Nina Berger
Hello, welcome, and glad you are following our journey across the Atlantic. Yes, you read that right. We are founding a subsidiary in America – to be precise, in the USA to begin with. Here, on the Peakboard Blog, I want to give you regular updates on the “Peakboard goes America” project. So subscribe to make sure you don’t miss anything.
I myself will also be flying over with Peakboard in the next few weeks. So it’s worth subscribing to the Peakboard Blog to hear firsthand where the journey is headed. Besides the founding of the subsidiary, there will also be updates on business activities as well as personal insights into my journey and some fun facts – maybe there will even be a vacation tip or two.
why specifically the USA?
The United States consists of 50 states and a total of 331 million consumers. In other words, a real mega market. In addition, there is the great enthusiasm of Americans for new technical innovations and the faster pace at which business is done.
This makes the market very attractive and perfect for Peakboard to take off internationally.
Of course, a thorough market research is crucial, as there are some differences to the European market. This already starts with the company foundation. There will be more about this in the next blogposts.
how do you start a subsidiary in the USA?
Nowadays, when you have a task in front of you and have no idea how to solve it, the most common thing in the world is to Google it first – after all, the Internet offers a lot of tutorials and how-tos. And that’s exactly how I went about this first and maybe even the most important step of our US expansion. Keyword search: “How do you set up a subsidiary in the U.S.?”
The result: numerous consulting firms offering startup assistance. These range from: “We’ll help you get started – 24-hour registration!” to “Anyone can start a company in the U.S. in 5 minutes.” It sounds tempting. But is it really that easy?
After a little research, one thing quickly becomes clear: a few cornerstones need to be clarified in advance. These include the name of the company, the legal form, the place of registration, and the place where the business is actually carried out…
Choosing a name is easy: the obvious choice is “Peakboard USA”, but since this might limit us at a later stage, “Peakboard America” is more appropriate here. This also includes Canada and Central and South America.
The legal form is also pretty obvious pretty quickly. It will be a corporation and thus similar to the German GmbH.
The place of registration is more challenging. Delaware seems to be very popular, and I keep coming across the fact that Delaware offers many advantages. The so-called Delaware effect.
the delaware effect – or how to start a business in the USA.
63% of the Fortune 500 Companies, i.e. the companies with the highest turnover, have been founded in Delaware, including, for example, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Google, Disney or McDonalds. So, why do you wonder? Delaware has a very liberal and progressive corporate law. Thus, corporations can be established from anywhere, no minimum capital is required and the founder can be president, treasurer and secretary at the same time.
this is how founding works.
First, a so-called registered agent is required. This person is responsible for officially receiving mail from the company register or other American authorities, i.e. a kind of delivery agent. A Registered Agent can be, for example, an attorney of the company or, as is usually the case, an external service provider, because most companies do not want to conduct business in Delaware.
In addition, registration is required in the desired state. This is called the Qualification to do Business. A mailing address is necessary for the incorporation in any case.
Due to the existing infrastructure, we first follow our original mother company, Theobald Software Inc. to Seattle, Washington, since it is easy to rent offices there. The next steps are to open a bank account and to go to an accountant – but more about that soon.
so far so good.
To draw a conclusion: Founding a company in the USA is definitely manageable. Perhaps not in 5 minutes and not entirely without some help, but much faster than it would be possible in Germany.
hello Peakboard friends, nice to meet you!
My name is Nina, and I am the head behind our project “Peakboard goes America”. In this blog, I will take you on our journey and give you some insight into how Peakboard is doing in the USA. I am very excited about this extraordinary project, and already have a lot in store.
I am 27 years old and joined Peakboard in August 2018 as a Master’s student. After that, I stayed with Peakboard as a Business Development Manager.
Now the time has come for Peakboard and me to travel across the Atlantic. Exciting times ahead!
See you real soon,
yours Nina
