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Business & Legal Research Resources

A starter kit for looking up business, legal, and SaaS-specific questions — organized by how much you should trust each source.

How to use this list​

  • Government sites = the actual authority. If they say it, it's true — full stop.
  • Firm/platform resources = usually accurate and founder-focused, but still marketing content for a service. Good for understanding a concept before a paid conversation with a professional.
  • Communities = great for "has anyone else run into this" pattern-matching. Treat individual answers as anecdotes, not authority.

For anything with real legal or tax consequences (entity conversions, contracts, tax elections), use these to get informed and ask good questions — not as a substitute for an actual attorney or CPA.

Government / Official (highest authority)​

SiteUse for
SBA.govGeneral federal small business formation, funding, licensing, regulations
IRS.gov — Small Business & Self-Employed Tax CenterHow your business structure actually affects tax obligations
Delaware Division of CorporationsOfficial DE filings, fees, franchise tax calculators
Ohio Secretary of State (sos.state.oh.us)Ohio-specific filings — your home-state equivalent to the Delaware site

Startup / Legal Guides (reliable, founder-focused)​

SiteUse for
Cooley GOFree startup legal guides and document templates from a major startup law firm

SaaS Business & Growth​

SiteUse for
SaaStrDeep coverage of SaaS pricing, metrics, hiring, and growth from practicing SaaS founders
Indie HackersSelf-funded/small-team founders sharing real revenue numbers and lessons — good stage-match for TraxGroup

Community / Gut-Check (pattern-matching, not authority)​

SiteUse for
Reddit — r/SaaS, r/startupsSeeing how other founders talk about a problem before spending money solving it
Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com)Technical/founder-heavy discussion — closer to your own background than most startup forums

Quick decision guide​

  • Need the real number or rule (a fee, a deadline, a tax treatment)? → Government site.
  • Want a founder-oriented explanation of a concept before talking to a professional? → Cooley GO or SaaStr.
  • Want to know if your situation is normal or you're missing something? → Indie Hackers, Reddit, or Hacker News.
  • Anything with real legal/tax consequences? → Use the above to get informed, then talk to an actual attorney or CPA.