I did the scary thing and started my own thing. Any suggestions? Lawyers, government subsidies/grants, things to watch out for, events for networking. Anything is appreciated. I can demo the software within the month, so I need to start planning next steps.
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Maybe set up in a place like Estonia, but still work in Taiwan. We did something like that, being mostly in Taiwan (and a few months in Estonia/Europe). Not sure what type of fintech you are, but it’s possible set some support if it’s scalable (designed to grow in scale)
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Thanks. What’s special about Estonia? The product is a b2b toolbox for trading desks. I’m planning Taiwan and Singapore as the primary markets due to the regulations and competition landscape (US has established competition, EU has stricter data protection, etc.).
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It might be easier to access start-up funds in Estonia, for example
Taiwan is a traditional systems rule, so change is slow as is thinking in fintech/software so sometimes not easy to get started. Taiwan is good in hardware, less so in the digital world.
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Then why not be based in Singapore?
As @DKaoshuing said, Estonia is another option.
Lithuania has picked up a lot of fintech start ups as well recently.
Malta used to be more popular but they’re more strict to deal with nowadays. I have a dual company there to take advantage of 5% corporate tax. I use it to license my IP and consult for beauty businesses. It’s still a solid option with the 5% tax and EU stamp of approval when doing business. They also speak English.
London is still the fintech capital of Europe after Brexit. It’s the 2nd best place if not in the US. Also speaks English. London has a huge advantage that you can do business with US, Europe, and Asia all in the same business day.
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I was thinking primary in Taiwan and a secondary entity in Singapore to route sales and overseas deals through. Fairly common structure in the Taiwanese startup scene.
Europe is not ideal as the primary market, it would require a lot of extra work for compliance and the market is more mature.
But if I can secure funds then that’s a different story. Taiwan, I can self fund it even.
I have lots to think about.
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Well good luck!
What an exciting time, I miss the early founder days sometimes.
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