Bomee Jung

Delaware Public Benefit Corp.

The steps are basically the same for registering a Public Benefit Corp or a regular C Corporation. Delaware also has a Public Benefit LLC as an option.

Delaware Public Benefit Corp.

DE Public Benefit Corporations

Being a Public Benefit Corporation allows you to legally consider a public mission alongside shareholder interest in managing your company. The process for forming a PBC and a regular C Corp are basically the same, but a PBC requires you to state what your specific public purpose(s) are at the time of incorporation (You can also, I hear, incorporate as a C Corp and then amend later). Here is a handy list of some PBCs public purpose statements.

If you are going to opt for a PBC, note that DE allows you to use "PBC" as the entity type suffix (Exwhyzee Advisors PBC) in place of the traditional "Inc." (Exwhyzee Advisors Inc.), but I've read that some states don't have PBC as an option in their foreign corp registrations. Something to consider and look into before filing.

More Resources

Incorporate in Delaware

  1. Once you've picked a name and done a name search, you can reserve the name for 120 days, if needed.
  2. If you are choosing Delaware as your home state, you have to have a service address in the State, so if you don't have a physical address there, you will need to select a DE registered agent. Again, I like VCorp ($115 for each state).
  3. To submit the application, you have to fill out a PDF form and then upload it

NOTE: Always choose an expedited option. The expedited options, of which there are several in DE, all get ahead of the regular filings, so if you don't expedite, it may take weeks or months to get your papers back.

Register as a foreign corp in NY

If you're going to be doing business in NY, you have to register as a foreign corp. If you do business before doing your registration, you have to get a waiver from Dept. Finance before doing the registration, so just save yourself a step and register as soon as you have your DE incorporation in hand.

Oddly enough, a foreign corp registration is a lot less slick than a NYS formation, which is all online. For this, you have to fax a form (or a couple of forms, if you are paying by credit card).