[irae]

That is not the first time I see one of your stories and it always brings me a smile to see your new ideas and how implement them.

It also amazes me how some countries make it so easy to open a business. Doing so in Brazil would be a legal nightmare. Your projects are super inspiring and I always have a mind to leave my job and start doing the same. I should probably move to the US or Canada first, otherwise it might not be possible for me.

[TekMol]

Why would it be a legal nightmare in Brazil?

[irae]

Just for starters, every company is a liability for you as a person. Your "equivalent of credit score" will be forever impacted by each legal entity you start.

A company in Brazil needs to fit into categories. So if you have an e-commerce company that sells food, you can't use the same entity to provide a service, for example, the email provider with emojis the original poster did previously. You need a new legal entity for that.

If you have one of the companies not pay by itself, closing it is a nightmare. I have a company that is closed, not debts, not a single problem, for 15 years already inactive. That company is considered a liability for my current company and me as a person. Once you have 3 companies in your name, you start having trouble in Brazil, as you fall into "risk" territory for taking credit, opening accounts, renting offices or apartments, etc. And if one company wants to receive payment in foreign currency, you also have to generate quarterly financial reports, and all sorts of bureaucracy. Each step of the way you find new problems.

The rules are so extensive and so hard to navigate that you can't be the only person working on that. If you want to be like the original poster, you need an accountant that will charge you per company a fair amount of money, and it will still give you a lot of work to communicate with your accountant about each of the issues.

Yes, it is OK for someone that was always an employee to open a restaurant and have a living from that afterwards. Specially since it is a well stablished business category. But serially opening companies in Brazil is not a good time at all.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional in this area, I am a software engineer and I do have 2 companies in Brazil, one operating and one closed. Most of my knowledge is either self-taught or learning through my business accountant.

[bananamerica]

Brazil is bureaucratic by default.

[forinti]

It's not hard at all to open a business in Brazil, unless you work with things that require safety inspections (food, health, chemicals, etc).

Closing a business is a bit of a bother, but it is mostly a question of waiting.

[irae]

No it is not. You might find it simple, if you don't compare to places that are easier.

First you need to file all the paperwork. Then you wait. Once you get approvals, you can't do anything without a bank account, and opening the bank account is a lot of trouble too, because they want to triple check everything.

From zero to operational is a long way, and with lots of legal liability along the way. I have a company closed for 15 years that still counts as a liability to me when I try to do anything, like renting an apartment.

You might be right in "opening" paperwork only being kinda OK. But you certainly can't do it like the original poster, that codes for a week or two, opens a new business and move on to new projects in series. (Yeah, not every project of his is a new company, but IIRC the larger ones become new companies).

[marc_io]

This is absolutely true for most companies, but in this specific case he could open a “MEI” type of business (individual micro-entrepreneur) on the government website and use the CNAE 8219-9/99 (“Digitator” or typist) to receive immediately a CNPJ, which would allow him to launch the site on the first day and charge customers, paying very few taxes and without a lot of bureaucracy (well, he would end up needing to deliver some papers to the city hall after that and also generate all the invoices, but this can be done days later, during the first month of CNPJ creation).

[irae]

AFAIK it works only for his first company, which is fair, MEI is ok for a first company. But not for serial projects like his, with many different areas of business.

Also, sorry to say, but I would never have a MEI myself. The mixture of your personal legal entity (for US citizens, think of your social security number) being legally bound to your CNPJ (for US citizens, an LLC or other company) is another problem entirely. If your company gets audited, all your personal accounts and your IRS get audited at the same time? Hard no for me. Thank you.

[marc_io]

It is perfectly possible to carry out multiple activities with the MEI, although the list of permitted activities is quite limited, specially for online businesses.

But the issue you mentioned indeed makes this solution a lot less interesting.

[beambot]

Stripe's Atlas program seems to be available in Brazil?

https://stripe.com/atlas

[newaccount74]

I don't get the appeal of Atlas. You end up having to deal with bureaucracy and taxes in the US in addition to your home country, and if you need any legal/financial advise you now need someone who knows about the situation in multiple countries.

Maybe it makes sense if you want to get funding from US investors, but for a small self-funded business I just don't see the appeal.

[ffhhj]

He would still need to pay taxes in Brazil, and explain why it's not international money laundering. Same if the money touches the US, will have to pay taxes there too, then transfer it to Brazil for more taxes and paperwork.

[irae]

I haven't heard of Stripe Atlas. And it actually sounds like a good idea. I'll take a deeper look, but you could have a company in Brazil that interfaces with the company you create with Atlas. In none of my comments in this thread I am trying to aviod taxes BTW. Would be great, sure, but not the objective. I am impressed by the lifestyle the original poster, it inspires me, to the point I would like to be able to do it. Taxes need to be part of the equation, but being viable and practical would be the main issue.