Stripe Atlas
Atlas tends to fit when
You want a bundled formation plus the Stripe/banking on-ramps that come with that product, and you will still read what you filed. Convenient. Still a legal event. Still needs a ledger.
Stripe Atlas vs Clerky
Stripe Atlas vs Clerky: formation kits, not a substitute for a real close
Reviewed August 21, 2026 by Robb
Atlas and Clerky both sell a path to a Delaware company without inventing the documents from scratch. That is useful. It is not a finance system. After you form, you still need a bank, books, a cap table that matches the grant docs, and someone who knows what you actually signed. We meet companies the week after they ‘incorporated online’ with three cap tables already.
Clerky
Clerky tends to fit when
You want formation and startup paper (offers, SAFEs, consents) in a document product counsel already knows. Same warning: clicking generate is not the same as a maintained cap table.
Formation is day one of bookkeeping
Open the bank, record the founder stock, keep the consents. If founder common is ‘we’ll paper it later,’ later is diligence, and it is uglier. We start the books at formation when clients let us.
Do not mix kits
Atlas docs plus a Clerky SAFE plus a Google-doc side letter is how you get three versions of authorized shares. Pick a paper path. Stick to it until counsel changes it on purpose.
A C-corp is a choice
Most venture paths want Delaware C. If you are not on that path, do not form that entity because a landing page said so. Match the entity to the capital you will actually take.
Frequently asked questions
Do I still need a lawyer?
For anything that is not vanilla, yes. Kits handle the common case. Unusual founder splits, IP from a prior employer, a foreign founder — call counsel.
Which is ‘more official’?
Neither. The filed documents are official. The vendor is a printer with a workflow.
What should exist the week after we form?
EIN, bank, founder stock issued, a simple cap table, and a bookkeeping start. That is the real launch.