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$100m business idea. Need some advice on a life changing business prototype.

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

K1 Lambo

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A little background.

I've been running a small Instagram agency for about 2 years now. Learned a lot about sales, marketing, failure and people in general in that time. It hasn't gone that well to be honest. Sure, it's a good side hustle but it's not really a fastlane business per se. It's more of a cash flow type of business. Even if I get it to $100k a month, it requires a lot of time, management and constant client hunting.

And there are some BIG red flags to it:
-Lack of control. Instagram can delete my account(or my clients' accounts) at will at any moment. There can be an outsourced dude from India(no offense to Indians) sitting behind a screen who has control over everything I do. And the app has gotten more tyrannical and propagandized in so many ways in the past few years. IG is not what it was 8-10 years ago. Even when I'm creating an account for a client, it requires constant account authentication with emails, phone numbers and verified selfies. They say it's for private reasons which is bullshit, they do it to track your IP so they can gather as much information about you as possible + scan your face for future projects like this meta bullshit => so they can sell you more ads.

-Weak entry barriers. We're competing with dudes who only offer their services for $100 per month on Fiverr, who aren't that good really and the clients see that. A 12 year girl can start an IG agency within a couple of days if she learns the nitty gritty bits of Instagram like hashtags, content, reels, watch time and ENGR. There are so many of these marketing agencies out there. Sure, I could work my a$$ off for the next 10 years and turn it into a 8 figure company, but still, there's a lack of control here. And I'm not even sure if Instagram is gonna exist in the next 10 years by how quickly technology is changing with Meta and all of that.

-Weak Scale. The only way I can see this company scale to $200k or $300k a month is if we only work with multi million dollar companies where can charge them $3k-$5k a month. My mentor does that, he works mostly with personal brands by being this "coach". And honestly, I don't want to be known as a coach. I want to be a legit entrepreneur who's built a company where we gave people the opportunity to work and improve their lives. Right now, we work mostly with car dealerships for $500-$1000 a month. If we start targeting luxury car dealers, yachts or some prestigious market, then I can see the clients justifying that price. But your regular Joe blow out the street! NOPE! So many clients have told me I'm too expensive which is nuts. Maybe it's because we're working with car dealers, and they're usually bargain hunters since that's the nature of their business. Buy low, sell high.

-Requires a lot of time. At this point it's only me who's running this agency with a couple of clients. Usually the marketing agencies who get to 7 figures or 8 figures have big sales teams and have meetings everyday where they're closing deals and so on. It could have some passivity if we get to like 10 people, but I'll still have to be the operator in the business, instead of being an operator of the system which is what we want here.

-Not the best need in our niche. A lot of car dealerships in the UK are already advertising their cars on multiple websites like Autotrader and some other smaller ones and a lot of people have told me they're not looking into social media.

So, this idea has been on my mind for over a year and it is a pure Fastlane business.

Perks:
-Has amazing scale potential; from my estimations it can be a $50m-$100m+ company within the next 4-8 years. Can be extremely passive since the clients will do all the work, they'll log on and do the work instead of us doing the work. And with great marketing, it can have tens of thousands of visitors a day(perhaps hundreds of thousands).
-Time freedom. The website and marketing will do all the work for us. We'll only need a programmer who can actually code us a functional website and a customer service assistant. Of course as the business grows, we'll hire more people but the point is, I'll be an operator of the system at this point.
-Tough entry barriers. To start this, it'll require a couple thousand of dollars on marketing and the website, which is the most important part here. A functional website with good GUIs, and a relational database on the backend with saved logins, passwords and account IDs and as time goes on, it'll require more programmers to update the servers. And of course, our Instagram marketing skills will help when it comes to building the traffic and getting visitors. And from what I've seen, we really only have 5-6 competitiors here, one who's a monopoly but a lot of people hate that website so they sell their stuff on social media.
-Fully controlled in our hands. No Zuckerberg or Instagram can wipe our business with one click. We are at the top of the pyramid here.
-Big need. People are crying for a replacement in the reviews section, they'd rather show their products on FB.

Our value skews?
1. Much better customer service. This one monopoly has horrible customer service. They'll come back to you in 4-5 days.
2. More languages. We do have a quite of immigrants here in Norway, around 10-15% of people are of foreign ethnicity. So we can add multiple language functions besides Norwegian like polish, english, arabic etc.
3. Bette price. We'll be cheaper with a mass product.
4. Easier login. No need for any Norwegian ID number for login, just your phone number or email will be sufficient. THAT'S A BIG ONE. Since we do have a lot of immigrants here who don't have their ID number yet.

