Capital gains taxes rise in 2011. That might be a factor that the author should consider.
Specifically, I think the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 can be used by founders to buy founder shares at a trivial basis in one or more corporations founded in q4 2010, built into businesses over the following 5+ years (possibly in parallel...maybe you work on one full time every day, and let a few sit idle with minimal involvement until later...). Then, provided the business capitalization is less than 50mm at exit, and your ownership is 10mm or less, you have zero federal capital gains or AMT liability -- I.e. You win at taxes.
http://www.quora.com/What-pitfalls-should-be-avoided-if-inve...
IANAL, but it seems any business so formed must be active in some ongoing non-services business. Still, I'm tempted to form a number of small corporations for each of my 'backburner' ideas, make a small investment, then hire occasional contractors to flesh out the ideas through R&D until they (or a closely-related idea) seems ripe -- perhaps years from now. Then, I'd devote myself full-time to it, and my founders' equity appreciation would remain subject to this one-time 2010 gain exclusion.
Question is: should you just do stupid-cheap WY/NV/etc. formations and then redomicile, or do the real $5-10k corps with full paperwork, agreements, etc.? Or would a top-tier firm/lawyer be willing to discount one principal/owner and 10 corps formed on the same day, in exchange for future business when those corps get used more actively, take subsequent investment, etc.?
http://www.goodwinprocter.com/Publications/Newsletters/Clien...