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Entrepreneurship & Startups vocabulary · Legal Setup & Governance

Incorporate

Meaning in entrepreneurship & startups, with examples

/ɪnˈkɔːrpəreɪt/verbCommon term

In entrepreneurship & startups, incorporate means: To officially register a business as a company, so that it becomes a separate legal person that can sign contracts, own assets and issue shares.

In Turkish: şirket kurmak, şirketi tescil ettirmek, tüzel kişilik kazandırmak

How it is used

Founders incorporate before taking investment, signing big contracts or giving out equity. People ask where you are incorporated, because investors may prefer certain places; many US-funded startups incorporate in Delaware. The noun is incorporation.

Example sentences

  1. We incorporated as soon as the first investor said yes.

  2. The fund only invests in companies incorporated in Delaware or the UK.

Common collocations

  • incorporate a company
  • incorporated in Delaware
  • certificate of incorporation
  • incorporate as a limited company
  • limited liability companyA type of company whose owners are not personally responsible for its debts beyond the money they put in, often shortened to LLC in the US.
  • founders' agreementA written contract between co-founders that sets out who owns what, who does what, how decisions are made and what happens if someone leaves.
  • shareholders' agreementA contract between the owners of a company that sets out their rights and duties, such as voting, selling shares, board seats and investor protections.
  • board of directorsA group of people elected to oversee a company's management and make major decisions, such as approving budgets, fundraising, key hires and the sale of the company.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Legal Setup & Governance

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