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Estonia is running its country like a tech company

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Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#131

Post by j8014 »

rorykoehler wrote: post #93
vonmoltke wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> America is very backwards in tech for daily life. About 2 years ago I was blown away when I arrived at the San Francisco airport and had to buy a train card with a Visa card; the customer service guy got flustered and pulled an old carbon paper swiper thing out from under the desk, and asked for my signature. America is very backwards because of one thing that happened to you that has literally never happened to me…

Cheques haven't even existed for 15+ years here in Ireland. America is quite slow on the uptake of tech considering they are arguably the most disruptive innovators in the world as a country.

I think it depends on who is the customer and where things take place. My mother in law still uses checks, prefers in person banking, and doesn't use technology. She loves getting cash back when she shops. Same with a brother in law of mine, cash is king, technology is a mobile phone to sms his family and friends. He is a successful business owner, btw.

I haven't written a check since the late 90's, when I receive a check, I deposit it directly from my phone. I never carry cash. When I shop its nearly all online. Unless its a restaurant, I've ordered and paid before stepping foot or driving through the place.

The point being, business's accommodate their customers and there is a shocking amount of people who don't care about technology in the US, especially outside of business and tech centers.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#132

Post by leowoo91 »

juskrey wrote: post #103

I had a pretty intense honeymoon with Estonia, even had a relatively popular blog on e-residency, have visited Estonia twice (great experience btw).. And, after four years, I have reopened my company in UK and trying to liquidate my Estonian one (today I have received a denial letter which says that only Estonian citizen can close my company).. In short: Vague frequently changing rules, introduction of strange comple…

> I have received a denial letter which says that only Estonian citizen can close my company

so in order to close your company, you need some citizen to acquire it first?

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#133

Post by juskrey »

leowoo91 wrote: post #132
juskrey wrote: post #103

I had a pretty intense honeymoon with Estonia, even had a relatively popular blog on e-residency, have visited Estonia twice (great experience btw).. And, after four years, I have reopened my company in UK and trying to liquidate my Estonian one (today I have received a denial letter which says that only Estonian citizen can close my company).. In short: Vague frequently changing rules, introduction of strange comple…

> I have received a denial letter which says that only Estonian citizen can close my company so in order to close your company, you need some citizen to acquire it first?

You must appoint someone from Estonia as an official liquidator, effectively paying for that to some accounting firm. Otherwise that would be just filling pretty simple online form.

At they same time they have allowed me to appoint myself first through that form and kept me waiting 5 days.. (The e-resident system is supposed to know who am I, right?) Go figure.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#134

Post by icebraining »

vonmoltke wrote: post #98
piva00 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had similar experiences with backwards technology while visiting the US. Buying tickets for the BART or Caltrain is nothing similar to the experience with NS in the Netherlands or even the BVG/MVG in Germany (even if Caltrain nowadays has an app), it feels really antiquated and buggy. Having my card swiped and asking for signatures in receipts at stores, cafés or restaurants is also a thing of the past even in Braz…

Except for the actual card technology issues (which are frustrating, though that glacier is slowly moving), those are all matters of how those transit agencies are run, not issues with the payment system. As for cashless technology, there is significant political backlash to cashless systems. See the efforts by NYC to force businesses to accept cash as payment. I don't think the glacier is going to move much faster u…

Accepting cashless tech and not accepting cash are unrelated issues. Here I can use my phone alone as the transit ticket, buy a physical ticket with a contactless ATM card or with plain coins and bills.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#135

Post by Scoundreller »

hos234 wrote: post #69
znq wrote: post #4

I've run and invested in businesses in multiple countries (Spain, Germany, US, UAE, Sri Lanka). One of them (Mobile Jazz - a fully remote company) we've moved to Estonia in 2016. One of the best business decisions we've made admin-wise. While there are for sure better alternatives when it comes to "saving on taxes" (I'd say Estonia is in the European average with 20% corporate tax and an interesting taxation model on…

It barely has a million people. You have to compare it with other countries of similar size and population. Comparing it to Spain, Germany, US, UAE, Sri Lanka is like comparing mice to dogs, cows, elephants and blue whales. That said, ofcourse there are things that can be learnt and applied to similar sized towns, cities, states etc that want these features.

> You have to compare it with other countries of similar size and population.

Countries aren't their own silo anymore.

A small country that's in Eurozone, EU and NATO has a lot of "big country" benefits than a small country not in those groups.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#136

Post by kristofferR »

karulont wrote: post #110
kristofferR wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One fascinating difference between Estonia and Norway is that Norway doesn't have a digital ID card - we instead use a government single sign-on platform for vetted private login provider companies. The vast majority of people use BankID, a login system run by a consortium of most banks. It used to require a cumbersome 2FA device, but for the last 5 years it has also been available as a Sim Toolkit App, so most use t…

In addition to the physical ID card, Estonian system also has MobileID, that uses the SIM toolkit. So there is no hassle with the physical card reader. And also the newest is SmartID(used by banks), also based on mobile devices, but without requiring a special SIM card.

Ah, that's cool, seems like it is pretty similar in practice then.

I find it extremely weird that not every other developed country has implemented similar solutions.

It's a win-win for all parties, both the government, business and the population - making interactions and transactions simpler, cheaper and faster.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#137

Post by Scoundreller »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #115
rorykoehler wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cheques haven't even existed for 15+ years here in Ireland. America is quite slow on the uptake of tech considering they are arguably the most disruptive innovators in the world as a country.

I haven’t used checks routinely for the last 20 years in the states. I’m always really annoyed when some random niche activity requires it and can’t accept an online transfer. Then I have to go to the bank and get a temporary one.

You might want to bite the bullet and buy the 200 for $10.

At least they don't expire.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#138

Post by ptrckekn »

Choosing markets brings prosperity. Like the "German Miracle" after WW2 (not the Marshall Plan), when you abandon bureaucratic regulations and allow the market to take over, vast and quick advancement comes, and everyone does much better. https://fee.org/articles/how-estonia-yes-estonia-became-one-...

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#139

Post by juped »

juskrey wrote: post #103

I had a pretty intense honeymoon with Estonia, even had a relatively popular blog on e-residency, have visited Estonia twice (great experience btw).. And, after four years, I have reopened my company in UK and trying to liquidate my Estonian one (today I have received a denial letter which says that only Estonian citizen can close my company).. In short: Vague frequently changing rules, introduction of strange comple…

Sounds like they're running it like a tech company.

Re: Estonia is running its country like a tech company

#140

Post by Scoundreller »

penetrarthur wrote: post #64
pavlov wrote: post #23

If you're thinking about starting a company in Estonia under the "e-residency" program, you should know that Estonian banks have recently become very skeptical about opening bank accounts for foreigners. It's not enough that you have an Estonian corporation, you'll probably be expected to demonstrate that your business has actual ties to Estonia. Finnish entrepreneurs are being denied bank accounts despite the close…

Banks are extremely nonfunctional in Baltic countries probably because of how little people live there. I think there is a large potential for good international banks.

It looks like their big banks are just branch plants of bigger European banks anyway:

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/comp...

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/comp...

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/comp...

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