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Start in BG
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About Us

Start in BG researches what it actually takes to start a business, move to, live in or invest in Bulgaria — and publishes the findings: guides with named sources, a provider comparison with a published methodology, tools, and a book. We sell no company formation and refer no providers.

Behind it are two entrepreneurs who know Germany and Bulgaria from their own experience. The combination is the actual point: German commercial perspective, Bulgarian entrepreneurial experience.

Photo of Dr. Dennis Kwiatkowski

Dr. Dennis Kwiatkowski

Co-founder, Start in BG · Analysis, strategy, business development

  • PhD in biochemistry — evidence of analytical work, not of legal or tax expertise.
  • Boutique strategy consulting and commercial roles with international companies.
  • Built and advised entrepreneurial projects of his own, including a consultancy and a brewery.
  • Researches and writes the guides on this site, including Accounting & VAT, Relocating as an entrepreneur and Address registration — see those pages for who last reviewed them.

Binding advice on legal or tax questions comes from appropriately qualified professionals, not from this profile.

Photo of Svilen Petkov

Svilen Petkov

Co-founder, Start in BG · Bulgarian entrepreneur and investor

  • BSc in business, Royal Holloway University of London.
  • Built several startups in Bulgaria, including growing and exiting one of the country's leading SaaS companies.
  • Actively invests in and advises the Bulgarian founder scene today.
  • Checks the operational-practice side of the guides against the Bulgarian founder scene — how business here actually runs, what works in practice and what only works on paper. That is not a legal or tax review — see How we verify.

Why this combination

Founders setting up in Bulgaria from abroad usually meet two kinds of provider: the ones who understand the home-country context but cannot move anything locally, and the ones who can do everything locally but cannot explain why a German tax adviser gets nervous about a particular plan.

Start in BG exists because those two belong together. We write down what is possible in Bulgaria, what it costs, who actually does it — and the cases where the honest answer is that the plan is not worth it as designed. That answer costs us nothing, because we have nothing to sell that depends on it.

What we do — and what we do not

Start in BG researches, explains and compares. We are not a law firm, not a tax practice, not an authority, not a formation agent and not an estate agent, and we do not act as though we were:

  • Start in BG: research, guides with named sources, provider comparisons, tools, the book. We engage nobody on your behalf and are paid by nobody for the provider you choose.
  • Providers you choose yourself: formation, bookkeeping, tax filings, VAT, payroll. The engagement is directly between you and the provider. Who they are and what they publicly commit to is in the provider comparison.
  • External specialists: depending on the case, lawyers, notaries, immigration specialists, banks, insurers, real-estate and recruitment providers.
  • Authorities: the Registry Agency, the National Revenue Agency, municipalities, the Migration Directorate. Registrations, entries and permits are their decision, not ours.

Naming those boundaries does not make us smaller, it makes us checkable. Where a statement on this site comes from, and when it was last checked, is set out on How we verify.

And the book

All of this started with writing down what we knew: "Start in Bulgaria", over 140 pages on formation, taxes, locations, the labour market and everyday life — with interviews from founders who have done it.

Start in BG is now funded through book sales and voluntary reader support through PayPal. The book is sold through Amazon and written by the same people who run this site — a self-interest we would rather name than leave unsaid. Payments buy neither access nor a service, placement, or editorial influence. Which is why everything substantial is also freely readable here: the book organises and completes it, it does not unlock it.

Until August 2026 Start in BG supported formations itself and worked with a Bulgarian partner firm to do it. Both have ended. What remains is the research — and the rule that no provider can pay for inclusion, position or points. How we check things and what we live on is set out on How we verify.