Cross-border
Setting up in Poland: what French-speaking founders miss
Setting up in Poland is rarely complex, but sequence, banks, accounting and language slow founders down. Here is what to plan before you start.
By Olivier Maciejewski
4 min read
Poland attracts French-speaking founders for solid reasons: a large domestic market, a central position in Europe, a deep pool of talent and an active business scene in Warsaw. Most arrive having read about company forms and compared a few options online. That part is well documented.
What founders tend to underestimate is everything around the company itself: the order of the steps, the time each one takes, the bank, the accountant, the language. None of it is especially complex. Together, it decides whether the first months are spent building the business or chasing paperwork. Here are the points we see most often, and what to clarify before you start.
Time, more than complexity
Setting up in Poland is rarely complicated, but each step depends on the one before. The company needs a registered address. The bank account needs the company. Contracts, invoicing and payroll need the bank account. A delay at one stage moves everything after it.
The practical consequence is planning. Founders who sign a lease, hire a first employee or announce a launch date before the structure is ready often pay for months in which they cannot actually operate. A simple timeline, built backwards from the date you want to issue your first invoice, avoids most of this:
- list the steps in order, with who handles each one;
- ask each provider how long their part usually takes for a case like yours;
- keep a margin for the steps that depend on third parties, such as banks;
- commit to costs only once the steps they rely on are done.
Banks and accounting
Opening a business account is often the step that takes longest. Banks ask about the shareholders, the source of funds and the planned activity, and those questions multiply when the shareholders live abroad or the business is international. A clear description of the activity, the people behind it and the expected flows of money makes the conversation shorter.
Accounting is the other surprise. Polish accounting has its own rules and calendar, and a local accounting firm is part of the setup, not something to find after the first invoices. Choose one that works in a language you are comfortable with, explain how you plan to invoice and get paid, and agree from the start who sends what, and when.
Language and documents
Official procedures, contracts with local partners and many day-to-day exchanges happen in Polish. Some documents will need translation. Others will need to be signed in a particular way, or obtained in your home country first. Founders who discover this late spend weeks on back-and-forth that could have been planned.
Two habits help. First, gather early the documents you will be asked for about the company, its shareholders and its directors, and check what form each one needs to take. Second, have one local point of contact who follows the file and speaks both your language and Polish. It saves time, and it means someone notices when a step stalls.
The legal side belongs with a law firm
Company formation, contracts, employment and disputes all follow Polish law, which differs from French, Belgian or Luxembourg law in ways that matter. The choice of company form, governance, employment contracts and tax questions are matters for lawyers and tax advisers, not for a business plan or a forum thread.
For French-speaking founders, Legal Venture Partners is a natural place to start. It is an independent Warsaw law firm for entrepreneurs and investors, and its French Desk works with French-speaking clients on exactly these questions, in French. You can find the firm at lvpartners.pl. Our earlier article on doing business in Poland as a French-speaking founder gives a short overview of what the French Desk covers.
Where OMAZEO fits
Before the legal steps, there is a business case to make. Why Poland, and for which activity? Who will run it locally, with which team and which budget? Will the Polish company serve the Polish market, the wider region, or act as a base for international clients? The answers shape every later choice, from the bank to the hiring plan.
That is the part OMAZEO works on with founders. We help clarify the plan, the sequence and the budget, and we coordinate with the lawyers and accountants who handle their parts, so that you have one plan rather than several separate opinions. If you are still deciding whether your activity should run through a company at all, our article on when to structure your activity sets out the questions to answer first. You can also read more about how we work.
If you are considering Poland, start by writing down three things: what the Polish entity will do, who will be involved, and the date by which you want it operating. Then list the questions you cannot answer yet. Some will be business questions, others legal or tax ones. That list is the best starting point for a first conversation: with us for the business side, and with a law firm for the rest.
