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Join for freePosted: Thu 6th Aug 2026
Most founders start a business with passion and a great idea, but without the operational foundation to support it.
This practical session walks aspiring and early-stage founders through exactly what a properly built business needs, and in what order to build it.
From legal structure and financial infrastructure to digital presence, client experience and systems, you'll leave with a clear picture of what their business actually needs and what to prioritise first.
The six operational foundations every business needs
The right order in which to build them, so you don't spend time and money on the wrong things first
The most common mistakes aspiring founders make when setting up, and how to avoid them before they become costly problems
Eleyna Rennalls is the founder of Berhane & Co., a South London-based business setup consultancy helping aspiring and early-stage founders build their businesses properly from day one.
An Enterprise Nation adviser, Eleyna has delivered business setup masterclasses to hundreds of founders and recently spoke on the enterprise policy panel at the Empowering Women in Entrepreneurship Conference at Roehampton University.
Through the Founder’s Suite, a done-for-you operational setup service, Berhane & Co. transforms ideas into operational businesses.
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Lightly edited for clarity.
Beth: Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's Lunch and Learn. My name is Beth, and I'll be your host today.
For those of you attending a Lunch and Learn for the first time, Enterprise Nation is a vibrant community platform for start-ups and small businesses.
I'm very pleased to introduce Eleyna Rennalls, who is the founder of Berhane & Co.
In this session, Eleyna will discuss exactly what a properly built business needs and in what order to build it.
If you have any questions throughout the webinar, please place them in the chat, and we'll do our best to answer them at the end of the session.
As always, this session will be recorded, and we'll send the recording with follow-up resources later today.
Thanks for joining, everyone, and over to you, Eleyna.
Eleyna: Lovely. Thank you so much. Hello, everyone. Welcome. Thank you for joining today's Lunch and Learn. I'm really glad you're here.
My name is Eleyna, and I'm the founder of the start-up set-up consultancy Berhane & Co.
I help aspiring founders and early-stage founders build their businesses properly from day one.
Today's session is something I wish someone had told me when I was starting out: how to build your business correctly, in the right order.
It's not necessarily the fun stuff. It's not necessarily the obvious stuff. But it is the right stuff, in the correct order, to save you a lot of hassle, stress, overwhelm and potentially mistakes in the long run.
So let's jump into it. Just to keep this bit brief, today is really about you more than me. But I will say that everything today comes from lived experience, not a textbook.
As briefly said already, I've started businesses. I've made the mistakes. I've helped those around me figure out what a founder has to do in order to build their business correctly.
Before we get into the framework, the actual steps and structure to build your business correctly, I would like to ask everyone out there: what was the first thing you looked at when you decided to build a business? I bet it was designing the logo.
That's a little bit of a founder myth. Most people think that setting up a business is having your great idea, your logo, your social media handles, and that's pretty much it.
There's a lot more to it than that. That's not the entirety of your business. It's a part of it.
Businesses and founders may have a business that looks brilliant on the outside, but on the inside, does it actually function properly?
What I've got here is the timeline, or the order, the strategy in which you can build your business properly.
There are six categories here, in this specific order. Not because they're made up, but because each one depends on the one before it.
This order is structural. You can't build your house from the top down, so we start with the foundations.
As I said already, that's why many businesses may look great from the outside, but do not necessarily work properly behind the scenes.
We start with legal and compliance, then move on to financial set-up, digital infrastructure, brand and presence, customer journey, and operations and systems.
I don't want this to be death by slide, but I want to give you a visual on what I'm saying, especially for the note takers out there.
Legal and compliance is category one. This is the first step.
It's the legal layer that everything sits on. That's your business structure. Are you a sole trader or a limited company?
It also includes things like your registered address, business insurance, privacy policy, and terms and conditions.
As a sole trader, you have a simple structure. You can register with HMRC. You and the business are legally the same entity.
That means personal liability. If the business has debts, you are personally responsible.
The opposite side is structuring as a limited company. There are many company structures, but we'll focus on the limited company structure today as a separate legal entity.
