It is just about the sketchiest thing ever to respond to a discussion of how much legal help you need to set up a legally sound corporation with a plea to instead get a "certificate of virtual incorporation".

Are you sure? I spent two years of my life to build this virtual certificate of incorporation so that it actually means something. So just maybe you are dismissing it too quickly. Of course, it has a very specific range of applications, namely developers for apps, websites and so on, not for dentists and restaurants.

"You don't need a lawyer! I did all that work for you!"

Sounds awesome, dude.

For what it's worth: Alain has been on HN for years promoting "Fair Software", a term of art he invented, as an alternative to incorporation. My recollection is a bit vague, but from what I can tell, the deal is that instead of incorporating, you sign up for his service and model your whole business as a "revenue share for code contribution" system, where you get paid 1099 from his company, after he collects fees.

I choose not to engage with the argument about how much more sound your equity structure is going to be with his prefab code sharing system than with an LLC or S-Corp, because structuring equity is only one of many (important) reasons to incorporate, including:

* Not losing your house over failure to perform good-faith contract obligations

* Ability to actually hire employees consistent with the laws of the state you're operating in

* Ability to invoice and be invoiced by large companies who will hang up the phone on you when you try to explain what "Fair Software" is

* Ability to acquire professional liability insurance

And, whatever you may think about the structure he proposes, it obviously doesn't respond to the question of how much legal help you need to start a company.