Start these today. They run in the background all week.

Buy your domain.

Get it now so it's ready to connect next week. You won't hook it up yet, but owning it early means no waiting later.

• Where: a real domain registrar. I use GoDaddy, and there are others (Namecheap, Cloudflare).

Buy it from a dedicated registrar so you fully own it and can point it straight to Vercel next week.

Start Stripe, your business, and your EIN.

You won't use Stripe until Week 3, but the setup can take a few days, so start it now and let it process while you build.

• Best practice: a registered business, an EIN, and a business bank account. Set these up if you can, it keeps your money clean.
• But don't let that be the reason you wait. You can open Stripe as a sole proprietor with your SSN and a personal bank account (the name just has to match). No LLC required to start.
• An EIN is free and instant from the IRS if you'd rather not put your SSN on the account. Optional, not required.

Do it the clean way if you can. But do not let paperwork be the reason you're not up and running. Week 3 is where you connect it all.

Here's the source so you can check it yourself: Stripe, selling without a separate business entity

If your LLC is slow, don't wait on it.

Some states take weeks to form an LLC. Don't let that stall you.

• Start as a sole proprietor now. You already are one the moment you sell, nothing to file. That's enough to open Stripe today.
• Want a business name? File a DBA, usually a day or two.
• Form your LLC in the background and switch over once it's ready.

I used LegalZoom for this. Again, just what I did, not an endorsement, and not legal advice. See the entity-types resource for your options.

Already validated?

If yes, you're ready. If you're still not sure what you're building, go do the 5-Step Validation in Resources first, then come back. Don't skip it.

By the end of this week you'll have a real platform on your screen. Let's start.