About Us
We test what we recommend.
Persuasion Nation exists because most LLC guides online are written by content farms that have never actually formed an LLC or gone through a formation service’s checkout. We do both, for every recommendation on this site.
Our Story
Persuasion Nation started with a friend, not a business plan.
A close friend, based outside the U.S., got burned twice by one of the most popular LLC formation services on the market, and being a non-resident made every part of it harder: conflicting instructions and advice pulled from guides that didn’t match what his own state’s filing office actually required. When Mark Marinelli (the co-founder) tried to help him sort it out, the real problem wasn’t a lack of information online, it was too much of it, most of it wrong or years out of date.
That frustration became Persuasion Nation.
It was founded by two entrepreneurs whose backgrounds happened to fit the problem exactly: one with a background in tech and marketing, and the other with 8+ years in business management, legal, and formation work. One partner knew how to build something people would actually find and use; the other knew exactly which details in an LLC guide matter and which ones are just noise.
That combination is still how every guide on this site gets made today.
Our Mission
Our mission is simple: give anyone forming an LLC the same information a well-connected friend in the industry would give them for free, the real fee, the actual processing time, and an honest answer about which service is worth paying for. We don’t take payment for placement, and we say so plainly.
We don’t take payment for placement, and we say so plainly on our How We Make Money page. When a service is genuinely a poor value — even one we could earn a commission from, we say that too.
The team behind every guide
Every article on this site is written and fact-checked by a real person, then reviewed by a licensed attorney before publishing — not generated and published unchecked.
Mark Marinelli
Formation Expert, Co,-founder, Author
Mark has spent 8+ years immersed in business formation, helping individuals and small business owners navigate the process of starting and structuring their companies correctly.
Over that time, he’s personally guided more than 550 people through their LLC formation, through one-on-one consultations, his personal community, and direct email support, long before Persuasion Nation existed as a site.
He co-founded Persuasion Nation to put that same hands-on guidance in front of anyone who needs it, testing every formation service featured here at checkout himself: the sign-up flow, the support response time, and the fine print on registered agent renewal rates most guides never check.
Eric Dixon, Esq.
Legal Attorney/Reviewer
Eric Dixon is a licensed attorney in the State of Arkansas with over nine years of experience advising clients on transactions, commercial law, business organization, and data privacy.
He is the founder of Dixon Legal, a boutique legal practice providing fractional General Counsel services to startups and small- to mid-sized businesses, with a focus on practical, business-forward legal solutions that support growth, compliance, and risk management.
Eric reviews Persuasion Nation’s formation and compliance guides for legal accuracy before they’re published.
Belema Ronabare
Specialist reviewer
Belema Ronabere is a specialist in business formation and regulatory filings, serving as a dedicated reviewer for Persuasion Nation with a focus on Stripe, EIN, and U.S. LLC topics. She also runs AlphaFilings.com.
For almost 10 years, she’s helped international founders navigate the full process of launching a U.S. business from abroad, not just the LLC filing itself, but the parts that trip most people up: opening U.S. business banking, setting up payment processing like Stripe, and staying compliant with U.S. tax requirements as a non-resident owner.
That real-world, client-facing experience is what shapes her views, practical guidance built from what actually goes wrong for international founders, not just what the forms say. Connect with Belema on LinkedIn for more of her business insights.
What we actually do differently
We pay for every account
No free trials, no vendor test accounts — we sign up and pay exactly what you would.
Attorney reviewed
Every formation guide is checked by a licensed attorney before it’s published, not after.
Updated quarterly
State fees and renewal rates are re-verified every quarter, not published once and left stale.
See how we actually test things
Our full methodology — checkout testing, attorney review, and update cadence — is public.