Starting a company in the US remotely from the home country has long been the practice of many entrepreneurs from the Balkans. However, the procedure behind it can get a bit tricky, and there is always a need for services that can simplify this process. This was the main idea that brought Macedonian founders Filip Andonov and Petar Todorovski together.
Petar’s brainchild, FreelanceFrom.mk, was born out of a desire to simplify the complexities of remote work for freelancers in Macedonia. Meanwhile, Filip, considering his own entrepreneurial path, stumbled upon Petar’s platform and saw an opportunity.
They kicked it off with a simple email, and some thirty emails later, they came up with the idea for Neubase. In an interview with IT Logs, Filip and Petar discuss their vision and plans for Neubase, while helping entrepreneurs from the Balkans reach their American dream.
IT Logs: What motivated you to start Neubase, were there personal experiences or industry gaps that inspired you to open the business?
Petar: I knew that a US company could be the solution to the issues of many people who work remotely online. I tested the idea through FreelanceFrom.mk, a website I created to answer all the legal questions a freelancer in Macedonia may have.
Few months later I had received lots of emails from people requesting for more information about US LLCs and I knew that the interest had been validated.
Filip, my co-founder, was one of the people who was interested in starting a company. During our email exchange, I told him that I planned to offer such services, and he was interested in joining, and a few weeks later we started Neubase.
Filip: At that time I was living in Canada I thought ok, I’ll need some services like Amazon, Stripe, and other banks to work with when I’m back in Macedonia. I started doing research and found FreelanceFrom.MK, a forum that was created to help freelancers navigate the maze of online business.
I emailed the person, Petar, and started a conversation. 30+ emails later we were certain that a service offering a solution to these problems would be a great fit for the market and we sat our sails forward, that’s how Neubase started.
Could you explain the specific challenges non-residents, especially those from the Balkans, face when starting a company in the US, and how Neubase addresses these challenges?
Petar: The main challenge is not understanding the compliance requirements for their LLC and they don’t know where to look for reliable information. They assume that starting the company is all they need to do and the rest will take care of itself. A few weeks ago, I talked to an entrepreneur from Skopje who had been told about the zero tax rate and thought that she didn’t have to submit tax forms. Now she is at the risk of penalties of up to $50.000.We address this challenge by offering full compliance support in all our subscription packages. We do not take clients who do not intend to be fully compliant with US laws. When we face a new situation that we have never faced before, we talk to our US accountants, tax advisors, and lawyers. We discuss the most common issues with them, and then we distribute the knowledge to our customers so that they don’t have to pay for lawyers. In rare cases, where the situation requires so, we connect our clients with the US partners for a paid one-on-one consultation.
The second challenge is opening a bank account. The US fintechs providing banking services tend to accept all the applicants, but sometimes they decline some businesses. We ensure that the applications are filled in a way that explain well that the business is not risky for the banks and to maximize the chances of being approved. We have direct contacts with Mercury, Relay Financial, and Meow, and we can reach out in the case of declining some applications.
What are the primary benefits for Balkan entrepreneurs in establishing an LLC in the US through Neubase?
Filip: They get access to a market where customers have lots of money to spend and receive their earnings via Stripe or world-class online banking. All that comes (in most cases) at zero corporate income taxes and a low price of running the company. For startups, it also means better access to capital. They do their business while we keep their back in terms of compliance with the laws.
Our experience so far shows that US companies have strong preferences to work with other US companies under US jurisdiction and with US financial accounts. We have clients who have incorporated in the US just because some of their clients have requested them to do so.
E-commerce businesses, on the other hand, incorporate there to get a Stripe account or to open Amazon stores.
Finally, most of the businesses operated from abroad do not need to pay taxes on the corporate profits, which puts them in an advantageous position compared to the US competitors.
Taking this significant step through Neubase means that they will have the full support of someone who has skin in the game and has access to US experts to ensure they remain compliant.
What distinguishes Neubase from other similar services and can you share any success stories or notable experiences of entrepreneurs who have used your platform to start their businesses in the US?
Petar: We differ from our competitors by offering a hands-off solution tailored exclusively to non-US residents and providing unlimited consultations. Our customers can call us at any time, and discuss their issues mostly in their language.Unlike us, our competitors in most cases just incorporate the company for their customers and leave them to the wolves. Some of them provide full compliance service, but it is tailored to US entrepreneurs and their complex tax forms and other compliance obligations.
We address a small niche in this growing market – non-resident entrepreneurs who want to expand to the US. And our offer is tailored specifically to them. Incorporation of companies is strictly regulated by law and there is no room for innovation. That’s why we differ in the way services are packaged and the customer support.
So far, we have clients who run digital marketing companies, e-commerce businesses, sales agencies, recruitment agencies, software businesses, dispatch companies, and so on. All these companies are only a few months old, but some of them are making over 5k per month already. We cannot share more details due to clients’ privacy, but we hope that some of them will share their stories publicly soon. We have closed only one company so far. And no one has left us for a competitor.
What does the future hold for Neubase, are there any upcoming features or expansions that users can look forward to?
Petar: Regarding the product, we are ramping up to evolve into a hybrid between a service company and a SaaS. We will automate many of the processes but will keep the human interaction with our customers. This is our second year and we know what processes are repetitive and require only supervision.Next up is a client portal where clients would get a compliance overview of their company, get all their documentation in one place, schedule a consultation with us, generate some IRS forms, and others.
We also plan to expand our offering to C-Corps soon. C-Corp is a structure that suits soon-to-be-funded startup companies better than the LLC structure. Contracts and trademarks are on the roadmap as well.
Filip: We also work on creating a community of our clients. They can help each other by sharing experiences, and we want to forge connections between them. We also work on a perks database. Finally, we are doubling down on our content and education because let’s face it, people need to learn the benefits of having a remote business and need to move forward. Our region desperately needs more entrepreneurs and people that want to create businesses and push the economy forward.
