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New CEOs guide to making a successful corporation.

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Dirty Wizard The Geedunk Expedition 9	Posted - 2012.07.16 21:12:00 - [1] - Quote So at the request of the ingame recruitment channel, I wrote out this guide for newbie CEOs and how to make a successful corporation. The point of it is to help cut down on all the terrible corporations out there that serve no other purpose than to waste peoples time. So here we go: 1) Purpose. So you've decided to make a corp. Great, but why? Why did you make a corp? So many new corps lack the most vital aspect of running a corporation and that's Purpose. If you made your corp with the intention of just being a one man corp to avoid taxes or whatever, then this guide doesn't apply to you. But if you intent to recruit others, then your corp needs to have a purpose and direction. It's common for newbie CEOs to make a corp with the sole purpose of being "A chill and relaxed place for people to hang out in". That may work in other MMOs, but EvE is like no other MMO. This kind of corporation ALWAYS fails. As a CEO, the burden rests on you to create a corp that's both appealing to others and has specific goals to achieve (which will be discussed later). There's a lot of pressure riding on your shoulders as CEO. Running a corporation is not a casual thing. It takes long hours, consistent management, commitment and years to develop into the awesome corporations you hear about in the news. It's not something that happens spontaneously. Growth is always slow and tedious in the beginning. It's unavoidable, but if you're serious about it and committed, you'll succeed. As a CEO, you wear multiple hats. Dictator, friend, mentor, guide, figurehead, diplomat, corp representative, counselor, whipping boy, judge/jury/executioner, legislator, and a myriad of other roles. If you're not willing to commit the time and effort it takes to make a great corp, then you have no business being a CEO. It doesn't get any simpler than that. 2) Location. Location location location. It makes a world of difference. If your corp runs missions, it would make sense to live near mission hubs. If your corp mines, you should live near the best asteroids you can find. Makes sense. Whichever system you decide to reside in, it would be to your advantage to place your headquarters somewhere else. Preferably a region or two away. If someone wardecs your corp, I can guarantee the first thing they're going to do is look at your corporation details and travel out to your listed headquarters. It's free information for your enemies and it's easily avoidable. Avoiding certain areas is just as important as well. Highsec is not safe, just safer than other areas of space. Highsec still comes with dangers from other players but it can be avoided if effort and planning is made. Trade hubs are always densely populated which means a lot of players (both good and bad) come through there. If you live near the trade hubs, there's a good chance a few griefers will wander into your home. This is especially problematic for mining corps. Best advice is to stay away from living near trade hubs and stay away from common trade routes. You're trading the inconvenience of extra jumps for safety and solitude. A good trade off in my opinion. If you live in highsec, I recommend you look into highsec islands. They are pockets of highsec which are only accessible by going through lowsec. The chances of suicide gankers and griefers finding you out there are quite low. 3) What's in a name? So, you have a genuine purpose for making a corp and you've scouted out a good location (you did scout, right?). Now your new corp needs a name. Names are important as it defines you as a collective. For the love of God, please run a spell checker before you make your corp name final. There are HUNDREDS of CEOs who've made this mistake and it just looks awful. Getting your corp name right is the one time where proper grammar and spelling really matters. Don't fk this up or half a it. Avoid generic names that are recycled so many times. For example: Knights of the Round Table, Knights who say Ni, Knight Templar, or any variation thereof are out. Don't use crappy names like this. Put some real thought into your corp name. If you're going to other MMO forums for corp names, you obviously don't care and shouldn't be a CEO. That leads into the next point. DON'T COPY AND/OR RIP OFF OTHER PEOPLES GUILD/CORP NAMES! You're guaranteed to attract the ire of anyone who sees it. Being a cheap knock off does nothing except discredit you and your corporation. A corp or alliance name is their calling card. It's how they're known throughout EvE and beyond into other games. If you're leeching off them by copying their name, then you've proven that your corp is worthless. Don't do that. If your corp name is in a different language (Latin for example) do your homework and be sure you actually know what it means. It's so common for new corporations to string along cool sounding Latin or other language words together without knowing what they mean. I have personally witnessed a guild in another MMO who's name literally translated to Donkey Purple Knife. Silly or ridiculous corp names are a hit or miss. It's hard to pin down why some fail and others succeed. It's a gamble with goofy names.
