This page is the full overview. If you want to go deeper on one part of scaling a digital service business, these focused guides cover each topic in detail:
Digital service businesses are some of the easiest companies to start and some of the easiest to get slightly wrong.
That sounds harsh, but it is usually true. If you run a SaaS platform, a digital agency, an online consultancy, a digital product business, or a service-led tech company, you can build revenue quickly without stock, premises, or a huge team. You can invoice a client in Manchester in the morning, onboard a customer in Germany at lunch, and close a US contract before the day ends. It is scalable, flexible, and, on paper at least, beautifully simple.
Once a digital business starts selling beyond the UK, a lot of questions appear at once. Should you charge VAT to a German client? What happens if they are a company but not VAT-registered? Why do Google and other software providers invoice without VAT? If your app is sold through Apple, who deals with the tax? If you only work with American companies, do you even need UK VAT registration? And when does this stop being an invoicing issue and start becoming a pricing, margin, and structure issue?