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The key steps for starting a company

Are you ready to start your own company? We applaud your decision! This page provides you with step-by-step instructions on the specific startup process and what you can expect for each phase in terms of preparation, during the formation process, and beyond.

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STARTUPS.CH can help.

Start your company directly with our partner STARTUPS.CH, the leading specialist for online company startups in Switzerland.

26/09/2023

Preparation

Draw­ing up a busi­ness plan

A de­tailed busi­ness plan is the first build­ing block for a suc­cess­ful com­pa­ny. It pro­vides in­put for de­ci­sions by the start­up team, en­sures trans­paren­cy, and is an es­sen­tial tool for in­still­ing con­fi­dence in ex­ter­nal in­vestors.

Choos­ing the le­gal form

When start­ing a com­pa­ny, the choice of le­gal form is a crit­i­cal de­ci­sion, as it has le­gal, fi­nan­cial, and tax ef­fects. Learn about the ad­van­tages and dis­ad­van­tages of le­gal forms in Switzer­land and how you can use a share­hold­er or part­ner­ship agree­ment to es­tab­lish clear re­la­tion­ships be­tween all par­ties in­volved.

De­ter­min­ing how much cap­i­tal will be need­ed

How much cap­i­tal will you need in the months and years ahead?What types of fi­nanc­ing are avail­able to cov­er this amount? A fi­nan­cial and liq­uid­i­ty plan will pro­vide you with an overview of the funds re­quired, as well as how to best man­age your com­pa­ny's avail­able liq­uid­i­ty.

Re­serv­ing your web ad­dress

Have you cho­sen your com­pa­ny name yet? Make sure to re­serve your web do­main as soon as pos­si­ble.

Credit Suisse Start-up Study 2023

The start-up scene is a dynamic and thriving part of the Swiss economy. Yet, data about the Swiss start-up ecosystem are scarce and not much is known about the challenges that start-ups face at various stages of their journey. In the start-up study 2023, you will gain insights into the start-up ecosystem from the perspective of both start-up founders and investors.

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Raising capital through investors' platform

Are you looking for fresh capital for your start-up? Benefit from our broad network of private investors. The Credit Suisse investors' platform gives you access to financially strong capital providers in Switzerland and abroad, as well as many other services.

26/09/2023

Formation

Eq­ui­ty con­tri­bu­tion

When form­ing a cor­po­ra­tion (GmbH, a lim­it­ed li­a­bil­i­ty com­pa­ny, or AG, a joint-stock com­pa­ny), the share cap­i­tal or eq­ui­ty cap­i­tal must be paid into an es­crow ac­count. We would be hap­py to open a cap­i­tal pay­ment ac­count for you.

Cer­ti­fied com­pa­ny foun­da­tion doc­u­ments

Es­tab­lish­ing an AG or GmbH re­quires of­fi­cial doc­u­ments, cer­ti­fied by a no­tary, for in­stance. All of the found­ing mem­bers or their rep­re­sen­ta­tives must be pre­sent and sub­mit a form of ID. For the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process, you will need all start­up doc­u­ments such as the cer­tifi­cate of in­cor­po­ra­tion, ar­ti­cles of in­cor­po­ra­tion, con­fir­ma­tion of ac­cep­tance by the gov­ern­ing bod­ies elect­ed, and the cap­i­tal pay­ment con­fir­ma­tion.

En­try with the Com­mer­cial Reg­istry Of­fice

Af­ter cer­ti­fi­ca­tion by the no­tary, you must reg­is­ter the com­pa­ny with Com­mer­cial Reg­istry Of­fice and arrange for an en­try to be made for your com­pa­ny in the Com­mer­cial Reg­is­ter. This gives the com­pa­ny le­gal en­ti­ty sta­tus. For a sole pro­pri­etor­ship, the en­try in the Com­mer­cial Reg­is­ter is re­quired only if you will man­age a com­pa­ny as a com­mer­cial en­ter­prise and gen­er­ate an­nu­al rev­enue in ex­cess of CHF 100,000.

100 Swiss start-ups with a great deal of potential

The TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award picks the most promising start-ups in Switzerland and brings them to the attention of international investors – a great opportunity for start-ups. 

26/09/2023

After the company has been formed

Open­ing a cor­po­rate ac­count

You will now need a cor­po­rate ac­count tai­lored to your needs for dai­ly pay­ment trans­ac­tions. Do you use for­eign cur­ren­cies as well? Would you also like a sav­ings ac­count? By choos­ing the right ac­count pack­age, you will be ready for a suc­cess­ful start.

AHV (Old Age and Sur­vivors' In­sur­ance) and oth­er in­sur­ance

Con­tact the re­gion­al com­pen­sa­tion of­fice for AHV. De­pend­ing on the le­gal form cho­sen for your com­pa­ny, ad­di­tion­al so­cial in­sur­ance will be re­quired by law for you and your em­ploy­ees. You must also de­ter­mine whether your com­pa­ny is sub­ject to VAT. And don't for­get prop­er­ty and li­a­bil­i­ty in­sur­ance in or­der to pro­tect your com­pa­ny from fi­nan­cial risks in the event of a claim.

Tax con­sid­er­a­tions

Your com­pa­ny is taxed dif­fer­ent­ly de­pend­ing on the se­lect­ed le­gal form. For sole pro­pri­etor­ships and part­ner­ships, the own­ers must pay tax­es on cor­po­rate prof­it as in­come, while joint-stock com­pa­nies and lim­it­ed li­a­bil­i­ty com­pa­nies are taxed as com­pa­nies. You must also de­ter­mine whether your com­pa­ny is sub­ject to VAT.

Prepar­ing im­por­tant con­tracts

You will need em­ploy­ment con­tracts if you plan to hire staff. It is ad­vis­able to pre­pare an em­ploy­ment con­tract for your­self as well, as it may even­tu­al­ly be re­quest­ed by var­i­ous Swiss au­thor­i­ties (Old Age and Sur­vivors' In­sur­ance, Fed­er­al Dis­abil­i­ty In­sur­ance, un­em­ploy­ment in­sur­ance, etc.). Also re­mem­ber to pre­pare the Gen­er­al Terms and Con­di­tions that your cus­tomers must ac­cept be­fore they can en­ter into a con­tract with your com­pa­ny.

Establishing a startup. You need to pay attention to these points

Setting up a company is not without its pitfalls – good planning is needed. As the bank for entrepreneurs, we also offer support when establishing a startup.
26/09/2023