Where should we incorporate? (We're building AI agents for old industry comp.))
2 Njord01 1 5/26/2025, 5:38:32 PM
Hey HN, writing from Istanbul. My co-founders are studying Engineering at Cambridge (UK). We started testing our startup in the Turkish market (not incorporated yet), and generated $10k revenue in 2 months. We've received $500k in investment offers so far. Our team includes engineers from Cambridge, MIT, and Harvard. We're now one of 20 teams accepted by a VC founded by ex-YC LPs — they’ll provide 3 months of mentorship and potentially invest afterward. We also have strong connections in the EMEA and UK markets.
Here’s my question: Where should we incorporate?
The VC prefers we move to San Francisco. But we already have a few early customers in the EMEA market, and our target customers are mostly in "old", legacy industries — which makes growth challenging. We're wondering if we should first grow here (EMEA), or shift focus to the UK market (where companies are more open to tech, and we have some access via Cambridge).
We do want to be in SF eventually — we know the pace would push us to improve constantly — but we don’t have the revenue yet to afford moving. We also don’t want to raise before strong product-market fit.
Would love to hear your stories or advice on how you approached this type of decision.
Comments (1)
jll29 · 1d ago
Dublin. 12% VAT tax, in-EU, English-speaking, super-friendly people.