand alongside leaders like Patagonia and Plum Organics in choosing the legal form with the highest standards of accountability & transparency.