I've spent over 20 years building businesses that cross borders. I founded AirPop in 2015, an air-wearables brand: it started with filtration masks and is adding a sleep-breathing line. AirPop sells through retail partners in more than 20 countries, including Target, Amazon and Best Buy in the US. Today I run AirPop and Global Solo across China and Hong Kong, operating a US LLC for the Global Solo business itself.
I built Global Solo because no vendor-neutral comparison hub existed for sub-$500K-revenue solo founders running US LLCs who aren't US tax residents. Every existing source was either a vendor blog (Doola, Firstbase, Stripe Atlas writing about themselves) or a generic personal-finance hub like NerdWallet that doesn't understand cross-border structure. So I built the thing I wished existed when I first set up my own US LLC from outside the US.
The site has two layers. The vendor-neutral comparison hub (Compare, By Country, Knowledge Base) is the main surface — comparing formation, banking, tax, and compliance services with affiliate disclosure on every page. The Free Diagnostic is an optional structural-risk layer for founders who want a map of their own structure before they choose services. Same author, two different jobs, both built from firsthand cross-border experience.
The stack I actually use
For Global Solo (US LLC) and AirPop (cross-border B2B). Updated as the stack changes. The choices below aren't affected by who pays — they're what I actually use.
Some links on this page go to partners who compensate us. This does not affect our analysis or rankings. How we make money
- Banking (US):Mercury for Global Solo's US LLC operations — chosen for non-US-resident-friendly onboarding, FedNow rails, and clean API.
- Treasury / FX:Airwallex for AirPop's cross-border supplier and customer settlements across USD, HKD, RMB, EUR.
- Bookkeeping:Xero for both Global Solo and AirPop — handles multi-currency well and integrates with the rest of the stack.
- Email / newsletter:Resend (transactional), LinkedIn Pulse (Border Lines monthly newsletter).
- Hosting / infra:Vercel + Supabase. Sentry for monitoring.
- AI / build:Claude Code (Anthropic) is how the entire site is built and maintained. AI-native isn't a buzzword here — it's the operating model.
Cross-Border Experience
- •Founded and scaled AirPop — an air-wearables brand sold through retailers in 20+ countries
- •Set up and managed entities across multiple jurisdictions (US, HK, China), navigating cross-border tax compliance, FBAR reporting, transfer pricing, and permanent establishment risk firsthand
- •Built Global Solo's META diagnostic framework from patterns observed firsthand across cross-border operations
Recent Articles
US Bank Account from Bangladesh: What Actually Works (2026)
October 17, 2026
Forming a US LLC from Bangladesh: Complete Guide (2026)
October 17, 2026
US Phone Number for Verification: Non-Resident Guide (2026)
October 17, 2026
Opening Business Accounts as a Non-Resident Director: 7 Attempts in Singapore, Hong Kong and the US (2026)
October 14, 2026
US LLC on an F-1, OPT or H-1B Visa: Your Tax Bucket (2026)
October 10, 2026
How to Pay Yourself From a US LLC as a Non-Resident (2026)
October 4, 2026
How a Non-Resident-Owned US LLC Is Taxed (2026)
September 7, 2026
Invoicing Your Own US LLC from India: LUT, FIRA, EDF (2026)
September 7, 2026
W-9 vs W-8BEN vs W-8BEN-E for a Foreign-Owned LLC (2026)
September 7, 2026
The AI Hiring Stack for Cross-Border Solo Founders (2026)
August 25, 2026