Resources

Providing high-quality business education, tax guides, and news.
A “TAXES” sign on top of US bills

IRS Form 941 Instructions & Free PDF Download

Most businesses that have employees must file Form 941 with the IRS each quarter to report and calculate their employment taxes.  Completed IRS Form 941 will show you how much you still need to pay to cover your payroll tax responsibilities or how much you overpaid during the quarter.  If you need to file Form

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How to Calculate ERC Tax Credit [Guide & Calculator]

If you’re a business owner who’s struggling to make ends meet, tax credits like the Employer Retention Credit (ERC) might be the answer. It’s more accessible than many other relief options like grants or loans. However, understanding how tax credits work can be confusing—don’t worry; we’ll explore everything you need to know about the ERC

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Startup Stages guide

Startup Stages: A Guide to Every Step of the Process

In a world where it seems like everything has already been invented, unique ideas are worthless if you don’t hone them. So, no matter what idea you have for your startup, you have to cultivate it. There are various approaches to growing a startup, including defining its development by lifecycle stages. We’ll explore the five

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Startup Consulting: Is it Worth It in 2022?

There are a massive range of complicated steps to take and factors to consider when it comes to launching a new startup in 2022. While not the most prominent element of consideration involved, a significant factor that startup developers need to carefully consider is whether or not the services of a startup consultant would be

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A small team working at a startup

Product Development for Startups: How to Get Started

Developing a product for your startup is no less than an adventure. You’ll find challenges at every level and around every corner, from finding your audience and analyzing their demographics to creating and launching the right solution and everything in between. We’ll explore each aspect of the startup product development process, from ideation and design

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How to Find Sales Reps for Your Startup (That Will Crush It!)

The key to building a strong sales team in any startup is creating the right sales hiring strategy. The sales rep turnover rate is at an all-time high—finding and retaining the best salespeople is crucial to the success of your new business. We’ll explore how and where to find the sales reps that will crush

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Startup employees using sticky notes to plan a project.

How to Find Competitor Pricing: Track the Competition Easy

Look at the biggest brands out there—how did they get to where they are? By understanding their competition and tracking their pricing. Knowing how your brand compares to your biggest competitors is the key to getting and staying on top. This is especially true when it comes to pricing. Your customers are more price-sensitive than

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Grants for Nonprofit Startups: A Complete Guide

Developing a nonprofit startup isn’t an easy process, especially when getting the needed funding to get initial operations off the ground. Sadly, grants for nonprofit startups are notoriously competitive due to the limited number of grants available. To help you more easily navigate the complex realm of nonprofit startup grants, our team of passionate business

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A woman holding $100 bills

Federal Government Loans for Small Business & Startups

When it comes to getting a loan for your startup or small business, you really only have two options: private loans or government loans. Getting a loan from a private lender before you have an established business isn’t easy— they are typically reluctant to take large risks. On the other hand, federal government loans were

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A windowed door for a small clothing shop displaying an “Open” sign.

Small Business Grants for Immigrants & Minorities Guide

Opening a new business is not easy for anyone. Still, it’s a complicated process for immigrants and members of minorities, who often lack access to the same resources and support that U.S.-born citizens and non-minority individuals typically receive. But that doesn’t mean that opening a successful business as a minority or immigrant is impossible. It

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there are several ways to find your startup's valuation

Startup Valuation: How to Choose the Right Method 

Startup valuation provides insight into the company’s ability to meet investor and customer expectations so that it can find new capital to grow. A startup valuation may factor in assets, business models, total addressable market, and the company’s expertise. Valuing a startup is both a science and art. Whether starting with a simple idea or

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learn about your startup equity options

Startup Equity: How It Works & Best Practices

There are many perks to enjoy when working for a startup, including owning a piece of the company. Having equity in a company means you have a stake in the business. Startup equity motivates many workers to build and grow the business. These equity packages come in all shapes and sizes, and it is vital

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small business owners can qualify for grants

Small Business Grants: Best Funding Options Guide

It can be challenging to find funding when you have a small business. There are solutions: small business grants. This free money is designated for startups, and it can help you get your ideas off the ground. These funds are available from federal, state, and private entities. Here are a few things you need to

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“TURN IDEAS INTO REALITY”

Series A, B, C, D, and E Seed Funding Guide

Here’s a hard truth about startup funding — while you can’t spell funding without ‘fun,’ there’s not much fun involved in the process. Raising equity funding in the early stages is a long and difficult journey that can be demoralizing for many founders. However, if you do it successfully, you get to walk away with

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A startup founder looking at various documents

How to Build the Best Founders’ Agreement for Startups

With the immense amount of work you do when launching a startup, it’s easy to overlook creating a founders’ agreement. You’re in this together, and you trust your co-founders, right? Won’t everything be fine? Even if you’ve known them for years and have complete trust in them, you still need to build a founders’ agreement.

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Four startup employees around two laptops.

