LLC or C-Corp? Delaware or Wyoming? And a Name That Doesn't Scream “Supplier” (2026)

Before the bank account, before Stripe, come three decisions people consistently over-think in the wrong places: entity type, state, and name. The first has a one-question answer, the second is decided by the same question, and the third is where most cross-border founders quietly hurt their conversion for years. In that order:

LLC vs C-Corp: one question decides

The question: will you raise venture money or issue equity? If yes — C-Corp; investors expect it, option pools need it, the standard startup stack assumes it. If no — an LLC is simpler, cheaper to maintain, and what most sellers, agencies and indie SaaS actually run on.

Caveats that can flip the default: shareholder mix, your tax residency, real US operations, and a concrete funding plan. Those deserve real advice — but don't copy someone else's structure just because their YouTube video sounded confident. And keep the two decisions separate: entity type and state are different questions.

Delaware: what it's actually for

“Register in Delaware, it's the most legitimate” — half of US listed companies are there, so it must be right? Delaware's real advantages are specific: the Court of Chancery (specialist corporate court, no juries, a century of precedent — outcomes investors can price), a flexible and mature corporate code, and the fact that it's the lingua franca of fundraising — investors, lawyers and bankers all speak it. That's why VCs effectively require a Delaware C-Corp.

Now remove the investor and the advantages evaporate. No fundraising, no equity grants, no IPO plan? Then you're paying Delaware's franchise tax and annual report for a court system you'll never use. Two more misconceptions while we're here: customers don't trust you more for being a Delaware entity, and it isn't a tax trick — if you actually operate in another state you'll register there too (foreign qualification) and pay both. For a simple LLC, Wyoming is usually cheaper ($60/yr vs. Delaware's $300+) and lower-maintenance.

Company name, brand name, domain — three names, three jobs

• Legal name — registered with the state, carries LLC/Inc., lives on contracts and tax filings. Customers never see it.
• Brand name — what customers see, remember and say out loud. Can be registered as a DBA if it differs from the legal name.
• Domain — the brand's front door online.

They don't need to match literally, but the priority is fixed: bind brand and domain tightly (that pair carries all the recognition); the legal name can be broader or more formal — even a holding name. The classic combo: *ABC Holdings LLC* (company) / *Imagino* (brand) / *getimagino.com* (domain — the get/try/use prefix trick when the bare .com is taken).

Registering the company first and discovering the domain and trademark are taken is the expensive version of this lesson.

The “looks like a supplier” test

A US customer decides in one glance whether you read as a brand or a supplier. The supplier tells (avoid all of them): raw pinyin (*Xinghuo*, *Haoyun*); big-word stacking (*Global / Universal / Group*); the full industry string (*Trading Import & Export Co., Ltd*); translated luck words (*Lucky / Golden / Rich / Forever*); bargain prefixes (*Best / Top / Hi / Win*); random initials (*HKDST*). Combine them and you get “Shenzhen Golden Lucky Universal Trading Co.” — which loses trust, ad approvals and payment conversion all at once.

What a US-brand-sounding name looks like: short (one or two syllables), easy to read and spell on first hearing, no industry words, no *Global/Tech/Group*, a real word or a clean coinage (Stripe, Notion) that works as a domain and in speech. The verification is mechanical: say it to three native speakers and have them write it down — all three spell it right, it passes; then confirm the .com, the USPTO search and the social handles are free.

Bottom line

• Entity: raising money or issuing equity → C-Corp; otherwise → LLC. One question.
• State: Delaware is the fundraising standard, not a legitimacy badge — for a simple non-VC LLC, Wyoming is usually the saner default.
• Name: brand + domain bound tightly, legal name can differ; pick brand → check domain → check trademark → then form.
• Run the supplier test before you commit — the name is the one decision here your customers see every day.