Disadvantages of running a company in Estonia

Estonia is a beautiful country with a rich culture, a great place to live and, as we believe based on our team‘s experience of working in more than 15 countries, pretty much the best place on earth to do business from. However, even Estonia has some shortcomings and specific difficulties, and you should definitely consider them before starting a company here.

A country far far away

Estonia is a small country and it‘s not exactly located in the heart of Europe. This means that in most cases it will take you a two hour flight or more to come to see us. Although Tallinn Airport is one of the most convenient and cozy airports you will ever visit, it offers only few direct connections, so prepare for a layover. And yes, technically it is totally possible to run an Estonian company fully from abroad, but down the road it might actually be useful for you to drop by and get to know Estonia.

Estonian is a difficult language

The good news is: Pretty much everyone in Estonia has a close to perfect command of English. So, when running a company in and from Estonia you will never actually need to speak Estonian. However, if you wish to blend in and learn Estonian, you are definitely going to have a hard time, unless you are that guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GXjPEkDfek

Our banks take compliance seriously

...and that is actually very good and important, since it makes sure that only legitimate businesses take advantage of the Estonian business environment.On the downside this means, that even if your business model is perfectly fine, legal and transparent, you will have to answer a lot of questions when opening a bank account, provide the bank with a plethora of documents and present your business model in a comprehensible way. Also, most Estonian banks require your company to operate for some time before they open an Estonian bank account for you, which means you will have to go with an account opened through Holvi or TransferWise for the first couple of months.