BUT, there is one problem. One of my major goals is to move to the US, it has been a dream of mine for the past year or year and a half, specifically LA or Miami, would love to live in a warm place + that big city feel you know, something bigger than life. Since the norwegian weather can be a pain in the a$$ and the country is pretty boring for ambitious people.

I was thinking of moving to the US and registering my new corporation in Norway but that will mean that I'll have to hire a Norwegian customer service assistant in Cali or Florida, who has to be fluent in Norwegian(which will be difficult to find) AND we'll need a toll free number which will make it a little bit more difficult for Norwegians. Obviously living Malibu and buying the next Aventador SVJ will only happen once our company gets to minimum $10m-$20m in revenue so that can wait.

Or should I stay here for the next 4-5 years, build this into an empire and then move? Obviously the staff could be remote so.

So what should I do? Would love some advice. Thank you!
 
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Zlatin Manahov

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A little background.

I've been running a small Instagram agency for about 2 years now. Learned a lot about sales, marketing, failure and people in general in that time. It hasn't gone that well to be honest. Sure, it's a good side hustle but it's not really a fastlane business per se. It's more of a cash flow type of business. Even if I get it to $100k a month, it requires a lot of time, management and constant client hunting.

And there are some BIG red flags to it:
-Lack of control. Instagram can delete my account(or my clients' accounts) at will at any moment. There can be an outsourced dude from India(no offense to Indians) sitting behind a screen who has control over everything I do. And the app has gotten more tyrannical and propagandized in so many ways in the past few years. IG is not what it was 8-10 years ago. Even when I'm creating an account for a client, it requires constant account authentication with emails, phone numbers and verified selfies. They say it's for private reasons which is bullshit, they do it to track your IP so they can gather as much information about you as possible + scan your face for future projects like this meta bullshit => so they can sell you more ads.

-Weak entry barriers. We're competing with dudes who only offer their services for $100 per month on Fiverr, who aren't that good really and the clients see that. A 12 year girl can start an IG agency within a couple of days if she learns the nitty gritty bits of Instagram like hashtags, content, reels, watch time and ENGR. There are so many of these marketing agencies out there. Sure, I could work my a$$ off for the next 10 years and turn it into a 8 figure company, but still, there's a lack of control here. And I'm not even sure if Instagram is gonna exist in the next 10 years by how quickly technology is changing with Meta and all of that.

-Weak Scale. The only way I can see this company scale to $200k or $300k a month is if we only work with multi million dollar companies where can charge them $3k-$5k a month. My mentor does that, he works mostly with personal brands by being this "coach". And honestly, I don't want to be known as a coach. I want to be a legit entrepreneur who's built a company where we gave people the opportunity to work and improve their lives. Right now, we work mostly with car dealerships for $500-$1000 a month. If we start targeting luxury car dealers, yachts or some prestigious market, then I can see the clients justifying that price. But your regular Joe blow out the street! NOPE! So many clients have told me I'm too expensive which is nuts. Maybe it's because we're working with car dealers, and they're usually bargain hunters since that's the nature of their business. Buy low, sell high.

-Requires a lot of time. At this point it's only me who's running this agency with a couple of clients. Usually the marketing agencies who get to 7 figures or 8 figures have big sales teams and have meetings everyday where they're closing deals and so on. It could have some passivity if we get to like 10 people, but I'll still have to be the operator in the business, instead of being an operator of the system which is what we want here.

-Not the best need in our niche. A lot of car dealerships in the UK are already advertising their cars on multiple websites like Autotrader and some other smaller ones and a lot of people have told me they're not looking into social media.

So, this idea has been on my mind for over a year and it is a pure Fastlane business.

Perks:
-Has amazing scale potential; from my estimations it can be a $50m-$100m+ company within the next 4-8 years. Can be extremely passive since the clients will do all the work, they'll log on and do the work instead of us doing the work. And with great marketing, it can have tens of thousands of visitors a day(perhaps hundreds of thousands).
-Time freedom. The website and marketing will do all the work for us. We'll only need a programmer who can actually code us a functional website and a customer service assistant. Of course as the business grows, we'll hire more people but the point is, I'll be an operator of the system at this point.
-Tough entry barriers. To start this, it'll require a couple thousand of dollars on marketing and the website, which is the most important part here. A functional website with good GUIs, and a relational database on the backend with saved logins, passwords and account IDs and as time goes on, it'll require more programmers to update the servers. And of course, our Instagram marketing skills will help when it comes to building the traffic and getting visitors. And from what I've seen, we really only have 5-6 competitiors here, one who's a monopoly but a lot of people hate that website so they sell their stuff on social media.
-Fully controlled in our hands. No Zuckerberg or Instagram can wipe our business with one click. We are at the top of the pyramid here.
-Big need. People are crying for a replacement in the reviews section, they'd rather show their products on FB.

