alt Hacker NewsGerman here. That's not true. What crazy documentation do you require? An ID, proof of residence, and a business plan? (edit: you don't even need a business plan)
That being said, everything about the process is annoying and you always have the feeling that you're doing something wrong or forgetting something. Together with some ridiculously slow processing times, it's the perfect combination to frustrate you and I'm sure it ultimately reduces innovation.
But in reality, getting all the paperwork together is probably a couple of hours of work. You can buy services that do it for you for a couple of hundred Euros.
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I don't know much about corporations, but why business plans are needed at all? I mean, for EU citizens.
bank (loans), immigration and investors can be interested, but their interests are not covering every corporation out there.
Previous HN discussion about setting up a GmbH.
> business plan
This is the problem. Let me pivot. Let me fail. Let my investors (including myself) lose time and money in bad ideas.
All the bureaucracy in the world didn’t stop Wirecard, but it sure as heck demotivated people from trying something new in Germany.
> ... and a business plan?
Why would the government need a business plan?
It's none of their business what you want to do with your company besides a general description as "software development" or "consulting services" or whatever.