So Stripe Atlas makes it easy and fast to start and register a company.
What is the experience if we want to close, dissolve and erase the company?
Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
1–10 of 28 posts
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
#2(I work at Stripe.)
You can email us and we’ll introduce you to a lawyer who can assist you with winding down the company. In the simplest case this costs $500.
Speaking generally, the complexity depends on what you’ve done with the company. Dissolving a company which has had a paper existence but never done anything is straightforward; shutting down a company with material operations, payroll, legal commitments, etc requires materially more work. The supermajority of that is figuring out to do about the commitments rather than the entity per se.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
#3What's the point? Every state in the USA has an online portal to register an LLC/Corp.
You can go to a UPS Store and get an mailbox.
You don't file an annual report, and in most states that dissolves the corporation/llc.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
#4What's the point? Every state in the USA has an online portal to register an LLC/Corp. You can go to a UPS Store and get an mailbox. You don't file an annual report, and in most states that dissolves the corporation/llc.
https://stripe.com/atlas
I can see the convenience, but also a delaware corporation may have some negative downsides. - Foreign in other states and where you may be - and additional taxes and paperwork.
Plus it'd be hard to deal business in any state outside Delaware for renting or bank accounts. Yes, I see that Silicon Valley Bank is there and opened upon being accepted but - you're putting all your eggs/liabilities into the Stripe Basket.
FEIN - anyone can do that, not an issue.
"Free Templates" from Stripe - I'd be 100% careful using templates for any sort of business w/o having a lawyer you've personally hired overlook it. I've defeated and found loopholes in many off the internet templates for contracts and business formations - this is critical because you can give your opponents leverage (pierce corporate veil) if something isn't accurate or applicable where YOU are residing/taken to court.
It's cool - I can see it as a feature for tying in the credit card processing/merchant account/business formation and letting people host SAAS/Cloud services - but having Stripe as your Registered Agent just, is, too much?
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
#5I’m in the process of dissolving my stripe atlas Delaware c Corp. it’s been a nightmare year for me and legal fees. For anyone who plans on bootstrapping a software biz, check out my blog post https://leojkwan.com/stipe-atlas-beware/
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
#6What's the point? Every state in the USA has an online portal to register an LLC/Corp. You can go to a UPS Store and get an mailbox. You don't file an annual report, and in most states that dissolves the corporation/llc.
Online portal is one thing; doing it correctly is another
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
#7What's the point? Every state in the USA has an online portal to register an LLC/Corp. You can go to a UPS Store and get an mailbox. You don't file an annual report, and in most states that dissolves the corporation/llc.
Stripe Atlas is the one and only system I've discovered that makes it possible for founders outside the US to get a US bank account. I know dozens of founders with varying degrees of success who have tried for months and failed.
If you're in the US, then it's different. In particular, I don't think Delaware is a good choice for most bootstrappers. Creating an LLC in Nevada, Wyoming or another low-cost, low-hassle state.
It also depends on the state you live in. California, for example, is very aggressive in classifying every business owned by its residents as doing business in California, so many California residents either form a California LLC or leave the state to start their businesses.
Standard disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, I'm not in the US and if you make business decisions solely on the basis of what you see on a forum, it likely won't end well.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
#8I’m in the process of dissolving my stripe atlas Delaware c Corp. it’s been a nightmare year for me and legal fees. For anyone who plans on bootstrapping a software biz, check out my blog post https://leojkwan.com/stipe-atlas-beware/
I read this post twice and I'm still not sure I understand what the Stripe nightmare is. It sounds like you and your accountant feel you'd have been better off with an LLC. That's very likely! We're a growing company with employees, payroll, equity ownership, vesting, and significant revenue and we're still an LLC and will be for the foreseeable future. But if we decided to go raise funding, Stripe Atlas seems like the most reasonable way we could go about switching to a C-Corp.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
#9I’m in the process of dissolving my stripe atlas Delaware c Corp. it’s been a nightmare year for me and legal fees. For anyone who plans on bootstrapping a software biz, check out my blog post https://leojkwan.com/stipe-atlas-beware/
I read this post twice and I'm still not sure I understand what the Stripe nightmare is. It sounds like you and your accountant feel you'd have been better off with an LLC. That's very likely! We're a growing company with employees, payroll, equity ownership, vesting, and significant revenue and we're still an LLC and will be for the foreseeable future. But if we decided to go raise funding, Stripe Atlas seems like t…
I don't think the issue is stripe per se. They just made creating a company much easier. So much easier that they attracted new customers who would not have otherwise been serious or sophisticated enough to create a company. And some of these customers were surprised by what they got themselves into.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone dissolved a Stripe Atlas company?
#10What's the point? Every state in the USA has an online portal to register an LLC/Corp. You can go to a UPS Store and get an mailbox. You don't file an annual report, and in most states that dissolves the corporation/llc.
Stripe Atlas is the one and only system I've discovered that makes it possible for founders outside the US to get a US bank account. I know dozens of founders with varying degrees of success who have tried for months and failed. If you're in the US, then it's different. In particular, I don't think Delaware is a good choice for most bootstrappers. Creating an LLC in Nevada, Wyoming or another low-cost, low-hassle sta…
CA resident here; didn’t notice any flaws in your post.