Our value skews?
1. Much better customer service. This one monopoly has horrible customer service. They'll come back to you in 4-5 days.
2. More languages. We do have a quite of immigrants here in Norway, around 10-15% of people are of foreign ethnicity. So we can add multiple language functions besides Norwegian like polish, english, arabic etc.
3. Bette price. We'll be cheaper with a mass product.
4. Easier login. No need for any Norwegian ID number for login, just your phone number or email will be sufficient. THAT'S A BIG ONE. Since we do have a lot of immigrants here who don't have their ID number yet.

BUT, there is one problem. One of my major goals is to move to the US, it has been a dream of mine for the past year or year and a half, specifically LA or Miami, would love to live in a warm place + that big city feel you know, something bigger than life. Since the norwegian weather can be a pain in the a$$ and the country is pretty boring for ambitious people.

I was thinking of moving to the US and registering my new corporation in Norway but that will mean that I'll have to hire a Norwegian customer service assistant in Cali or Florida, who has to be fluent in Norwegian(which will be difficult to find) AND we'll need a toll free number which will make it a little bit more difficult for Norwegians. Obviously living Malibu and buying the next Aventador SVJ will only happen once our company gets to minimum $10m-$20m in revenue so that can wait.

Or should I stay here for the next 4-5 years, build this into an empire and then move? Obviously the staff could be remote so.

So what should I do? Would love some advice. Thank you!
Hey Martin!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about your marketing agency. Sorry I can’t offer any useful advice on your next venture right now as I’m just starting out with my agency. Which is also why I’m really curious how you got to this point with your current business. I'm actually doing the same niche too! Mind if I shoot you a message?
 

K1 Lambo

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Hey Martin!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about your marketing agency. Sorry I can’t offer any useful advice on your next venture right now as I’m just starting out with my agency. Which is also why I’m really curious how you got to this point with your current business. I'm actually doing the same niche too! Mind if I shoot you a message?
Hey Zlatin, no problem. Go on man :thumbsup:
 

Hong_Kong

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Our value skews?
1. Much better customer service. This one monopoly has horrible customer service. They'll come back to you in 4-5 days.
2. More languages. We do have a quite of immigrants here in Norway, around 10-15% of people are of foreign ethnicity. So we can add multiple language functions besides Norwegian like polish, english, arabic etc.
3. Bette price. We'll be cheaper with a mass product.
4. Easier login. No need for any Norwegian ID number for login, just your phone number or email will be sufficient. THAT'S A BIG ONE. Since we do have a lot of immigrants here who don't have their ID number yet.
I think work on these value skews to add more value. Languages, sure I guess but are these really even value skews or just "nice to haves".
"Easier login".
Your customers want to make more money right? None of those value skews help them make more money.
 
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Jerma

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A functional website with good GUIs, and a relational database on the backend with saved logins, passwords and account IDs and as time goes on, it'll require more programmers to update the servers.

Let me help you a little with the technical programming jargon.

"Saved logins, passwords and account IDs" = That's just what we call 'Authentication' in the business (It's a process that verifies someone or something's identity.)
It's often mixed up with another related concept called 'Authorization' (A process that determines if a user has permission to access or perform some action.)
You should tell your programmer early in the process if you want your project to be in multiple languages. We call that feature 'internalization' (i18n). It's easier if it's there from the start than adding it later.

Your developer can pick open-source packages for those or even better a framework because those are very common problems. That part is easy and can save you a lot of money if done right.

Unless you do something trivial, your software's most important (and most expensive) part will be your business logic. That's the "important" part of the codebase and needs to be a custom build.

For the idea itself, sure go for it man.
 

K1 Lambo

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I think work on these value skews to add more value. Languages, sure I guess but are these really even value skews or just "nice to haves".
"Easier login".
Your customers want to make more money right? None of those value skews help them make more money.
This not related to making more money. It's about making their life easier. This website is known for deleting accounts/listings at will and it's a big pain in the a$$ for a lot of people. The company got sold to a major Norwegian monopoly 6-7 years ago and it's not what it used to be.
 

