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I have to admit, reading up on the laws and guidance on how to setup a company is exhausting and a pain in the butt. The first step in setting up a corporation, an S Corporation in my case, is quite intimidating.

After arming myself with what I learned from Nolo and the California Secretary of State (SoS) website, I prepared the Articles of Incorporation for my company based on samples available via the Internet. The guide from the California SoS website is very helpful. It tells me the bare bones elements I need to include in the Articles of Incorporation to get certified. So I followed the instructions and copied some languages from samples and decided to print it and hand deliver to the local regional SoS office here in Los Angeles.

Getting to the SoS office is not a fun drive, especially since I hate the one-way streets in downtown. There’s a Joe’s Parking next to the Ronald Reagan building where the SoS office is located. So I parked there. Cost me $9.00! I’m not sure whether I should be glad that submitting the Articles of Incorporation merely took me about 15 minutes or furious for paying $9 for 15 minutes worth of parking. There is a short biographical form I had to fill out at the counter and hand over a $15 check for the processing fee and another $100 check for the registration.

“Do you want it in the mail or pick it up?” asked the clerk. “How long does it take to process if I chose the mail route?” I asked. The clerk said it’s about the same and recommended I go with the mail because it’s more convenient. I concurred. So, the clerk promptly sent me on my way home.

About a week later, I received the mail from the SoS office. Rejected! Arrgh! Okay, let’s see what is wrong. The legal review notes contained instructions to remove the registered agent’s address, an article and the officer titles. Since I’m using NRAI as my registered agent, I shouldn’t have listed their address. I made the corrections and went back to the SoS office. This would cost me another $15 of processing fee.

I was quite disappointed when I received another rejection letter from the SoS office. I was somewhat consoled by the fact that the California SoS office was both generous and sympathetic towards my legal incompetence, so they waived the $15 processing fee and returned the check to me. This time one of the legal review notes was highlighted. Apparently, I missed out on one of the required corrections. Since I’m listing the initial directors, all listed directors must sign the Articles of Incorporation twice. Yes, you wouldn’t have guessed. Once for signing the Articles and the second is for acknowledging you are the person who executed the Articles. So, I quickly made the correction and handed the Articles to the clerk for the third time, along with another $15 check of course.

Third time’s a charm. This time I celebrated a small victory with a muffled “Yes!” and a clenched fist. And thus, Qovax is born. Having gone through the pain of rejection, which nobody should have to go through, I came up with IncBaby, a free tool that allows you to incorporate without a lawyer.

If you’re still debating how much it costs to setup a company, stop. Head over to IncBaby.com, fill out the six question form. Review the Articles of Incorporation generated instantly. Make as many changes as you want. Then print it. Sign the Articles and mail it or hand deliver to your local California regional SoS office. Detailed instructions are included so you don’t have to google anything. Since I’ve only incorporated in California, IncBaby only generates Articles of Incorporation for California. If you’d like to see other states included, please let me know. I’ll try my best to accommodate.

Once you have tried out IncBaby, let us know what you think. If you love it, share it with your friends. Tell them to stop finding excuses not to start a company. Start building your product already! If you hate it, we’d like to hear your opinion even more. It’ll help us grow and learn from mistakes, which, as you can tell, I’m very good at making.