This is a really productive conversation. From what it sounds like, the OP could spend the next six months learning from the information that has already been offered here.
Rkuchinsky, that PDF is an amazing resource. I remember referencing it many times when I was starting my company. Even as… or maybe especially as… a designer I found it incredibly helpful. Too good to be giving away.
One thing that I found really interesting/helpful when I decided to start a company was to look at documents like rkuchinsky’s from entrepreneurs of all different backgrounds. It allowed me to create my own educated vision of how to go about starting a company.
After a few years of this, I can bring a product to market fairly quickly and inexpensively. That is only because I have been able to streamline our production and we can design and develop our products internally. If I hadn’t spent a decade developing these skills, it would probably cost at least $100k to develop each product that I bring to market. And we don’t even need tooling. The thing is, I know I still have a ton to learn, not only about design, but also about running a business.
One thing I would suggest is that you should learn what it takes to do a business plan… but maybe don’t get started yet. Depending on how you want to go about raising money, it may not be the document you want. I know many of the startup incubators and venture capital firms here in the bay area have begun to rely on other forms of planning. Take a look at Y-Combinator for example. They focus mainly on software/tech companies, but their application process and the writing of their founder has been really helpful to me. Y-Combinator was the incubator that helped launch Dropbox and AirBNB among many others.
Keep the advice coming.