How to Start a Business Checklist: The Complete Phase-by-Phase Guide for Australian Founders

Starting a business in Australia has a sequence. Most first-time founders don't know it. Here is the complete phase-by-phase guide — from ABN registration to first sale — so you stop guessing and start building in the right order.

There is a version of starting a business that looks like this: you have an idea, you register a business name, you build something, you tell people about it, and customers appear. If only.

The reality is that starting a business in Australia — properly, in an order that does not create expensive problems six months down the track — involves a specific sequence of registrations, decisions and setups that most first-time founders either do not know about or do not realise they needed to do first.

This guide covers that sequence. Every phase. Every step. In the right order.

Phase 1 — Before You Register Anything: Validate First

The most common mistake Australian founders make is not a legal mistake or a financial mistake. It is a strategic one — spending money on registrations, design and product development before confirming that what they are building is something people actually want to pay for.

Before you register a business name, brief a designer or set up a website, do this:

• Talk to at least 10 potential customers about the problem you are solving — not the solution you are building

• Listen for whether the problem is real, frequent and painful enough to pay to fix

• Confirm there is a group of people willing to pay your intended price point

• Make sure you understand who your customer actually is — not who you hope they are

This step costs nothing except time. Skipping it costs everything else.

Phase 2 — Legal & Registration

Once you have validated the problem, your next step is locking in the legal foundation before a dollar of business money moves.

Business Structure

Choose your structure first — this decision affects everything that follows, including how you are taxed, your personal liability and how you split equity.

• Sole trader — simplest structure, full personal liability

• Partnership — two or more people, shared liability

• Company (Pty Ltd) — separate legal entity, limited liability, more complex to set up

• Trust — typically used for asset protection or family business structures

Most startups register as a company (Pty Ltd) from the start for liability protection and investor readiness. Speak to an accountant or lawyer before deciding.

Registrations

• Register your ABN (Australian Business Number) at abr.gov.au — free, required for any business activity

• Register your ACN (Australian Company Number) if registering as a company — done through ASIC

• Register your business name with ASIC if trading under a name other than your own

• Register for GST if your annual turnover will exceed $75,000 — or register voluntarily

• Check and register your trademark with IP Australia — name, logo and any distinctive brand elements

Agreements

• Founder agreement — if there are co-founders, document the equity split, roles and decision-making process before you spend a day working together

• Shareholder agreement — governs how shares are issued, transferred and valued

• Contractor agreements — for any external help you bring in before you have employees

• Terms and conditions and privacy policy — required before you launch anything publicly

Do not build, brand or spend before this phase is complete. The cost of fixing legal problems created at this stage is significantly higher than the cost of getting them right from the start.

Phase 3 — Financial Setup

With your legal structure in place, the financial setup comes next — before any business money moves.

• Open a dedicated business bank account — never use your personal account for business transactions

• Set up accounting software — Xero or MYOB are the standard choices for Australian small businesses

• Understand your GST obligations — what you need to charge, report and remit

• Calculate your unit economics — what does it cost to deliver one unit of your product or service?

• Set your pricing — cost-plus, value-based or competitive

• Build a simple 12-month cash flow forecast

• Engage an accountant who understands early-stage businesses — ideally now, not at tax time

• Set up a system for tracking expenses from day one — receipts, invoices, categories

The financial setup does not need to be complicated. It needs to be in place. Clean financial records from the start make everything easier — tax time, investor due diligence, understanding whether the business is actually working.

Phase 4 — Brand Before You Brief

Most Australian founders brief a designer too early — before they have done the strategic work that tells the designer what to create.

Branding in the right order:

1. Define your positioning — what your business stands for and who it is for

2. Write your positioning statement — one sentence that captures what you do and why it matters

3. Build your messaging hierarchy — primary message, proof points, tone of voice

4. Confirm your business name — check ASIC, trademark registry and domain availability simultaneously

5. Brief your designer — with a proper brief that includes positioning, audience and brand principles, not just a mood board

6. Build your visual identity — logo, colour palette, typography

7. Create a basic brand style guide — rules for consistent application

Skip step 1 to 4 and the designer is guessing. The result looks fine and means nothing.

Phase 5 — Product or Service

Now — and only now — is it time to build.

• Define the exact problem your product or service solves

• Scope the minimum version that tests whether people will actually pay for it

• Build that version — no more

• Launch to a small group of real customers

• Measure what happens

• Decide — iterate, pivot or scale

Most founders at this stage build too much. The instinct to polish before launching is understandable but expensive. Launch the smallest version that tests your most important assumption. Get real feedback. Then build more.

