Where to start

I have an idea.
Now what?

The steps are not the hard part. Knowing which one is first is the hard part. Here is an order, arranged so the cheapest ways to be wrong happen first.

Write the idea down in one sentence naming who it is for and what changes for them. Then say it out loud to five people who are not your friends, and listen for the question you cannot answer. That question is your next piece of work. Everything else, the name, the logo, the website, the registration, comes after somebody has agreed to pay.

The gap between having an idea and starting is not usually a knowledge gap. The steps are published in a hundred places. It is that the first move is unclear, so every move looks equally urgent, and doing nothing feels safer than doing the wrong thing first.

What follows is an order. It is ordered by risk, which means the cheapest ways to be wrong come first.

Five steps, in the order that costs least

Write the idea down in one sentenceName who it is for and what changes for them. If the sentence needs a paragraph to make sense, the idea is still two or three ideas wearing a coat. Most people skip this because it feels too small to count as progress. It is the step that makes every later step answerable.
Say it out loud to five people who are not your friendsFriends protect your feelings, which is the wrong input here. Look for the question you cannot answer. That question is the next piece of work, and it arrives faster from a stranger.
Find out what it costs before you find out what it earnsCosts are knowable this week. Revenue is a guess for months. Knowing the number you need to survive turns a vague fear into a figure you can plan against.
Sell one before you build tenOne person paying is worth more information than a hundred saying it sounds great. It also tells you the price, which no amount of thinking will.
Register only once money is movingThe paperwork is real but it is rarely the first step. Filing early creates annual obligations for a business that may not exist yet.

Where people actually get stuck

Waiting to feel ready

Readiness is not a feeling that arrives before the work. It is produced by the work. The people who look ready started before they felt it and got used to the discomfort on the way.

Researching instead of asking

Reading has no failure state, which is what makes it comfortable. A week of research and one honest conversation with a potential customer are not equivalent, and only one of them can tell you the price.

Building the whole thing first

A finished product built on a guess is an expensive way to test the guess. The order that costs less is to sell it, then build it.

Doing it alone

Most of the difficulty is not technical. It is that no one is checking in, nobody notices when a week goes missing, and there is no one to ask whether a decision is reasonable.

Things on this site that answer the next question

Where are you, actually?Five questions and a straight read on the stage you are at.What will it cost to start?The real number, before revenue is a guess.When do you break even?The point where sales cover the fixed costs.Sole proprietor, LLC or S corpWhat actually differs, side by side.What your state requiresAll fifty, each read from the state's own page.The Energy DiscoveryForty eight questions on how you work when it is hard.

Questions people ask

I have a business idea but I do not know where to start. What do I do first?

Write the idea in one sentence naming who it is for and what changes for them, then say it to five people who are not friends and listen for the question you cannot answer. That question is the next piece of work. Registering the business and building the product both come later, once someone has agreed to pay.

How do I know if my business idea is any good?

The test is whether a stranger will pay before the thing is finished. Interest is cheap and encouragement is free. A deposit, a pre-order or a signed agreement is the first real evidence, and it usually arrives long before the product does.

Do I need a business plan to start?

Not to start. A plan is needed when someone else needs to evaluate you, which usually means a lender or an investor. Before that, a page naming the customer, the price and the cost does the same work.

How much money do I need to start a business?

It varies by what you are building, and the number that matters is not the startup cost but the point at which sales cover fixed costs. That figure is calculable in a few minutes once you know your fixed costs and what each sale contributes.

Should I register an LLC before I have customers?

An LLC creates filing duties and annual fees from the moment it exists. Most states charge an annual report whether or not the business traded. Many people register once money is actually moving, though the answer turns on liability and tax facts a web page does not have.

What if my idea already exists?

Almost every idea already exists. Competition is evidence that people pay for the thing. What matters is whether you can reach a group of them better, cheaper or more specifically than whoever is serving them now.

I have an idea.Now what?