What is a Startup? How They Work & Grow

Whether despite the significant economic and workforce issues over the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic or because of them, the United States Census Bureau recently noted that more applications were filed for new businesses in 2021 than in any other year on record. Nearly 5.4 million startup business applications were submitted, marking

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Working professional woman

Sole Proprietorships: What to Know

Are you starting a business and considering whether to do a sole proprietorship? We’ll explain everything you need to know about starting a sole proprietorship, advantages, disadvantages, taxes, and other common questions. What is a Sole Proprietorship? Sole proprietorships are unincorporated businesses run by a single individual. This is the most common form of small

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Startup employees using sticky notes to plan a project.

7 “Next Big Thing” Innovations to Watch as a Start-up

Disruptions in every industry are commonplace with the growth and development of technology and innovation. To be competitive in the current marketplace, start-ups must be innovative and integrate new technology into their operations. And for entrepreneurs looking to create start-ups within these new technologies, it’s critical to pick the next big thing that will drive

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Four men going over a sales and marketing strategy for their startup.

Sales and Marketing Expenses Guide for Startups

Sales and marketing are two of the critical powerhouses behind what makes startups- or any business or company, for that matter- run successfully. Without sales, a startup can’t stay in business, and without marketing, no one will know about your products and services, so there will be no sales. Both are crucial for the operations

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Financing can be challenging for startup businesses

Private Investors for Startups: A Complete Guide

If you have a great idea, you need money to get that dream off the ground. Securing financing might seem like an impossible task, but there are alternative ways to find the backing for your startup or small business. Private investors can help with financial matters while you work to build your company. Here is

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The word plan written on a blackboard

How to Write a Business Plan for Your Startup

So you’re finally doing it, starting your business. It’s been in your head and heart for so long that you don’t even remember when you first imagined it. Now it’s time to make bold moves toward it. But what’s the first move to make? What’s the second? It can seem impossible to figure out. But

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How to Build the Best Growth Team for Your Startup

Sometimes, it seems like every new startup begins with building a growth team. As founders realize that effective growth hacking can make or break a startup, they’ve focused more and more of their efforts on compiling an avengers team of growth hackers. Still, what many don’t realize is that an effective growth team is about

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Four people around a laptop discussing automation processes.

How Startups Use Automation as a Key Driver

To find market success amid a sea of ever-growing industry competition, startups can’t just stumble from one terrible idea to the next while ineffectively planning their operations, poorly leveraging their resources, and creating random approaches for execution. Startups need to harness specialized tools and strategies for their processes that can help them stay afloat while

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Office building filled with people working at computers

Growth Hacking: How To Help Your Startup Grow

You’ve poured blood, sweat, and tears into a product that you know can change consumers’ lives.  The only problem? They don’t know that yet. But how do you get your target customer to realize the value of your business on a shoe-string budget? As with any aspect of a startup, your low budget for marketing

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A smartphone streaming Netflix.

Disruption: What Is It & Examples for Startups

Suppose you’ve been keeping up with any articles covering hot new tech-based services or apps over the past several years. In that case, you’ve likely encountered the word “disruption” being thrown around a lot, especially for companies in Silicon Valley. You may have also heard it applied to concepts within your own business! Despite this,

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Two coworkers laughing together

Data-Driven vs. Data-Informed: What’s the Difference?

Today’s businesses rely on data to formulate their growth strategies—data-driven and data-informed approaches are two unique ways you can leverage data to gain a competitive edge. Although the differences are subtle, each approach takes a different direction and changes how your company works with its available data. Related: How to Raise Venture Capital Taking a

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A woman window shopping while carrying several bags.

Customer Experience Map: Simple Steps to Build One

If businesses want to stay afloat and succeed in the current age of widespread market competition, they need to pull out all possible stops. Especially when it comes to attracting the attention of customers, getting and keeping them engaged, convincing them to make purchases, and having them enjoy the entire experience. While more significant, more

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Two business partners excitedly pointing at a laptop screen

Bookings: Understanding Their Roles in SaaS

Measuring the results of your SaaS company can get confusing quickly. And unlike revenue, bookings do not have a GAAP standard definition—it varies across businesses.  In general, bookings refer to a forward-looking metric that indicates a contract’s value over time. Let’s begin by discussing how this differs from revenue. Related: 5 Best Business Startup Tips

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Two people designing a startup's website

5 Tips Entrepreneurs Need to Know for Digital Marketing

The best way to grow your new startup business is to create and follow a solid digital marketing plan. We know that growing your startup is a significant undertaking and can be extremely challenging, especially without the right strategies. We’ll cover five tips that every startup can use to create a better digital marketing strategy

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startup workers gathered around a laptop

How Startup Technology Companies Qualify for the R&D Tax Credit

Startup technology companies are often the birthplace of breakthrough innovations, frequently engaging in research and development activities as they bring new concepts to market. Despite the common misconception that the R&D Tax Credit is reserved for large, established corporations with vast resources, it’s quite accessible for startups with the right qualifying activities. Understanding the criteria