Dirty Wizard The Geedunk Expedition 9	Posted - 2012.07.16 21:12:00 - [2] - Quote reserved
Dirty Wizard The Geedunk Expedition 9	Posted - 2012.07.16 21:13:00 - [3] - Quote reserved
Lost Greybeard Fenrir's Dogs of War Union 0f Revolution 118	Posted - 2012.07.16 22:44:00 - [4] - Quote Dirty Wizard wrote: But if you intent to recruit others, then your corp needs to have a purpose and direction. It's common for newbie CEOs to make a corp with the sole purpose of being "A chill and relaxed place for people to hang out in". That may work in other MMOs, but EvE is like no other MMO. This kind of corporation ALWAYS fails. Yeah, no. Making a corp just for the sake of chatting with people and doing your own thing, and occasionally kicking the ass of someone that's harassing your members, is a completely legitimate reason to create a corporation. Admittedly it's going to make your corp a little less friendly to rookies who run obsessive (mine ALL THE MINERALSblarglblargl) but if anything it's one of the more popular corp styles among older players, especially those that are adults and don't have 25 hours a day to devote to the whole you-will-have-fun-its-compulsory thing. My corp's been around several years using this style and had no particular issues with the casual playstyle. So long as you're aware that rule zero of MMOs* is extra important in this type of organization you should be perfectly fine. Having people to chat with, help or get help from occasionally, and feed your PoSes with their PI bullshit is more than sufficient benefit for a corp for the typical generalist player, who doesn't _want_ to get stuck doing one thing for months on bloody end. Also, it's worth noting that a corp dissolving or losing members isn't necessarily a failure. Look at Red v Blue, those dudes have turnover that would make the manager of a video rental kiosk in a mall blush with shame, and they're going pretty strong. And plenty of corps are temporary endeavours by nature and dissolve as easily and with as few hard feelings as they formed, with plenty of friends lists expansion all over as members relocate and move on. It's a damned game, treating it like a job is an outright mistake that'll burn you out faster than anything else. Rule zero: Don't be a ***.
Vilnius Zar Ordo Ardish 79	Posted - 2012.07.16 23:38:00 - [5] - Quote Awesome guide, should be copied to the official wiki imo. Amat victoria curam.
Haethorn Lead Farmers Kill It With Fire 0	Posted - 2012.07.17 13:24:00 - [6] - Quote Great Guide! While I have never been a CEO I have been in more than a few corps. Sometimes I think new players could do with a guide on avoiding crappy corps & I think this could be a bit of an eye opener for them anyway. CEOs need encouragement too.
Braxus Deninard AMLS Corporation COF Alliance 0	Posted - 2012.07.17 15:07:00 - [7] - Quote Very nice guide, not a CEO for sure, and only been in one player owned corp, but still very interesting to read, and I'm sure it's very helpful for both current and budding CEO's.
Petrus Blackshell Rifterlings Ushra'Khan 1384	Posted - 2012.07.17 16:00:00 - [8] - Quote Awesome guide! I tried to get Rifterlings off the ground three times, and the third it finally worked. The first two times I was falling for many of the pitfalls outlined in the OP, but there was also something else: the intangible experience of what a corp really is. This is why I strongly counter-recommend that any newbie create a corp right away. Join another one, learn how it works, maybe serve in some minor leadership position to be used to people relying on you, then form your own corp. Another point you should make: as you manage a corp, you need to keep learning and adapting. Until recently I was managing most aspects of the corp myself, and I felt myself beginning to burn out. So, I restructured the corp's leadership to include more of the senior members, and things are manageable again. There are tons of little tips, but this guide covers a large portion of what it takes to run a corp. Good job! Rifterlings - Small gang lowsec combat corp specializing in frigates and cruisers (all races, not just Rifters!). US Timezone veterans and newbies alike are welcome to join. Come chat in the "we fly rifters" in-game channel. Free fitted frigates for members!
