Tech Lawyer & Social Activist. Managing Partner @lloydmousilli Fulbright Professor of Law and Entrepeneurship across four continents.
San Francisco, CA
Joined April 2014
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Feras Mousilli retweeted
For more than a day I have seen people quoting this post and saying how bad Germany is for entrepreneurs due to that.
If your company fails because you had to sit through a notary session then you would have failed anyway.
The actual problems with Germany are a lot worse and much deeper. Notaries are annoying sure.
But the entire country and its system is built to kill enterpreneurship and discourage it at every point.
Some other examples apart from the notaries:
- Dealing with the cross-EU VAT situation the moment your company has more than 10k yearly revenue. (yes you heard it right making 10k in a year ... as a company).
- Having to identify all users online (asking them for address/country), charge them different VAT depending on their country and follow the VAT changes in real time as they happen.
- Absolutely zero help from the state. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Nichts.
- Instead of help you are greeted with utter hostility and suspicion.
- Dealing with the German tax system and getting audited multiple times in a 8 year period. Yes a tiny company of 3-4 people being audited multiple times because hey ... why not? Competing world-wide is not a hard enough task, let's make it impossible to function.
- Social security and insurances. All your employees costs you roughly 20-25% more than their stated salaries.
- If you are a company with more than 10 employees then good luck letting people go when you need to.
- Completely random expenses every year such as the IHK expenses (chamber of commerce membership), some employee accident insurance that you must always have even if you have no offices etc.
These are just some things that popped up in my head as I write this. There is a lot more and it's just sad.
As a country, Germany is made to stop you from being successful. They are stuck in the past for everything and this is why the economy here is failing. And it won't get better anytime soon. Things will get a lot worse before they get better. As I see nothing happening to fix any of these. Instead somehow it's all the immigrant's fault and the far right is rising. /s
Sorry for the late night rant
Met a German founder this week and asked him if all the stories one reads about the challenges of startups in Germany are exaggerated. "No, they're understated." Proceeded to describe spending a full day having a 90-page investment contract read to him (mandatory under German law; § 13 BeurkG) by a notary that then charged €30,000. That was for his first company. His second company, needless to say, was not incorporated in Germany.
It’s a completely different world at the Damascus airport under the new government…. Order, respect, efficiency.
من مزرعة العصابة إلى رحاب الدولة: مطار دمشق وتفكيك ثقافة التشبيح
اليوم غادرت سوريا عبر مطار دمشق الدولي، ولأول مرة، لم أعش طقس الإهانة الوطنية المعتاد.
لعقود طويلة، كنا مستسلمين لحقيقة قذرة: المطار لم يكن واجهة لبلد، بل مسلخًا للكرامة ومنظومة ابتزاز وقحة تديرها عصابة.
من أول خطوة، تُصدم.
وجوه شابة، واثقة، ومحترمة. انقرضت نظرة التشليح: «تبَع شو مشان الحلوان يا معلم؟»، وتبخر التهديد المبطّن المكتوم في العيون.
ختمت جوازي ومررت:
من دون أن يوقفني عنصر من أحد الفروع الأمنية المتسلطة.
من دون أن يخرج لي شبيح من وراء كاونتر ويهمس: «شو معك عملة صعبة يا رفيق؟».
من دون أن يفتش أحد جيبي ليسرق السوري بحجة الحرص على العملة الوطنية.
ومن دون «خروجية» كأنها فدية لفك الأسر.
وعند جهاز التفتيش، كان العنصر يبتسم ويقول لمسافرة: «تفضلي يا مدام».
فجأة، بدأت السيدة تصرخ لمجرد أنه طلب منها أن تترك القداحة.
ظل العنصر واقفًا بكل انضباط، يمتص وقاحتها، ويقول لها بهدوء: «قوانين يا مدام، حقك عليي».
هنا تفهم حجم التشوه النفسي الذي زُرع فينا.
المواطن الذي كان يرتجف ويرتعب من أصغر عسكري في المطار، صار اليوم يتفرعن على موظف محترم ملتزم بالقانون.
غاب الخوف الأمني، فظهرت قلة الذوق عند البعض، بدل التحضر والامتنان.
خرجت إلى الطائرة، وتكمل المشهد:
طاقم في قمة الاحتراف، وبشاشة وجه حقيقية، تجعلك تصحو على حقيقة أننا كنا نعيش في مستنقع، ونقنع أنفسنا بأنه أمر طبيعي.
ما رأيته اليوم ليس مجرد كاونترات نُظفت، بل هو بداية كنس لثقافة الإذلال، ومسح لعقلية التشبيح.
وهذا بالضبط هو الفرق الجذري بين مزرعة عصابة، ودولة تبني كرامة إنسانها من الصفر.
منقول
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I was in Nepal and the Himalayas two years ago. This is a reminder on how quickly everything can change in these extreme environments.
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Feras Mousilli retweeted
Met a German founder this week and asked him if all the stories one reads about the challenges of startups in Germany are exaggerated. "No, they're understated." Proceeded to describe spending a full day having a 90-page investment contract read to him (mandatory under German law; § 13 BeurkG) by a notary that then charged €30,000. That was for his first company. His second company, needless to say, was not incorporated in Germany.
Feras Mousilli retweeted
ALT Quote by Prime Minister Mark Carney: The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big”. The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.
Feras Mousilli retweeted
Having the right trademark and brand clearance are absolutely critical in any business launch.
Rebel Creamery files for bankruptcy after $23.8m trade-dress judgment
Read more ➡️ trademarklawyermagazine.com/…
#trademarknews #IPnews #RebelCreamery #icecream #tradedress #VanLeeuwen #bankruptcy #IP
Feras Mousilli retweeted
Statement from the Nobel Foundation
One of the core missions of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration. The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations. It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who "have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind," and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize. A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed.
For additional information, please refer to the Norwegian Nobel Committee: nobelpeaceprize.org/press/pr…
Feras Mousilli retweeted
A Russian schoolteacher secretly filmed his own workplace as it was turned into a war propaganda machine. That footage is now part of a documentary shortlisted for an Oscar.
Here’s the story behind ‘Mr Nobody in Russia’:👇
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Feras Mousilli retweeted
Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell: federalreserve.gov/newsevent…
Feras Mousilli retweeted
« بعد عقودٍ من الخوف والصمت، بدأ السوريون رحلةً طويلة نحو الأمل والتجدد.
وسيَبذل الاتحاد الأوروبي كل ما في وسعه لدعم تعافي سوريا وإعادة إعمارها » @vonderleyen 🇪🇺🤝🇸🇾
Feras Mousilli retweeted
The future of Syria belongs to all Syrians. xitter.gq/i/broadcasts/1ypKdqwwy…
Feras Mousilli retweeted
In Damascus today with @eucopresident.
After decades of fear and silence, Syrians began a long journey toward hope and renewal.
Europe will do everything it can to support Syria’s recovery and reconstruction.
Feras Mousilli retweeted
BIG financial news for #Syria, as @Mastercard announces an official license for @QNBGroup to begin issuing/receiving digital financial transactions in #Syria.
All facilitated by #Syria's Central Bank & the repeal of the #CaesarAct.
Feras Mousilli retweeted
The New York Times reports that this is what finally pushed Trump to send Delta Force to storm Caracas and abduct Maduro:
*Maduro's constant dancing became the last straw for Trump, he pressed the button
*White House settled on Delcy as an acceptable candidate. Her ability to edge up oil output under sanctions impressed some Trump officials
*Machado was never a frontrunner
nytimes.com/2026/01/04/world…
