J. @j03071892196 - Twitter Profile

J. @j03071892196

19 days ago

@lawfulhamster @VrijndeSteede Maar import Amsterdam komt toch vaak oorspronkelijk uit het Gooi?

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j03071892196 retweeted

Octavio Herrera

@tavioto

about 2 months ago

I’ve experienced this firsthand. In 2019, after losing my job in Berlin, I decided to start a company. I was receiving unemployment benefits at the time, and instead of immediately looking for another job, I used that moment to try entrepreneurship. I incorporated a UG in Germany with a friend. It was probably one of the simplest possible setups: two founders, no investors, no VC, and a standardized incorporation document. Still, there was the notary appointment. The document was read aloud. There were fees, registrations and paperwork. Later, my co-founder decided to leave. Nothing unusual. This happens in startups all the time. But it meant changing the company documents, going back to the notary, paying again and going through the formal process again. Then came the ongoing administration. Accounting, taxes, filings, compliance. Realistically, I needed professional help, which meant more costs every year. Eventually, the company failed. Also normal. Most startups fail. But even closing the company took a long time, required more paperwork and cost money. Years later, when I started another company, I made a different choice. I incorporated a US LLC. I filled out a form online. It took around 30 minutes. I paid roughly $230. A few days later, the company existed. No notary appointment. No one reading incorporation documents aloud. I even handled the first US tax filing myself with the help of ChatGPT in a couple of hours. Of course, a US LLC is not a magic workaround. If you live in Germany and manage the company from Germany, there can still be German tax and legal implications. But that misses the broader point. The difference in initial friction is enormous. And friction matters most at exactly the stage where founders have the least money, the least certainty and the highest probability of failure. More recently, I’ve also spent time looking into whether it would make sense for me and my family to eventually leave Germany. And then you discover another layer: exit taxation and the complexity that can arise once the businesses you built start having real value. So my experience has been interesting. Starting a company: friction. Changing ownership: friction. Operating it: friction. Closing it: friction. Potentially leaving after creating value: more friction. Germany does not make entrepreneurship impossible. Obviously not. Founders will find a way. But I think people who dismiss bureaucracy by saying that “serious” or “ambitious” founders will simply deal with it are missing the point. A startup is an experiment. You create something. You change it. Partners come and go. You test a business model. You may raise money. You may fail. You shut it down. And hopefully you try again. Why would we deliberately make that experiment more expensive? Every hour and every euro spent on unnecessary process is an hour or euro that cannot be spent talking to customers, building the product or finding out whether the company deserves to exist. The question is not whether ambitious founders can survive bureaucracy. Of course they can. The better question is: Why make starting, changing, failing and trying again harder than it needs to be?

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