I'm sure you're aware that you register with Companies House. Your personal assets are protected, so you are not seen as the same entity as you are if you're a sole trader.
But that does mean admin, annual accounts, confirmation statements and the beloved corporation tax.
Yes, we can start as a sole trader. And yes, we see lots of agents or companies offering company formation at very cheap rates.
Companies House charges at least £100. Anything less than that is an offer, but it also leads into the next point: registered address.
It's very important to keep your home address off the public register.
In addition to setting up as a limited company, do consider and opt in for a registered address and director's address. This is what keeps your home details off the public record.
Again, that's the structure for your company. It's not quite the same if you're a sole trader because you are the same entity.
Next, business insurance. As an overview, please do speak to insurance providers, for example Simply Business. Get in contact with them and get a quote specific to your business and your needs.
The two main types of insurance coverage that founders are going to need are public liability and professional indemnity.
Depending on the nature of your business and what you are providing as your service or product, some clients will require, or should really want to see, evidence of your insurance before you proceed and continue work with them.
I've also put in privacy policy and terms and conditions. These are all things that should be considered in the very beginning stage of setting up your business.
You will find that clients, people you wish to work with and organisations you wish to partner with are going to need these things in place.
This will all appear later on in the linear structure. Your privacy policy and terms and conditions will ultimately be on your website.
A mistake that founders make is assuming that insurance is not necessary or is optional, until it isn't.
So to reiterate, get in contact with insurance providers and get the most suitable coverage for your business.
Next is financial set-up. It might seem obvious, but yes, you do need to have a separate bank account for your business. Separate it from your personal finances.
Then you need a payment system. What is that? That's Stripe. That's SumUp. That's a payment gateway, the link so that you can get paid properly.
You also need an invoice template and a way to track expenses. Speak to an accountant. You do not need to be an accountant yourself.
You've got tools such as Xero and QuickBooks that you can use to track your expenses. You can even start with a spreadsheet.
But the point here is to start with a system, start with it at this point and track everything from day one.
Moving on to digital infrastructure. Finally, we are here. This is your domain, hosting, website and professional email.
There is a difference between professional email, business email and using your personal email. We're talking about the impression you want to give. We're talking about being an operational, functional business.
Just to highlight here, Google Business Profile. How many people have created and verified their Google Business Profile?
I recently met the trainers at a Google Digital Garage event. Your Google Business Profile seems to be incredibly underused by founders.
Get yourselves found on Google. Complete the verification process, and you can also use that as a way to build your presence, which we'll come to next.
Finally, brand and presence. This is the bit that I'm sure we're all itching to get to, and it's often the part where we start first.
We have an idea and we jump straight to the design of the logo. It feels productive. It feels like we're doing something.
But branding without that foundation can be just decorative. You need operational foundations in order to stack your brand and have your brand and presence build on something.
That's not to say you haven't thought about your logo, your colours, the colour palette you want to use, your origin story or the vision for your brand.
But at this point, they've got something to stand on. That's why it's fourth and not first.
Content creation is also important here. I just want to highlight posting to your Google profile. Get yourselves found in Google. Get your business profile.
Add this business profile into your social media and content creation.
I'm not saying you have to be visible on every single platform, but do hone in on platforms that are most suitable to you, that you can manage and post on, and where your customers will be.
You don't have to be everywhere, but you can appear strongly in a handful of places.
That can also include posting to your Google Business Profile. You can add events, posts and information about your business, and all of this will ultimately improve your search engine visibility.
Just to touch again on content creation, solopreneurs and small businesses also have to create content as one of the many hats that we wear.
Google Trends and Google Keywords are two resources that will help you a lot in terms of creating that content.
They help you make sure that you're writing content with the correct words and keywords, so your subject lands where it needs to. They also help with trends, so the content you're creating has a better chance of getting in front of the people you would like to see it.
Next is customer journey and client experience. That is what happens after a customer says yes.
The minute someone says yes, or the minute somebody pays, what happens in your business?
