I had a UG, still do so, with a partner (non-German citizen but a German resident) that started out as a JV for the above mentioned GmbH and ended up with me as the 50% shareholder after the GmbH was closed down. That went even faster than the GmbH, again getting a VAT number took the most time (tax authorities in my city are so bad that most companies just move 2 km into another community over it).

I said it before, and I say it again, GmbH set up (or incorporation in general) is something almost every single mom-and-pop retail store and every single contractor shop with more than two people goes through. How smart can start-up founders be if they almost fail at something all those lowely (sarcasm, I have the utmost respect for those traditional and small scale entrepreneurs and blue collar companies) do with a singoe complaint?

Maybe, if the basic legal things about incorporation go above your head, choose a different jurisdiction or, well, maybe flubding and running a company just isn't for you...

EDIT: Why do people insist on the 25k captial? Half of that is ok, founders are on the hook for the reminder. Also, we talk about start-ups, potentially raising millions of VC money. Why can't those founders be bothered with coming up with 25 thousand? Unless, of course, people aren't actually serious about running a business, aka the real "life style businesses", as opposed to those run by people who actually have to earn their living with a company.

Also, the stab, or whatever it was, at the German subreddit over his entitled English requirement (try that in the UK or the US with a non-English language) is just pathetic. And honestly, no amount of language mastery enables you to read and understand legal documents, regardless of the language, without a legal background in the particular domain. But hey, if notaries are outdated maybe we don't lawyers neither as long as we have a native language speaker?