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8 Best Startup Business Tips You Need to Know

It can be an intimidating task when you want to build your own business. You want to create a successful company where employees will love to work. From the outside, it might seem like an impossible job. With the right tools, you can build a successful startup from the ground up. Let’s look at the

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Angel Investors: Role & Function in Startups

If you’re the owner of a fledgling startup business that you’re doing your best to get off the ground, then the chances are that you’re looking into a wide range of different funding sources that can help you get operations going. You’ve probably heard a lot about venture capital and the vast array of benefits

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How Startups Benefit from the IRS Seed Stage

Every year, the United States Government gives billions of dollars to innovative companies and businesses for creating or improving current technologies, processes, materials, and products. These incentives are provided by the U.S. Research & Experimentation Tax Credit program or R&D tax credit for short.  You may wonder why the government is willing to provide these

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How to Calculate CAC in 3 Easy Steps

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is a vital metric used by businesses worldwide to determine the resources they need to continue growing by attracting new customers. If your company wants to expand its customer base while generating more revenue, it’s crucial to understand what CAC means, its importance, and how to calculate it. Related: Best Startup

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startup team creating a funding campaign

11 Best Ways to Crowdfund Your Startup

Do you need help funding your startup business? Are you wondering if a crowdfunding platform is a smart way to inject capital into your new business? We list the best crowdfunding options for getting your startup business off the ground. SeedInvest SeBest For Attracting VCs and Angels SeedInvest’s goal is to help initial-stage startups find

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A man filling out and signing paperwork

Understanding Convertible Debt

Convertible debt (also called a convertible note) is a way for businesses and startups to inject capital into their operations. It’s typically in the form of short-term loans that are repaid with cash, and the remainder is converted into equity. There are many financial and legal implications associated with convertible debt, so it’s crucial to

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A team of three venture capitalists.

Venture Capital: What It Is & How to Raise It

Developing your own business, launching a successful startup, or even growing a business after some level of early success can be a very challenging process, especially with the current state of the financial world. Every step of the business creation and growth process carries its complications and obstacles for people to overcome. Arguably the most

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A venture partner shaking hands with a startup founder.

Venture Partner: a Critical Piece to Your Startup

Suppose you’re looking into potential venture capital (VC) sources to help support your budding startup or growing business operations. In that case, you must understand what venture partners are and what role they will ultimately play in your future business operations. But what are venture partners? And how do they impact your process of earning

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Qualified Research Expenses (QRE): A Complete Guide

The Research & Development Tax Credit—or the R&D Tax Credit—is a federal credit that incentivizes, dollar-for-dollar, companies to improve existing processes and products or develop new ones. Any company that performs qualified research activities in the US can use this credit to offset its tax liability. Any expenses that qualify for this tax credit are

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Business Startup Costs & Tax Deductions

Startup expenses for businesses can be costly; however, there is good news — you can use many of these costs to help reduce your business taxes. In your first year of business, you can deduct some of your startup costs. And others, you can spread out over several years. While it can be complicated, we’ll

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Research and Development Tax Credit Explained

Filing taxes can be complicated enough for individuals. Still, the process becomes even more frustrating when you’re a business owner, especially a successful one that operates multiple departments within a complex industry. Thankfully, our experts at TaxRobot can ensure you get your business taxes done right the first time through our automated processes. Not only

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5 Best Startup Funding Sources in 2022

Starting a business is always an exciting adventure, but it can also bring about a lot of stress and frustration as you scramble and search for effective ways to get everything off the ground. And while that’s always been true, things have become even more difficult due to the global COVID-19 pandemic wreaking economic havoc

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How to Qualify and Claim the R&D Tax Credit

Broad statements rarely fit everyone, but we’ve never met anyone eager to pay more than what is required when it comes to paying taxes. That’s where tax credits come in handy. Like research and development, certain activities can qualify businesses or individuals to offset a portion of their tax liability, effectively paying less in taxes.

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R&D Credits & AMT: Here’s What to Know

For years, many businesses were prevented from getting the full benefits from their R&D tax credits, even though they engaged in qualified activities. The reason for this problem was the alternative minimum tax (AMT). However, due to the PATH Act, many eligible small businesses (ESBs) no longer face that burden. The PATH Act includes provisions

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R&D Tax Credit For Startups: How To Qualify

Each year, the government provides over $12 billion in tax incentives to thousands of businesses all over the nation.  The startup R&D tax credit is one of the most lucrative tax incentives today. For the past forty years, it’s been helping businesses save hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax payments, and it can help

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R&D Credits for Software Companies: What to Know

Software companies transform business operations in numerous industries by creating products that fuel productivity and efficiency. In support of continued innovation, R&D tax credits are available to many organizations, providing substantial savings opportunities for a range of software companies. Many expenses that software companies incur through their research and development are eligible, including contractor development

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