That's your contract, service agreement, onboarding process, invoice and payment terms.
Invoice and payment terms, and the onboarding process, are all part of the contract. Your refund policy, your terms and conditions, your scope of work and what you're going to provide.
All of these things are how you deliver your product or service. It's how you communicate with your customers.
For service businesses, that may be onboarding and questionnaires. For product businesses, that may be fulfilment notices and delivery updates.
It's how you communicate with your customer along their journey with your business.
Lastly, operations and systems. CRM means customer relationship management. It's how you manage your relationship with your customers, and the databases, tools or software that you use.
SOPs are your standard operating procedures.
Even as a solopreneur, small business or micro business, you can still have admin in place. These are your work processes.
Once you've got those systems and documents, it means you can repeat. You're not having to work out what to do as you're going along.
You can systemise your work, and that will ultimately ease your workload.
Then there is cyber security. Yes, even as small micro businesses, this applies to us. That's your password management, things like two-factor authentication, back-ups and where you keep your data.
I appreciate cyber security is a separate session on its own, and I'm more than happy to do something on that.
But even for the smaller business, consider your cyber security, your passwords, what you are doing with customer data, and how you are collecting and storing data.
That's your file organisation and back-up. Just to reiterate, UK GDPR compliance applies to you, whether you are a small enterprise, small set-up or large-scale operation.
At this point, we can look at adding automations, AI automations and things that we can systemise and repeat for our workflow.
Things that will reduce the manualness of our workflow can come in at this stage. Once you've got all of your other foundations in place, automations will be able to help you scale your operation.
Just as a final summary, we start with legal and compliance. Get the structure right before everything else.
Then financial infrastructure, so you're ready to be paid properly.
Then digital infrastructure. Don't forget your Google profile.
Then brand and presence, built on solid ground.
Then customer journey: how you onboard, communicate and deliver customer experience.
Again, we can tie that in with how we create our content using Google Keywords and Google Trends.
Lastly, operations and systems, which is how the business runs day to day.
Now let's look at common founder mistakes. These are the things that I speak to founders about, things that have come to me and things from my own experience.
A lot of us start with our brand before our legal structure is confirmed because that is the exciting part. And that is part of it, but it needs to come in its right place.
As I've said already, another common mistake is having your home address on the public register.
Sometimes the offers we see for company formation at an incredible price may not always include the registered address and director's address service.
These are add-ons. So what you think initially is a fantastic offer may not be as cheap as what you thought it was by the time you add on those particular bits.
Again, using personal bank accounts for business transactions. Do keep them separate. You can get a sole trader account. You can get your limited company account, but keep it separate from your personal account.
I'm sure we've all done this one: bought a domain and done nothing with it. We see fantastic offers for domains. We secure our domain. We're excited. We're building our business.
But then we may not do anything with that domain for six months. Renewals come, and it may not be as cheap as what we once thought.
So again, purchase your domain in the right place at the right time, so at least it's not sitting idle while you work out everything else.
Another mistake is skipping contracts or insurance until something goes wrong. That is not optional, so start to look at these things from the very early stage.
Lastly, I've put spending your set-up budget on the wrong things in the wrong order. What does that mean?
Again, that touches on branding. Maybe you'll spend a lot of money on logo design or business stationery.
But have you actually set up your company structure yet? Have you confirmed your business bank account? Do you have your payment link?
Before we get to the decorative, exciting or shopfront side of things, let's make sure that we've got the house in order beforehand.
Perhaps that's enough talking from me. Thank you. A little bit of a whizz through there. I'm happy to take questions at the end.
I've got an assessment and a little activity for you to do here. I will drop a link in the chat. It's just a quick self-audit across the six areas that we've covered.
We have a QR code on the screen there for people who wish to take a picture. As I say, I will drop the link in the chat.
You're welcome to use the QR code on your phone or the link in the chat and download this.
I will come off this screen, if I may, and I'll also bring up a version. I'm happy to work through it on screen with everybody while we do it.