K1 Lambo

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Let me help you a little with the technical programming jargon.

"Saved logins, passwords and account IDs" = That's just what we call 'Authentication' in the business (It's a process that verifies someone or something's identity.)
It's often mixed up with another related concept called 'Authorization' (A process that determines if a user has permission to access or perform some action.)
You should tell your programmer early in the process if you want your project to be in multiple languages. We call that feature 'internalization' (i18n). It's easier if it's there from the start than adding it later.

Your developer can pick open-source packages for those or even better a framework because those are very common problems. That part is easy and can save you a lot of money if done right.

Unless you do something trivial, your software's most important (and most expensive) part will be your business logic. That's the "important" part of the codebase and needs to be a custom build.

For the idea itself, sure go for it man.
Thanks bro, yeah that's right. The website will be the most important aspect because it WILL be the system. So if something is messed up right from the start, it'll need to be identified quick.

I was thinking of maybe creating a Wordpress page for it as a beta but it'll be way too basic I guess and will lack the functionality it requires with setting up custom profiles and so on, so no this website will need a lot of programming, especially in the backend with relational database.

Will need a couple of programmers later to keep it up and look for any bugs.
 
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Victory!

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BUT, there is one problem. One of my major goals is to move to the US, it has been a dream of mine for the past year or year and a half, specifically LA or Miami, would love to live in a warm place + that big city feel you know, something bigger than life. Since the norwegian weather can be a pain in the a$$ and the country is pretty boring for ambitious people.

I was thinking of moving to the US and registering my new corporation in Norway but that will mean that I'll have to hire a Norwegian customer service assistant in Cali or Florida, who has to be fluent in Norwegian(which will be difficult to find) AND we'll need a toll free number which will make it a little bit more difficult for Norwegians. Obviously living Malibu and buying the next Aventador SVJ will only happen once our company gets to minimum $10m-$20m in revenue so that can wait.

Or should I stay here for the next 4-5 years, build this into an empire and then move? Obviously the staff could be remote so.

So what should I do? Would love some advice. Thank you!

Consider moving to Dubai or Abu Dhabi where you don't have to pay income taxes. The US is one of the only countries that taxes its citizens regardless of where in the world they live.

Do you already have US citizenship or a green card? If not, how do you plan on coming to the US? Starting a business via any of the various visa schemes is definitely not straightforward and you will absolutely have to work through an immigration attorney.

If you can grow the company to 50M in 4 years, you'll probably be able to afford one of the simpler investment based visas so maybe that will be a better option.

Fill out a weighted average decision matrix and see what works best for you.
 

Hong_Kong

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This not related to making more money. It's about making their life easier. This website is known for deleting accounts/listings at will and it's a big pain in the a$$ for a lot of people. The company got sold to a major Norwegian monopoly 6-7 years ago and it's not what it used to be.
The brand is social media management correct? Do generating more business for your customers than your competitors? Whats the point of building a platform? Checkout the thread "you need sales not a website" by Andy.
 

K1 Lambo

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Consider moving to Dubai or Abu Dhabi where you don't have to pay income taxes. The US is one of the only countries that taxes its citizens regardless of where in the world they live.

Do you already have US citizenship or a green card? If not, how do you plan on coming to the US? Starting a business via any of the various visa schemes is definitely not straightforward and you will absolutely have to work through an immigration attorney.

If you can grow the company to 50M in 4 years, you'll probably be able to afford one of the simpler investment based visas so maybe that will be a better option.

Fill out a weighted average decision matrix and see what works best for you.
Dubai or Abu Dhabi can be great options once the business is already somewhat established and runs on its own, let's say $30m-$40m in revenue then I might consider allocating some capital into a corporation in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. I think the best option might be to just stay in Norway and grow the business there instead of doing it remotely.

As far as the US citizenship is concerned, I know some people who are in Andrew Tate's War Room who can fix the Visa/Passport problem within a couple of weeks.

Because the whole idea was to live in the US and run the company remotely that has a physical location in Norway with one or two employees at the beginning.
 
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K1 Lambo

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A
 
Last edited:

Victory!

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Dubai or Abu Dhabi can be great options once the business is already somewhat established and runs on its own, let's say $30m-$40m in revenue then I might consider allocating some capital into a corporation in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. I think the best option might be to just stay in Norway and grow the business there instead of doing it remotely.

