Tag Archives: startup

Panama: The perfect place for your high-tech/software company (2)

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Why Panama – Your business’ bottom line

This is the most important issue for any great owner of a small business.

Let us look at your personal income situation now and assume you’re making $100,000 per year. (http://www.tax-rates.org/California/income-tax)

                                 California                        Panama

Income                    $100,000                         $100,000

Tax                            $32,000                            $0 *  

Subtotal                  $68,000                            $100,000

Condo rent            $36,000                            $18,000                                                                                                                    (www.zillow.com)          2/2 with 130 m²

Cost of living        $30,000                            $15,000  **

Total                       $2,000                              $67,000

Suggestion: This amount of $67,000 re-invested in Panama, buys ⅙ ownership/8 weeks occupancy in a 2/2 oceanview condo 130m², fully equipped and with concierge service.  (www.oceanview42.com)

* Having your company registered in Panama, charging foreign businesses only, there is no obligation to report anything. No tax declaration whatsoever. Call it freedom.  

** The cost of living numbers appear low. However, in our example, the Californian cannot spend more and we assume that cost of living in Panama is roughly half of California.

To grow a small business, having money left over after tax is essential. Working without other people’s money in early stage means independence, keeping control. Selling shares not before the company has some value, means to make more money, just later.

Conclusion: Having a global business based in Panama is best for your business’ bottom line.

 

supermoney

Disclaimer: We are not a financial or tax advisor. Information given is based on public Website information everybody can find. It may change or have already changed. No guarantees. Do your own math and research. (Picture: supermoney.com)

 

 

 

Panama: The perfect place for your high-tech/software company (1)

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If you as an entrepreneur are confident to build the next unicorn, a start-up with 1b market capitalization, then go ahead and settle in the Silicon Valley. Best choice.

If not, there is a better place to start and run your business, to live and to invest.

Why Panama? Living here for 8 years already, let me present my thoughts in a series of posts. 

 

 

Conditions have changed significantly.

“The Valley” began as a center for the capital-intense semiconductor and computer industry, followed by Internet software developers and service providers in the late 90s.

Renting an office, hiring staff, setting up servers and workstations, purchasing software licenses was expensive and Venture Capital was a necessity to take off or to grow.  

These days are over. However, it has established a concentration of ideas and capital there as nowhere else in the world, now focusing to solve the big problems of mankind.   

Your ambitions are a bit smaller? Then you don’t have to pay the ridiculous price of living and working there.

Establishing a business nowadays is much easier than a decade ago.

No fancy office, desks and chairs.

No permament hires, beside a core staff, people work project-based.

No hardware investments, but BYOD.

No software licenses, get everything cloud-based.

No expensive marketing. Win followers by early release of a good-enough product.

Conclusion: The capital demand for new endavours is low, as are entry barriers. So who needs VCs anyway anymore?

 

Getting closer to be the next startup mecca

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Peter Diamandis had asked this week “Where do you think the next mecca for tech startups will be?”.

I doubt if Mecca is an appropriate synonym, but my response has been: “The next mecca for tech startups needs tropical lifestyle, more favourable immigration and tax rules. How about ?”

And I mean it. You just don’t have to have everything together in one place anymore.

Technology creates conditions, overcoming obstacles to create technology.

Skype, Hangout, Facetime enable people to work together, no matter where.

Freelancer.com and others find outsourced capacity for almost every job imaginable.

Kickstarter.com and others facilitate project funding.

Codepath.com does free education for Android and iOS coding.

WeWork.com has temporary space to meet, hang around and work with peers.

So if everybody can take advantage of technological progress as mentioned, the general, surrounding conditions become more important: quality of life.

What else do we need here in Panama?

– Transform a crazy idea into a bold target,

– Get the right people together

– Build and work an actionable plan.

#exPANAMAnding opportunities

The FAT CAt is killing your business opportunities – but there is a solution

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Even if the headline looks funny, it is not. For decades now, entrepreneurs from all over have gone West, to build their business in the Silicon Valley, in NYC, Boston, Austin or elsewhere. Many still do so.

However, the way how the United States is nowadays treating their citizens or people with a greencard or other form of visa is very disturbing.

All over the world, these persons, once welcomed and respected, are now knocking on closed doors of banks and employers. What a change.

It’s all about FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – Uncle Sam’s way to make every bank employee in the world an unpaid IRS agent.

When I opened a bank account days ago, here in Panama, there is a mandatory questionnaire to fill out, assuring your bank that you are not a trouble maker with a blue U.S. passport, a green card, a U.S. visa or even having spent more than 182 days in god’s own country. A formula is applied to the number of days spent during the last 3 years, in order to figure out if you are a risk, they may reject or charge more fees.

I am quite sure, right now, there are entrepreneurs out there, thinking about their plans to move business to the U.S., but do not want to end up under such a rigid regime for decades to come.

Here’s my recommendation: Come to Panama.

This blog has some posts describing the business environment and how life is here. Save your business a lot of money and enjoy a tropical lifestyle instead. Settle in a special economic zone and earn foreign income tax-free. Good for your business, right?

An increasing number of global leaders are establishing their regional or global HQ in Panama. What’s good for them is most likely good for your business too.

Try something new. Come to Panama.