Getting Inc.

 

On August 16, Greenwich Consulting Group Inc. held its first board meeting--at Yankee Stadium. The two founding members of the strategic-planning and telecommunications consulting firm typed their minutes into a laptop while below them the Texas Rangers tromped the Yankees, 8 to 5. The event was both a way of getting down to work and a celebration: the company had incorporated just one week earlier, and the process had been silken smooth.

Vice president Christopher Simmons had anticipated spending a lot of time investigating the requirements of incorporating in Connecticut, researching and reserving a company name, and preparing and filing a certificate of incorporation. Instead he turned to one of a growing number of incorporating-service Web sites that perform all those tasks online. "We didn't want to mess around, so I got right on the Web," says Simmons.

After visiting three or four sites, Simmons chose Corporate Agents Inc. It took him 10 minutes to fill out the application and enter his credit-card number. Corporate Agents did the rest, chiefly reserving the company name and preparing and filing the certificate of incorporation. About a week later he had his company's official incorporation certificate in hand.

All told, incorporating online cost Greenwich about $550, $300 of which went--via Corporate Agents--to the secretary of state's office. The service fee was $99; Simmons also spent $60 for a corporate kit, $30 for a book on corporate affairs, and $60 for rush service.

"Incorporating online allows people to access information immediately and fill out applications whenever it's convenient," says Sid Garnett, vice president of American Incorporators Ltd. (www.ailcorp.com), which now serves about 20% of its customers online. It's also an economical alternative to using a lawyer. Garnett estimates that legal fees for incorporating a small business in Connecticut might run as high as $1,000.