[matt_o]

> I suspect the community might become more Europe-oriented, because it’s more difficult to get funding here and there are more bootstrapped businesses as a result.

It's also a lot harder to set up any sort of business in most places in Europe, at least compared to doing it in the US. I wouldn't be surprised if this community will become centered on North/South America and Asia.

In the US, you could start selling widgets instantly (all legally, taxes taken care of). Getting an LLC (something like a GmbH/Ltd) set up takes around 1-2 weeks tops, securing a company credit card - a few days.

Source: Self-employed US expat in Germany.

[biztos]

Granted, you can't start a company in most countries "instantly" but compared to the time it takes to write software?

For instance in Germany you have the "Unternehmergesellschaft" or Mini-GmbH which is really cheap to set up and should also be really cheap to run as long as you're not doing anything complex accounting-wise. From what I've heard it doesn't take more than a couple weeks.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unternehmergesellschaft_(haftu...

In certain industries there is a bias against that form as it shows you are bootstrapping without much cash, but I would hope it's not a problem in tech. Though it probably does suck to write "haftungsbeschränkt" (liability-limited) everywhere: there is no legal short version.

[_delirium]

Germany's bureaucracy is more cumbersome than many in the EU I think. It's not the worst, and has the advantage that it does follow its own rules and is not corrupt. But they really like requiring many forms on paper, and in-person visits to a variety of offices. There are other EU countries with more streamlined processes.

In Denmark the situation is not that different from the US. You can legally operate as a sole proprietor simply by filling out an online form registering for a CVR number (a business tax ID). It's free and instant. Setting up an ApS or IVS (roughly equivalent to an LLC) is also pretty easy, and can be done online.

[nekopa]

You could go the way of a UK Ltd company, 4 hours to set up via an incorporation website. I've used it to set up companies - US Ex-pat living in the Czech Rep. Works all across the EU.

(At least until the Brexit happens)

[matt_o]

Thanks! I'll look into that!

I'll still have to take care of taxes locally here (tax residency, grumbles), which are the biggest time sink. Maybe I should hop the border into the Czech Rep. :)