I've spent over 20 years building businesses that cross borders. I founded AirPop, a B2B consumer hardware brand with manufacturing in China and global distribution across the US, Europe, and Asia. Today I run AirPop and Global Solo from 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 from outside the US. 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 16+ formation, banking, tax, and compliance services with affiliate disclosure on every page. The META Diagnostic ($99) is an optional structural-risk layer for founders who want a pre-purchase risk map before they commit. Same author. Different products. 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.
- Payments:Stripe for Global Solo subscription / one-time charges. Standard rails; no surprises.
- 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
- •20+ years operating businesses across the US, China, and Asia
- •Founded and scaled AirPop — B2B consumer brand with global distribution
- •Set up and managed entities across multiple jurisdictions (US, HK, China)
- •Navigated cross-border tax compliance, FBAR reporting, transfer pricing, and permanent establishment risk firsthand
- •Built Global Solo's META diagnostic framework from patterns observed across two decades of cross-border operations
Recent Articles
Mercury IO Card vs Ramp vs Brex vs Rho: Corporate Cards for Non-Resident US LLCs (2026)
May 8, 2026
How One Invoice Gets Taxed Differently in Two Countries
April 24, 2026
Contractor or Employee: Not Your Classification
April 22, 2026
What to Check After Filing Your US LLC Taxes: A Post-Filing Structural Review (2026)
April 17, 2026
Deel Review: What Solo Founders Actually Get (2026)
April 16, 2026
Holding Companies for Solo Founders: Help or Hype?
April 16, 2026
You Don't Need a CPA to File Taxes for Your US LLC (If You Have No Revenue Yet)
April 15, 2026
What Your CPA Needs (And What You Don't Have)
April 14, 2026
SBA Now Requires 100% Citizen Ownership for Loans -- What That Means for Cross-Border Founders
April 11, 2026
BEA-15: The Federal Survey Most LLC Owners Miss
April 10, 2026