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Radian LLC

Hi, my name is Radon (about me). In my free time, I develop free open-source software on GitHub. Previously, I just did this as an individual because I already have a full-time job and am only doing the open-source work for my personal enjoyment and to benefit the programming community.

However, after a scary experience of being threatened by a former employer, I found out that the US legal system basically makes it so that you can't stand up to rich people without serious risk to your livelihood and personal savings. After talking to a lawyer, I learned that what you're supposed to do as a normal open-source developer is to form a limited liability company and conduct your work through that entity, which prevents your personal savings from being subject to lawsuits about your open-source work. ("Corporations are people too!")

The company I formed is called Radian LLC and is incorporated in California. I keep separate finances, accounts, and records for all work on projects that are associated with the LLC in order to avoid any ambiguity.

Quick links:

FAQ:

  • Who works for you? Nobody, it's just me.
  • What are you selling? Nothing, all Radian LLC projects are free and open-source.
  • Are you trying to pivot into proprietary software? No, I hate it when people do that.
  • Are you going to start charging people for things? Only if the thing I'm providing costs money to provide (e.g., a cloud hosting service). In that case the subscription cost would reflect the AWS bill.
  • Are you making a profit? No, and if somehow that starts happening, I'll simply donate the profits to charity (most likely to the EFF).
  • Do I still own my contributions on GitHub? Yes, you still own the copyright for your contributions, and just (as before) have agreed to share them under the terms of the MIT License so that others can use them.
  • How much does this cost to run? The main expense is the $800/year minimum tax charged by California to all registered businesses. Otherwise, expenses are pretty small and just cover things like Google Workspace, Namecheap, AWS, etc. For the sake of transparency, all financial records for Radian LLC are publicly viewable on GitHub.
  • I don't want to get sued. How can I set up something like this? You should probably talk to a lawyer. But here's the short version: File the paperwork to register an LLC in your state (or in Delaware), file a Statement of Information, file to get an EIN from the IRS, get a business checking account and card to keep your finances separate, and register separate accounts for everything (especially email and file storage) so that nobody can claim you're mixing personal and business assets. Draw up and sign a contract to transfer your personal intellectual property and copyright to the LLC. And read this Wikipedia page.