Starting an online business

[durkin01]

Hi everyone,

My friend and I are preparing to launch a social platform at the beginning of August and we wanted to ask a few questions about setting up a business before launch. I have contacted my local enterprise office for information but all they could suggest is for me to do a course, which I don't have time for while working full time and being a parent. So I am reaching out here with all of my questions in hope that someone will be able to help us.

Some insight on the business:
We are a social platform that requires users to create a username, password and provide and email address, and first name to sign up. All content provided by the user other than already stated is completely optional and they have full control over what they are sharing and what content they are providing.

The business end:
- Right now there is only two of us and we don't know what the best course of action is in terms of setting up a partnership or a limited company.
- Do we need to copyright any content on the website such as the logo or images of the application we created?
- If we went down the path of setting up a partnership would the policies on the website help protect our personal assets in the off chance of legal action against the business?
- Is setting up a limited company ok when working in a full time job?
- Will we need a legal representative starting off?

The Revenue end:
- We do have a way that the platform will generate revenue, but in the case of not generating any revenue for a while, is there any taxes the business will have to pay that might dig into our own pockets?
- What way do we pay taxes when the business starts generating revenue?
- Will we need a book keeper if the business starts making money?
- Will our current tax credits or salary be impacted for setting up the business?

This is all I can think of right now but if you have any other extra information, it would be much appreciated!

Thank you in advance.

 

[Peanuts20]

You could go back to your LEO and ask about an innovation grant or a grant for a feasability study, I've often seen those given out to people in a similar position to you, starting a business whilst running an existing one or in full time work. You will need to regulate your structure and make sure your tax affairs are in order as part of it

 

[durkin01]

You could go back to your LEO and ask about an innovation grant or a grant for a feasability study, I've often seen those given out to people in a similar position to you, starting a business whilst running an existing one or in full time work. You will need to regulate your structure and make sure your tax affairs are in order as part of it

Would they give an innovation grant even if no Limited company is created? I work for someone else full time and have no business setup right now.

 

[cremeegg]

The business end:
- Right now there is only two of us and we don't know what the best course of action is in terms of setting up a partnership or a limited company.
- Do we need to copyright any content on the website such as the logo or images of the application we created?
- If we went down the path of setting up a partnership would the policies on the website help protect our personal assets in the off chance of legal action against the business?
- Is setting up a limited company ok when working in a full time job?

Setting up a company will avoid the issues that can arise in a partnership.

It will give you some protection against legal issues

Having a full time job is no bar to setting up a company.

You can also buy insurance angriest any liability issues that might arise.

 

[Peanuts20]

Would they give an innovation grant even if no Limited company is created? I work for someone else full time and have no business setup right now.

For something like this, no. If it was a "craft" style business then they may give something small but normally you would need to have a structure in place before they give you Taxpayers money. Normally they would also assign a mentor to work with you and whilst the quality can vary, many are very good at advising.

I agree with what a previous poster said and if this takes off, you will need to set up a company anyway.

 

[peemac]

Have you thought it through properly?

Don't want to rain on your plans, but it's a phenomenally difficult space to earn money.

I know someone who put six figures into starting a social platform and despite it being a great idea and everyone saying that they would use it, it flopped badly.

For my own sins, I tried to set up a chat room for a school past pupils. I closed it due to the amount of spam, Russian registrations and fake accounts - easy to delete them, but very time consuming.


Ask a group of people to give you five negatives each about your idea and see if you can overcome all of them.

It will give you a different perspective

 

[Leo]

Good point from @peemac above on the volume of spam and fake accounts you are likely to have to deal with. If you don't have time for a course, do you or the others involved have the time to put in on moderation of content and filtering out all the spammers? AAM isn't trying to be the next big thing in social media, but we remove multiple spam messages and ban users daily.

Note that platform hosts can be held liable for the content posted by users. If any of your users post copyrighted or defamatory material, you will be the first port of call for the lawyers, so make sure you take advice in that regard. The EU Copyright Directive will make life more difficult for platforms too.