Ask HN: is it really hard to start a US business from Europe?

Re:Ask HN: is it really hard to start a US business from Eur... by mjn on Sunday March 03, 2013 @06:37AM (#5313413)

I don't think Americans actively object to doing business with foreign companies, but many aren't really used to it, so may balk if anything seems unexpectedly foreign. For example, if the checkout process is in Euros or includes a bunch of instructions about VAT, conversion will probably drop. But if the overall experience seems "normal", few people care where the business is incorporated.

That said, there may be other issues I'm not qualified to comment on. For example, if your business complies with U.S. law but not Dutch law, then I have no idea whether incorporating & operating it from the Netherlands will cause you trouble. Not being based in the U.S. may also make it more difficult to use U.S.-based payment processors.

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Re:Ask HN: is it really hard to start a US business from Eur... by Avalaxy on Sunday March 03, 2013 @07:51AM (#5313552)

Thanks for your post. I figured out that Stripe and Braintree pretty much require you to have a US company, but I was thinking about using Skrill which doesn't have this restriction as far as I know.

The online platform will be fully localized for the US market. Unless you actively look for it, you won't notice that it's not a US company.

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