These are the questions founders ask most before getting in touch. If yours isn't here, call, text or email; the first 30-minute consultation is free and there is no obligation to continue afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly does Burnaby.Company do?
We help founders start a company in Burnaby: testing the market, putting setup steps in order, building a launch website and Google listing, and running the first 100 days of marketing. We are a Canadian business consulting service in the Sedighi.ca and SAZ.ca group.
How much does it cost?
Hourly consulting runs $175 to $350, projects run $3,500 to $25,000, and retainers run $2,500 to $12,000 a month, in Canadian dollars plus 5% GST. The first 30-minute consultation is free.
Do I have to sign a long contract?
No lock-in is our default for consulting work. Projects have a defined scope and milestones, and any notice period on a retainer is stated in writing in your proposal before you agree to anything.
How long before my company is ready to open?
It depends mostly on your location and approvals. A home-based service may be ready in a few weeks; premises needing zoning confirmation or building work can take months. The setup roadmap gives you a realistic date.
Can you register my company or apply for my business licence?
No. You register through BC Registries and apply for a business licence with the City of Burnaby, yourself or through a lawyer. We tell you when, in what order and what to prepare.
Should I incorporate or stay a sole proprietor?
That is a legal and tax decision, so ask a lawyer and an accountant. We can list the questions to bring so the meeting is focused, but we don't give legal or tax advice.
Who owns my website, domain and Google profile?
You do. Everything is set up in your company's name and we are added as users. If we stop working together, you already hold every account.
We tried an agency before and it didn't work. Why would this be different?
We can't promise it will be, but we can make it measurable. Every campaign starts with a spending ceiling from your own numbers and a weekly scorecard of enquiries and sales by source, so you see quickly whether something is working.
Can you promise customers or rankings?
No. A new company has no reviews or search history, and nobody honest can promise results for it. We promise a written plan, sensible spending limits and straight reporting.
What results have you had?
Our published case studies are results from our HVAC work, such as GasBoilers.ca, a gas-boiler division built for CANRO Heat that now serves 26+ BC communities. We use them to show the method; they aren't forecasts for your industry.
Do I need a website before I open?
You need a small one and a verified Google Business Profile by opening day, because the first thing most people do after hearing about a new business is look it up. Five to eight good pages are enough to start.
What if my market check says the idea won't work?
Then you have saved the cost of a lease and a launch. Often the answer is to adjust the customer, price or location rather than abandon the idea, and the written plan explains which.
How will I get reports?
In a short weekly or fortnightly call during a campaign, with a one-page scorecard: spend, enquiries, sales and cost per sale by channel. No dashboards you have to decode.
Cost and contracts
The price depends on which stage you need help with. Most new companies buy one project, such as a market check or a launch website, and some add a retainer for the opening campaign. The full ranges are on the pricing page.
Ad spend is always separate and paid by you to the platform. Anything about notice periods or payment schedules is set out in writing in your proposal, so there are no surprises later.
Timing and order
The right time to talk is before you sign a lease or order branding, because most expensive mistakes happen there. If you are already open, the opening campaign is built for the first 100 days of trading.
Setup timing depends on your structure, your location and any approvals the City requires. The free launch sequence guide shows the general order so you can estimate it yourself.
Where our help stops
We are business and marketing consultants. We don't give legal, tax, accounting or immigration advice, we don't provide engineering or inspection services, and we don't file anything with government on your behalf. When a decision belongs to a professional, we say so and help you prepare.
This boundary is deliberate. A founder is better served by a strategist who knows what they don't know than by one who guesses about tax or liability.
Results and reporting
We don't forecast customers for a company that has never traded, because there is no honest basis for it. What we do forecast is arithmetic: what one customer is worth to you, the most you can pay to win one, and how many enquiries a week you need to reach your first-quarter goal. Those numbers come from you and get checked against reality every week.
Reports are short on purpose. During an opening campaign, you get one page per period with spend, enquiries, sales and cost per sale by channel, plus a plain-language note on what we will change next. If a channel is not paying back by around day 45, the note says so and recommends stopping or fixing it.
If you have worked with an agency before
Plenty of founders arrive after a disappointing experience: a website that took six months, an ad account they couldn't see, or monthly reports full of impressions and no sales. We understand the scepticism. The practical safeguards are the ones on this page: accounts in your name, a written scope before work starts, a spending ceiling worked out from your margins, and reporting that counts paying customers.
If you are mid-contract with another provider, finish or exit that arrangement first, then bring us the logins and history. Past data, even from a campaign that failed, often shows what to avoid, which channels attracted the wrong buyers, and what a realistic cost per enquiry looks like in your category. We would rather start from that evidence than repeat an expensive experiment.
Ownership and accounts
Everything we set up, from the domain to the ad accounts, sits in your company's name. That way the business you are building is genuinely yours, and you can change advisers without losing your history, reviews or data. The launch website page explains what is set up and how.
Getting in touch
Phone or text Ali on (604) 632-4959, or write to Ali@Sedighi.ca with a few lines about your plans. The contact page lists what to include so your first conversation is useful, and the about page explains who you will be talking to.