Get started with small doses aimed at foreign investors

The U.S. government is very good about encouraging foreign investors, publishing scads of data and information about nearly every corner of the economy.

I recommend: The Small Business Administration, for instance, operates a portal called Business.gov, with details on taxes, hiring, safety and other key topics.

Calculate your risks

The United States is the largest, most diversified and generally considered one of the most open economies on the planet. Yet, if you are from Singapore, for instance, it might seem slow or antiquated in some aspects.

I recommend: Compare the performance of the United States against your expectations with this World Bank study of global business bureaucracy.

Research the regulations that will affect your business

Much of U.S. investment and corporate law can be broken down into easier to handle chunks for laypersons. Although hiring a lawyer is essential in many cases, understanding the law is key to beginning that conversation.

I recommend: The World Bank keeps an extensive sector-by-sector breakdown of business law as it pertains to specific industries.

Download the book, usually for free

A number of national law firms offer detailed guides into the hundreds of pages for free, hoping you'll become a client.

I recommend: One particularly well-done (and long!) PDF file is available from Thelen Reed and Priest.

Read, read, read -- and read some more

Getting started in U.S. business will be easier if you come into the picture with at least a sense of what is going on in your sector or the area of the country where you intend to invest.

I recommend: Thankfully, the Web is jammed with this kind of data, probably too much of it. Get a good guide to what matters at the Michigan State University GlobalEDGE guide site to the U.S. economy, including publications, reports and databases. Another big but manageable site is Fed World, the government's overall guide to the 30 million Web pages published by the U.S. government.

Make sure your own papers are straight

Starting and running a business is complicated enough. Better to get your own immigration status completely clear before investing.

I recommend: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Center publishes extensively on this topic, including how to quality for permanent status by being an investor in the country.