Questions? We've got answers.

Scafflow is a guided dashboard that walks first-time business owners through everything it takes to start a business — legal, finance, brand, website, marketing, customers, and operations. After a short setup, it builds a personalized, ordered checklist of exactly what you need to do, explains the why and how of each step, links vetted tools, and keeps all your progress in one place.

Scafflow is built for first-time and early-stage business owners in the United States — service businesses, retail and online stores, food and beverage, professional practices, and creative freelancers. If you have an idea and want a clear path from 'idea' to 'real, registered business with paying customers,' Scafflow is for you.

You answer a few quick questions about your industry, location, and business type during onboarding. Scafflow uses those answers to generate a personalized checklist across every category of launching a business, in the right order. You then work through each task — every one comes with plain-language guidance, recommended tools, and a place to upload proof that you completed it.

Onboarding takes about two minutes. From there, your personalized checklist is ready immediately and you can start on your first task right away. How long the full launch takes depends on your business, but Scafflow keeps you moving by always showing the single next step.

No. Scafflow is designed specifically for people starting their first business. Every task explains what it is, why it matters, and how to do it in plain language — no jargon and no assumptions of prior experience.

Your checklist spans seven areas: Legal & Registration, Finance & Accounting, Brand & Identity, Website & Online Presence, Marketing & Social, Customers & Sales, and Operations & Tools. Scafflow shows only the tasks relevant to your business type and location, in a sensible order, so you are never guessing what comes next.

For many tasks you can upload 'evidence' — a document, screenshot, or file that proves you completed the step, such as your EIN confirmation or a filed formation document. Scafflow can run an optional AI check on that evidence to confirm it looks complete and flag anything that seems missing, so you can move on with confidence.

Getting legally set up is only the beginning — the real goal is paying customers. Scafflow's first-customers engine gives you founder-led outreach plays, ready-to-use templates, and a simple tracker to manage your outreach, so you can win your first customers by hand and then build a repeatable channel to reach your hundredth.

Yes. Alongside finance setup tasks like opening a business bank account and choosing bookkeeping software, Scafflow includes a simple financial model that helps you project revenue, costs, and runway — so you understand your numbers without building a spreadsheet from scratch.

Yes. Depending on your plan, you can invite co-founders or teammates to your workspace so you can divide up tasks, share progress, and launch together instead of working in separate documents.

No. Scafflow provides general information, guidance, and tools to help you organize and complete the steps of starting a business. It is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or tax advice. For decisions specific to your situation, consult a qualified attorney or accountant.

Yes, and part of it is free permanently. The Legal & Registration section — choosing your structure, registering your name, getting your EIN, licenses and contracts — is free forever, with no trial period and no credit card. Everything else in Scafflow is free for 14 days (30 days if an SBDC or SCORE advisor invited you), after which it needs a plan.

Scafflow offers several plans designed to fit a brand-new business, billed monthly or annually (annual billing is discounted). You can see current plans, prices, and what each one includes on the pricing page.

Yes. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel at any time from your billing settings. If you cancel, you keep access until the end of your current billing period, and you will not be charged again.

You keep your account and you keep the Legal & Registration section, which is free forever — you can carry on making your business official without ever paying. The rest of the checklist and the paid features (growth, financial model, funding, Playbook, Founder MBA and the AI agent) need a plan. Nothing is deleted: all of your progress and uploaded documents stay exactly where you left them, and come straight back if you subscribe later.

Payments are processed securely by Stripe. Scafflow never sees or stores your full card number. You can manage your payment method and view invoices from the billing portal in your settings.

Click 'Get started' or 'Sign up,' enter your email and a password, and verify your email address. You will then go through a short onboarding to generate your personalized checklist.

On the login page, choose 'Forgot password.' Enter your email and we will send you a secure link to reset it. If you do not see the email, check your spam folder.

Yes. You control your data. You can update or delete your information from your account settings at any time. When you delete your account, we remove your data subject to limited legal and backup retention described in our Privacy Policy.

Scafflow is organized around a business workspace with its own checklist and progress. If you are launching more than one business, contact support and we will help you find the right setup.

Yes. Scafflow uses industry-standard protections including encryption in transit, hashed passwords, and access controls. No system is perfectly secure, but we work continuously to safeguard your data.

No. Scafflow does not sell your personal information. We only share data with the service providers needed to run the product — such as payment, email, hosting, and AI providers — and only as needed to deliver the service.

When you use an AI feature, the relevant inputs (for example, a task's evidence or your financial figures) are sent to our AI provider to generate a response. AI output can be imperfect and is provided for guidance only. See our Privacy Policy and Data Policy for full details.

Start with the User Guide for step-by-step help using Scafflow, and browse this FAQ for quick answers. If you still need a hand, email support@tryscafflow.com and our team will help you out.

Scafflow is built to help you do it yourself — fast — with heavy scaffolding: step-by-step guides, copyable templates, readiness scoring, and an AI agent that drafts documents and sets up tools on your behalf. On Pro and Founder Pro you also get a full launch-readiness breakdown, a business-insight Playbook, a weekly What's-Next digest, and a personalized Funding Center. You stay in control of every decision.