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Stripe opens its Atlas program to US-based startups

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Re: Stripe opens its Atlas program to US-based startups

#21

Post by valuearb »

rubiquity wrote: post #7
patio11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We ship first and then announce dates because down the other path lies disaster, but LLCs are a great way to incorporate many tech businesses, and Atlas aims to incorporate most tech businesses.

No offense but outside of our little HN/YC bubble I think it's the other way around. LLCs seem far more common than Delaware based C Corps for tech companies. For tech startups looking to raise venture capital (a subset of tech companies) a Delaware C Corp is far more common though.

Aren't LLC's problematic for offering employee equity options?

I've done lots of startups, and you want a structure that makes it easy to put together employee pools, easy to raise funding with, and easy to sell/merge.

LLCs are easy to setup, but if they create lots of problems down the road it's not a structure you want.

Re: Stripe opens its Atlas program to US-based startups

#22

Post by joshdotsmith »

patio11 wrote: post #5
mixmastamyk wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When might the LLC track be ready? I'm looking forward to that. Thanks.

We ship first and then announce dates because down the other path lies disaster, but LLCs are a great way to incorporate many tech businesses, and Atlas aims to incorporate most tech businesses.

Does this mean you're also hoping to expand into Delaware PBCs, too? Lots of open source projects are considering this approach due to a combination of poor response to open source nonprofits from the IRS and flexibility in figuring out their funding sources. There's only trivial differences to a C Corp in terms of filing.

I'd been planning to reach out to Stripe about this when it made sense; I probably should've just emailed you! We're advising folks we're bringing onto our Stripe Connect platform as managed accounts to go use Stripe Atlas where possible, but plenty have voiced support for having B Corps be part of that happy path.

Honestly, I might even just pay a lawyer at some point to open up some standardized set of docs for this.

Do you hope to have any way for Connect platforms with managed accounts to more directly refer people into Atlas? Having an API for the application process would be amazing.

Re: Stripe opens its Atlas program to US-based startups

#23

Post by brianwawok »

valuearb wrote: post #21
rubiquity wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense but outside of our little HN/YC bubble I think it's the other way around. LLCs seem far more common than Delaware based C Corps for tech companies. For tech startups looking to raise venture capital (a subset of tech companies) a Delaware C Corp is far more common though.

Aren't LLC's problematic for offering employee equity options? I've done lots of startups, and you want a structure that makes it easy to put together employee pools, easy to raise funding with, and easy to sell/merge. LLCs are easy to setup, but if they create lots of problems down the road it's not a structure you want.

LLCs are a swim army knife. You can basically do anything, with way less rules and fees.

LLCs can totally offer equity. LLC's are easier to sell than a C corp. Plenty of pluses. If you don't want to get VC funded, you should default to LLC.

Re: Stripe opens its Atlas program to US-based startups

#24

Post by chejazi »

nebabyte wrote: post #18
chejazi wrote: post #13

I apologize for the begging, but if anyone has an invite, I would love to use Stripe Atlas with my co! chejazi@umich.edu

Why would anyone invite you without knowing what they're recommending? For that matter, it sounds like the founder or someone who works there is in this thread, but even if you were going to appeal to them, the information you could give them would likely just be the same information that the (linked in the post) signup/product pitch page's application form would ask for. And fundamentally, why would someone want to…

Thanks, but:

1) If the HN community is so noisy then why are you here? :P

2) I deliberately used my university email address to create trust, and if someone wanted to do due diligence I use the same handle everywhere else.

3) I've been following this project for longer than 2 minutes and applied previously.

Re: Stripe opens its Atlas program to US-based startups

#25

Post by good_vibes »

patio11 wrote: post #9
randomdrake wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello Patrick, thanks for answering questions. From the looks of these most recent updates, and reading over this blog post, it seems as though Atlas is positioning itself to be an accelerator in its own right. Offering connections, assistance, setup help, guidance, and even access to investors. It seems like Atlas/Stripe is only missing a funding portion and perhaps access to a highly covered "demo day." Are those i…

Stripe's goal is to increase the GDP of the Internet. We're doing Atlas because we think it is instrumentally useful to achieving that. This isn't purely altruistic; we're increasing the GDP of the Internet both because it is a good thing to do and because we intend to capture a sliver of the value unlocked during this economic transformation. In terms of what we'll build into Atlas: absolutely anything that is neede…

I appreciate how honest your reply was and how pure Atlas is in spirit. I am grateful I am part of the Beta because my personal GDP is too low to afford all the services provided by Atlas.

Cheers mate!

Re: Stripe opens its Atlas program to US-based startups

#26

Post by ihinsdale »

joshdotsmith wrote: post #22
patio11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We ship first and then announce dates because down the other path lies disaster, but LLCs are a great way to incorporate many tech businesses, and Atlas aims to incorporate most tech businesses.

Does this mean you're also hoping to expand into Delaware PBCs, too? Lots of open source projects are considering this approach due to a combination of poor response to open source nonprofits from the IRS and flexibility in figuring out their funding sources. There's only trivial differences to a C Corp in terms of filing. I'd been planning to reach out to Stripe about this when it made sense; I probably should've ju…

+1 for Stripe Atlas support for Delaware PBCs

Re: Stripe opens its Atlas program to US-based startups

#27

Post by patio11 »

preetish wrote: post #20

Appreciate your response, Patrick. Quick question - is it necessary for a start-up to have payment side to apply for the program? What about a start-up that is pre-revenue?

We have many companies that are pre-revenue before they incorporate. We'll ask for some detail on what the general plan is for making money, so that we (and our banking partner) know, but we don't quite need the same level of detail that e.g. an investor would need.

Re: Stripe opens its Atlas program to US-based startups

#30

Post by billdybas »

joshdotsmith wrote: post #22
patio11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We ship first and then announce dates because down the other path lies disaster, but LLCs are a great way to incorporate many tech businesses, and Atlas aims to incorporate most tech businesses.

Does this mean you're also hoping to expand into Delaware PBCs, too? Lots of open source projects are considering this approach due to a combination of poor response to open source nonprofits from the IRS and flexibility in figuring out their funding sources. There's only trivial differences to a C Corp in terms of filing. I'd been planning to reach out to Stripe about this when it made sense; I probably should've ju…

I would also like to see Atlas expand to include B Corps.
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