Zero to One: Money - Session 2: Your Account, Your Way
Session 1 gave you the rule: separate your money, then choose its home with a checklist. This session is the build. Most founders know roughly what they want: a home account and a place to keep tax money, then stall on the practical parts: what to have ready, how to pay themselves, and how to move everything over without missing a payment.
You'll leave with your own structure drawn out, and a plan you can start this week.
⚡ What we'll cover
Four real account structures, drawn out. A solo founder. Two co-founders with contractors. A trades business with several locations or vans. A holding company with an operating company underneath. Which one looks like you, and what earns each account its place.
Opening day. What to have ready - entity documents, EIN, ownership details - what usually stalls an application, what's different if you're an international founder with a US entity, and what to do while you wait. Which entity to choose is a conversation for your accountant or lawyer; we'll cover what to ask them.
Paying yourself. Owner pay, reimbursements, and moving money between accounts without muddying the books. We'll cover the structure; your accountant sets the amounts.
More buckets than a tax one. A payroll buffer, sales tax you're holding but don't own, a runway reserve: which you need now and which can wait.
Switching without the headache. Redirecting deposits, moving autopay, telling clients, and keeping the old account open for a while. A playbook for moving off a personal account, or off the bank you have now.
See how it fits together. A walk-through in a sandbox account, so you can see how accounts, permissions and transfers connect before real money is involved.
📋 What you'll leave with
Your own account structure on one page, extending the money map from Session 1. A one-page opening-day and switching checklist you can work through in a single sitting.
🎤 Who's running it
Laura Crean is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA, Ireland) and Senior Accounting Partner Program Manager at Mercury, where she leads the accounting partner program across North America. Based in Toronto via Ireland, she has spent a decade around business finances and works with founders and their accountants every day.
🎯 Who it's for
Founders who are ready to build their banking: about to open an account, moving off a personal one, or living with a setup that grew by accident. Missed Session 1? The recording and checklist are in the OneDay LMS, and you don't need them to follow along.
A practical session, not a product pitch. The structure advice applies at any provider. The sandbox walk-through uses Mercury because it's what Laura works with, and the checklist works on whichever bank you're considering. Mercury is a OneDay partner.