I am looking to form an LLC very shortly.
But for naming your LLC, what would you suggest:

For example:

MantraHost LLC
or
MantraHost.com LLC

I am just giving MantraHost as an example, but what would you prefer registering a LLC with a .com or just your company name?

Thanks.

Mantra,

Definetly WITHOUT the .com; what if you want to offer other services (on a different URL) than what's on MantraHost.com?

Taking the argument one step further, I would drop "host" from the name as well. A more generic name can better serve as an umbrella for other endeavors. That is, if you anticipate pursuing other endeavors.

Yes, a big reason for our recent name change (other than the fact that it would be impossible to get a trademark on ExodusHost, obviously because of Exodus Communications) was because of the host in the name. We have many ideas that may be further explored down the road and if we ever do decide to take action then the flexibility is needed. That's why we went with BitVentures, as if we do expand we also have the domain BitHosts and we could use that as just the hosting section.

You can use the domain, but try to register the LLC as something non-specific. The more flexibility the better.

Also, in your paperwork, be as broad and expansive as possible. Don't limit what your corporation can sell and do.

So for example,

If I register Mantra LLC, do I also have to register MantraHost LLC later on ? .. or can MantraHost operate under the Mantra LLC ?

anyone ?

Originally posted by mantra
So for example,

<snip>can MantraHost operate under the Mantra LLC ?

Yes. But like in the TOS you would have to refer to yourself as Mantra LLC, checks would have to be made out to Mantra LLC, etc.

So long as you can clear the registration process (which I doubt) with Mantra LLC, referring to yourself as MantraHost, a division of Mantra LLC, is fine :)

There's a new article on SitePoint about the various forms of business registration and so on too :)

Originally posted by greengunboat


Yes. But like in the TOS you would have to refer to yourself as Mantra LLC, checks would have to be made out to Mantra LLC, etc.

Na, most banks will never be so anal to reject a check to a company officially named Mantra when the check is payable to Mantrahost. 99.999999999999999999% of the time they'll never even notice. I've seen people and companies deposit checks into their account when the check was made out to something entirely different. Never seen by human eyes.

Actaully, all checks in North America and Europe are examined by human eyes, it's the law. However, the number of times they are caught... Anywho.

If you talk to your bank you can register a separate name as belonging to the account, so you can accept MantraHost, MantraPets, MantraPlumbers, etc as valid for your account.

I think for half the fee you pre-register the name but not use it. Then if you decided to use it you just register it. That way is protected for you but you do not have to officially register it. An example would be

Mantra LLC registered and Mantra, Inc. reserved.

The Fish

From my personal experience, I would recommend to register a completely different name from your web site address. Down the road you never know what can happen. As from my experience, we had an 'XYZ' registered and 'ZYX.com' running. In about a year we sold 'ZYX.com' and still got to keep 'XYZ' as our company name just in case - I wasn't the owner of it though.

When I went solo, I did the same thing.
Our legally registered name is BGDX DIRECT. We use it for business checking account, merchant service etc.. while everything is ran under solidload.net

Actaully, all checks in North America and Europe are examined by human eyes, it's the law. However, the number of times they are caught... Anywho.

That's exactly right. I've personally deposited cheques into our business account (RackNine Inc.) with plenty of different names:

RackNine Web Hosting
RackNine online management consultants
RackNine Site Hosting
RackNine Internet Management
Rack9
...

Most of these went straight through to the hands of a business account teller without problem. It's in the bank's best interests to get your money, how else can they lend it out to others and make their own? :)

Sincerely,

-Matt