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I want to start my own business. I have developed a few iOS Apps and Android Apps under my real name.All these apps were published before I became employed (Full Time).

I want to continue developing apps (on the side) but I don't want my current employer to notice my name in the AppStore

So I want to create a company and have those apps in my companies name.

  1. What state should I create this company and why?
  2. Can my current employer get the business owners name (thru public means)? 2A. If he/she can, is the means to obtain the business owners name free or is there a fee? 2B. if my name can be easily discovered, Can I create it in my wife's name?

Here are some facts about my 'business'. 1. We generate about $40 to $100 a month. A max of $2000 per year. I hope to grow this. 2. My wife and I are minorities. I heard minority based businesses get $$ (especially women based minority businesses)

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3 Answers

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There are a whole host of issues involved with this question. Generally the answer to where you should form your company is "it depends"

What state do you reside in? Most likely that is the state you will want to form your company in. Unless you really have a need to take advantage of say the favorable corporate laws in Delaware, you should form your entity in your home state. If you are a closely held company (you and your wife, or just you as members) then you don't need to take advantage of any DE laws. And anyway, for instance if you are in California, you'd have to qualify in California anyway and there would be no way to avoid the franchise tax.

Next, it depends on the state, but most likely, yes, your employer could find out your name behind the LLC. Again, it depends on where you form the entity, but in California you must file a statement of information for each LLC which has the member/manager information. There are other ways of remaining private if that is a concern, such as using a nominee director.

You'll also want to be aware of the restrictions placed on you by your current employer and see if its worth working on side.

In any event, you should really consult with a lawyer for all of these issues.

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I am in the state of NJ. – Cocoa Dev Aug 17 '11 at 17:21
I agree with CamelBlues. You should definitely form your entity in NJ since you don't want to have to qualify as a foreign entity anywhere else and certainly don't need the greater business-friendliness offerred from DE with a sole member (or dual member if your wife is a member) LLC. – Peter Fischer Aug 17 '11 at 20:25
Also for the privacy part, you can use a nominee director. I wouldn't recommend registering it with someone else's name as that person will then need to be a member/officer of your company and who knows what can happen. But again, as CamelBlues says, you should really talk to a lawyer to assist you in structuring this. It may cost a bit but will save you in the long run for sure. – Peter Fischer Aug 17 '11 at 20:26
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Register it in the state you live (in this case NJ), it will be the easiest and quickest (time is money). If you register it out of state, you will have to deal with a bunch of registering as a foreign agent paperwork to do business in that state.

Alternatively, you could make up a name to use in the App store and just get a DBA (Doing Business As) certificate.

Normally business registrations are public records. I have 2 bussiness (one an LLC and the other an S-Corp) registered in New York, and anyone can find out my name and full address by searching the NY Department of State business name lookup website.

On a side note: when incorporating a business with your wife, make sure you have a lawyer draft our your articles of incorporation, as they can put in the proper language in case (God forbid) you get divorced. You don't want to end up dragging the company into the divorce proceedings.

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Good point about the "language". All I want to do is mask my name from the company. It could be in anyone's name except my own (for now). – Cocoa Dev Aug 17 '11 at 19:37
up vote 0 down vote

Register in your state, in your case, NJ. I am in NJ and had formed an LLC while I was an independent contractor. It is very easy, but you will need to register with the state and there are fees involved, not huge, but relative to your current income, they are meaningful.

The more important question is whether this will help in your situation with your current employer. You should check with a lawyer, but the simple answer is the existence of the LLC, prior to or after your employment, won't necessarily protect you from restrictions of what commercial activities you may partake in "on the side". If it becomes an issue with your employer, the fact that you are trying to hide this could go against you. Best advice is to talk to a lawyer and your employer to get a clear understanding of what is allowed by your employment contract, if you have one. You don't want to find out later that you were not allowed to do this.

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