There are 3 suppliers that I have consistently worked with from the very beginning of my first company:
1. My accountant
2. My lawyer
3. My notary
When we started out with Funk-e.nl we didn’t realize how much value these three suppliers held.
But over time, each of these suppliers accumulates so much knowledge about your business context and personal situation, that they become invaluable.
Let me explain below how each of these plays an important role once your career as an entrepreneur spans longer than 10 years.
My accountant: way more than filing your taxes
My accountant is probably the most involved of all three. I’m happy I decided to go with a small firm, as they have been with us literally from the beginning of my first company and know everything about my companies histories.
They have always done the taxes for all my legal entities (except for the German one), but there are also many other practical things an accountant can help you with.
I got many great pieces of advice that go beyond purely filing our taxes:
⁃ Questions about what legal structure makes the most sense
⁃ Understanding what risks can revolve around a certain financial decision such as buying a car versus leasing one
⁃ Understanding all kinds of new regulations around employees and employee benefits
⁃ How to deal with international transactions with legal entities abroad
⁃ They supported us in understanding all kinds of subsidies and for instance during COVID how to account for the government subsidies
⁃ They helped me get a mortgage, and create loan structures to myself
⁃ And finally, probably the most important one: they were with me during every step of the way of an excruciating due diligence process after the acquisition of my company.
My lawyer: not only for lawsuits
I was lucky enough to never have been involved in an actual lawsuit where you have to go to court to prove you are right.
However, in 15 years all kinds of situations will arise where it is important you make a well calculated decision:
⁃ What should we do against competitors literally taking screenshots from our videos and passing them on as their own in their brochures?
⁃ Was it ok for competitors to buy keywords on our company name and appear above us in ad search?
⁃ How should we write our offers so that our large corporate clients could not easily avoid paying us due to one of the thousands of clauses in their terms and conditions
⁃ When ending an employee contract early in bad times, how much should you pay?
⁃ In the worst case scenario during a crisis, what would a worst case scenario actually look like for us personally as founders?
⁃ During our acquisition: was this a reasonable offer? How do I protect myself best from legal implications in case it doesn’t go well?
My Notary: not only for new entities
Notaries are typically the gatekeepers to make a big decision official. But a good notary will do more than just put a signature on a piece of paper.
I remember vividly how our notary took a good hour of his time to explain in lots of detail what each clause of the contract with my business partner actually meant when we were setting up our first company.
He gave clear examples from experience of what it meant if suddenly one of us would die, what would happen if one of us wanted to get out earlier, and what was the implication of getting an additional partner.
My notary also took care of my mortgage, the official papers with my wife when we got married and any new entity I have set up.
This means:
They can give clear scenarios on:
⁃ Increasingly complex financial decisions, even if they affect both private and business
⁃ Since they have everything on file, setting up a new entity is a matter of sending an email
⁃ If I don’t understand a contract well enough that will take the time to explain all possible scenarios and outcomes.
Conclusion: don’t save money on these suppliers, they help you move faster
These suppliers might seem expensive at first for the few things they do. And seeing an hourly tariff of €500 for a lawyer, is indeed scary at first.
The real value for you as an entrepreneur however, is having an additional expert brain at your fingertips.
A 5 minute call with your lawyer can help you understand if making a big deal out of that unpaid invoice is worth it. (And for small things you won’t immediately get charged 😉
A quick email to your account can make the difference between getting that massive subsidy or realizing it’s a major risk.
Or setting up that new business can literally be a matter of delegating some paperwork to your notary as they already have everything else on file (ID, paperwork etc)
This allows for very fast and secure decision making, which in any startup is way more valuable than anything.