As far as the US citizenship is concerned, I know some people who are in Andrew Tate's War Room who can fix the Visa/Passport problem within a couple of weeks.

Because the whole idea was to live in the US and run the company remotely that has a physical location in Norway with one or two employees at the beginning.
If the business needs to be incorporated in Norway and you intend to live in the US, I would honestly avoid it for now.

It will be a huge pain in the a$$ dealing with tax compliance in the US and the various requirements (FBAR, F8938, GILTI, Subpart F, etc) regarding controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) and foreign entities owned by what the IRS defines as "US Persons".

For example, if you are a resident of the US and you are the ultimate beneficiary owner of 10% or more of the voting stock of a foreign company, you have to pay personal income tax on the income generated by the business proportional to your percentage of ownership, even if the income isn't distributed!!! So if the business earns 1 million in profit, and you own 100% of the business, you're on the hook for paying taxes in the US for that 1 million, even if the company doesn't pay out any dividends.

The US is incredibly unfriendly to people who own businesses overseas...

If you decide to structure your business this way, definitely consult with an international tax attorney in the US and have a plan.
 
Last edited:

Kevin88660

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A little background.

I've been running a small Instagram agency for about 2 years now. Learned a lot about sales, marketing, failure and people in general in that time. It hasn't gone that well to be honest. Sure, it's a good side hustle but it's not really a fastlane business per se. It's more of a cash flow type of business. Even if I get it to $100k a month, it requires a lot of time, management and constant client hunting.

And there are some BIG red flags to it:
-Lack of control. Instagram can delete my account(or my clients' accounts) at will at any moment. There can be an outsourced dude from India(no offense to Indians) sitting behind a screen who has control over everything I do. And the app has gotten more tyrannical and propagandized in so many ways in the past few years. IG is not what it was 8-10 years ago. Even when I'm creating an account for a client, it requires constant account authentication with emails, phone numbers and verified selfies. They say it's for private reasons which is bullshit, they do it to track your IP so they can gather as much information about you as possible + scan your face for future projects like this meta bullshit => so they can sell you more ads.

-Weak entry barriers. We're competing with dudes who only offer their services for $100 per month on Fiverr, who aren't that good really and the clients see that. A 12 year girl can start an IG agency within a couple of days if she learns the nitty gritty bits of Instagram like hashtags, content, reels, watch time and ENGR. There are so many of these marketing agencies out there. Sure, I could work my a$$ off for the next 10 years and turn it into a 8 figure company, but still, there's a lack of control here. And I'm not even sure if Instagram is gonna exist in the next 10 years by how quickly technology is changing with Meta and all of that.

-Weak Scale. The only way I can see this company scale to $200k or $300k a month is if we only work with multi million dollar companies where can charge them $3k-$5k a month. My mentor does that, he works mostly with personal brands by being this "coach". And honestly, I don't want to be known as a coach. I want to be a legit entrepreneur who's built a company where we gave people the opportunity to work and improve their lives. Right now, we work mostly with car dealerships for $500-$1000 a month. If we start targeting luxury car dealers, yachts or some prestigious market, then I can see the clients justifying that price. But your regular Joe blow out the street! NOPE! So many clients have told me I'm too expensive which is nuts. Maybe it's because we're working with car dealers, and they're usually bargain hunters since that's the nature of their business. Buy low, sell high.

-Requires a lot of time. At this point it's only me who's running this agency with a couple of clients. Usually the marketing agencies who get to 7 figures or 8 figures have big sales teams and have meetings everyday where they're closing deals and so on. It could have some passivity if we get to like 10 people, but I'll still have to be the operator in the business, instead of being an operator of the system which is what we want here.

-Not the best need in our niche. A lot of car dealerships in the UK are already advertising their cars on multiple websites like Autotrader and some other smaller ones and a lot of people have told me they're not looking into social media.

So, this idea has been on my mind for over a year and it is a pure Fastlane business.

