- Problem
- We started with a single company on purpose: we didn't know whether the business would work, and running two from day one means paying for a structure you may never use. Once it worked, the opposite problem appeared: every euro of profit we wanted to take out or reinvest elsewhere went through our personal income tax, and that bill grew with the business.
- Decision
- Set up the holding company as soon as the business proved it worked, not once profits were already large. We accepted the cost of running two companies in exchange for getting the structure right in time.
- Result
- Profits stay inside the structure and can fund the next project without first passing through the partners' personal income tax. We now have several new businesses in mind, and the structure to launch them already exists.
Lesson Structure isn't decided on day one, nor once the problem is already big. It's decided when the business proves it works.