In his first guest blog appearance on HBR, Fertik’s “15 Hyper-Practical Tips on Starting Your Own Company” is quickly rising in the “most read” charts, with its quick-read, useful tips.

“There are some great handbooks on starting your own business (like this and this) which focus on larger questions like “whom to hire” and “how to write a business plan.” But I haven’t seen a short list of hyper-practical tips on starting and running your own company. Since I would have loved one of those back in the day, I’ve put one together here. These are rubber-meets-road recommendations intended to help you avoid wasting time on very basic topics. The point is to get you past the easy decisions so you can focus on the business.

1. Use Quickbooks. It’s easy to use, it will work for several years at least, and the other options are too complicated or overkill.
2. Make it a Delaware C-Corporation. If you’re starting your company in the U.S., and if you’re hoping to take outside investment one day, just make it a Delaware C-Corp from the jump. Other forms of incorporation are distracting or prohibitive to investors, and these disadvantages outweigh potential tax benefits.
3. Put 100% of expenditures on a single credit card. As soon as you can get a corporate card, putting everything on one account makes it easier to keep track of expenses and prepare for eventual audit. Your employees will also have a heightened sense that you are watching the expenses.
4. Practice interviewing. When you post your first job listings, be over-inclusive in which candidates you invite for interviews. You will become a better interviewer fast, learn more about the right requirements for the job, understand the candidate pool, and learn how to sell the role to the best candidate well before you meet her. Four extra 30-minute interviews should do it.
5. Let the law firm handle your cap table Never modify the cap table yourself. There’s just way too much opportunity for human error with outsized consequences.”

For the rest of Michael’s tips, click here.