Starting a company abroad: complete course
Take a company abroad from business case to first anniversary, in the right order, with the right advisers.
- Lessons
- 8 in 3 modules
- Total time
- About 2 h 30 min
- Level
- Intermediate
- Taught by
- Kaitu consultants
Few ventures abroad struggle because of one dramatic mistake. Far more often, the trouble comes from a series of small, avoidable ones: a structure chosen in a hurry, a bank account that takes longer than expected, a visa that does not quite match the founder's real role, a contract written for the home market rather than the new one. This course is designed to help you avoid them.
Over eight in-depth lessons in three modules, you will clarify the business case and compare jurisdictions with a weighted matrix, research the market on the ground, choose an entity structure, map immigration routes for founders and staff, prepare for incorporation, set up banking, accounting and tax registration with the right local professionals, hire your first people under local law, and build a compliance calendar that carries you through the first year. Each lesson ends with practical tools: worksheets to fill in by hand and short quizzes to check your understanding.
Three principles run through every lesson. Rules differ by country and change over time, so we describe how things generally work and the questions to ask, and never state thresholds, rates or processing times. This is not legal, tax or immigration advice; that must come from qualified local professionals in each country involved. And order matters: many problems come from doing the right things in the wrong sequence.
What you’ll be able to do
- Write a clear business case for the move and score two or three candidate jurisdictions with a weighted comparison matrix.
- Plan and run a structured programme of market research on the ground, including customer, channel and partner conversations.
- Explain the trade-offs between a representative office, branch, subsidiary, new company and joint venture, and brief advisers on your preferred structure.
- Map the immigration routes that might suit each founder, family member and key employee, and sequence them with incorporation.
- Prepare the documents, bank file and adviser team needed to incorporate, register for tax and open an account.
- Hire your first people on local terms and run a compliance calendar through the first year.
Syllabus
8 lessons · about 2 h 30 min · preview lessons are open to everyone
Module 1The case and the place
- The business case and choosing a jurisdiction Free preview20 min
- Market research on the ground 18 min
Module 2Structure, permission and formation
- Entity structures 17 min
- Founder and staff immigration routes 18 min
- Incorporation steps and documents 19 min
Module 3Operating in the first year
- Banking, accounting, tax registration and local professionals 20 min
- Hiring and employment basics 18 min
- The compliance calendar and your first year 20 min
Who it’s for
- Founders and family-business owners who have decided to go abroad, or are close to deciding, and want a full plan.
- Established companies opening their first subsidiary or branch in a new market.
- Founders relocating with their families who need the business, the permission and the family's plans to fit together.
- Managers asked to lead an international expansion who want to understand the whole picture before engaging advisers.
What’s included
- 2 short films
- 8 written lessons
- 6 printable worksheets
- 4 short quizzes
- Progress and notes saved as you go
- A certificate of completion to print
Your instructor
Kaitu consultantsWritten by the Kaitu team — the consultants who guide families through careers & business every day. Meet the team.Questions
"Starting a company abroad: the first decisions" introduces the key choices in five short lessons. This course goes much further: market research on the ground, incorporation step by step, working with local professionals, hiring and employment, and the compliance calendar for your first year, with more worksheets and quizzes.
No. It gives you a method to compare countries and structures and the questions to ask, but the right answer depends on your business, your family and rules that differ by country and change. Confirm the final choice with licensed local advisers.
Deliberately not. Specific requirements, thresholds and timelines change often and date quickly. The course tells you what to find out and from whom, so the information you rely on is current.
No. The course explains terms such as permanent establishment, beneficial owner and apostille in plain English. Its purpose is to make your conversations with lawyers, accountants and tax advisers more productive, not to replace them.
Each lesson takes around fifteen to twenty minutes to read, plus time for the worksheets. Many founders work through one module per week and bring the completed worksheets to their first adviser meetings.
