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I Don't Want to Be a Founder

carolchen.me

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Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#121

Post by j_autumn »

Mave83 wrote: post #65
amzans wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the inspiring story. I’m guessing that the 25K€ probably referrers to a GmbH in Germany :) If so, would you say the GmbH/UG (Limited Liability Company) route is a good idea from the start for a solo founder of a bootstrapped SaaS? I’ve been doing my research and maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like it has quite a lot of overhead for a first time solo founder like myself. To clarify, I’m an expat in Germany,…

Yes it's all Germany based. Don't go the UG way, just found a GmbH. Please note it is possible to found it with 12500€ and have to provide the other half of the 25k€ later. My first company was without the GmbH protection and benefits. It was ok but I would not do or suggest it to anyone. Hell of a pain to migrate to a GmbH later.

Can you explain a bit more about the migration process?

I’ve read that the “most straightfoward way” is to create a new GmbH and transfer all the IP away from the Einzelunternehmen. It seemed kinda complicated though. (As everything is when dealing with the Finanzamt IMO)

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#123

Post by slap_shot »

fermienrico wrote: post #34
kipply wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am this close to changing it, this is very good

I like how according to Silicon Valley, a "Founder" is a person that has borrowed capital from VCs. I live in Silicon Valley and there are more businesses here that are not backed by VCs than otherwise. Tens of thousands of small businesses who work as hard as the top dogs sucking up to VCs, yet they're just businesses with owners, not "Startups" with "Founders". Some people still call Dropbox, Airbnb and Uber as "St…

I hear this come up so much and it's just trite.

I don't think anybody in Silicon Valley would say the _definition_ of a Founder is someone who takes VC money.

All companies require capital to operate. All capital has a cost. In many high growth companies, the amount of time it takes to build a product and go to market has a significant effect of how much market share that company can acquire. Selling equity or taking on debt is how many companies can reduce that time and acquire more market share.

It just happens to be that the companies Silicon Valley is most interested in are companies that have to raise capital this way, with very very few exceptions.

Now more than ever, VCs will happily tell a a founder "your business is not a business that fits with the VC model well, don't raise VC money." The VCs who say that do not think the people they are are saying that to "aren't founders" - their business just doesn't need VC investment.

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#124

Post by j_autumn »

djeiasbsbo wrote: post #106

I like the article but I honestly have never even stopped to think "should I create a startup?"... is that a common thing? Maybe it's because I'm still young or because I've never actually been in huge financial distress (which I realise is a privilege) but I don't have the desire to make a lot of money or sell my dream idea/company. All I want is to make enough to cover my living costs and in my spare time work on s…

I love your mindset and I am not too far off myself. For me it’s not about being able to buy luxuries but to “buy time”.

Time is - in my opinion - the most valuable resource that we have. Working for the man is trading your time with money given a specific conversation ( your salary ). I’d like to shoot to have a better conversation (I’m EU based and salaries here are not so great compared to the US) while not being tied to a specific location. With the plus of being able to work on whatever you fancy.

I think becoming rich is less about spending that money but more about the financial independence. So it’s not about not going to work but to don’t have to go to work.

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#125

Post by a_imho »

gkoberger wrote: post #21

I remember as I was starting my company, I reached out to a founder of a company you've likely heard of for advice. We grabbed drinks, and he practically begged me to not start a company, for my own sake. I thought he was a dick. But he wasn't wrong. Write down a list of why you want to start a company. I bet the list involves things like "building something nobody else has," "getting to program and design and do a b…

Probably projecting here, but the imo the no1 reason to start a business is writing software for others does not scale, while selling software/service is lucrative.

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#126

Post by rorykoehler »

j_autumn wrote: post #120
rorykoehler wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do not do an Einzelunternehmen to start. Do a UG. Not worth exposing yourself to the unforgiving and extremely aggressive Finanzamt when they decide they want to collect money you didn't expect to owe.

Can you elaborate on that? My tax adviser told me I should go for a Einzelunternehmen (especially use the Kleingewerbe during the first year) because of the reduced costs (registration costs 25EUR and thats it) and not having the overhead. I’ve heard that registering a UG costs about ~500EUR + yearly costs of around 1500 EUR. Given that this is during a beginning to try things out - without having too much money layi…

I know enough smart people who have been pursued by the Finanzamt because their accountant and the Finanzamt had a different interpretation of the law.

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#127

Post by blackrock »

Melting_Harps wrote: post #49
Mave83 wrote: post #39

I successful founded startups since 20 years, starting in the age of 16. In none of them, I founded together with partners that I realy trusted like I trust my wife. However we worked together on a professional level and figured it out everytime. Why could we do that? because in the end it is a work for roughly 5y and if you stop even thinking about working 24x7x365 you have enough free time for recreational activiti…

> For me it is absolutely no choice to be employed or working in larger companies. I want my own freedom :) Living the dream, what are/were a few of them? I still have too much psychological/mental stuff from my Fintech startup I left in 2018 to seriously consider doing it again, even though this pandemic put the Industry I focused on as an 'essential' Industry despite denying them access to financial services and pa…

What are some viable startup ideas in fin tech?

Insurance by app?

Stock trading for free?

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#128

Post by literallycancer »

amzans wrote: post #47
Mave83 wrote: post #39

I successful founded startups since 20 years, starting in the age of 16. In none of them, I founded together with partners that I realy trusted like I trust my wife. However we worked together on a professional level and figured it out everytime. Why could we do that? because in the end it is a work for roughly 5y and if you stop even thinking about working 24x7x365 you have enough free time for recreational activiti…

Thanks for the inspiring story. I’m guessing that the 25K€ probably referrers to a GmbH in Germany :) If so, would you say the GmbH/UG (Limited Liability Company) route is a good idea from the start for a solo founder of a bootstrapped SaaS? I’ve been doing my research and maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like it has quite a lot of overhead for a first time solo founder like myself. To clarify, I’m an expat in Germany,…

I think you can avoid the complicated international tax situation by not being a tax resident of Germany.

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#129

Post by naveen99 »

gkoberger wrote: post #71
Mave83 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You'll spend more time writing emails than writing code. You end up bogged down in organizational issues, not dreaming up cool new features. Rather than having one boss, you now have dozens... investors, customers, employees, etc." why not hire a COO that takes care of it? Don't do jobs that you are not happy with for long. For some short time that is acceptable, but not for long. I don't count my customers as by bo…

Maybe "boss" wasn't the right word – I should have said "Rather than having one boss, you now have dozens of people you're accountable to... investors, customers, employees, etc." And sure, hiring can make issues go away (I've definitely done it!), but I think you're missing my point – no matter who you hire below you, if you're the CEO, the buck still stops with you. You're the one ultimately responsible.

Buck stops with the owner. You can hire a ceo also.

Re: I Don't Want to Be a Founder

#130

Post by clashmeifyoucan »

Havoc wrote: post #116
switch11 wrote: post #86

Could someone please explain to me what the value in this article is? It's written by a 18 year old who has never started a company So, as someone who has started multiple companies and currently running a profitable albeit small startup, what insights should I get from this article?

You’re clearly not there target audience. I thought the article displayed an impressive amount of self awareness for a young guy

*girl, :)
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