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Stripe Atlas

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Re: Stripe Atlas

#231

Post by joeyspn »

patrickaljord wrote: post #143
Olscore wrote: post #95

While I don't have much to add, this is very interesting and almost feels patriotic (as an American.) Stripe is, in a way, hacking the global economy and luring entrepreneurs to the do business in the United States. While this iteration may fall short of perfection, or open questions, it also opens up some imagination and interesting ideas or possibilities. Could this be the beginning of startups offering citizens of…

In the livestream they said they are working with another region for Atlas they'll announce soon. My guess is Ireland which has better taxation than the US and the best in EU (12.5%).

6.25% now...

Re: Stripe Atlas

#232

Post by Cyph0n »

kiloreux wrote: post #52

I live in Algeria, and we can't use credit cards here, my bank account doesn't support debit cards transfer and if I veer receive 10$ from outside the country, then I'm in for 1 day of questioning the resources for those money, This is a great use case for my country and great initiative from Stripe, Thank you.

I'm from Tunisia, a country with heavy currency controls, where it is actually impossible to send money out of the country. Of course, if you're a foreign company etc. you can, but not for regular citizens.

So what does that mean? No credit cards online, no bank transfers, no PayPal, and so on. I hope this service can somehow help aspiring local entrepreneurs.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#233

Post by matnewton »

Keats wrote: post #166
pentae wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hate to tell you this but you chose the worst time of year to come. Google “Burning Season Chiang Mai” - I’d recommend sticking to the south of Thailand, particularly the islands, and then come up around April 10 for Songkran. Punspace is the big coworking space, I’d recommend booking a place in Nimman and trying the various cafes there. Kaweh is a good spot if its not too busy.

Damn, thanks for the advice

Small thing - pay attention to that advice, it really aint a pretty time to come.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#234

Post by zekevermillion »

The purpose of incorporating in the US is just to facilitate opening a US bank account. Given the likely very different circumstances of Atlas members, DE is a reasonable choice that would cause the fewest problems for participants. I do wonder what kind of payment volume is reasonable before it makes sense to touch the US. Also if I am building on top of Stripe as an essential vendor, do I want them to control my very corporate structure itself? Hm...

Re: Stripe Atlas

#235

Post by matnewton »

koolba wrote: post #6

Interesting angle. For a while I've wondered why nobody does a tech/startup version of "Company in a box". This looks like it's exactly that. Incorporation, payment processing, the works. Is Stripe getting a cut of the eventual revenue from the service providers that are providing the offerings? What's the incentive on their side? Or are they just hoping to scrape by on the transaction fee revenue (which are way less…

Part of the reason for this is that most banks, due to the Patriot Act, require a physical presence in order to fulfill their interpretation of their Know Your Customer duties. Am curious to see how Stripe plans to get around this as the precious few services currently on offer are of the 'friend of a friend' wink-wink nudge-nudge type.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#236

Post by zrail »

yeahrightfam wrote: post #215
zrail wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no volume discounts This is false. They have volume pricing breaks starting at 80k USD, 30k GBP, 30k EUR, etc processed. Check your country's pricing page. US example: https://stripe.com/us/pricing

https://memberful.com/blog/stripe-vs-paypal/ Obviously depends on your use case but with PayPal you break even at $5,000. Way lower than 80k month. And "get in touch", yeah I know what happens when you try get in touch with them. Also consider adding: [Disclaimer: I write books about integrating Stripe with your business]

They respond quickly if you're doing $80k a month in business with them, in my experience. Besides which, PayPal has way too many caveats, including a different rate for Amex and an additional 1% for international cards, according to the page you linked.

Why should I add a disclaimer that's already in my profile?

Re: Stripe Atlas

#237

Post by tdfx »

taf2 wrote: post #177
itsthisjustin wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For tax purposes it would be best to request to be taxed as an S-Corp. You can then incorporate as an LLC or a corporation.

This usually assumes a larger net income for the business - I believe when you are just starting out LLC makes the most sense then you can transits ion to S-Corp once renvues hit a few million

You can incorporate as an LLC and elect to be taxed as an S-Corp.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#238

Post by kintamanimatt »

ReactEcommerce wrote: post #228
pentae wrote: post #63

This is huge. As someone who is involved in the digital nomad community here in Chiang Mai, Thailand - getting incorporation and processing set up for a lot of people here is very difficult. Although places like Thailand are a great place for independent bootstrapping and there’s a solid network of entrepreneurs - one of the biggest hurdles is incorporation, banking and acquiring. This is taken for granted when you’r…

For most people setting up in USA when operating internationally means two things: more tax, more compliance. If you look at https://Incorporations.IO - you'll see that Delaware isn't even in the top 10 places to setup a company.

There's some really misleading information on that site. Tax rates are misleading and just plain wrong in some cases. I'd take information on that site with a pound of salt.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#239

Post by rpedela »

randomdrake wrote: post #189
rpedela wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whether you switch it from "investments" to "VC investments" Lol! I noticed I made a typo (missing VC) within one minute of submitting and fixed it. Wow you are fast.

You can laugh all you want but this is a pretty serious topic that most founders get completely wrong. I am a bit adamant about the correctness of this because I've had to repeat the advice and information to a lot of people. For some reason you, and a lot of other folks, have gotten ideas in your head like: - an LLC is somehow a lesser entity than a C Corp - you can't raise money with an LLC - you're not as well pro…

> You can laugh all you want but this is a pretty serious topic that most founders get completely wrong.

I appreciate your passion and agree it is an important topic. I just found that specific sentence funny.

> an LLC is somehow a lesser entity than a C Corp

Personally, I have never thought that. They are just different.

> you're not as well protected with an LLC

I would have agreed with you until recently. I bought a house and the audit for the home loan was extremely thorough. They wanted tax and financial records for all sorts of things that I wouldn't think would be relevant. Since I am self-employed that included my business tax and financial records. I pushed back because I don't think that is any of their business and they relented only because it is a C corp. I have only bought one house and have one loan. I don't know if it is standard practice to audit the business too, but in my case having a C corp saved me from a business audit.

> you can't raise money with an LLC

Technically correct, but I strongly disagree with the blanket advice that first become LLC and then later become C corp if necessary. Likewise I strongly disagree with the blanket advice to just be a C corp.

I always ask people what the ultimate goal is. If the ultimate goal is to become Google, Facebook, etc (forget likelihood), then I say C corp. Otherwise I usually say LLC.

What being a founder really means is your job is to build confidence. Build confidence with employees that you are a good leader and they can depend on a paycheck from you. Build confidence with customers that you can build a good product and you will support them if they have problems. Build confidence with investors that you will make them money.

One way to build confidence with VCs is to have the business set up as a Delaware C Corp. If your goal is to become like Facebook, Google, etc then you will probably need VC money at some point and you will be forced to become a C corp eventually too. Why not just do it at the beginning and show VCs you are serious and have some knowledge about what it takes to become a big, public company. That isn't the only way to build confidence nor is it the best way, but it is a way. Why start with LLC and make it a question you have to constantly answer?

Re: Stripe Atlas

#240

Post by tommynicholas »

Our batch at Techstars was almost have foreign companies, and it was amazing to watch how much they struggled with this issue. Many of them could not put their investments in the bank until the program was almost over because of unexpected bureaucratic nightmares. Had that been the case for us, we could not have done the program. Huge barrier. Excited for this!
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