Perks:
-Has amazing scale potential; from my estimations it can be a $50m-$100m+ company within the next 4-8 years. Can be extremely passive since the clients will do all the work, they'll log on and do the work instead of us doing the work. And with great marketing, it can have tens of thousands of visitors a day(perhaps hundreds of thousands).
-Time freedom. The website and marketing will do all the work for us. We'll only need a programmer who can actually code us a functional website and a customer service assistant. Of course as the business grows, we'll hire more people but the point is, I'll be an operator of the system at this point.
-Tough entry barriers. To start this, it'll require a couple thousand of dollars on marketing and the website, which is the most important part here. A functional website with good GUIs, and a relational database on the backend with saved logins, passwords and account IDs and as time goes on, it'll require more programmers to update the servers. And of course, our Instagram marketing skills will help when it comes to building the traffic and getting visitors. And from what I've seen, we really only have 5-6 competitiors here, one who's a monopoly but a lot of people hate that website so they sell their stuff on social media.
-Fully controlled in our hands. No Zuckerberg or Instagram can wipe our business with one click. We are at the top of the pyramid here.
-Big need. People are crying for a replacement in the reviews section, they'd rather show their products on FB.

Our value skews?
1. Much better customer service. This one monopoly has horrible customer service. They'll come back to you in 4-5 days.
2. More languages. We do have a quite of immigrants here in Norway, around 10-15% of people are of foreign ethnicity. So we can add multiple language functions besides Norwegian like polish, english, arabic etc.
3. Bette price. We'll be cheaper with a mass product.
4. Easier login. No need for any Norwegian ID number for login, just your phone number or email will be sufficient. THAT'S A BIG ONE. Since we do have a lot of immigrants here who don't have their ID number yet.

BUT, there is one problem. One of my major goals is to move to the US, it has been a dream of mine for the past year or year and a half, specifically LA or Miami, would love to live in a warm place + that big city feel you know, something bigger than life. Since the norwegian weather can be a pain in the a$$ and the country is pretty boring for ambitious people.

I was thinking of moving to the US and registering my new corporation in Norway but that will mean that I'll have to hire a Norwegian customer service assistant in Cali or Florida, who has to be fluent in Norwegian(which will be difficult to find) AND we'll need a toll free number which will make it a little bit more difficult for Norwegians. Obviously living Malibu and buying the next Aventador SVJ will only happen once our company gets to minimum $10m-$20m in revenue so that can wait.

Or should I stay here for the next 4-5 years, build this into an empire and then move? Obviously the staff could be remote so.

So what should I do? Would love some advice. Thank you!
Control: You can move on eventually to cover more services like facebook or short videos on YT. Expanding scope of service and reducing control risk at same time

Weak entry barrier: Well I disagree. Marketing is getting yourself heard and being considered in the sales process in the first place. There might be thousands of 12 years old who can do the jobs but I don’t know them and could not be bothered to find out. Furthermore getting yourself heard by your customer is a test of your marketing ability.

Time: Things that don’t scale too well have their own advantages. You don’t attract super smart people with strong backings. The Zuckerberg of the future aren’t interested to run teams of sales people for a 8 digit revenue business. They are more looking at running teams to make billion dollar revenue saas. Running a marketing agency is going to be time intensive on multiple fronts.

You can only automate so much in this space where most of the scalability is just hiring people to do the work that you need human to do.
 
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If the business needs to be incorporated in Norway and you intend to live in the US, I would honestly avoid it for now.

It will be a huge pain in the a$$ dealing with tax compliance in the US and the various requirements (FBAR, F8938, GILTI, Subpart F, etc) regarding controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) and foreign entities owned by what the IRS defines as "US Persons".

For example, if you are a resident of the US and you are the ultimate beneficiary owner of 10% or more of the voting stock of a foreign company, you have to pay personal income tax on the income generated by the business proportional to your percentage of ownership, even if the income isn't distributed!!! So if the business earns 1 million in profit, and you own 100% of the business, you're on the hook for paying taxes in the US for that 1 million, even if the company doesn't pay out any dividends.

The US is incredibly unfriendly to people who own businesses overseas...

If you decide to structure your business this way, definitely consult with an international tax attorney in the US and have a plan.
Yeah you're right about that. That can wait. Norway is quite friendly when it comes to taxation for corporate companies. And I'm pretty sure IRS would get on my a$$ seeing transcations from a Norwegian bank to an American bank on a regular basis. They'd know something is going and that could cause some legal issues.
 

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Yeah you're right about that. That can wait. Norway is quite friendly when it comes to taxation for corporate companies. And I'm pretty sure IRS would get on my a$$ seeing transcations from a Norwegian bank to an American bank on a regular basis. They'd know something is going and that could cause some legal issues.
Avoid U.S. greencard or citizenship…unless you have to.

