INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
There are two sides to starting a new business
But on the other side, they have to deal with the regulatory state and all the minutia that comes with running any business in the 21st
century.That includes such delightful topics as choosing a particular model for incorporation, ensuring that a business has the right
licenses to operate, and tracking all the legal changes happening in 50 state legislatures every year
The Austin-based startup wants to empower entrepreneurs to build businesses large and small by dramatically simplifying the processes
required to launch a business and then grow it.When I last chatted with the company 18 months ago, they had just raised a $4.5 million seed
round and had launched its platform
Strategic Partners.The company launched with a product that was essentially an automated registered agent for new entrepreneurs
agencies, and so ZenBusiness chose this strategic point for entry into the market.When I last chatted with CEO Russ Buhrdorf, he described
rolling up this market as one of the key initial targets for the company:ZenBusiness is the brainchild of Ross Buhrdorf, who joined vacation
rental marketplace HomeAway five months after its inception as founding CTO, and stayed for a decade until its acquisition by Expedia in
corporate legal services market, which offers help to companies to keep them in compliance with the law
Buhrdorf liked what he saw
merely incorporating to actually building out their business by recommending services like banking, lending, tax preparation, website
explained that the company has built out some tools itself such as a simple webpage creator, but in the long run, he hopes to partner with
other providers who integrate into the ZenBusiness platform
accountants working at ZenBusiness
The idea is that the automated tooling plus a little human touch can help most owners handle the day-to-day challenges of running a
business.The ZenBusiness team in 2018
Photo via ZenBusiness.Buhrdorf is particularly focused on keeping the product very self-service and automated to allow it to focus on these
services, and it is hoping to use the fresh infusion of capital to invest in building out community features that will allow small business
owners to swap tips with each other and help one another grow their businesses (presumably with some guidance from ZenBusiness community
managers and experts).The company is now 40 employees predominantly in Austin with a small office in Peru
Since we last checked in, the company has transitioned to become a public benefit corporation, which Buhrdorf said was an attempt to better
