Are you ready for the big adventure? To ensure that your step into entrepreneurship does not turn into a nightmare, you should be able to answer the following questions with ‘yes’:

• Have you transformed your business idea into a business model? If not, we recommend the books ‘Business Model Canvas’ or ‘Lean Canvas’ to outline your target group, solution, value proposition, revenue streams, etc.
• Have you identified the unvalidated assumptions in your business model? If not, you should look into the Lean Startup method.
• Have you tested your assumptions with an MVP and/or with specific interviews with your planned target group?
• Have you had your business model challenged by experienced founders?
• Do you know your ‘profit formula’ (revenue streams, cost structure)? Do you know how many units, subscriptions, hours, packages, etc. you need to sell in order to break even? Have you planned your budget and liquidity development in different scenarios?
• Do you have sufficient private liquidity reserves to cushion your ‘failure scenario’?

If you answered ‘yes’ to these questions, then you can initiate the start-up process.

After placing your order, you will receive an email from us with a link to your personalised start-up checklist.

Follow the instructions, tips and tricks and fill out the form completely. If you have any questions, we are here to help and advise you.

To speed up the start-up process, you can apply for a capital deposit account at your bank as soon as the company name, legal form and registered office have been defined. Depending on the bank, it takes a few days to open the blocked account. Once you have paid the capital into the account, the bank will issue a capital deposit confirmation. It will take some time for you to receive this original document by post. You can use this time to define the other checkpoints:

• Capital and denomination
• Shareholdings
• Functions and signing authority
• Scope of the articles of association (short or long version)
• Language of the articles of association
• Restrictions on transferability
• Formulation of purpose
• Audit or ‘opting out’

Opting out: Companies with more than 10 full-time employees (FTEs) must choose an auditing company to verify the accuracy of the accounts and prepare the report for the shareholders’ meeting. However, as most start-ups begin with fewer than 10 employees, most founders choose to ‘opt out’, i.e. to waive the requirement for an audit.

Open a capital deposit account with your bank.

Have you already chosen your bank and made an enquiry? Here are a few questions to help you choose the right bank:

• Does the bank offer an interface to my future accounting system?
• How intuitive is the e-banking system?
• Does the bank offer a good credit/debit card solution?
• Do you need an internationally oriented bank (letters of credit, currency hedging, etc.)?
• Do you want the bank you use for your private affairs to also have insight into your business? Or do you want to keep these two areas separate?
• How much are the fees for the capital deposit account?
• How much are the ongoing fees?
• If your place of business is in a co-working space with a ‘c/o address’: Does the bank accept the ‘c/o address’ as your place of business or does it accept a non-operational ‘registered office’? The latter would result in significantly higher fees.

Depending on the nationality of the founders, domicile and company purpose, some banks are very selective in granting business accounts. You may have to enquire at different banks. The search for a bank can therefore take some time in individual cases.

Once the bank has opened the capital deposit account, the founders pay their start-up capital into the account using a standard IBAN transfer. The capital is released or transferred to a regular business account after the company has been entered in the commercial register. From this point on, the capital is available for free use within the scope of the company’s purpose.

Note Art. 680 OR ‘Return of capital’: It is not permitted to pay out company capital to shareholders or partners in the form of loans. So-called ‘active loans’ are only permitted if the company later has free, distributable reserves (although caution is advised here due to deferred taxes).

Once all the checkpoints in your start-up worksheet have been defined, we will send you your start-up documents.

These also include a form for certifying signatures. Go to your local council or a notary and have the signatures of the founders certified.

Send the completed and signed documents by post to leanrun ag, Moosstrasse 7, 6003 Lucerne.

Nach Erhalt der Gründungsdokumente organisieren wir die Beurkundung und melden den HR-Eintrag betreffend der Gründung beim Handelsregister an.

Je nach Kanton dauert es üblicherweise eine bis drei Wochen, bis deine Gesellschaft im Handelsregister eingetragen ist.

Die Dauer kann je nach Auslastung der Ämter und insbesondere vor Jahresende länger ausfallen.

Hinweis: Deine Gesellschaft wird zwar per Beurkundungsdatum formal gegründet. Dieses Datum wird auch als Statutendatum im Handelsregister ersichtlich sein. Das Buchhaltungsjahr beginnt jedoch erst mit dem Datum des Handelsregistereintrags.

Nach dem Eintrag im Handelsregister informierst du die Bank zwecks Freigabe des Kapitaleinzahlungskontos.