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For information: GmbH & Co. KG is one of the most complicated forms an company can be founded, the same goes if the inner company is an UG. Many things have to

• Bombthecat 3mo ago
  He wanted to go all out and maximise "company form". Same as optimizing your website for hundred of thousands of visitors even if you have only like one hundred visitors...
  • earcar 3mo ago
    You get one chance at getting your company form right. Any other new chance costs a ton of money in restructuring. Software is malleable, companies are less so.
    • WaitWaitWha 3mo ago
      I am not familiar with German business entity structures, so this is very interesting. So, if I started a sole proprietorship, it is not possible to convert it to a full blown, privately held corporation in Germany?
      • saltmate 3mo ago
        It is obviously possible, the process is probably very similar in effort and expenses to founding it in that form directly.
  • Aurornis 3mo ago
    If the parent comment is correct and this form is necessary for personal financial protection, I wouldn’t consider that “all out”. That’s the bare minimum consideration for a viable company structure.
    • valzam 3mo ago
      OP wanted to set up a nested copmany structure. Instead of Person -> LLC it goes Person -> Limited Partnership --> LLC. The in between company is only for tax-efficiency and has nothing to do with limited liability.
      • kuschku 3mo ago
        Even then you'd usually go with a Person -> Holding UG -> Startup UG structure. That's a few hours and less than a thousand Euros.
    • mpweiher 3mo ago
      It's not.
    • dgellow 3mo ago
      It’s not necessary. They did something completely overkill
• earcar 3mo ago
  It is not complicated, it is in fact quite standard here in Germany. I explain in the post how the other options are worse.
  • sevenzero 3mo ago
    It is one of the most complicated forms. A GmbH alone is good enough in 99.99% of cases, and its usually done really quick. Also, if you believe in your product there usually isn't a reason to go for a GmbH this early. You can send invoices a lot earlier with just a eK or GbR. Its not an issue to adhere with your private money if your product isn't causing damages.
    • earcar 3mo ago
      Not in mine. Check the post.
      • sevenzero 3mo ago
        So basically you go for the legal stuff only really big companies use (instead of changing once its necessary) because you dont believe in your own product and dont want to be held liable, got it.
        • Leptonmaniac 3mo ago
          But hey, at least they get to write about their mid company name ("Plenty" - lol) got (rightfully) rejected...
        • scarmig 3mo ago
          Do people in Germany see limited liability as some kind of crazy thing only a scammer would want?
          • sevenzero 3mo ago
            Depends. Given OP built yet another AI tool, yea, I want to hold them liable in case something goes wrong (not that I'd buy these tools in the first place).
• Aurornis 3mo ago
  > The only good thing is that an investor or an owner are not liable with their private money. That’s incredibly important. More than a footnote. I would consider any other form to be non-viable if it doesn’t have such protections. For comparison, starting an LLC in the United States is a trivial operation. I can’t even remember how long it took me to set mine up because it was a trivial event. Maybe a couple hours, mostly research? I also have to fill out an online form and pay a few dollars every year to renew the LLC.
  • fifafu 3mo ago
    You can get the same in Germany with the much simpler GmbH or UG. GmbH & Co. KG is much more complex and mostly used to save some taxes in some scenarios. (However I absolutely agree that all of this is much too complicated and slow here in Germany)
    • ExpertAdvisor01 3mo ago
      In Germany you need a notary in the us you don't.
      • wongarsu 3mo ago
        The notary adds about a week to the process (2-3 hours of your time, plus the time to wait for the appointment), and about $1000 (depends on how much money you put in the company). And for "standard" setups you can skip the lawyer and simply use the templates and "free" legal advice from the notary (free as in "included in the notary fee you have to pay anyways") Yes, it's more involved than an online form. But in the grand scheme of things, a notary is neither a huge expense (the tax advisor will likely cost you more) nor a big time sink
        • nradov 3mo ago
          Why do Europeans put up with that notary nonsense? Ideally almost all notary jobs should be destroyed.
  • 3mo ago