Petrus Blackshell Rifterlings Ushra'Khan 1384	Posted - 2012.07.17 16:11:00 - [9] - Quote Also, re: weeding unsavories, this is completely true: http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20120625 (okay not really, but the mentality is there) Rifterlings - Small gang lowsec combat corp specializing in frigates and cruisers (all races, not just Rifters!). US Timezone veterans and newbies alike are welcome to join. Come chat in the "we fly rifters" in-game channel. Free fitted frigates for members!
Pinstar Colton Sweet Asteroid Acres 170	Posted - 2012.07.17 16:58:00 - [10] - Quote Great guide! Very good and valid points, the OP has clearly had experience with this subject. Just a few bits to add from my own experience: Recruitment from outside of EVE: If you have a strong interest in something not related to EVE, reach out to message boards and websites related to that interest. You may find a surprising wellspring of recruits or allies from other people who share that interest. Having a common interest within a corp helps make corp chat a little more lively and may inspire members to participate longer and more actively than they would have if the corp was just a random collection of people with no common interests. If anything, it helps break the ice and allows you to establish a social connection more easily than you would a complete stranger. Motivation: I'm a big believer in Intrinsic motivation. A corp member is both happier and more productive when they are doing something because THEY want to, not because someone told them, bribed them or threatened them to do it. This may seem problematic when you are trying to organize efforts, but in the long run it makes things much more sustainable. As a CEO, the best thing you can do is point out the benefits of a specific course of action, be it attending an op, training a specific skill or moving to a specific location. If the player decides, of their own free will, to follow your advice and take your prescribed course of action...they'll be all the happier for having arrived at that decision themselves. If they decide against your suggestions, there is a good chance they wouldn't have really enjoyed doing that activity in the long run anyway. I'll take an eager miner who shows up in a Retriever for our mining ops because they want to over a jaded Hulk pilot who feels they HAVE to attend a mining op but would rather be doing something else. In the cat-and-mouse game that is low sec, there is no shame in learning to be a better mouse.
Dirty Wizard The Geedunk Expedition 20	Posted - 2012.07.17 19:37:00 - [11] - Quote Wanted to add another point. 12) Don't Pretend To Be Something You're Not. This problem is so very common ingame in the recruitment channel and the recruitment forums. Corporations claiming to be a type of corp when they're really not. It's such a massive problem that everyone is calling each other out on the lies. It's getting to ridiculous proportions. For example: If your corp doesn't do wormholes, then don't say you're a wormhole corp! If your corp doesn't do incursions, then don't say you're an incursion corp! If your corp doesn't live in nullsec or lowsec, don't say your corp lives in nullsec or lowsec! Holy freakin Jebus! Why would you ever claim your corp to be something its not? To attract new recruits maybe? That's **** poor logic because they're just going to leave disgruntled after discovering the truth. You're left with no members and a bad reputation. If your corp has plans on being a wormhole corp in the future, then great. But until your corp actually starts doing them, you can't call your corp a wormhole corp. If you and Fred once found a wormhole on probe scan, that doesn't qualify your corp as a wormhole corp. This is actually a real example of what I've encountered. My alt was looking for a wormhole corp. This small corp said they do them all the time. After two weeks with them I've discovered they don't actually live in a wormhole. They don't actively do wormholes nor have they even been in one for over a year. But because they once found a wormhole on probe scan, they felt justified in calling themselves wormhole explorers. An isolated incident of stupid? Hardly. This is so very common. Every time I see a new corp advertising themselves to be a wormhole or incursion corp, I ask when was the last time they actually did that activity. The answer is usually never or once a long time ago. Don't be that corp. Be better than this. If your corp does Activity X, then feel free to advertise it. If you don't do Activity X, then don't pretend to be. It will only end badly for your corp.
Call Rollard Target Lockers 0	Posted - 2012.07.17 20:48:00 - [12] - Quote Dude, just to say. Your infomation helped, gives out good tips! As a starting CEO, I can see how difficult making a corp is. i think the biggest problem is finding someone and recruiting, lol. Thats for me anyway. Only one person in my corp right now, which is me. So after reading your infomation I am
Dirty Wizard The Geedunk Expedition 20	Posted - 2012.07.17 20:50:00 - [13] - Quote Call Rollard wrote: Dude, just to say. Your infomation helped, gives out good tips! As a starting CEO, I can see how difficult making a corp is. i think the biggest problem is finding someone and recruiting, lol. Thats for me anyway. Only one person in my corp right now, which is me. So after reading your infomation I am If you really believe in your corp, it should do well. New corps have a hard time in the beginning. Sometimes it takes them months to really take off. I hope you do well.
