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MenuShould I re-brand my existing company as I try to build my startup?
I have my company that is a C-corp & NM corporation. I have a startup that I have under the existing company. I have also moved from NM to CO. I am active in both NM and CO small business and tech events, but feel like I'm not really a Colorado company at this point. But have had experiences where I applied for something in NM and was not able to because I am not a NM resident. So from a branding standpoint I am struggling with our identity. Should I keep the NM corporation as is and create a new Colorado company with the startup under it? Should I move the NM corp to CO? Really an identity and branding issue right now as I try and build my startup but also maintain the customers I have under my other company.
Answers
From an identity and branding standpoint, it sounds like your operations in the two states provide the same product or service to the same target demographic. Thus, they should stay as a unified brand as far as your look and feel, including logo, website, business cards, and social media. It's not unusual for companies to co-locate.
This is partially a legal question, so be sure to contact your accountant and lawyer about the matter.
However, it would be helpful to learn more about what your startup does in order to best solve your dilemma, including how location-dependent the service is. Would you like to set up a call so that we can dive into the issue further?
There are a lot of factors that you should consider, but here are a few that I would go through in order to make my decision. I moved my LLC from TN to CO a couple of years ago.
- Do your existing customers do business with your NM company for reasons beyond the fact that it's an NM company? Hopefully, you've developed a customer base that does business with you because of the quality you provide in your product/service, so the location of your business shouldn't matter to those customers. Your best/loyal customers should have no issue following you wherever you decide to locate your business.
- Can the NM company have the same success in other states? For example, is the company identity and success based on the fact that it is an NM company and markets to NM residents? If so, have you considered selling that corp and focussing on a CO biz?
- Do both companies offer the same product/service? If yes, then there isn't much reason to have two companies. You should consolidate to a single entity in CO.
- From a management standpoint, having all of your business operations within a single state/nexus certainly simplifies things.
- If your CO startup just exploded with success and you were faced with choosing the CO biz or the NM biz, which one would you choose? If your answer is CO, then I would move everything to CO.
My final thought is that your branding and identity shouldn't be based on your location alone. Your "brand" is how your customers describe your business to their friends. That has more to do with how you do business instead of where you do business.
If you're building your startup with "Colorado" as part of your business name and identity, then you should probably consider moving all operations to CO, or at least starting a CO LLC for your startup and place it outside of the NM umbrella.
Of course, consult with your lawyer and accountant for the legal and tax implications of your options.
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