In the first part of my start-up stories series 'Courage' I described as an advantage of a 'late founding' the fact that with increasing age one usually knows better how to approach things successfully. Also, a few years of professional experience helps not to be intimidated by topics like 'founding a legal entity' or 'registering a trademark'.
I often experience people overestimating things in their complexity, difficulty or risk that they have not yet done themselves: Buying a property, for example, is relatively simple. Of course, a lot can go wrong and it is not without financial risk. But the purchase process itself is well regulated and very secure due to the notary requirement and land registry entries, etc. With the legal entity - in Germany 'GmbH' establishment it is similar: Sounds complicated, but it's not.
And thus I was with none of the topics, which meet one approximately around the establishment, in concern that I would not master it with some basic knowledge, Lernwilligkeit and perseverance. Rather then again and again another hurdle opened, which I had not so on the screen: the order.
A simple example:
Every new enterprise needs a good and catchy company name, together with Internet address, trademark registration etc.. If one begins now e.g. to look for free Domains for a name, which one has in mind, one must buy these often. For me it was a few thousand Euros for the various endings ('.de' and '.com' etc.). Of course, this investment only makes sense if the name remains the same - especially, if it can be registered as a trademark. However, the process of registering a trademark takes time and also costs a lot. So wait or secure the domain already, so that it is not gone later or even more expensive? And the 'GmbH': register already now and change the company name later if necessary or wait until everything else is fixed?
These questions have come to me again and again and have given me more trouble than the topics themselves. I can imagine that some people who want to found a company end up giving up on their ideas because they are struggling with the order of things to be done.
And how do you solve the problem of the right order? I'm sure there are guides, rules and best practices on this. In the end, I think you just have to start somewhere and accept a certain amount of risk. That, in turn, takes courage - the most important ingredient for founding a company anyway.
