We Are 101

Purpose

Formed We Are 101 LLC in Wyoming primarily because I needed a business entity with an EIN (Employer Identification Number) to receive payments from Kindle Direct Publishing, Apple App Store, and Google Play. You cannot receive meaningful revenue as an individual without a tax identity that separates personal and business income. The LLC was the vehicle. The vision grew from there.

Stack

What I Learned

• An LLC (Limited Liability Company) is the simplest business entity that separates your personal assets from your business liabilities. If your app gets sued, they sue the LLC, not you personally. Wyoming is popular for LLC formation because of no state income tax, strong privacy protections (your name does not have to be on public filings if you use a registered agent), and low annual fees. The formation process: file Articles of Organization with the Wyoming Secretary of State ($100), get an EIN from the IRS (free, online, instant), open a business bank account.
• An EIN is like a Social Security Number for your business — it is how the IRS identifies your entity for tax purposes. Apple, Google, and Amazon all require either an SSN or an EIN for payment. Using an EIN keeps your personal SSN out of third-party payment systems, which is both a privacy and a security benefit.
• The "101" brand had a thesis: every subject has a barrier to entry, and the internet is great at taking you from intermediate to advanced but terrible at taking you from zero to started. We Are 101 would focus exclusively on introductions — the first hour of any subject. How to set up your first repo. How to publish your first book. How to deploy your first app. The internet can get you the rest of the way, but someone needs to help you begin.
• The LLC failed because the business model was unclear. "Education company focused on introductions" is a mission, not a revenue model. Is it courses? A YouTube channel? A consulting service? A book series? Without a specific product and a specific customer, the entity existed legally but not operationally. The EIN served its purpose for receiving payments. The company vision did not survive contact with the market.
• The 101 Haikus connection was thematic — 101 haiku books, a 101-focused learning company, the idea that "101" is an identity, not just a number. The branding was coherent. The business was not. Branding without business fundamentals is a logo on an empty storefront.

Key Insights

• Every creator who ships on Apple, Google, or Amazon will eventually need a business entity. The trigger is usually taxes — once you earn more than $600 from any platform, they report it to the IRS, and you need to decide whether that income flows through your personal return or a business return. An LLC with its own EIN gives you cleaner accounting, liability protection, and the ability to deduct business expenses (devices, software, hosting, travel). The cost is low ($100-$300 to form, $50-$100/year to maintain). The protection is real.
• Wyoming, Delaware, and Nevada are the three states most commonly chosen for LLC formation by out-of-state founders. Wyoming: no income tax, no franchise tax, strong asset protection, low fees. Delaware: established business law, Court of Chancery for disputes, preferred by VC-backed startups. Nevada: no income tax, no franchise tax, but higher filing fees. For a solo creator, Wyoming is almost always the right choice.
• The failure of We Are 101 taught the difference between a mission and a business. "Help people get started" is a beautiful mission. It is not a business until you answer: who specifically, getting started with what specifically, delivered how specifically, priced at what specifically. The 101 mission lives on — these project blog posts are introductions to every subject they touch. But it lives as content, not as a company. Sometimes a failed LLC becomes a content strategy.
• The entity died but the EIN still works. The infrastructure of business formation (LLC, EIN, bank account) outlasts any particular business idea. When Potatuhs needed an entity, the playbook was already known. The first LLC is always the hardest because every step is new. The second one takes an afternoon.