I use 99 designs.

Yeah, I did this a few times. I agree that a good brand is important. I wouldn't do it at an idea stage. But as soon as I start any sort of marketing or outreach, I'd get the branding job done. I don't go for anything too elaborate. I just work with a designer from Eastern Europe for $200-300 per job to get the logo, brand guidelines, typefaces, and color schemes done. This is more than 90% of people would do, and usually enough for having a more serious appearance that fly-by-night.

No, what I imagine is way too different than Slack.

Currently going through the process with an agency. Will know how I feel about it in a few weeks

No other tool for building online communities offers that. They are all based more-or-less on the existing paradigm of what constitutes a social medium, that is, likes, newsfeeds, stories, adding as friend, and quantitative engagement metrics for sake of exponential growth.

They are all business features, and were inevitable to be invented because those social mediums are based on a business model where the members are the product. But nowadays, more and more niche communities spring out, and their outcomes, as well as the business models of the communities, is different.

brandmark.io/|https://brandmark.io/ to start, you just need to pass the “not butt-ugly” bar since first customers have to be all about your product anyhow, once your startup is validated do some deeper brand work. Re-branding is normal and another PR excuse down the line.

yeah we paid $70 to brandmark (b2b so branding is not that important) and figured it would be temporary, but the brand pack has actually been all we need for nearly 2 years now.

Sorry didn't see these replies come in.

I paid $100 for a guy on Fiverr a while ago and got a pretty subpar logo - no branding, typeface, etc.

I'm thinking a budget of <$500 should be a good starting price. Will checkout but Brandmark and 99 Designs, thanks for the recommendations :thumbsup:

<@U02BHC2JC9X> - curious to hear how it goes, make sure to report back 😁 mind sharing your budget for a legitimate agency?

Anyone here open to exchanging feedback on each other's landing page or pitch deck ?

Hit me up, I can give you some feedback! 🙂

yeah likewise!

Yeah, go for it! :)

I'd like to join in on this fun!

🚂

You guys DM'n or is it cool if we drop URL's here? I know pitching and adverts of your startups are no bueno here, right?

anyone here able to send links in this Slack yet? 😆 i would make a spreadsheet but i cant paste the link

I can almost do nothing being a `baby chick` level 😆

i saw that attempted link post lol

Nope it got axed

rookie mistake! 😂

Can't send links. But just drop it like
Google
Dot
Com


Maybe? #MasterHacker 😂

Two months!

docs.
google.
com/
spreadsheets/d/1ZmGDsWxdy71bCCEAj6W4XhanV3dXd4MInS816jLvEsc/edit?usp=sharing

🎉

Nice 😂 I'll grab dinner then I'll get back to you :)

We should make a group chat

group chat is tricky if we want to add other people as they come in though

yeah, +1 on this

mounztdwfrdrw are you going to update this? It's `View Only` for me, which, I'm assuming, is by design.

brkczjqzppogs there you go:
loom
dot
com/share/b77628a2e7024769acb32e7c6661d17f

Super useful feedback, I really appreciate it!

oh sorry - thought i made it editable.

I pay less than 100 for initial bramd elements if im busy. If not ill take some inspirstion from behance and do it myself.
Then when product market fit has been achieved, we bring a real designer or agency

thanks as well though lnqwqiocnn ! awesome feedback 👍

It appears I need a google account, maybe that's why it's `View Only` for me.

ptcixyuqtvkdd requested access

didnt hit save when changing to "anyone can edit" 🤦‍♂️ should be good now. thanks iyjjlkx

looking to incorporate my side business, looking to set it up in europe, for the benefit that it could lead to residency via a business visa of some kind, lower corporation tax is also a factor

cheers

^ uhboxyfoic

Portugal, Cyprus, Malta probably worth looking into; Bulgaria and Romania also get mentioned periodically. Do you have an EU passport?

Malta has a program where you can basically buy the passport (which is a EU passport valid for the rest of the EU) IIRC you need to invest some 300k €...

yeah portugal does too, via property investment. i do not have an eu passport 🇬🇧 😅

if you create 10 jobs in portugal you can do this

> If pursuing the job creation method of investment, the investor must show proof that he or she has created at least 10 new jobs in Portugal. Evidence of this will be a certificate issued by the social security attesting to the creation of 10 jobs. These workers must be registered in the social security system. The job creation can stem from the investor’s business in Portugal, or demonstrated through his or her investment in a company. There is no set minimum investment or type of business that must be utilized to fulfill the job creation requirements.

