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I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

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Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#71

Post by k-mcgrady »

fasteo wrote: post #69
basisword wrote: post #48

First time I've seen Atlas. I'm immediately worried. If someone starts a company using this I presume it's subject to US laws? What does this mean: 1. For taxes? If I live in the UK and start my business with Atlas does the US get the corporation tax revenue or the UK (or a split of the two)? 2. For data security/privacy? Is the data I store now subject to access by the US government through National Security letters…

Unfair comment completely unrelated to Atlas. You better have these questions answered before heading to Atlas.

It is related and there is nothing unfair about it. I'm also not accusing them of anything. They're honest questions which should have relatively straightforward answers.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#72

Post by rfrey »

matchagaucho wrote: post #21

I know from personal experience the sub-title to this article is "How I'm justifying a bad decision". Entrepreneurs know when they're making a bad decision, whether consciously or not. [Edited for brevity. No disrespect, but hate to see a Developer give up on their independence]

This comment is quite disrespectful, as well as arrogant.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#73

Post by zo1 »

benmanns wrote: post #20
chatmasta wrote: post #8

What I like most about the long term vision for Atlas is that, if it's truly "as easy as spinning up an EC2 instance" to form a new corporation, then it will be possible for a single entrepreneur to create complex global corporate structures previously limited only to multinational corporations. How nice would it be, as say, a digital nomad, to be able to have a single "holding company" based in HK, and dynamically c…

It's still fairly expensive though, with Atlas costing $500/corporation. I think that's out of reach for most simple side projects.

Not just that, but it's "invite-only" at the moment. So it's all hype and advertising. I'm excited at the prospect of such a service on the horizon, though.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#74

Post by nstj »

idlewords wrote: post #58

I don't see any advantage in incorporation if you want to run your own private business, but I'm willing to accept that I'm being the weirdo here.

Incorporated entities enjoy the benefit of "limited liability"[0], ie: if your company does something "bad" you can't be liable beyond your share capital contributions. For example, if you make a self driving car and sell it, and it results in harm, and someone sues the company, you can't lose any of your personal assets; rather your only loss can be the capital which you put into the company.

tl;dr: if you do something commercial as a sole trader and not as a company, it's possible for you to be sued for your personal assets.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#75

Post by chvid »

stdclass wrote: post #67
davidw wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not for nothing that .dk is #3 on this list: http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings But their reported procedures/costs differ from what you wrote: http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/denmark/#... Something that's nice in the US as compared to most continental European countries is that no 'initial capital' is required.

In Austria, you don't need any capital at all, to start a EPU (One-Person-Company) which is really convenient.

Same in Denmark; you only need capital for certain kinds of limited liability companies.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#76

Post by koolba »

idlewords wrote: post #66
koolba wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vs LLC?

Vs sole proprietorship.

Can you set up 401k and all the other "corporate only" type things with a sole proprietorship or does it just become a legal shield with everything else as passthrough?

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#77

Post by rev_bird »

idlewords wrote: post #66
koolba wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vs LLC?

Vs sole proprietorship.

Liability protection, if nothing else. If someone sues a company, they can't (in theory) take the CEO's house. Also, in the US, you can save a bunch of money on payroll taxes if you elect to be taxed as an S-corp. The short version is that you only pay those taxes (Social Security, FICA, Medicare, etc etc) on money you get in paychecks -- so, if you make $100k in a year and "pay" yourself $70k, you end up with the other $30k but didn't have to pay a bunch of tax on it.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#78

Post by tptacek »

simonswords82 wrote: post #6
ericjang wrote: post #3

@patio11: may we get a post-mortem on Starfighter, and more details on what you learned about startups?

Not wanting to do the concept for Starfighter any injustice but I get the feeling it's as simple as they spent too much time on the tech and not enough on the business. A very easy mistake when the co-founders are technically minded.

It turns out --- I'm speaking for at least Erin and I, but I suspect to an extent Patrick too --- we don't have the stomach for the contingency recruiting model. Referring someone for an interview and watching them get turned down was, for me at least, about 80% of the psychic cost of applying myself and getting turned down.

Fuck that. It's a job that is possible to do and possible to do well and my life is too short (takes bite of ham sandwich) to spend it getting good at that.

So: I am still in love with the concept and still pursuing it, but I have fallen totally out of love with that particular business model and am happy to blowtorch it out of my life.

More writeup to come! Patrick's at Stripe now; Erin & I have more news coming. Ironically: expect more challenges from us, not less. :P

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#79

Post by lj3 »

afarrell wrote: post #17
chatmasta wrote: post #8

What I like most about the long term vision for Atlas is that, if it's truly "as easy as spinning up an EC2 instance" to form a new corporation, then it will be possible for a single entrepreneur to create complex global corporate structures previously limited only to multinational corporations. How nice would it be, as say, a digital nomad, to be able to have a single "holding company" based in HK, and dynamically c…

How do you avoid accidentally committing tax evasion with this?

Unless I misunderstand, that's part of what you're paying for. From the Faq[0]:

  What is Stripe Atlas?

  Stripe Atlas is a new product designed to give
  entrepreneurs access to the basic building blocks 
  for starting a global internet business. We help you:

  * Incorporate a company in the U.S.
  * Open a U.S. bank account and get a tax ID number.
  * Start a Stripe account to accept payments from around the world.
  * Get guidance about U.S. law and taxes from Orrick and PwC.
  * Access tools and resources from Amazon Web Services 
    (as well as $15,000 in AWS promotional credits for beta users).
[0]: https://stripe.com/atlas/faq#What-is-Stripe-Atlas

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#80

Post by cperciva »

edwinwee wrote: post #49
Scarbutt wrote: post #7

Are there any plans in Atlas to support Ireland?

We only support incorporating in Delaware at the moment, but are hoping to add other locations in the future!

Can I suggest British Columbia, Canada? It's an English-speaking country, not in the middle of an existential crisis, and BC has very flexible incorporation requirements (you must have at least one director, who can live anywhere in the world; you may appoint officers but there is no requirement to do so; shares can be with or without par value, and if with par value that value can be specified in any currency; et cetera). Also, Vancouver's a great place to visit, for the occasions when Stripe would need to have someone on the ground here. :-)
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