[leojkwan]

I’m in the process of dissolving my stripe atlas Delaware c Corp. it’s been a nightmare year for me and legal fees. For anyone who plans on bootstrapping a software biz, check out my blog post https://leojkwan.com/stipe-atlas-beware/

[tptacek]

I read this post twice and I'm still not sure I understand what the Stripe nightmare is. It sounds like you and your accountant feel you'd have been better off with an LLC. That's very likely! We're a growing company with employees, payroll, equity ownership, vesting, and significant revenue and we're still an LLC and will be for the foreseeable future. But if we decided to go raise funding, Stripe Atlas seems like the most reasonable way we could go about switching to a C-Corp.

[JamesBarney]

I don't think the issue is stripe per se. They just made creating a company much easier. So much easier that they attracted new customers who would not have otherwise been serious or sophisticated enough to create a company. And some of these customers were surprised by what they got themselves into.

[delhanty]

>I read this post twice and I'm still not sure I understand what the Stripe nightmare is.

Agreed - the text of the leojkwan's blog post is more balanced though.

>It sounds like you and your accountant feel you'd have been better off with an LLC. That's very likely! We're a growing company with employees, payroll, equity ownership, vesting, and significant revenue and we're still an LLC and will be for the foreseeable future.

Stripe Atlas is a great product for it's intended use case, but this bit needs to be written in bold.

If you're doing startup school, for example, but planning on bootstrapping, then you're better served with an LLC.

The choice of Delaware is to protect the investment of YC and the other investors. You agree to Delaware as a condition of them investing in you.

As pointed out elsewhere in this thread by AlchemistCamp, if you're a U.S. citizen, non-Californian resident & bootstrapping consider locating in Wyoming or Nevada. The case for Wyoming is made by HN#flagtheory here [0].

flagtheory.com is a competitor of Stripe Atlas and they outline their, obviously self-interested, case against Stripe Atlas here [1]. (I am not affiliated with Flag Theory and, don't generally endorse them. Thinking of launching your ICO from Nevis [2] ..? Err ... a shady business rarely leads to a sunny life.)

If you're a boostrapping Californian resident, then again from AlchemistCamp, consider locating an LLC in California.

>California, for example, is very aggressive in classifying every business owned by its residents as doing business in California, so many California residents either form a California LLC or leave the state to start their businesses.

If you're bootstrapping and a non-U.S. citizen, non-U.S. resident then consider other business-friendly jurisdictions: Singapore, Hong Kong, Estonia, the U.K. Also, if at all viable, consider your country of residence and/or country of citizenship of course.

[0] https://flagtheory.com/product/wyoming-llc/

[1] https://flagtheory.com/stripe-atlas/

[2] https://flagtheory.com/category/nevis/

[toomuchtodo]

How would a conversion from an LLC to a C Corp impact your decision to vest owner equity over 10 years? Asking only out of curiosity.

[simonebrunozzi]

> Last year, my company SuperFit was selected to Y Combinators’ online startup school program. If you don’t know, Y Combinator is a popular tech incubator in Mountain View, California that, in exchange for 7% of your company for a 130k seed investment~, provides support, mentorship and the most popular platform for showcasing your startup’s purpose to investors and the world.

"Startup school" is not Y-Combinator's main program. You have phrased it in a way to make the reader think you've been accepted to the "main" incubator. I suggest you make your wording clearer.

[aaronbwebber]

The only fee you mention is $50, that really doesn't seem like that big of a deal. The blog post does not do a very good job of explaining why being a C Corp has been a "nightmare".

[privateSFacct]

What is the stripe issue? A $50 corporate fee? CA is $800 minimum BTW. If you are doing funding rounds you need an C corp.

Dissolving cleanly depends ALSO on how proactive and organized you are. The folks who run into messes first find themselves suspended then try to dissolve. If you are proactive it isn't too bad usually.