Guides1 min read
From Side Project to Company: When to Upgrade Your Email
The inflection points that mean it is time to leave the project Gmail behind.
Many great companies start in personal inboxes. The upgrade moment is when strangers pay you — not when you feel "ready."
Signs it is time
- Strangers are paying you, or about to
- You are sending invoices or contracts
- Someone else needs to answer customer mail when you are away
- You are applying for a bank account, payment processor or partnership that checks your domain
- Your product sends receipts or password resets
What to set up first
- Register the domain in the business’s name if you have one
- Create hello@ or support@ and your own name@
- Publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC records
- Move payment-processor, bank and domain-registrar accounts to the new address
- Put the address on your website and invoices
Leave the old inbox gradually
Keep the project’s old address open for a while with an auto-reply pointing to the new one, and update logins one by one — especially any account that can reset other passwords. OquMail is free for up to 15 mailboxes, so there is no cost reason to wait.