Felix Huettenbach, co-founder and former CEO of Sameday Health, looks at Europe's planned EU Inc. company form the way a founder would: not by its headline promise, but by the slowest step a company still has to take after it exists. The founder, investor, adventurer and YouTuber based in Dubai supports EU Inc., yet he argues it will only change behaviour if Europe also builds digital notary infrastructure at EU level.
The founder's calendar
From a founder's perspective, forming the company is only the first entry in a busy calendar. Next come opening accounts, signing with investors, issuing shares and appointing directors. EU Inc. aims to make the first entry fast by allowing formation anywhere in the EU within 48 hours. Huettenbach's concern is everything that follows. National notary requirements, waiting periods and apostille procedures between member states can stretch the remaining entries over weeks or months.
A case study in compressed time
His reference is Sameday Health during the Covid pandemic. It all started in September 2020 with one testing location for COVID-19 in Venice, Los Angeles. By December it announced 30 new facilities across 11 states, and by March 2021 it had launched vaccinations at Staples Center and an at-home concierge service. Later that year came house calls through the Sameday Health app, and in 2022 the company added virtual urgent care, with medication delivered the same day by its partner pharmacy Capsule.
Each of those moves required decisions, contracts and money to arrive quickly. Huettenbach's own summary is that the American launch during Covid happened within days, and that Europe's procedures would have turned those days into months. By his account, the business went on to handle roughly 30,000 daily bookings and serve about three million customers.
Four fixes for the slowest steps
From this perspective, his four proposals are aimed precisely at the bottlenecks a founder meets after formation:
- Once-only notary APIs throughout the EU, so verified information does not need fresh certification each time.
- One apostille standard for every member state, so documents are recognised across borders without extra procedures.
- 24-hour certification for funding documents, so capital is not left waiting for a stamp.
- Digital board appointments, so leadership can be put in place without a physical meeting.
The economics of delay
Huettenbach's estimate is stark: a business that cannot move fast may lose up to 80% of its growth potential. For a founder, that turns administrative delay into a strategic question: where to incorporate, where to raise money, where to hire. If Europe does not respond, he warns, capital and fast founders will keep opting for the United States. If it does, he estimates EU Inc. combined with these reforms could produce about 30% more European unicorns by 2030.
A founder who moved on
When Sameday Health moved to physician-led management in 2023 to broaden its medical services, Huettenbach stepped back. He now applies the same lens to infrastructure as co-founder and partner of Terranum, a data center developer built around renewable power. His conviction has stayed constant: "Execution beats narrative."
Readers can also find him on Medium.
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