A new approach to cross-border US startup formation

For many non-US founders, forming a US startup is the same as it is for US founders: incorporate a Delaware corporation, issue founder stock, file an 83(b) election, get an EIN, open a bank account. Plenty of founders living outside the US can follow that exact path with no trouble.

But for others, it isn't that simple. Depending on where a founder lives, tax regulations, immigration law, and currency controls can make the standard approach unworkable. Until now, founders in this position have been doing one of two things: working with an attorney or using an online legal service marketed toward non-US founders.

Working with an attorney who has the right country-specific experience is an excellent approach. Two things have made it hard, though. First, very few attorneys specialize in any one country's cross-border formation, so finding the right one is difficult. Second, the rare attorney who does this work has had no easy way to streamline it, which has kept the process manual and time-consuming.

The other approach has been to use an online legal service marketed toward non-US founders. The problem is the paperwork they produce for non-US founders is the same as what they produce for US founders.

Our Solution

We've been bothered by this status quo for years and are pleased to introduce our solution: the ability for country-specific experts to build custom online legal services for specific situations, using Clerky products as modular building blocks. It's finally possible to combine country-specific expertise with the speed and accessibility of an online legal service.

These services can include the same products US startups use by default on Clerky. They can also choose from a selection of products designed for less common scenarios, previously available only to law firms.

This new approach also benefits from the unique infrastructure we have for non-US founders. As an example, these custom online legal services can integrate our Managed 83(b) Election add-on. This is the only way non-US founders can obtain USPS-postmarked certified mail receipts for 83(b) elections through an online legal service.

Inkle Incorporate

Inkle is the first to build on this new approach with their launch of Inkle Incorporate, an online legal service for US-India cross-border startups.

Because of tax regulations, immigration law, and currency controls in India, founders of these startups can't safely form a US entity the same way US founders would. So Inkle worked closely with legal and tax specialists in both the US and India to build a custom online legal service for exactly this situation, using Clerky products for the US paperwork.

Inkle is a natural fit for this. It's a tax and accounting platform used by many of the fastest-growing US-India cross-border startups, including half of all YC companies in India. Most Indian companies in YC's S26 batch have already used Inkle Incorporate to form their startups, with more on the way.

We're excited to see where Inkle Incorporate goes from here. If you're an expert interested in building something similar for founders in another country, we'd like to hear from you. Or if you're a startup founder in India and want to form a US entity, check out Inkle Incorporate.