When you're launching a startup, the sheer number of to-dos on your list can feel overwhelming. I get it — that’s what it was like for me as the co-founder of Pixee. Amidst the blur of product development, fundraising, hiring and more, it's crucial not to overlook your venture's core business foundations. But what exactly does this mean? Put simply, business foundations are the essential administrative and operational elements that form the bedrock of your company.  In the early days, it might be tempting to push off these "boring" administrative tasks — but if you fail to properly handle your business foundations from the beginning, it can lead to major headaches, liabilities and missed opportunities down the line. These foundations also enable you to execute quickly and focus your time where it is needed most. In this article, I'll share hard-earned advice on how to prioritize your startup's foundations from day one, and provide you a list of the most critical administrative and financial fundamentals you should put in place. The 3 biggest reasons to set up business basics in your early daysNeglecting to properly establish your business foundations from the start can lead to significant problems down the road. Here are some of the biggest reasons why you should prioritize these administrative and operational tasks early on: Fundraising readiness: When you begin the fundraising process, potential investors will conduct thorough due diligence on your company. They'll want to see that you have clean financial records and have incorporated correctly. If you haven't taken care of these details, it could raise red flags and jeopardize your ability to secure funding. Financial and tax implications: How you set up your company's structure, allocate shares and handle other financial matters can have major tax and financial consequences. Avoid costly mistakes by taking care of these fundamentals right away. Streamlined future business transactions: As your startup grows and potentially goes through major events like acquisitions or exits, having solid business foundations becomes even more critical. Your records will always be scrutinized during business deals, and sloppy or incomplete records can significantly slow things down and create headaches for everyone. It may not be the most glamorous part of founding a company, but investing time and energy into setting up proper foundations for your startup will pay off in the future.Documenting your startup’s core principlesOne of the most important steps you can take as a founder, even before finalizing your product, market or company name, is to write down a set of guiding principles for your venture. This document will serve as a north star for your team, because it will outline the core values and expectations that drive your company culture and decision-making. At Pixee, my co-founder and I made creating a principles document one of our first priorities. We sat down and hashed out the key tenets we wanted to uphold, such as transparency, being data-driven and having high productivity expectations of our team. As you create your own principles list, keep in mind that it should be a living document. Your principles inventory will start out as a rough draft and will likely change as your team and company mature. That's okay — the important thing is to have a shared set of values in place from the beginning. Once you have created your principles document, put it to use. At Pixee, we send our principles out with every offer letter to new hires. Before a candidate accepts a job, we ask them to review the document and discuss it with us. This ensures that every team member is aligned with our culture and expectations right from their first day. Remember, as the saying goes, "culture eats strategy for breakfast." Investing time into articulating your company's principles early on will pay dividends in attracting the right talent, building a strong team dynamic and maintaining a cohesive culture as you scale. While you may not engrave your principles on the front door like some companies do, making them a visible and integral part of your startup's DNA will set you up for success. Your checklist of business foundation fundamentalsAs a founder, there's a seemingly endless list of administrative and financial tasks you need to tackle to properly set up your startup. In future posts, I’m going to give you advice on how to make these tasks more manageable (yes, it is possible!) but for now, here’s a basic list of items to think about: Incorporation: One of the first steps is to legally incorporate your company, which may need to be done in multiple states, depending on your business. Consider using a service like Stripe Atlas to streamline the process and save on legal fees. Banking and accounting: Set up a dedicated business bank account and choose an accounting system like QuickBooks to manage your finances. This will make it easier to track expenses, prepare for taxes and maintain clean financial records. Payroll and benefits: As you start hiring, you'll need a reliable payroll system to manage employee compensation and taxes. Platforms like Rippling can handle payroll, benefits and other HR tasks all in one place. While you’re knocking out this task, don't forget to set up any necessary insurance, such as business liability coverage. Equity management: Establish a clear system for allocating and tracking shares among founders, employees and investors. There are equity management tools available to help with this process. Board agreements and documentation: If you have a board of directors, make sure to have all necessary agreements and documentation in place. Domain and branding: Secure a professional domain name and email addresses for your company. Invest a bit of time and resources into creating polished branding elements like a logo to establish credibility with potential partners and investors — but remember that you don’t need to spend a lot of money at this stage! Just get something up for now, and iterate later. Clear delineation: If you’re an offshoot of a prior company, make sure there’s a clear administrative and financial demarcation between the old business and your new venture.  Outbound technology stack: As you build out your startup's operations, you'll likely need to implement some software tools. For example, a CRM like HubSpot can help manage your sales pipeline, while marketing automation software can streamline your outbound efforts. Aim for a lean tech stack that can scale as you grow. As you set up your foundation, keep things simple and efficient as much as possible. Resist the temptation to overengineer solutions or adopt complex systems before you truly need them. Focus on the fundamentals and leverage tech tools strategically so you can create a robust base for your startup.