03/03/2025
Setting up a US company as a non-US remote founder: my real experience 👇
TL;DR: As a non-US founder, I incorporated a US company (Delaware C-Corp) through Stripe Atlas, dealt with banking headaches (Mercury vs. Brex), and set up all the tools needed to run a US-based startup from abroad. Here’s the real, step-by-step story of what worked, what didn’t and what it actually cost.
🔵 Why incorporate in the US (Delaware C-Corp)?
I’m from outside the US, while my co-founder is visiting US often living in Mexico so we chose to set up a US company to access better infrastructure, investors and customers. In our case, a Delaware C-Corp was the way to go because it’s the gold standard for startups (investors love it and it’s legally business-friendly). We knew it would make opening bank accounts, using payment processors, and scaling easier.
🔵 Step-by-Step: Incorporating via Stripe Atlas
Stripe Atlas made the incorporation process surprisingly straightforward. Here’s how it went for us, step by step:
Sign Up for Stripe Atlas: We applied through the Stripe Atlas platform. It asked for basic info about us (passports, addresses) and our new company (name, business description). The form was easy and took maybe an hour to fill out.
Pay the Fee: Stripe Atlas charges a one-time fee of $500 for the whole package. We paid this upfront. It covers the Delaware filing fees, drafting your incorporation documents, getting an EIN (Tax ID), and even a year of registered agent service in Delaware.
Incorporation in Delaware: Stripe Atlas handled the paperwork with Delaware. Within a few days, our company Skarbe Inc. was officially incorporated as a Delaware C-Corp. We got the Certificate of Incorporation and all the legal docs (bylaws, board resolutions, stock issuance templates) through the Atlas dashboard.
EIN (Tax ID) Setup: Stripe Atlas also helped obtain our EIN from the IRS. This part can take a bit longer because of IRS processing times. If you don't have a US Social Security Number, you can’t get an EIN instantly, so you have to wait, otherwise it super quick and straightforward.
Post-Incorporation Tasks: With the company formed, we signed the necessary documents that Stripe provided – like issuing shares to founders and appointing the board. They gave clear instructions, so this was straightforward. We also set up a cap table on Carta (more on that later) to manage our equity.
Address and Phone: Even though Stripe Atlas doesn’t require a US address or phone to incorporate, we knew we’d need these for banking and other services. So we arranged a virtual US address and a US phone number (details in the Tools section below).
Open a Bank Account: Once we had the EIN, the next big step was banking – and that turned into a little adventure (see next section). Stripe Atlas had pointed us to Mercury as a banking option, so we tried that first… which leads me to our banking story.
What worked: Stripe Atlas saved us a ton of headache by handling incorporation and legal docs. We didn’t have to hire lawyers in the US or navigate state forms ourselves. It was essentially “company-in-a-box” for us, and aside from a bit of waiting for the EIN, it was smooth sailing.
What didn’t: Setting up a bank was not a straightforward process. Also, the Stripe Atlas dashboard, while convenient, is nested inside the Stripe payments dashboard – it was a bit confusing to find our documents at first. Feels like they packed to many things in a single UI.
🔵 Banking: Mercury vs. Brex (and EU alternatives)
Setting up banking as a non-US founder was the most challenging part of this journey. Here’s our experience with two popular fintech banks and why we ended up choosing one over the other:
Mercury (Our False Start): Mercury is a well-known online banking platform for startups, and Stripe Atlas actually suggested it. Opening a Mercury account was initially easy – all online, no US visit required. However, there was a big catch: because of our nationality (we’re Belarusian founders, immigrants with valid 4+ years resident cards), Mercury declined our application. Later we learned that they shut down account of our fellow founders 😱. This wasn’t because they did anything wrong; Mercury changed their compliance rules and started dropping accounts for immigrants from certain countries. So folks suddenly found themselves without a bank, which was a nightmare (funds got temporarily frozen until they closed the account and returned money).
Lesson learned: Mercury can be risky for some international founders. It’s a great platform for many, but sadly it didn’t work for us.
Brex (Our Lifesaver): After the Mercury fiasco, we turned to Brex. Brex is a fintech that provides business bank accounts backed by an actual FDIC-insured bank (Super important!) Signing up for Brex was also 100% online and, importantly, they were friendly to international founders. We had to provide additional documentation (company documents, passports, proof of address, etc.), but within a few days we got approved. The user experience is fantastic – Brex’s web and mobile app are slick and modern. We got a virtual debit card instantly and a physical metal cards mailed to us quickly. Brex also offers perks like credit cards, expense management, and integrations (plus no monthly fees). To be honest, Brex feels super stable, likely because they have more robust compliance and are built to support funded startups globally. It’s been working great for us with zero issues so far, except minor reporting issues.
