Delaware’s the golden child for startups. It is very business-friendly vibe: a well-oiled court system for corporate disputes (the Court of Chancery is legendary), tax perks (no state corporate income tax if you don’t operate there), and a reputation that screams “legitimate” to investors.

If you come up with a really good name for your company, you are definitely going to want to lock it down with a US trademark. I’ve done this a couple of times: successfully for Casting Coin and unsuccessfully for Secret Boston. Turns out ‘Secret Boston’ is not trademark-able (more about that below).