Phase 6 — Website and Digital Presence

Before briefing a developer or designer on your website:

• Define what the website needs to do — its primary conversion goal

• Map every page and what it needs to communicate

• Define the CTA on every page

• Write the content hierarchy before any design begins

• Choose your platform — Shopify for product-based businesses, Webflow or Squarespace for service businesses, custom build for complex requirements

• Brief the designer with a structured creative brief

• Brief the developer with a written scope document that includes deliverables, timeline and IP ownership terms

The 50-card Website Planner Pack included free with every StartUp Deck was built specifically for this step.

Phase 7 — Marketing and Launch

With a product and a website in place, the launch phase begins:

• Define your primary audience with precision

• Choose two or three channels where that audience actually is

• Build your email list before launch — not after

• Create a launch sequence — who hears about it first and in what order

• Set a 90-day goal — one number to move

• Set up Google Analytics 4 and any relevant tracking before going live

• Launch

• Measure

• Adjust

Marketing works when it is built on a clear audience, a clear message and a clear channel strategy. Without those three things, it is activity, not progress.

Phase 8 — First Sales

Close the first ten customers yourself. Manually. No automation, no delegating, no waiting for the website to do the work.

The first ten customers are the most valuable research you will do. They will tell you — through what they say and what they do — what is working about your product, your positioning and your pitch. That information is worth more than any consultant's report.

Get in the room. Have the conversations. Close the deals yourself first.

Every Phase of Starting a Business. Covered. In a Deck of Cards.

The StartUp Deck is a physical toolkit — 150+ action cards covering every phase of building a business, from Foundation & Legal to Growth & Analytics. Structure you can hold in your hands. Every step covered. Nothing missed.

No synthetic advice. No fluff. No guessing.

• 150+ Core Strategy Cards — Every phase. Every decision. In order.

• 13 Key Players Cards — Who to hire, when and how.

• 50 Card Website Planner Pack — FREE bonus. Map your website before you build it.

• 6 Months Digital Resource Library Access — Launching soon.

• Gift-ready premium packaging — Ships next business day.

$249.00 AUD | Limited Run | 30-Day No-Questions-Asked Returns

Get Your Deck → thestartupdeck.com/products/the-startup-deck

Go Deeper on Each Phase

• Legal setup — The Startup Legal Checklist — thestartupdeck.com/blog/startup-legal-checklist

• Financial setup — The Startup Finance Checklist — thestartupdeck.com/blog/startup-finance-checklist

• Branding — The Startup Branding Checklist — thestartupdeck.com/blog/startup-branding-checklist

• Validation — How to Validate a Business Idea — thestartupdeck.com/blog/how-to-validate-a-business-idea

• MVP — How to Build an MVP — thestartupdeck.com/blog/how-to-build-an-mvp

• Website planning — The Website Planning Checklist — thestartupdeck.com/blog/website-planning-checklist

• Full checklist — The Complete Startup Checklist — thestartupdeck.com/blog/startup-checklist

  
  

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to register first when starting a business in Australia? 

Your ABN comes first. You cannot conduct business activity, invoice customers or register for GST without one. Register at abr.gov.au — it is free and typically processed within minutes to a few days.

Do I need to register a company or can I start as a sole trader? 

Both are valid structures. A sole trader is simpler and cheaper to set up but gives you no protection from personal liability. A company (Pty Ltd) is more complex to establish but separates your personal assets from the business. Most startups seeking investment or with significant liability exposure should register as a company from day one. Speak to an accountant before deciding.

When do I need to register for GST? 

You are required to register for GST when your annual turnover reaches $75,000. Many founders register voluntarily before this threshold — particularly if their customers are businesses that can claim the GST back.

Do I need a trademark? 

If your business name, logo or product name is core to your brand value, you should register it. A trademark gives you the legal right to use that name or logo exclusively in your industry in Australia. Register through IP Australia at ipaustralia.gov.au.

How much does it cost to start a business in Australia? 

The basic registrations — ABN, business name, company registration — cost very little. The significant costs are product development, marketing and hiring. Getting the legal and financial structure right from the start reduces the cost of mistakes later, which is typically far more expensive than doing it correctly at the beginning.

What is the biggest legal mistake Australian founders make? 

Not having a founder or shareholder agreement in place when there are multiple co-founders. When the equity split, roles and decision-making process are not documented, disagreements become very expensive to resolve. Sort this in week one.

Stop Guessing. Start Building.

Starting a business in Australia is a sequence — not a list of tasks you can tackle in any order. Get the sequence right and each phase sets up the next. Get it wrong and you spend the back half of year one fixing what should have been sorted at the start.

Get Your Deck → thestartupdeck.com/products/the-startup-deck

$249.00 AUD | Limited Run | Ships Next Business Day | 30-Day Returns