> try to run at zero cost and leave it alone for a year or even better 3 years
I'd love to try, but by the end of year 2 I would have already lost 7200 € on social security contributions alone unless I evaded taxes. Running at zero cost gets really tricky in certain countries, I'm afraid.
In most countries you can register as independent instead of a company. It means higher taxes on profit but much lower registration and maintenance costs. This is a perfectly legal way of making a tiny bit of money while still paying taxes.
Some countries even let you make money without declaring it, as long as you’re within a threshold. You probably won’t get accepted at most payment providers with that setup though so YMMV, you can always manually process invoices / give your product for free while gating it behind “intent to pay”, etc.
Oh I didn't mean as a company. In Spain, as soon as you register as self-employed (the infamous autónomo) you must pay the social security contribution, ~300 €/month at the lowest bracket, and AFAIK there's no threshold to avoid it, not even zero.
(Well, technically there's case law for a threshold but you're taken to court anyway.)
Many people here used to bootstrap their online businesses by registering in the UK, but then Brexit happened. I'm considering "free with intent to charge", but right now that's a bet I can't afford.
I'd love to try, but by the end of year 2 I would have already lost 7200 € on social security contributions alone unless I evaded taxes. Running at zero cost gets really tricky in certain countries, I'm afraid.