Piboot UG (Ltd.)

Founding a German company

Context and Background

After finishing my university education, I started working a day job. Around the same time, my friend Ravinder was pursuing a PhD in computational physics, splitting his time between Coventry and Leipzig. Ravinder and I have known each other since our university days and have been close friends ever since. From his time working as a waiter he knew the pain points of restaurant owners which gave us our first business ideas. We both shared an interest in photography and film – another base of our project ideas.

The Genesis of Piboot

The name “Piboot” has an interesting origin. It stems from a blog, pyboot.blogspot.com, which Ravinder created during his PhD at Coventry University. The blog focused on bootstrapping Python programming skills—a clever blend of “Python” and “bootstrapping.” When we decided to start our company, it felt natural to carry forward this legacy, thus Piboot UG was born.

Purpose and Vision

Piboot UG was envisioned as an umbrella company to manage various IT and media projects. Our goal was to create a legal entity that could facilitate our work on multiple ventures, providing a structured and professional framework for growth.

Why a UG (haftungsbeschränkt)?

We chose to establish a Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt), or UG, for several reasons:

  1. Grant Requirements: Some grants and funding opportunities required the applicant to be a legal person, which necessitated the formation of a company.
  2. Limited Liability: The UG structure provided us with limited liability, protecting our personal assets from business-related risks.
  3. Lower Capital Requirement: Unlike a GmbH, which requires a minimum capital of €25,000, a UG can be founded with as little as €1. This was particularly appealing to us as students with limited financial resources.

A German UG is similar to a British Ltd in that both offer limited liability and require lower initial capital compared to their more traditional counterparts, such as the German GmbH.

For a detailed guide on the steps and intricacies of founding a UG in Germany, I recommend reading How To Found a Company In Germany: 14 “Easy” Steps And Lots Of Pain. It is a great blog post I found on hackernews. It goes through all the paperwork and times of waiting of the procedure.

Growth and Development

Piboot UG saw a steady yet modest growth trajectory. We secured about a dozen customers for our Piboot Restaurant Order Manager system. Additionally, Webfilmland, our video production venture, achieved a significant milestone when a movie we produced was featured at a film festival. Despite this steady progress, the growth was not rapid enough to sustain two full-time salaries.

Given these circumstances, we decided to treat the company as a side project. This led us to restructure from a UG to a Gesellschaft bürgerlichen Rechts (GbR), a simpler and more cost-effective partnership.

Changes and Transition

During this transition, Jennifer joined our team to assist with film projects, bringing in new energy and expertise. Meanwhile, I decided to step away from the company to focus on other opportunities.

Our most notable Projects

Piboot

Our flagship project, Piboot, is a Restaurant Order Manager powered by Django. It streamlines the order-taking process for restaurants, enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction. You can learn more about it at piboot.com.

Webfilmland

Webfilmland is our video production company, specializing in creating high-quality content for various purposes, including art films, advertisements, image films, and event films. This venture allows us to blend our technical skills with creative storytelling.

Conclusion

Founding Piboot UG was a significant learning experience. It provided us with a valuable understanding of business operations, legal frameworks, and the challenges of running a company in Germany. Although we eventually transitioned to a GbR for practical reasons, the journey with Piboot UG laid a strong foundation for our ongoing and future projects. Whenever asked about this chapter of our entrepreneurial journey, I can refer to this post for a detailed account of our experiences and decisions.