Here it is. I hope you can all see that. Welcome to the founder readiness assessment, a quick self-audit across the six areas that we've been speaking about.
It will take a few minutes to complete. These answers are for yourself. They're private to you.
At the end, you will be able to see a summary and your score.
There are no right or wrong answers, but it's an opportunity for you to identify areas where you can strengthen your business.
I'm happy to go through this while you are also working through it.
We'll just put in a general name here to get started. Where are you in your set-up journey?
Hopefully, you can see it on the screen. The options are idea, pre-launch, early stage or growth stage.
Legal and compliance. Have you formally confirmed your business structure as a sole trader or limited company? Is your business address set in a way that protects your privacy and presents your business professionally?
Financial set-up. Do you have a dedicated business bank account separate from your personal finances?
Please answer honestly for yourself. I'm just going through this to give a scenario here.
Can your clients or customers pay using a professional payment process, such as invoices, Stripe or payment links?
Do you own a domain name that is registered and correctly connected to your business?
Do you use a professional business email, for example hello@yourbusiness?
About halfway through now.
Does your website clearly communicate what you do, who you help and what to do next, with a visible CTA? Have you created and verified your Google Business Profile?
Do you have a contract or service agreement ready before beginning to work with a client? When a customer or client says yes, do you have a clear process for what happens next?
Again, I'm just populating the fields to show you what the readiness assessment looks like online, and that you will have a summary at the end.
Last two questions. Do you have a privacy policy and cookie banner correctly implemented on your website? Are your business accounts protected with strong passwords and two-factor authentication?
You're welcome to add your scores into the chat. As soon as you've done yours and you've got some scores coming up, let's see what the numbers are in the room.
You click here to submit. At the end, you'll see a summary.
We'll just wait for some of the numbers to come through in the chat here. Also, I can go back to the previous screen.
If any of you wish to go deeper on your results and work out some of the scores and any gaps, we can work on those together.
You're welcome to contact me or connect with me on the Enterprise Nation platform. We can either book in a discovery call or a one-to-one advisory session.
I'm just going to stop sharing that screen, if I may, and then we'll return to the presentation. You're welcome to drop your scores in as and when.
Let's see if any numbers are coming in. Has anyone got their founder readiness score that they're happy to share with us in the room?
Thanks very much, Sandra. Four out of 12. Fair enough, but that just shows the things that you can now put in place.
You perhaps understand what is missing or where there are gaps. Well done for the eight out of 12 as well.
Just to bring up on the screen what your score means, you would each have had an individual summary at the end of your assessment.
Those with nought to three are at the foundation stage. Again, start with the legal and compliance potentially. Get the structure right before anything else.
Between four and six is building stage. Some pieces are in place, but gaps remain. Tackle your lowest scoring category next.
So whatever the gaps are out of the six, start there. Most likely, we'll start back at the beginning, number one, and move forward.
Seven to nine is developing stage. It's taking shape. You're ahead of most. Find or fix subtle gaps before they cost you.
Lastly, 10 to 12 is optimisation stage. Strong foundations. Let's make sure everything works properly together.
At this point, you will be able to consider adding in or including more automations, but let's make sure that we've got the full house in order first.
That brings me to the end of the presentation for the Lunch and Learn this afternoon.
For next steps, I'm happy to take a few questions from the room.
Connect with me on the Enterprise Nation platform. Book in your discovery call if there are any specific areas that you want to cover in your business, based on the timeline we've discussed and the operational steps there.
If you wish to dive into any more detail, by all means connect with me.
I do have advisory sessions available to book in. We can spend 60 minutes and strategise specifically on any key points or gaps that you wish to address.
You're also welcome to get your tickets. We're at The Founder Suite Live at The Exhibit in Balham in November. There is a promo code for Enterprise Nation members, so you can get a good price on your ticket.
We'll be running the full firm audit there. That was a mini taster that we had today with the 12 questions.
There is a lot that goes into building and having a functional, operational business.
