# Getting started

Welcome to Stripe. Here’s how to get up and running quickly and easily. For information on getting started in Japan, see Getting started in Japan.
## Sign up and complete your business profile
Step 1: [Sign up for a Stripe account](https://dashboard.stripe.com/register).
If you are looking to connect a Stripe account to one of our platform partners, follow these instructions instead.
Step 2: Verify your email.
You’ll receive an email immediately after signing up with a link to verify your email address.
Step 3: Complete your [business profile](https://dashboard.stripe.com/account/onboarding) in order to [activate your account](https://stripe.com/docs/payments/account/activate).
This is necessary to enable certain capabilities for your account, such as accepting live payments, and for Stripe to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.
## Accept your first payment
Step 4: Decide how you want to charge your customers.
Stripe offers a full stack of payment, financial, and reporting solutions to meet your business needs, with no-code quickstart solutions and APIs for developers.
* No-code: Learn how to accept payments, donations, or sell subscriptions [without writing any code](https://stripe.com/docs/no-code).
* Code: If you plan to write code to implement payments into a website or app, we recommend [starting with our Docs](https://stripe.com/docs/payments).
Need help? Choose from one of our [technology and consulting partners](https://stripe.com/partners/directory) that can assist you with different types of payment solutions and integrations.
## Manage payouts
Step 5: View balances and manage payouts to your bank.
However you choose to accept payments from your customers, you’ll need to [manage payouts](https://stripe.com/docs/payouts) in the [Balances](https://dashboard.stripe.com/payouts) section of the Dashboard.
* Set a [schedule](https://stripe.com/docs/payouts#payout-schedule) to automatically receive payouts, or send manual payouts via the API or Dashboard.
* Note that there is a [waiting period](/questions/waiting-period-for-first-payout-on-stripe) for your first payout, which is necessary for risk mitigation.
## Helpful resources
We offer extensive technical documentation for developers and business guides to help you get started with our platform.
For developers:
* [Developer Docs](https://stripe.com/docs)
* [Product demos and dev tools](https://stripe.dev/)
* [Developers community](https://stripe.com/go/developer-chat)
Additional resources:
* [Guides](https://stripe.com/guides)
* [System status](https://status.stripe.com/)
* [Blog](https://stripe.com/blog)