First time on substack, apparently first time writing also. Enough undefined acronyms to get an 8th grader smacked.
A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
161–170 of 363 posts
Re: A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What's the difference? In my mind a startup is just a newly established business, but you seem to have a different vision? A commonly accepted answer to this question is "The exit strategy does not involve 100X[1] valuation" [1] Pick the appropriate multiplier.
The dictionary defines startup as: "a newly established business." Your take is typical on HN, but not the common interpretation.
If you are dealing with funding rounds and recaps, you are a startup. I know of one that is twenty years old.
Re: A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
> For example in the USA, they will refuse to speak German with you. So what? Actually they would most likely be delighted to show off their German if they knew any. But that is besides the point. English for better or worse is the current international language. I can found a new company in Estonia in literal minutes without speaking a single word of Estonian and without being physically present in the country becau…
> I can found a new company in Estonia in literal minutes without speaking a single word of Estonian and without being physically present in the country because the whole process is digital and in English. Bad example. When you incorporate in Estonia, if you come through eResidency, they are very clear and very open in stating that ANY interaction with tax office and/or judicial system WILL be and MUST be performed i…
Is that an practical issue? I imagine you wouldn't interact with the tax office anyway as you fill the taxes them electronically and as for the judicial system, you are going to need an Estonian lawyer anyway.
Genuinely asking. Wondering if someone has experience doing business in Estonia. It looks pretty nice in the prospectus so would love to hear what the reality is.
Re: A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
You still need the 25k to register a LLC or whatever the acronym is in Germany, right?
No that's for a full GmbH. You can start with an "UG", which realistically needs maybe 1500 EUR to get registered and up and running. Then, a certain percentage of the profit is contributed towards the 25k (of which in turn only 12.5k have to be deposited in cash) each financial year. If the threshold is met, you can convert from UG to GmbH.
What a morass.
Re: A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
At least some years ago, browsing HN's comment section felt like it was a different world, separated from reality. I think some people need this kind of grounding reminders every once in a while.
If you read enough comments about AI or LLMs on here you will realize the people of Hacker News do live in a different world from reality.
I've been on here long enough to see it with every tech hype cycle in the past ~20 years. Self driving cars, VR, bitcoin, then generically 'crypto', web3, now AI/LLMs, probably a lot I'm missing right now... It's funny how the optimist control the narrative in the beginning then the pessimist start chiming in around the time the hype starts to vaporize. The AI/LLM cynicism is rising right now it seems.
Re: A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you heard of Rocket Internet? It's one of the most successful models in the world. They may avoid the US market and such, but most of the unicorns in Malaysia are backed by Rocket. And most of the people who stay and start their own, backed by YC or whoever, are usually ex-Rocket. They hit 10% growth per week, even at unicorn sizes. I would anecdotally put Germany at #3 globally just for Rocket alone, with US an…
Isn't Rocket's reputation that they just steal ideas from other startups and create cheap clones of them? Not a terrible business to be in, but not massively inspiring or globally reproducible.
It is a New Pied Piper...
Re: A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are effectively locking yourself out of the outside investment route if you choose to do this.
And open up for liability
Is this really true? I'm in the US, and have a corporation in the US. I am shielded from liability through the corporate veil, but I also have a $50/mo $2M/incidence liability umbrella. I honestly have no idea if either are necessary, in 20 years of "doing business" I've never had a single liability needing to be covered by insurance or the veil.
I think it's wise to have, just in case, but even in lawsuit happy America where I have had to fire multiple clients mid-project due to various reason. I've never had blowback or even the treat of a suit. We all just went our separate ways.
Re: A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Presumably you'd want to see that such initiatives are increasing the number of sustainable businesses created, per capita. Is that the case? --- EDIT: Some quick searching indicates that the startup rate (per capita) in Germany is about 1.1%, while the USA is 1.5%. Not a huge difference, but the USA doesn't have any of those initiatives afaik. Just wondering what actually moves the needle and how to better create a…
> Some quick searching indicates that the startup rate (per capita) in Germany is about 1.1%, while the USA is 1.5%. Not a huge difference, but the USA doesn't have any of those initiatives afaik. It sounds like these are small businesses and not startups. The US has 10% small businesses per capita.
My brief research was looking at new business registrations per year.
Re: A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What's the difference? In my mind a startup is just a newly established business, but you seem to have a different vision? A commonly accepted answer to this question is "The exit strategy does not involve 100X[1] valuation" [1] Pick the appropriate multiplier.
The dictionary defines startup as: "a newly established business." Your take is typical on HN, but not the common interpretation.
But then, this is HN.
Re: A startup doesn't need to be a unicorn
#170Here's a model that exists in Germany, which I like: You can present a business plan to the state's investment bank and apply for several financial aides, including: * 1.5 years of universal basic income for you plus up to 2 other people. It's a tiny amount of money, but the point is to free you up to invest your actual time an money into the business. You do not have to pay this back. * up to 20k EUR in "consulting…
Parts of this feel a lot like Canada's SRED program, which is intended to be a subsidy for technology research but the expected bureacracy has spawned an industry of consultancies that work solely to find marginal & questionable activities within companies that qualify. It can be worth it for a company to jump through the hoops - especially if they get something while another company does all the work - but it's an i…
SRED and other grants/tax rebates is lifeblood for small tech companies here. Also, you know you're a senior dev when you make the yearly pilgrimage to meet with SRED consultants with architecture diagrams in hand!