0-1 Business Setup and Operations Checklist

Entity & Structure

Check name availability and reserve your business name with CAC (Corporate Affairs Commission).A name reservation is temporary. Founders who sit on it past the window lose it back into the pool, and someone else can take it.Decide your structure, Business Name or Limited Liability Company, before you register, not after.Converting a registered Business Name into an Ltd later means starting registration again, not upgrading the existing one.Complete CAC registration and get your certificate plus your RC or BN number.Put co-founder ownership and equity terms in writing, even informally, before any money or work goes in.Verbal equity splits between friends are the single most common founder-dispute pattern we see.Set up a business email on your own domain, tied to the name you registered, not a personal Gmail address.

Tax & Compliance

Register for a Tax Identification Number (TIN) with FIRS.Check whether you're required to register for VAT based on your turnover. Don't assume it doesn't apply yet.The scramble usually starts the moment a client or vendor asks for a VAT invoice you can't issue.Know your CAC annual return deadline and put it on an actual calendar, not in your head.If you operate outside Lagos or Abuja, confirm which state or local government levies apply beyond federal tax.

Money & Banking

Open a business bank account in your registered business name, not a personal account.Route every business transaction through that account starting today.Mixing personal and business spending is the top reason founders can't produce clean numbers the moment a raise, audit, or tax filing finally asks for them.Pick one method, however simple, to record income and expenses, and actually use it weekly.If there's more than one founder, agree in writing who has signing or approval authority on the account.

Foundational Ops

Create one standard contract or agreement template and use it for every client or vendor.A case-by-case WhatsApp agreement works fine until the one deal that goes wrong.Set up a simple, numbered invoicing habit. A basic template is enough at this stage.Keep every customer and lead in one place. A spreadsheet is fine. Memory is not.Start a short decision log: what was decided, when, and why, for anything a future co-founder or investor would ask about.

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The 0-1 Business Setup and Operations Checklist

Entity & Structure

Tax & Compliance

Money & Banking

Foundational Ops

Get this checklist in your inbox