> In the UK I can started a Ltd with £1 of share capital, about £100 of fees, and filling out a form online. I will be shielded from personal liability if it goes tits up unless I've broken the law, knowingly traded insolvent, or otherwise been an idiot

That's what Germany calls an "UG". Which is what OP actually ends up doing.

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petesergeant 2 hours ago | parent [-]

UG forces you to retain profit to hit a capitalisation target. An Ltd is a real company, and my £1 company has an identical legal status to one with hundreds of millions of pounds of assets.

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kuschku an hour ago | parent [-]

Yes, there's a difference. But the question is whether that difference actually matters in practice.

If you're a startup, you won't be making a profit anyway.

Once you make a profit, 25k€ on the books (not necessarily cash) isn't a lot, especially as it doesn't have to remain in the company, you can use it to pay wages once converted to a GmbH.

In the end, this is a question about whether you need something to be exactly the same for some ideological reason, or whether it's enough that two things are practically the same for all intents and purposes.

And while in this case the German system requires a codified workarounds, in many other cases the US/UK/Commonwealth systems use significantly more complicated workarounds than the German system.

	▲	petesergeant an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> But the question is whether that difference actually matters in practice. Apparently the author -- and every none-German in this thread -- thinks so.