Startup Planner: The Steps, Programs & Services for Your Startup
Tell us what you need, your business type and budget, and get the build steps to take with the startup programs, accelerators and founder services for each.
Your plan: 6 steps for save money
Work through them in order. Every step links to its guide and to the programs and services that help.
Validate your idea Medium
Prove that real people have the problem and will pay to solve it before you spend months building.
Why this step matters Most new products fail for a dull reason: not enough people wanted them badly enough to pay. Validation is the cheapest way to find that out. A few weeks of conversations and small experiments can save you months of building, a… Read the step →
Incorporate your startup Medium
Form the right legal entity in the right place so you can sign contracts, open a bank account, issue equity and raise.
Why this step matters A company separates your personal finances from the business, gives the business its own contracts, bank account and intellectual property, and lets you issue shares to co-founders, employees and investors. Many startup programs, cloud credit offers and banks require a registered… Read the step →
Open a business bank account Easy
Keep company money separate from personal money, get paid by customers and unlock card perks and credits.
Why this step matters Mixing personal and company money is one of the fastest ways to create tax problems and weaken the legal separation between you and the business. A dedicated account makes bookkeeping simple, gives customers and investors a proper place to send money,… Read the step →
Get the legal basics right Medium
Put the core contracts, policies, IP protection and registrations in place so small legal gaps do not become big problems.
Why this step matters Early-stage legal work is mostly about avoiding preventable problems: a contractor who still owns the code they wrote, a product name you have to abandon after launch, a privacy policy that does not match what your app collects, or a missing… Read the step →
Claim your startup credits Easy
Apply for cloud, AI and software credits in the right order so they cover months of real costs instead of expiring unused.
Why this step matters Cloud providers, AI model companies and software vendors give startups credits and discounts because they want you to build on them. Used well, these programs can cover a large share of your infrastructure and tooling costs for the first year or… Read the step →
Choose your AI coding stack Easy
Pick the AI coding tools, language and framework your team will build with, so you ship fast without boxing yourself in.
Why this step matters In 2026 most small teams write a large share of their code with AI help. The tools you pick now shape how quickly you can turn an idea into a working product, how much you spend each month and how easy… Read the step →
How the planner works
Each build step carries what it gets you, a typical cost and the kinds of startup it matters most for. The planner scores every step against your answers, drops anything your budget cannot fund, and shows the best programs, accelerators and services for each step that remains. It is a starting point: read each step, then claim the credits you qualify for before you spend money.