Teyr Malleis University of Caille Gallente Federation 2	Posted - 2012.07.18 11:24:00 - [14] - Quote This is a truly fantastic guide for prospective CEOs. It would also be very useful for every person looking for a new corp as they should ask about a lot of the points raised here when chatting to any recruitment officer. Awesome job Dirty Wizard. Also with regard to point 1 - purpose: not only do you need to know what you want your corp to achieve, you should also ask yourself "why do I want to be the leader of the corp? Why start something new rather than join someone else's corp?" Make sure you would be happy with giving an honest answer to that to your prospective recruits, otherwise I believe you would be doomed to fail.
Mcavalian ROC Academy The ROC 0	Posted - 2012.07.18 18:21:00 - [15] - Quote I would add a simple tip in terms of asking recruits to do one thing. Get them to join estel arador and get jump clones. This will massivley boost willingness of players to try the riskier (and cooler) stuff in the game. It takes a couple of hours and is well worth it
Evei Shard Science and Trade Institute Caldari State 99	Posted - 2012.07.18 21:57:00 - [16] - Quote Thank you for putting this guide together. It's great, and worth keeping around! I have a question or two that came about while reading some of the details on dealing with members. CEOs have a lot of options at their fingertips when setting up a corporation, and, as mentioned, being able to trust someone is vital. What are the best/most-used practices when it comes to corporate hangar divisions when a corp has an office at a station? Profit favors the prepared
Dirty Wizard The Geedunk Expedition 22	Posted - 2012.07.18 23:15:00 - [17] - Quote Evei Shard wrote: Thank you for putting this guide together. It's great, and worth keeping around! I have a question or two that came about while reading some of the details on dealing with members. CEOs have a lot of options at their fingertips when setting up a corporation, and, as mentioned, being able to trust someone is vital. What are the best/most-used practices when it comes to corporate hangar divisions when a corp has an office at a station? For corporate hanger access, that's typically a no. The vast majority of corps don't give their members corp hanger access unless they have a good reason and need for it. Corp theft happens all the time when naive CEOs grant corp hanger access to members AND put valuable stuff in said hangers. On the flipside to that, it can serve as corp theft bait. Give members access to the lowest level hanger access and throw in about 5 to 10 million isk worth of assets inside. I've seen this act as very effective bait for would-be corp thieves who get impatient and take this. But back to the main point. corp hangers (aside from POS corp hangers) really aren't used all that much and if they are, it's between high ranking and trustworthy members of the corp. Everything else is done through trades and contracts.
Evei Shard Science and Trade Institute Caldari State 99	Posted - 2012.07.19 00:28:00 - [18] - Quote Interesting. Thank you for the reply. :) Profit favors the prepared
Cyprus Black Perkone Caldari State 267	Posted - 2012.07.21 02:47:00 - [19] - Quote I approve. I see so many corps in highsec that simply don't give a **** about internal and external security. Hijinks of a highsec pirate http://cyprusblack.blogspot.com/
Karloth Valois 1st. Pariah Malefactor corp. Sobriety Test Failures 36	Posted - 2012.07.21 14:07:00 - [20] - Quote Dirty Wizard wrote: Whichever system you decide to reside in, it would be to your advantage to place your headquarters somewhere else. Preferably a region or two away. If someone wardecs your corp, I can guarantee the first thing they're going to do is look at your corporation details and travel out to your listed headquarters. It's free information for your enemies and it's easily avoidable. As someone that used to wardec alot i can guarantee that we will not be flying straight to you listed HQ. Any half decent corp would have done some recon on your corp before hand, run locator agents on a few members to work out were they are based, checked out your killboard ect to see where you have kills and losses and maybe even had a few players (either in corp or out of it) follow some of your guys around for a couple of days before the war goes though so they know what to expect and where to be. Not saying that having your HQ listed else where is a bad idea, just shouldnt assume that wardeccers wont find you the second the war goes live just because you dont live were your corp info says you do. I never once looked at the corp HQ when working out were we should base ourselfs for a war dec. Apart from that good guide, too many pointless corps set up just because someone wants to run there own corp, not because they can or should be running the corp. They spam recuritment take anyone that applys and then the newbies that join spend 2 - 3 months in a crap corp that ruins their view of the game It's not been nice, but thanks for using lube 1st. Pariah Malefactor Corp.
