CorpNet.com, a privately owned online legal document filing service, helps new ventures in all 50 states get off the ground by setting up corporations and LLCs. The Westlake Village enterprise also guides existing companies to stay in business by taking on their employment law compliance, trademark and copyright protection duties.“We are seeing a lot of people setting themselves up as corporations (due to this year’s passage of AB 5) and also setting themselves up as Amazon businesses,” said Chief Executive Nellie Akalp, who founded CorpNet with husband and business partner Phil Akalp.In the last three years, CorpNet has grown its revenue 58 percent. With the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it has a strong economic wind at its back to propel growth.“We’re seeing a big rise in businesses expanding in other states,” Nellie Akalp told the Business Journal. “We are seeing a rise in people wanting to take their lives in their own hands and start their own businesses. People are getting creative.”Small business surgeFor a company like Corpnet, small businesses mean big business.
A report from Yahoo Finance in late September found that in the second quarter of 2020, total business applications reached 883,174 applications, an all-time high. For the week ending Sept. 19, the Census Bureau reported a total of 97,190 business applications – a 45.1 percent year-over-year surge.According to Akalp, CorpNet has benefitted greatly from this upswing in business formation.
“Just within our company from March until now, we have seen a consistent month-over-month increase and when I compare March to October, there has been a 73 percent increase in the number of businesses being formed and expanding doing business in the states,” Akalp said.With the nationwide economic hardships brought on by the pandemic outbreak, CorpNet has expanded its services to help businesses wade through the application process for PPP loans and other business-assistance funding.“You’ve got to change with the times,” Akalp said. “We saw a huge growth in CorpNet and our business. We didn’t have to furlough anybody or lay anyone off.”Located at 31416 Agoura Road, the CorpNet team can help clients search company names, reserve business names, research trademarks, form aa limited liability company or LLC, incorporate, file a DBA, obtain business licenses and permits, and dissolve an existing business. The online portal helps entrepreneurs kickstart their business dream and assists existing business owners in maintaining compliance through registered agent services, free meeting templates and actionable compliance alerts.Humble beginningsAccording to online profiles, Nellie Akalp’s parents and grandparents emigrated to the United States from Iran in 1976, when they began selling Persian antiques in Studio City.Growing up, her family took on various retail businesses, including a Mediterranean restaurant and Swenson’s Ice Cream franchise.She grew up in Westlake Village. After graduating from Westlake Village High School, she attended and graduated from California State University – Northridge in 1994. Then she earned her law degree at the University of La Verne College of Law alongside her college sweetheart.Nellie Akalp and her future husband never became attorneys.“When we got out of law school, the average salary of a lawyer wasn’t going to be sufficient for the lifestyle that we envisioned for ourselves,” she said.In 1997, Nellie Akalp – still in her mid-20s – and her husband invested $100 to set up the MyCorporation.com website with the intent to assist small businesses incorporate. Business began trickling in, and the couple opened up an Agoura Hills office and began hiring employees.JackpotIn 2005, growing MyCorporation.com caught the eye of financial software giant Intuit, which bought the Akalps out for $20 million in cash. The MyCorporation.com business has since changed hands to Deluxe Corp.In 2009, the restless Akalps launched another business — CorpNet.com, a similar venture to their first website offering similar services updated for the 21st century.
“We were too young and bored to remain in retirement,” she said.CorpNet also quickly became a success, expanding its workforce to 20 employees.In 2015, CorpNet became recognized by Inc. 5000 on its list of fastest-growing privately held companies in America.Nellie Akalp noted that convenience and efficiency have become CorpNet’s hallmarks.“We’re a one-stop shop for any type of business filing,” she said. “We don’t treat our client as a number; every client is assigned an account manager.”
Business Formation a Backwind for CorpNet
