4 ms·

The problem here is that 25k€ is too little for some types of businesses (say, a bridge architect), and way too much for others (say, selling spice mixes online

The problem here is that 25k€ is too little for some types of businesses (say, a bridge architect), and way too much for others (say, selling spice mixes online). I don't get the "seriousness" memes in Germany, which sound more about gatekeeping than anything else. Why not require 1M€? This is serious! More serious! Meanwhile, they have companies likes Wirecard that went under in a day after it discovered a "hole" of 2 billion (magic!). Why not just allow people to create a Gmbh with 2k€, and then publicise the amount of share capital so clients can make their mind? It's how it's done in France for instance, allows some flexibility (I know, a swear word in Germany), and sounds less like a social punition (something Germans love). The hack anyway is to create an Estonian e-company, with almost no maintenance/creation costs. Germans are the largest funder demographic for this reason.

pintxo 4mo ago
It exists, it is called "UG", minimum capital 1€. You have to increase capital up to at least 25k though, out of your annual profits.
- Saline9515 4mo ago
  Why have a different category that sounds like "unserious" to german people? I can see people in procurement departments say "oh no, we don't deal with UG".
  - port11 4mo ago
    You’ll find that many people don’t have 25k€ to invest in initial capital of a business, but that are perfectly capable of running a business regardless. 5k€ is fair for plenty of endeavours, and more should be required for riskier businesses. People seeing a GmbH as more serious is just a cultural aspect, I’d say.
  - wink 4mo ago
    Ok, so first of all, the UG was only introduced in 2008 - which even for some of us middle-aged people is more "it's relatively new" than "GmbH has existed decades before I was born". Second, not that I claim to be any representative, but this "UG is weird, unknown, not serious"... I have personally not heard that for about 10 years, so yeah, absolutely true when it was new. Third, it's still relatively rare I'd say. You stumble over one every couple of months or years, in my experience mostly online shops without their own manufacturing (but maybe that is where I am looking) - if you just look at what tradespeople have on their vans: Nope, never. Always GmbH or GbR/single person. But I have no insight into procurement departments.

pintxo 4mo ago

It exists, it is called "UG", minimum capital 1€. You have to increase capital up to at least 25k though, out of your annual profits.

Saline9515 4mo ago
Why have a different category that sounds like "unserious" to german people? I can see people in procurement departments say "oh no, we don't deal with UG".
- port11 4mo ago
  You’ll find that many people don’t have 25k€ to invest in initial capital of a business, but that are perfectly capable of running a business regardless. 5k€ is fair for plenty of endeavours, and more should be required for riskier businesses. People seeing a GmbH as more serious is just a cultural aspect, I’d say.
- wink 4mo ago
  Ok, so first of all, the UG was only introduced in 2008 - which even for some of us middle-aged people is more "it's relatively new" than "GmbH has existed decades before I was born". Second, not that I claim to be any representative, but this "UG is weird, unknown, not serious"... I have personally not heard that for about 10 years, so yeah, absolutely true when it was new. Third, it's still relatively rare I'd say. You stumble over one every couple of months or years, in my experience mostly online shops without their own manufacturing (but maybe that is where I am looking) - if you just look at what tradespeople have on their vans: Nope, never. Always GmbH or GbR/single person. But I have no insight into procurement departments.