The tax issue is not just a hassle. It is meant to grab money in your pocket.
 

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Avoid U.S. greencard or citizenship…unless you have to.

The tax issue is not just a hassle. It is meant to grab money in your pocket.
Is it actually true? Is the American government that strict for people doing business in other countries?
 
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Is it actually true? Is the American government that strict for people doing business in other countries?
I know foreign national (Singapore nationality) who hold U.S. green cards, as well as Singapore nationals who worked in U.S. but deliberately not to take up the green card.

For those who have U.S. green cards even if they do investment in Singapore they have to factor in if this is tax exempted under U.S. law. If not they owe tax to U.S. authority.
 

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I know foreign national (Singapore nationality) who hold U.S. green cards, as well as Singapore nationals who worked in U.S. but deliberately not to take up the green card.

For those who have U.S. green cards even if they do investment in Singapore they have to factor in if this is tax exempted under U.S. law. If not they owe tax to U.S. authority.
Ok, thank you for the information.
 

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Is it actually true? Is the American government that strict for people doing business in other countries?
Not only American govt but many foreign banks, and other places flat out refuse to do business with Americans. There is FBAR, FACTA, CRS, etc. and so many other expensive compliance its not worth it for them.

There are only two countries in the entire world that citizens on worldwide income: America, and the other is a dictatorship in Africa.
Another reason so many wealthy Americans give up their passport recently.

If you look at many high-end banks in offshore financial centres they flat out say: "Not available to US citizens".
The BEST way to do business in America is to not be American (no joke).

For example: Lets say you stay where you are at but use Wyoming / Delaware companies. You can be totally private, and also you might not have pay tax in America. America won't report your assets to your home country either, but if you are an American, every bank in the world will report this back to your home govt. (America forces all countries to comply with CRS, but doesn't comply themselves).

Sources:

Eduardo Saverin, a founder of Facebook saved about a Billion dollars giving up his citizenship for example (moved to Singapore).

LGT bank - one of the best private banks in the world located in Liechtenstein (owned by the Prince) I went to their website, selected I am from America it says: "investment schemes we distribute are not permitted for distribution either in the United States of America or to US persons"


I agree with the other poster, avoid America at all costs.
 
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As your proposed venture will be registered in Norway, aimed at Norwegians and staffed by Norwegians, it's completely irrelevant where you may or may not be living in the future.

You deal with that at the time.

And since you think it will cost $2000 to start, which is nothing, why don't you make a start now?

Dan
 

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Not only American govt but many foreign banks, and other places flat out refuse to do business with Americans. There is FBAR, FACTA, CRS, etc. and so many other expensive compliance its not worth it for them.

There are only two countries in the entire world that citizens on worldwide income: America, and the other is a dictatorship in Africa.
Another reason so many wealthy Americans give up their passport recently.

If you look at many high-end banks in offshore financial centres they flat out say: "Not available to US citizens".
The BEST way to do business in America is to not be American (no joke).

For example: Lets say you stay where you are at but use Wyoming / Delaware companies. You can be totally private, and also you might not have pay tax in America. America won't report your assets to your home country either, but if you are an American, every bank in the world will report this back to your home govt. (America forces all countries to comply with CRS, but doesn't comply themselves).

Sources:

Eduardo Saverin, a founder of Facebook saved about a Billion dollars giving up his citizenship for example (moved to Singapore).

LGT bank - one of the best private banks in the world located in Liechtenstein (owned by the Prince) I went to their website, selected I am from America it says: "investment schemes we distribute are not permitted for distribution either in the United States of America or to US persons"


I agree with the other poster, avoid America at all costs.
Thank you so much for your post. That was a lot of information. Had no idea the tax system was so complicated in America, thought places like Florida or Alaska were tax heavens since they got no income tax.

What about Asia in general; like Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore etc.? One polish dude that I followed told me that Singapore as a whole was one of his favorite countries of all time(tied with Sydney, Australia).

There are some places in Europe that can be considered tax heavens like Monaco for instance. Monaco citizens pay no income tax at all. Arne Fredly, a Norwegian billionaire who makes most of his money from investing in tank ships has been living there for a couple of years.

Or Dubai, Qatar etc.

Even Norway is somewhat friendly when it comes to taxes for corporations. Income taxes are relatively high once you get past $100k a year, but corporations are only taxed at 22% on their profits.
 

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As your proposed venture will be registered in Norway, aimed at Norwegians and staffed by Norwegians, it's completely irrelevant where you may or may not be living in the future.