EU Alternatives (Revolut & Wise): We also set up accounts with Revolut Business and Wise (formerly TransferWise) as supplementary options. These aren’t US banks, but they’re super useful for EU or international transactions. Revolut gives you multi-currency accounts and USD accounts in Europe, which can be handy to transfer money to your US company or vice versa. Wise is excellent for transferring funds with low fees and real exchange rates. While Revolut and Wise can’t replace a US bank for your US company, they are great tools for moving money around or as a backup if you have issues with a US bank.
🔵 Bottom line: If you’re a non-US founder, be cautious with which banking partner you choose. Mercury might be okay if you’re from a supported country (and they do have a nice simple banking product), but Brex was a safer bet for us. Always have a backup plan (like Revolut/Wise) in case one account has trouble. The last thing you want is to be a legit business that suddenly can’t access its money due to a compliance closure.
🔵 Tools & Services we used (Virtual address, Phone, Payroll, etc.)
Running a US company from abroad means you’ll need a bunch of tools to make it work seamlessly. Here are the key tools/services we set up, and why each one was important:
OpenPhone (Virtual Phone): We needed a US phone number for various reasons – opening bank accounts (they often require a US number for verification), setting up services, and having a contact number for our company. We chose OpenPhone, which for ~$10/month gave us a US phone number that runs on an app. It lets us call/text like a regular US number. Super handy and way cheaper than international roaming or setting up a physical SIM. (Alternatives: some folks use Google Voice or services like Freshcaller, but OpenPhone’s app and features fit us best.)
Stable (Virtual Office/Address): Because we don’t have a physical office in the US, we got a virtual business address through Stable. This gives us a real mailing address in the US (ours is in San Francisco) that we can use for official forms, bank correspondence, and receiving mail. Stable scans our mail and lets us view it online, and can forward items globally if needed. This was crucial when Mercury/Brex sent physical debit cards – they won’t ship to Belarus, so we had the cards sent to our Stable address and then forwarded to us. Expect to pay around a few dozen dollars per month for a good virtual address service. For us, it’s worth it to have a “presence” in the US.
Gusto (Payroll): We’re a small team, but we wanted a proper payroll system to pay salaries and contractors. Gusto is a popular online payroll service. It handles everything from paying our US-based contractors to filing payroll taxes and forms automatically. Even if you’re just paying yourselves as founders eventually, using Gusto makes it easy to stay compliant with IRS filings. The cost is about $40/month base plus a small per-person fee. When we ran our first payroll to ourselves, it was a surreal moment (paying ourselves in USD from a US company 😅). Gusto made it straightforward.
PandaDoc (NDAs & Contracts): As we started doing business, we needed to send out NDAs, contractor agreements, and later maybe customer contracts. Instead of emailing PDFs back-and-forth, we use PandaDoc to manage these documents. It was a no-brainer for me after 6 years in PandaDoc ;) It lets us create templates and get things e-signed easily. The UX is intuitive for both us and the signer. There are other e-sign options (DocuSign, HelloSign, etc.), but PandaDoc’s was affordable and it includes nice features like document templates and tracking (we can see if someone viewed the doc). We’ve sent out our employee NDA and a few pilot project agreements through PandaDoc without any hiccups.
Carta (Cap Table Management): Once we incorporated, we had to issue shares to founders and set up an equity plan for future employees/investors. We used Carta to manage our cap table (the ledger of company ownership). On Carta, we recorded the shares each founder owns and can easily generate stock certificates. The great part is Carta is free for early-stage startups under a certain number of stakeholders. It keeps everything organized for when we eventually have more investors or employees to give equity to. Using Carta from the start saves you from messy spreadsheets later. (Alternatives include CapTable.io or Pulley, but Carta is kind of the industry standard.)
Accountant (Taxes & Compliance): This is not a fancy SaaS tool, but absolutely essential. We hired a US-based accountant who is familiar with Delaware C-Corps and foreign founders. Our accountant handles the annual Delaware Franchise Tax filing and our federal tax returns. As a new startup with little revenue initially, taxes aren’t complicated, but you do need to file them! Our accountant also advises us on things like what expenses we can deduct, how to handle founder compensation, etc. We budget about $1,000/year for accounting services. It’s money well spent to not mess up compliance. If you use Stripe Atlas, they also have partners or referrals for accounting if you need it. (Quick tip: Delaware’s annual franchise tax for a small startup is usually around $400–$600. Don’t forget to pay it every year or you’ll get penalties.)
