Comment by Archelaos

I think that the concept of the GmbH in general is a good thing, although I share some of the complaints from the article, notably that getting it started still requires a lot of physical paperwork instead of digital processes. But requiring a starting capital of 25,000 Euros in exchange for limited liability is a fair deal. It is quite an effective barrier against a lot of scams (of course, it makes them not impossible). And no one hinders you to start a business without limited liability with zero Euros. Arguments that this is a major obstacle for startups therefore do not seem convincing to me. I worked as an IT freelancer for eight years before I founded my GmbH. Even without a GmbH I could include clauses of limited liability into my contracts. And if one could not in principle raise 25,000 Euros for a startup, it propably is not such a good business idea in the first place. Also note that you only have to pay half of the money into the GmbH at the beginning and only have to top up the amount when the first 12,500 Euros have been used up. In addition, you can use the capital to pay your own wages from the beginning, so in practice you can withdraw a considerable amount of money from the GmbH until it is profitable.