Storykids: Finding a third-way to deal with bureaucracy.
If you don’t have the time or skill to deal with red tape yourself nor cash for a fancy lawyer then you need to find a workaround. firma.de offers startups like Storykids an alternative way to avoid bureaucracy.
Key results:
- By handling the set up of Storykids’s corporate structure, we freed up its founding team to focus on the things like developing a high-quality product and content marketing.
- By offering our practical services at fixed-prices, we offer a third-way to handle bureaucratic operations that was perfect for a lean startup such as Storykids.
Services used with firma.de:
Find the right legal form
The business
Storykids was started to help people stay connected the old-fashioned way
The idea behind Storykids came from its founder, Jonathan Lavigne and his struggle to keep his children connected with his family back in France. In particular, his mother could only be reached in old-fashioned ways. To ensure she could still share in the moments of her grandchildren’s lives, Jonathan started sending his mother photos in the mail.
To do this he used a French app to create a simple booklet that contained a selection of photos. However, the quality was poor and the photos looked amateurish. After leaving a leadership position in a prominent German company, he was driven by the idea to create a family photo book product that was worthy of the precious memories that it contains.
The obstacles
Life is too short for bureaucracy
Jonathan Lavigne is no newcomer to the business world in Germany. As the former MD of the über company Onefootball GmbH, he’s been in the trenches when it comes to battling Germany’s bureaucracy. And, did not want to spend one more minute of his life dealing with red tape than was necessary. The formalities, the paperwork, the sequence of steps in the incorporation process etc. were all things he was reluctant to deal with again.
Starting a business is always harder than you think
Even someone like Jonathan with a stellar career that spanned both the corporate and startup worlds underestimated how hard entrepreneurship would be. There really is nothing that can fully prepare you for the sheer complexity of starting a business from scratch. With so many things to handle, if your focus is on bureaucracy and not growth, you’re not going to get very far anytime soon.
A lean mean fighting machine
Storykids is Jonathan’s passion project that he operates very leanly, which unavoidably creates a dilemma for him as a founder (especially in Germany). On the one hand, you want to save on overheads as much as possible. On the other hand, you only have finite attention and time that you should be spending on growth (and not bureaucracy). In other words, you want to focus on your product and not figure out which form to send when and where.
The way
firma.de is here to help
As an MD of Onefootball, Jonathan Lavigne knew the bureaucratic processes of business well. He came to firma.de, not because he knew too little but because he knew how much effort it takes. That’s why when Jonathan met with Christian Kedzierski (firma.de’s CTO/Vorstand) at a startup event, he jumped at Christian’s offer of help.
The third way to handle bureaucracy
When it comes to dealing with the bureaucracy of starting a business you’re faced with a dilemma. You can take the time to DIY. This involves research, filling in forms, organising appointments and submitting paperwork to various government agencies. Alternatively, you can get a lawyer to do it for you but will charge you professional rates for it. What if there was another way?
There is another, third way to deal with bureaucracy: firma.de. Our services empower you to cut through all the red tape in the most efficient way possible. How? With a knowledgeable guide that takes care of everything but doesn’t charge you lawyers rates to do so. Of course, if something does require a lawyer or tax adviser we connect you with one in a ‘just-in-time’ kind of way.
We’re glad to have supported Jonathan’s mission to delight grandparents across Europe!
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