--- title: Founding a Company in Germany: €9,600, 152 Days, and I... description: A founder documents the painful 152-day process of incorporating a company in Germany, having spent €9,654 across notary fees, legal bills, court fees, tax... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/founding-a-company-in-germany-9-600-152-days-and-i-still-can-t-send-an-invoice-wb5ndviak twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Founding a Company in Germany: €9,600, 152 Days, and I Still Can't Send an Invoice | daily.dev og:description: A founder documents the painful 152-day process of incorporating a company in Germany, having spent €9,654 across notary fees, legal bills, court fees, tax... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/founding-a-company-in-germany-9-600-152-days-and-i-still-can-t-send-an-invoice-wb5ndviak og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/wB5NdVIAk.png og:image:alt: Founding a Company in Germany: €9,600, 152 Days, and I Still Can't Send an Invoice og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Founding a Company in Germany: €9,600, 152 Days, and I Still Can't Send an Invoice **[RUBYLAND](https://daily.dev/sources/rubyla)** · 7 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A founder documents the painful 152-day process of incorporating a company in Germany, having spent €9,654 across notary fees, legal bills, court fees, tax retainers, and accounting software — yet still unable to send a single invoice due to a pending VAT ID. The post details the full timeline, explains the unusual UG & Co. KG two-company structure required for limited liability, and recounts a bureaucratic naming saga resolved only by removing a space from 'Plenty Labs'. The author contrasts Germany's process with Estonia and the UK, arguing the system generates friction that discourages founders while failing to prevent major fraud like Wirecard. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - ["Made in EU" - it was harder than I thought.](https://daily.dev/posts/made-in-eu---it-was-harder-than-i-thought--hlntvbqrf) · Hacker News · 61 upvotes · 5 comments - [Danish startup FlatPay joins the club of European fintech unicorns to track](https://daily.dev/posts/danish-startup-flatpay-joins-the-club-of-european-fintech-unicorns-to-track-kps3mdwyd) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#entrepreneurship](https://daily.dev/tags/entrepreneurship) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/founding-a-company-in-germany-9-600-152-days-and-i-still-can-t-send-an-invoice-wb5ndviak) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Founding a Company in Germany: €9,600, 152 Days, and I Still Can't Send an Invoice","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/founding-a-company-in-germany-9-600-152-days-and-i-still-can-t-send-an-invoice-wb5ndviak","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/founding-a-company-in-germany-9-600-152-days-and-i-still-can-t-send-an-invoice-wb5ndviak"},"datePublished":"2026-06-24T07:56:53.204Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T07:57:13.496Z","description":"A founder documents the painful 152-day process of incorporating a company in Germany, having spent €9,654 across notary fees, legal bills, court fees, tax...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b01b6eca11f6c0ef71dffadb437bd334?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b01b6eca11f6c0ef71dffadb437bd334?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"RUBYLAND","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"RUBYLAND","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/rubyla","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/rubyla"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/founding-a-company-in-germany-9-600-152-days-and-i-still-can-t-send-an-invoice-wb5ndviak","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"entrepreneurship","timeRequired":"PT7M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"RUBYLAND","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/rubyla"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Founding a Company in Germany: €9,600, 152 Days, and I Still Can't Send an Invoice"}]} ```