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This is exactly the stuff that prevents innovation and drives entrepreneurs out of those economies. Physical address?!
by mkmk 1y ago
This is exactly the stuff that prevents innovation and drives entrepreneurs out of those economies. Physical address?!
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- oceanhaiyang 1y agoHuh? Why would that be harmful at all??
- croes 1y agoEntrepreneurs hate responsibility
- eadmund 1y agoI imagine that most people hate random Internet crazies showing up at their homes. When one starts in a garage, one doesn’t have an office yet.
- vintermann 1y agoIt also defends against random internet crazies who are mad at you because you scammed them. That's probably most of what it does, because how much attention of any sort does the average garage startup get?
- eadmund 1y ago> It also defends against random internet crazies who are mad at you because you scammed them. Or think you scammed them! Crazies gonna crazy. > how much attention of any sort does the average garage startup get? I think that anyone who has dealt with the general public in any organisation (scouting, church, business, government) will tell you that a surprisingly large number of people (I have seen estimates as high as one in four!) are crazy to one degree or another. I would very much rather not have my home address out there for every Tom, Dick & Harry who thinks that my software is making the aliens send radio transmissions to his teeth.
- croes 1y agoThe same stuff prevents massive scams
- niemandhier 1y agoIt can be a letterbox. The point is that there needs to be a way to contact a company in such a way that message delivery is provable and legally binding. AFAIK no universally adopted modern form of communication fulfills both. How do the US solve this problem ?
- mousetree 1y agoI'm not so sure it can be a letterbox. When registering companies with the Handelsregister in Germany, I think there is a legal requirement to have a physical address. At least from my experience.
- MPSimmons 1y agoIn the US, most (all?) states require a local registered agent with a non-PO box in the state. A lot of companies do good business as registered agents for out-of-state and foreign companies, where they file the paperwork and forward mail to the desired recipient.
- mk89 1y agoIt cannot be a letterbox. You must provide a real address that has capabilities to receive mail. Luckily for a few euros per month you can rent quite nice addresses and the relative mail forwarding services (e.g., once a day, once a week, etc.)
- niemandhier 1y agoYou are right, that what I meant when I said letterbox. I should have looked up the definition, before using the word.
- Quarrel 1y agoIn Australia, all companies must have a registered address, available on the register of companies (which isn't quite as open as I'd prefer, it isn't nearly as good as the UK's Companies House, for instance). This physical address must then have a plaque showing the registered company name roughly at the door. In reality, just like in the Paradise Papers leaks etc, an individual accountant's office might have 4000 of these lined up next to their door. Of course, for the vast majority of businesses, this is not much of a hurdle, and for most consumers it isn't all that helpful either, but end of the day, scammers are gonna scam, whatever the obstacles are. Even those that aren't outright scammers, will be paying accountants to have a plaque on their door to show that this is their "physical office" ... Hopefully such efforts at least help courts assign some blame when the time comes.
- victorbjorklund 1y agoWhy would you need to hide your company if you are not running a scam?
- la_oveja 1y agomaybe your company is just home.
- qwertox 1y agoWhen I see an imprint and see that it's a home address, I have no problems with that. It lets me know that this person is either just getting started or simply doesn't want to grow into a bigger company, probably because he/she has a real job, which are both great things, but if they scam me, I know where to contact them. Why would I randomly show up at their house and ring their bell?
- bkolobara 1y agoMany companies start in the "garage" and if you have privacy concerns, you can't use your home address as company address. This requires you to rent a spot in a coworking that allows you to use their address as company address. Also, you need to get a second phone. Too many small inconveniences for a small unprofitable startup that you need to worry about, instead of focusing on finding product market fit.
- ddalex 1y ago
- mousetree 1y agoUnfortunately, in Germany, there is a legal requirement for a business to have a physical address when registering it with the commercial register.
- account42 1y agoHow is that unfortunate? What would we gain from letting businesses opt out you being able to contact them?
- 4ad 1y agoIt not only prevents innovation, but it also enables fake industries, such as companies that harass and "fine" you (not legally binding) for not having an imprint even when not required, or otherwise coming up with irrelevant "problems" with your imprint and reporting you to authorities.
- calaphos 1y agoSomething where you're reachable for any legal purposes- in Germany this sadly remains a physical address. There are various service which offer a 'virtual' address with digital forwarding of letters for less than 10Eur/Month, so it's not an insurmountable obstacle.
- mk89 1y agoOut of all things that prevent innovation, this is probably the simplest with a "pay to fix it" solution. And the amount is not even that high.. we're talking about a few euros per month.