You deal with that at the time.

And since you think it will cost $2000 to start, which is nothing, why don't you make a start now?

Dan
Yeah, that's right. It is just best to live here for some time and once it grows then it'll make more sense if it's worth to keep the business or sell it if we'll get a great offer. Thanks Dan.
 
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I've read this thread and still don't know what product you're building. Is it just a marketing agency? A competitor to Instagram? Or to social media management apps like Hootsuite?

But no matter the plan, the concerns I see are the key differentiators

  • customer service
    • investors don't like this, it means labor costs
    • they also ask why your product needs so much customer service (bugs? bad design?)
    • Google has horrific customer service and is a huge cash machine - they are related.
  • price
    • this is famously dangerous because your competitors merely have to lower their price until you're out of business
    • ask yourself what would customers pay more for?
  • login
    • I don't get how this is a value prop, but it sounds like it is specifically for the Norwegian market. Is there a law requiring this?
    • If that's the case, leaving Norway can make it harder to sell.
Your advantage is saying "this takes so much time." The product is whatever eliminates that time. Build an MVP around whatever reduces time and sell that to other agencies. There are a number of social media management platforms, so you have figure out how/why yours will be different.
 

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Thank you so much for your post. That was a lot of information. Had no idea the tax system was so complicated in America, thought places like Florida or Alaska were tax heavens since they got no income tax.

What about Asia in general; like Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore etc.? One polish dude that I followed told me that Singapore as a whole was one of his favorite countries of all time(tied with Sydney, Australia).

There are some places in Europe that can be considered tax heavens like Monaco for instance. Monaco citizens pay no income tax at all. Arne Fredly, a Norwegian billionaire who makes most of his money from investing in tank ships has been living there for a couple of years.

Or Dubai, Qatar etc.

Even Norway is somewhat friendly when it comes to taxes for corporations. Income taxes are relatively high once you get past $100k a year, but corporations are only taxed at 22% on their profits.
Singapore is great for business. Arguably the best place depending on who you ask.

Switzerland and Singapore are both really top tier for both living and doing business. Singapore is a top choice for me because the costs of running a business there are more cost effective than Switzerland (can be expensive).

Monaco is great but land is very expensive. A good option for once you get scaled up.

Cyprus, Malta, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, UAE, Panama, Costa Rica.

Portugal CAN be good in some ways for expats, but it is complicated.

If you are in Europe look into Estonia for setting up a corporation, its unbelievable (no taxes on income - only when you pay yourself out from the company).
 

K1 Lambo

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Singapore is great for business. Arguably the best place depending on who you ask.

Switzerland and Singapore are both really top tier for both living and doing business. Singapore is a top choice for me because the costs of running a business there are more cost effective than Switzerland (can be expensive).

Monaco is great but land is very expensive. A good option for once you get scaled up.

Cyprus, Malta, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, UAE, Panama, Costa Rica.

Portugal CAN be good in some ways for expats, but it is complicated.

If you are in Europe look into Estonia for setting up a corporation, its unbelievable (no taxes on income - only when you pay yourself out from the company).
Yes, Singapore looks an interesting country to capitalize on. It's also very business friendly from what I've heard.

In regards to allocating capital, that's obviously like step 30, once the company starts growing fast.

Thanks for the info. May look into Estonia too.
 
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I've read this thread and still don't know what product you're building. Is it just a marketing agency? A competitor to Instagram? Or to social media management apps like Hootsuite?

But no matter the plan, the concerns I see are the key differentiators

  • customer service
    • investors don't like this, it means labor costs
    • they also ask why your product needs so much customer service (bugs? bad design?)
    • Google has horrific customer service and is a huge cash machine - they are related.
  • price
    • this is famously dangerous because your competitors merely have to lower their price until you're out of business
    • ask yourself what would customers pay more for?
  • login
    • I don't get how this is a value prop, but it sounds like it is specifically for the Norwegian market. Is there a law requiring this?
    • If that's the case, leaving Norway can make it harder to sell.
Your advantage is saying "this takes so much time." The product is whatever eliminates that time. Build an MVP around whatever reduces time and sell that to other agencies. There are a number of social media management platforms, so you have figure out how/why yours will be different.
This is different. We don't need any investors at this point, I don't want to borrow money and have someone control our company. Seen that happen go wrong many times.

It's a different business model. Not a marketing agency, but more related to advertising/lead gen type of platform.
 

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