Brex (Banking) – I know I covered banking above, but I’ll list Brex here as a core tool because it’s where our money lives. The Brex dashboard also doubles as an expense management tool, where we can set budgets, have team members request funds, etc. We use the Brex card to pay for most of the tools on this list, earning a little cashback as a bonus.
Those were our main tools. Setting each one of these up took some effort (verifying identities, linking accounts, etc.), but within the first 1-2 months of incorporating, we had all of them in place. After that, our US company was fully operational on paper and online – even though we were physically across the ocean.
🔵 Cost breakdown 💰
One thing everyone asks is: “What did it all cost?” Here’s a breakdown of the typical costs we incurred to set up and run our US company in the first year:
Incorporation (Stripe Atlas): $500 one-time. This covered the Delaware filing, EIN, and first-year registered agent. Worth it for the convenience.
Delaware Franchise Tax & Annual Report: $400 (approx) per year. Delaware charges an annual franchise tax for corporations (minimum $300) plus a $50 annual report filing fee. Our first year tax was at the minimum since we were a small company.
Registered Agent (after year 1): $100 per year. Stripe Atlas covered year 1; after that, if you continue with their partner agent it’s about $100 annually to maintain a registered agent in Delaware (required by law).
Virtual Address (Stable): ~$30–$50 per month. We opted for a good plan to make sure we could get mail scanned and forwarded. That’s around $360–$600 a year.
Phone (OpenPhone): $10 per month per line, so about $120/year for one business line.
Banking: $0 direct cost with Brex. No monthly fees or minimums in our case. (Mercury was also fee-free. These fintech banks make money on card transaction fees, so they don’t charge monthly.)
Payroll (Gusto): $39/month base + $6 per person. For two people, we pay about $51 per month when we run payroll, which is around $612/year. (If you pause payroll some months, you might not pay the full year cost.)
Contracts (PandaDoc): $19 to $39/month, depending on plan.
Cap Table (Carta): $0 at our stage. We’re on Carta’s free startup plan. Eventually this could cost a few thousand per year as we grow, but we’ll cross that bridge later.
Accounting & Tax Filing: ~$1,000/year as mentioned for a CPA/accountant. This can vary, but budget at least that for a small startup with basic filings.
Miscellaneous: Notary & Mail Fees: We had to get a USPS form notarized for the mail service ($6) and paid postage to forward some items (~$10). Minor costs but adding for completeness. International Transfer Fees: Sending money from our country to the US initial bank deposit, etc., via Wise cost maybe $20 in fees. Ongoing, Wise/Revolut fees are a small percentage per transfer.
Total Estimated First-Year Cost: ~$3,000 (give or take a few hundred) for all the setup and tools. After the first year, our recurring annual costs (taxes, agent, address, software subscriptions, accountant) are around $2,000–$2,500/year, not counting payroll salaries and any new hires or upgrades. Keep in mind: this was for our case as a lean initial two-founder startup + few contractors. Your costs could be a bit less or more, but this gives you a ballpark idea. It’s certainly possible to do it cheaper (using alternative services, skipping some tools until needed), but we valued convenience and compliance, so we invested where it mattered.
🔵 Final thoughts
Throughout this journey, we definitely had moments of “Are we really doing this from halfway around the world?” But seeing everything come together – a US-incorporated startup, a US bank account, and all the trappings of a legit business – was incredibly satisfying. It’s absolutely doable for non-US founders to set up shop in the States, you just need to know the steps and watch out for a few pitfalls. Talk to friends who done it before.
Setting up a US company as a foreign founder can feel intimidating, but hopefully our story shows it’s manageable with the right help (and a bit of perseverance). The startup world is getting more global and easy to enter like never before, and there are tools and services now that make this process way easier than it was a even 5-10 years ago.
🔵 If you’re a non-US founder considering doing this, I’d say: go for it, but do your homework. Leverage services like Stripe Atlas and Brex that are designed for folks like us. And don’t be afraid to ask for advice – I bugged a few other founders who did it before me, and their tips saved me from mistakes.
— Mikita Martynau, CEO at Skarbe and a fellow non-US founder who survived the US incorporation