Plaude Pollard Crimson Cartel 56	Posted - 2012.07.21 14:21:00 - [21] - Quote Karloth Valois wrote: Dirty Wizard wrote: Whichever system you decide to reside in, it would be to your advantage to place your headquarters somewhere else. Preferably a region or two away. If someone wardecs your corp, I can guarantee the first thing they're going to do is look at your corporation details and travel out to your listed headquarters. It's free information for your enemies and it's easily avoidable. As someone that used to wardec alot i can guarantee that we will not be flying straight to you listed HQ. Any half decent corp would have done some recon on your corp before hand, run locator agents on a few members to work out were they are based, checked out your killboard ect to see where you have kills and losses and maybe even had a few players (either in corp or out of it) follow some of your guys around for a couple of days before the war goes though so they know what to expect and where to be. Not saying that having your HQ listed else where is a bad idea, just shouldnt assume that wardeccers wont find you the second the war goes live just because you dont live were your corp info says you do. I never once looked at the corp HQ when working out were we should base ourselfs for a war dec. Still, having HQ listed somewhere else is a good way to avoid the less prepared, casual War-decs. Serious War-deccers would be smart enough to actually look at where their targets are based before war-deccing them. With alts, of course. No reason to risk making them too suspicious of a coming War-dec.
Karloth Valois 1st. Pariah Malefactor corp. Sobriety Test Failures 36	Posted - 2012.07.21 14:31:00 - [22] - Quote Like i said its not a bad idea, as the OP pointed out its free intel dont give it out, but I was just pointing out that CEOs shouldnt assume it will keep them safe. Most will have worked out were you are before they let you know they are going to wardec you. And on that note, its another really good reason to to just recuit anyone and everyone that applys to your corp, the number of times we've have spy alts inside target corps before the war go live is shocking and most were never found out (my personal favourite was a CEO making a member appologise to our spy alt for accusing him of being a spy) It's not been nice, but thanks for using lube 1st. Pariah Malefactor Corp.
Dirty Wizard The Geedunk Expedition 24	Posted - 2012.08.12 01:35:00 - [23] - Quote Karloth Valois wrote: Like i said its not a bad idea, as the OP pointed out its free intel dont give it out, but I was just pointing out that CEOs shouldnt assume it will keep them safe. You're right. It should never be assumed that this measure will keep them safe. It won't. It's simply another layer of security for would be wardec'ers to work through, even though it's such a minor layer of security. A picket fence won't stop someone from jumping over it, but it will still slow them down a little.

ISD Athechu ISD STAR 42	Posted - 2012.08.12 17:56:00 - [24] - Quote Nice thread added to EVE New Citizens Q&A Resources ISD Athechu Commander ISD STAR (Support Training and Resources) EVE New Citizens Q&A Resources

Christopher AET Segmentum Solar Intrepid Crossing 138	Posted - 2012.08.13 05:13:00 - [25] - Quote When starting a new corp always good to start it with a few friends. For the longest time we numbered only 17 chars and our centerpiece was a mere 2 carriers with low skills. Once we established our identity as a corp we expanded. Now we are the highest performing corp in our alliance relative to our size in pvp. I don't even bother keeping track of how many caps we have these days. The most important thing a corp can have is common purpose. Your corpies need to own their achievements and give themselves a stake in the future of the corp. Whenever you achieve a major objective you want them to look at it and say "I helped". For us it was good kb stats a functional srp and the beginnings of a supercap force. These are a brief snapshot of my experiences as a nullsec ceo of a mid sized pvp corp I drain ducks of their moisture for sustenance.

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