There will be a live audit, Q&A, networking and access to the ecosystem for founders who wish to start their business, avoid some of the overwhelm and costly mistakes, and essentially launch with confidence and hit the ground running.
I believe that my LinkedIn profile and my Enterprise Nation profile have been dropped into the chat, so you're welcome to reach out.
Beth: Thanks so much, Eleyna. That was great. The event sounds great as well. The Exhibit is a really nice venue, isn't it?
Eleyna: Thank you. I'd love to see you there.
Beth: Let's go into a few questions. Abby posted one a while ago while people were taking the online tool. Abby said: how can I separate the private address from the public?
Eleyna: At the point that you do a company formation, you are able to add on a service for a registered address, service address and director's address.
These are additional things to consider when forming a company. You will need a director's address and a registered address as extra services when you're forming your company.
If you're forming your company directly, yes, it's the £100 company formation fee, but you will then have to sort that separately yourself.
When you apply to Companies House, you've got that information. Otherwise, you're going to be applying with your home address, and that's what's going to be put on the public register afterwards.
Beth: Great. Thank you. Dave would like to know if you have any suggestions for what to do when the business domain or social media names are already taken.
Can you add UK on the end, for example?
Eleyna: Potentially. But it is also about visibility online and what people are typing in.
You will find that some organisations may buy more than one domain in order to prevent typos. Then all of those will feed back to the main one.
Yes, you may need to change the suffix, be it UK, a dot London even, or possibly look at making any other differentiators that are easily typeable, such as a hyphen in the name or something to tweak it slightly to give yourself that differentiator.
But yes, common words and big businesses most likely have scooped them up already, and they would also have scooped up any typos in the domain in order to make sure everything goes to one place.
So yes, maybe look at the suffix, or possibly change the prefix.
Beth: Great. Thank you. Susan would like to know: as a sole trader, how can I keep my address private?
Eleyna: Fantastic question. As a sole trader, you are essentially trading as yourself.
But yes, you can also have a business address service, provided by similar places that offer registered address or service address services.
That enables you to put that information as your address on your website, invoices and these kinds of things.
So you may want to look into a business address, or business service address, as a way that you can use it as correspondence on your invoices or website.
That means you do not have your home address on there, but you are still giving a professional impression because people can contact you.
Beth: That makes sense. Thank you. We have a few from Sandra. I know we're conscious of time.
Sandra says: can you add the registered address retrospectively if you have already set up a limited company?
Eleyna: I believe you can, but there's a short window of time to do that.
You're welcome to contact me directly, and we can go into the specifics because people might realise retrospectively.
It's not impossible, but there is administration and there are other forms that would need to be submitted.
So you're welcome to speak with me separately on that one.
Beth: Great. Sandra has another question as well. At what point would you advise trademarking your brand name?
Should I ask Sandra to pick that up with you after this call?
Eleyna: Yes, you're welcome to. Obviously, IP, intellectual property, is really important even for us as small and micro businesses.
There is an argument to trademark, but it depends on how far you are in the structure and what it is that you are protecting.
Have you got everything in the same entity, or are there still pieces to be added onto your business?
Do speak to me separately. It is viable. It is something I would suggest doing. I recommend advice based on your specifics.
Talk to me separately, and we'll confirm when would be the best time to do that.
It doesn't necessarily have to be on the first day, but don't leave it too late because it is your IP.
Beth: That makes sense. Well, thank you so much, Eleyna. That was a really important message.
Thank you everyone who joined. As I mentioned at the start, we will send this recording and a few follow-up resources.
If you do want to connect with Eleyna, you've got her LinkedIn and Enterprise Nation profile in the chat.
Please do reach out with any questions we didn't get around to answering today, and I'm sure she'd be very happy to answer.
Eleyna: Thank you, everybody. I really appreciate it.
If you do have any other questions, connect with me, and it would be great to see you potentially at The Exhibit.
Beth: Absolutely. There are lots of thank yous for you, Eleyna, in the chat.
Eleyna: Thank you so much, everybody. I really appreciate it. It's very kind.
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