Starting out? What you need online, and what can wait

When you start a business, it can feel as though you need every tool, account and service at once. In practice, a new business needs only a few things on day one, and most of the rest can wait until the business has regular customers and its first employees.

What you need before your first customer

Three things do most of the work in the first few months: an identity that looks established, a website that answers the basic questions, and a listing on Google that helps nearby customers find you.

A name and an address that look established

Your domain should be registered in your own name or your business's name, and your email should come from that domain rather than from a free webmail account. Clean logo files and written colour codes make every invoice, profile and sign look consistent. Our posts on domain ownership and business email explain why each of these matters.

A website that answers the basic questions

Five well-made pages are enough to launch, as long as they work properly on phones, load quickly and include a contact form that actually reaches you. If the site collects names or email addresses, it also needs a privacy policy. Our post on what a small business website needs covers the details.

A Google Business Profile

When people search for a local service, Google usually shows a map with a few businesses before it shows any websites. A verified, complete profile is free and puts you on that map, as our post on Google Business Profile explains.

What can wait

• An online store can usually wait until you know which products sell, since a simple order form or invoice works well at first.
• Paid advertising is easier to justify once your website and Google profile are in place, so that the people you pay to reach land somewhere that turns them into customers.
• Custom software and integrations rarely make sense before you have settled on how the business actually runs day to day.
• A full IT support contract can wait until you have staff, although having someone to call for small problems is worth arranging from the start.

Why we built five products around this

The same handful of needs comes up again and again for businesses at this stage, whether they are about to launch or have been running for a year or two and want to do things properly. We have turned those needs into five products, each with a plain name and one clear price, so that it is easy to see what you are getting and what it costs.

The five products

Business Identity, $1,200 one-time

Your domain is registered in your name, your business email is set up for up to five people with the records that keep it out of spam folders, and you receive a brand starter kit with your logo in every format you will need.

Website, $3,500 one-time

Website gives you a five-page site built for your business, with hosting, a security certificate and backups for the first year. It also includes a privacy policy and cookie notice written for what your site actually collects, and two-step login on your business accounts.

Get Found, $900 one-time

Your Google Business Profile is set up and verified, your local search basics are put in place, and your site is connected to Google Search Console so that you can see how people find you.

Starter Care, $99 per month

Starter Care gives founders working alone or with a small crew someone to call. It covers up to two hours of help each month, small website edits, and monthly checks of your backups and updates.

Tech Team, $110 per person per month

Tech Team is an outsourced tech support department for businesses with staff, with a minimum of three people. It includes unlimited help for everyone on the team, a one-hour response for critical issues, new hires set up on their first day, and departing staff locked out on the day they leave.

If you are starting from zero, the Launch Bundle combines Business Identity, Website and Get Found with three months of Starter Care for $4,500, compared with $5,897 when the same items are bought separately. Registering the business with the Ontario Business Registry can be added for the government fee plus a $200 service fee.

How to choose

• If you are starting from zero, the Launch Bundle covers everything you need to open.
• If you already have a name and email but no proper website, start with Website.
• If you have a website that nobody seems to find, Get Found is the place to begin.
• If you are open for business and working mostly alone, Starter Care gives you someone to call.
• If you have staff and have become the company's IT person by default, Tech Team takes that job off your plate.

Frequently asked questions

Can I buy just one product?

Every product is sold on its own, and you can add others later as the business grows. The Launch Bundle simply packages the three setup products with three months of Starter Care at a lower combined price.

Are software licences included in the prices?

Licences such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace are billed separately at exactly what the vendor charges, with no markup, and we show you those numbers before you commit.

What if I already have some of this in place?

Let us know on your free call, and if something is already done properly, we will leave it out and adjust the price or suggest something more useful in its place.

What happens as my business grows?

Most businesses move from Starter Care to Tech Team once they hire, and growing teams that need advanced security, backup recovery and compliance support can move on to FourSight Core.