Delaware's dominance as America's incorporation capital rests on one asset no competitor can copy: the accumulated weight of its jurisprudence. Everything else - tax structure, geography, privacy - is supporting cast. Four facts cover what a founder needs.
One: predictability is the product. Delaware's business courts have decided more corporate disputes than anywhere else, which makes outcomes forecastable before anyone files. For international companies picking a US home, that precedent library is the draw - your investors' lawyers already know how every clause behaves in a Delaware courtroom.
Two: the tax profile is specific, not zero. Corporate tax runs 8.7% - slightly above some competing states - but there's no sales tax, no VAT, and no state real property tax. Delaware doesn't win on rate; it wins on everything around the rate.
Three: the geography is a quiet bonus. Sitting between New York and Washington D.C. puts the state within reach of America's financial and political capitals - part of why domestic businesses settle there beyond the legal advantages.
Four: privacy exists, on a timer. US registration is unusually anonymous by global standards - no certified KYC documents at the state level, no filing of ultimate beneficial owners. The federal BOI register that would change this is currently on hold. Enjoy the current settings; don't architect a structure that only works if they last forever.
The founder's takeaway: choose Delaware when the entity will face investors, courts, or counterparties who price legal certainty - a C-Corp raising US venture money is the canonical case. If your priority is minimum cost and maximum quiet, its neighbor to the west (Wyoming: 0% corporate tax, stronger privacy) took a different specialization.