You can't buy an EU passport from Malta for much less than a million. The Portuguese options have significant residence requirements (not less than 5y) so you could easily pay and get rugged anyway

I got hit by the anti-link 🔨 again lol I have an updated UI for the landing page, based on feedback received I wanted to share.

fghgqewbkar U02JR4HKJRWbr />My business partner is from Malta, They are in finance, oil and of course Malta being Malta, very involved in Politics.

They tell me it's no longer as easy as it used to be, (literally just send the money and get a passport in less than a week) since the EU is currently investigating plenty of government oficial for money laundering and helping dirty money get into the union.

—
Spain and Portugal seem to be the easiest route, albeit not the best for financial strategy.

My friend got a portuguese residence visa after only two calls and sending a business plan proposal.

Define "business advisor", as it's just too broad. Is it about market strategy? Product development? Operations?

If you're UK tax-resident, incorporating outside of the UK isn't going to help you

What's the alternative? can we please continue in-thread, don't want to spam the whole channel 🙂

There's no alternative unless you move your personal tax residency

I'm reading about a number of agreements between the UK and Estonia, they have all those start-up benefits and the like... I guess my company would have no employees nor physical presence, so that would be their argument to say it's just me and the entity should be UK tax-resident as you say.
Just to be sure we are talking about corporate income tax, right?

CFC laws vary country-by-country, but in the UK I believe they'd look at the fact that you're the beneficial owner and director, so the company is -- infact -- uk-controlled

They are indeed very good but I use them already for the Ltd that I use to invoice my daytime freelance work. Plus these are all about to change sadly, corporate tax is going to go up from the current 19%.

I'd be surprised if you can derive significant benefit from doing this via Estonia

What if I were to change my tax residence? What jurisdictions work well for a mobile app product business with no employees and no physical presence?

I'm incorporated in the Isle of Man, but it's a bit of a hassle

what benefits does that bring?

IOM is 0% corp tax

can they get a DUNS number? can they offer at least a minimum of privacy (i.e. not from authorities, just from people with google)? are they expensive to incorporate and maintain?

Yes to DUNS (I think), I don't think beneficial ownership information is available online anywhere, although company docs can be bought online from IOM govt. I pay ~ £3,000 a year for a registered agent and address I think

would this work with me still tax resident in the UK?

No

To offer another perspective, although not sure how applicable it’s going to be for your circumstances.

I’m a tax resident in Latvia (my birthplace) and I own a company in Estonia. I pay myself dividends on 100% of the income going through that company.

Taxation:
• 20% corporate tax in Estonia
• 0% tax in Latvia because they don’t tax dividends provided corporate tax was paid in a non-offshore location. Latvian CFC laws don’t affect me unless the company starts earning more than 750k a year. So I just declare foreign dividend income and they’re happy not taking any money from me for years now.
I’m pretty happy with this setup because I only pay 20% in tax without any hassle. I know I could reduce it by moving my tax residency but I intend on staying here for a while and I’m not restricted on mortgages, car leases and stuff like that.

Both Estonia and Latvia removed dividend taxes so either of those two tax residences could replicate my setup. There might be more countries that either have no dividend tax or low dividend tax.

Thank you ttxqdzbx I'd be happy with your setup. Max 20% between corporate tax and personal income tax sounds very good.

No, the whole thing comes down to how your personal tax residency treats your income from foreign company

Again, the CFC stuff.

about Estonia and incorporating there. I would imagine you are taxed in UK as a private person and foreign income should be declared.

That being said your Estonian ltd/llc that you can register will hold your profit and you earn income as a private individual only if you pay dividend/employ yourself.

I would be surprised if there is double taxation on your private person.

that said you need to employ yourself in the company and I believe you can employ yourself as a foreign employee and pay income tax in UK. If you don’t employ yourself then the company is creating value and billables without spending any money/work hours and this is essentially fraud.

Estonian tax system has no corporate tax and you pay income tax on dividends collected as a private person. PAYE taxes are only related to emplying locals since they consist of pension and socials (healthcare etc.) which do not apply to you.

thank you Martin... so an Estonian ltd is a passthrough entity?

not familiar with passthrough entity per se

they are entities that don't pay tax per se because the ones receiving the profits will pay tax on those as people

sounds like that yes. There is no corporate tax. The profits leaving the company are taxed and you can expense things to optimise taxes

It’s still widely called corporate income tax or deferred corporate income tax. But it’s still pretty much corporate tax because it’s paid by the company to the country of its incorporation. It isn’t personal tax, otherwise you’d pay it in the country of your tax residence.

So no, it isn’t a passthrough entity. The company pays 20% tax to Estonia (regardless of your tax residence) when distributing dividends, and then you pay your personal taxes on top to the country of your tax residence. Passthrough entities don’t pay any corporate tax, e.g. US LLC in certain circumstances.