I just recently (December) finished my Ph.D. in Physics. As part of my thesis, I developed some software/hardware that can be useful for other scientific labs. In addition to this, I have developed a reputation in my sub-community for being extremely able (and sought after) to automate lab equipment in a scientific setting (desire to hire me as a consultant). Additionally, I have had some progress on other software ideas and been showing prototypes to people (marketed as utility software for scientific organizations, ideally used as a "subscription" style service).

All together, it seemed like the right choice to create a company out of my potential marketable options as my post graduate job. Because of my advisor's strong reputation in the field and massive contact list (he is an extremely social scientist, president of some communities etc.) I decided I would discuss forming a partnership with my advisor. My advisor was very interested, and has been helpful already in setting up contacts. So far, however, nothing has been set into writing. (I will add he is extremely knowledgeable and able to discuss, brainstorm, and in general benefit my work process as a whole (just not on the low level coding side))

My questions now somewhat are centered around how do I progress forward, and what sort of deals are appropriate from a few options. My advisor has offered to front some initial investment for the company, so I can pay myself salary (he would take no salary, just some X% holding) and we would work together over the next few years to develop the company. Other options are that I simply don't take salary from the company (I will still be working 50% Post-doc to finish publishing some papers, going to conferences, helping automate my lab, general science work) which is enough for me to survive off of (but not really put aside savings). In both cases here, we would still split the LLC with some X% Y%, but the values here are unknown and up for discussion.

Also, because of the large number of projects I have (some not listed above), I have already been considering getting help / hiring some people to help me in this venture, but I'm not really sure if that's the best idea, or if I should push to finish each of my projects as fast as I can alone.

I guess, in general, I'm a little lost as it applies to the proper business side of things here, and while I understand that most options I take from here are probably beneficial (I will in the end earn some money, the company will survive a few years minimum, etc.) I'm trying to optimize for the best decisions. Because almost all of my products are software based / consulting style work, there is no real upfront investment for property, equipment, etc. And because I have some personal savings, I'm considering not taking salary and working towards boosting the company assets to be larger so I benefit more in the long run. Is this a bad idea?

Also, is there some sort of metric for evaluating the effectiveness and value of someone's network / reputation towards the value of a company (I can think of some derived ones, I'm just hoping there is some standard ones?)?

Is there some process I should go through in terms of getting the first sales working?

Should I talk to people who are interested in buying stuff from me, get them to agree to buy, and then form the company? Or should I have the company ready and propose all the pricing and stuff up front?

Is there something / some FAQ style page I can read to find answers to a lot of these (possibly obvious) questions?

Should I form multiple companies? (eg. one that is just me as a consultant etc, and some that actually sell the products I'm producing?)

Should I be focusing entirely on one project, and see that to 'completion' (when any progress/work on it is out of my hands) and then move onto other topics, or should I try to market / work on all of these things simultaneously? (most efficient to do this, but slows down each one potentially)

Is this entire thing maybe not on the scale a company should be built around? Or is it actually exactly what forming an LLC with 2 partners is good for? (For some money numbers: each of my sell-able projects (non consulting work) is likely to earn over 150k if it gets made (consumer grade, not just prototype / proof of concept (which is already done)) and marketed, but if it gets popular enough among the correct people, is possible to reach 800k in about 3 years (estimated approximately)).

Is there some aspect of LLC that lets me and my advisor / possible investors front some money for the company, which I can use to draw salary and maybe even hire some employees, but still prevent problems if somehow I cannot sell things? Will these investments be completely lost in this case and will it hurt me in the end, or is there something about the 'Limited Liability' that helps here? (I frankly don't completely understand, because this is a company without any physical assets)

Any help, words of wisdom, words of caution, suggestions, ideas, etc. are greatly appreciated!