I spent a week on things that should've taken a day
When I decided to start my first company, I thought the first hurdle would be running the business. I was wrong! It was figuring out who to use for incorporation, which bank would actually open an account for me, and what on earth a "corporate card" even was.
Every firm I googled had a nice website and promises. Every blog post was written by the firms themselves. Even the "comparison sites" were paid rankings. I was going in circles.
So I started keeping notes. I compared every firm I could find. I added up the hidden costs, real reviews, and came up with my own rankings. I did the same for banks and cards. And now I'm sharing it here, transparent, for free, because this is the kind of thing someone should've given me from the start.
No referral links. No sponsored content. Just what I found.
No guide existed — had to build one from scratch
There was no single place that listed all the firms, compared their prices, and gave you an honest view. Every resource I found was either written by the firms themselves or clearly outdated. I spent weeks just compiling information that should've taken an afternoon.
Pricing was deliberately vague
Half the firms don't publish their prices. You have to send an email, wait a day, get on a call, and then find out the price is nowhere near what the website hinted at. That's time you don't have when you're trying to start a business.
The smaller firms were nearly impossible to find
Google pushes the big names with the biggest ad spend. But some of the best boutique firms — the ones with the highest real ratings — barely show up on the first few pages. You had to actually dig to find them, and most people just don't.