Today, we’re adding support for creating a limited liability company (LLC) with Stripe Atlas. It’s been one of the most requested features from our users, and we’re excited to make it possible.

LLCs and C Corporations

We started Stripe Atlas as an easy way to create a Delaware C Corporation. They are the entity of choice for many investor-backed technology companies, but they’re not for everyone. LLCs, on the other hand, are used by many small teams, bootstrapped businesses, and side projects seeking a more flexible start.

Startups are continuous creation machines, running experiments and rearchitecting themselves on the fly. Legal choices often force startups to predict the future: is this a side project or the next Google? We think that some founders stop because they aren’t certain yet. So we sought to give founders more options to just get started.

The Stripe Atlas LLC

Founders can now use Stripe Atlas to form an LLC in days. The Stripe Atlas LLC has the features common to LLCs: limited liability for founders and the flexibility to be taxed as an individual. But LLCs are used for everything from holding companies to restaurants, and we wanted the Stripe Atlas LLC templates to help meet the needs of technology startups. Orrick designed the Stripe Atlas legal documents to match the ways founders tell us they want to work. For example, the Stripe Atlas LLC:

• Enables founders to assign relevant IP to the company at formation, formalizing ownership of key technology.
• Is designed to make conversion to a C Corporation as simple as possible. (We can connect Stripe Atlas users to a lawyer to manage the conversion process with discounted, flat-rate packages).
• Provides a simplified process for adding members after formation.
• Is organized in Delaware, the jurisdiction of choice for many new LLCs.

You can read more about the Stripe Atlas LLC—and tradeoffs between an LLC and C Corporation—in this guide.

Forming an LLC through Stripe Atlas will cost the same as a C Corporation: $500 gets you a new entity, tax ID, U.S. business bank account, Stripe account, access to expert tax and legal advice from our partners, tools for handling taxes, and credits with a number of services. You’ll also join the Stripe Atlas Community, where you can connect with other founders, learn from experts, and get practical advice. We’re starting in beta, and folks who request an invite will hear back within a couple weeks.

Over the last two years, thousands of founders from over 130 countries—ranging from side projects to startups funded by Y Combinator—have used Stripe Atlas. We’ve been delighted by their progress, and can’t wait to see what you build.