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by Tomte·12y ago·view on hn ↗
Maybe if you personally go bankrupt. If your startup company goes bankrupt, I highly doubt it.
1 comments
The point is how you incorporate your startup. If you do it as Einzelunternehmer/GbR to avoid having to raise 25k € just for providing the base capital, then you're fully liable for anything that happens with your personal assets.

Now you have e.g. a data breach, or your entire inventory goes down in a flood/fire/accident and you're not properly insured (most private insurances will not cover your business assets, even if your business is in your home), you're out of luck.

And as we're speaking of capital: in the Valley, you basically have to have a good business plan, a sales pitch and a bit of luck and you'll be bathed in cash (at least, this is my impression of reading here). In Germany, no luck obtaining a larger credit or startup financing as long as you don't put up your house or car as collateral.

(first paragraph)

That's why we now have the "small limited" company (Mini-GmbH or UG). You can start a company with limited liability with just a few bucks^H Euros.

The problem with the UG is that it, too, doesn't have the creditworthiness of a "real" GmbH - and we're back at square one, no viable way of getting capital except by putting up personal property as collateral.
So the real problem is not that it's not possible to have cheap company with liability protection, which UG suits perfectly, but being able to borrow money / get investment for a company worth 0€. Those are two totally different things.
Suggestion: consider a UK or Ireland limited company. This should be transparent, as per EU freedom of commerce rules, and doesn't have the minimum capital requirement.