US corporate law and, in particular, Delaware law, which leaves ample room to freedom of contract, has been one of the reasons for the successful creation and financing of startups in Silicon Valley. We analyze the Italian attempt to modernize company law in order to promote startup creation within the wider movement of company law simplification and modernization around Europe. In Italy a suitable corporate law statute for early stage startups was missing. Italy is a dual system jurisdiction. The SPA (public company type) has at least part of the required financial flexibility, but it is still burdened by European rules on legal capital and inflexible rules concerning management and controls. The SRL (private company type) offered a lot of leeway as to the management of the company, but left no room for freedom of contract with regard to financing, since it was not imagined as a vehicle for investors. In response to competitive pressure, economic aspirations and social changes, and to general demands from European institutions for some forms of facilitation of firm creation and venture capital, the Italian lawmaker has slowly transformed the SRL and created what is basically a new type of company (the SME SRL), which lies in between the two original types but whose borders are not fully clear. The ambiguous character of this company form makes it a problematic model for venture-funded startups. On the basis of our analysis, we argue that Italian corporate law is under competitive pressure from Delaware rather than from inter-European competition on corporate charters, and that path-dependance and remaining limits to freedom of contract burden Italian company law and prevent economic growth. We make some policy suggestions, among which the introduction of a counter-Satzungsstrenge principle for private companies.

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初创企业和公司法：特拉华州对意大利（和欧洲？）的竞争压力

美国公司法，尤其是特拉华州的法律，为合同自由留出了充裕的空间，这一直是在硅谷成功创建和融资初创企业的原因之一。我们分析了意大利对公司法进行现代化改造的尝试，以便在整个欧洲范围内简化公司法和实现现代化的广泛运动中促进创始企业的创建。在意大利，缺少适用于早期创业公司的公司法法规。意大利是双重制度管辖区。SPA（上市公司类型）至少具有所需的财务灵活性，但仍然受到欧洲关于法定资本的规则和有关管理和控制的僵化规则的负担。SRL（私人公司类型）在公司管理方面提供了很多余地，但是在融资方面没有合同自由的余地，因为它没有被认为是投资者的工具。为了应对竞争压力，经济抱负和社会变革，以及欧洲机构对促进公司创立和风险投资的某种形式的普遍要求，意大利立法者缓慢改革了SRL，并创立了基本上是新型的公司（ SME SRL），位于两种原始类型之间，但边界不完全清楚。这种公司形式的模棱两可的特性使其成为风险投资初创公司的有问题的模型。根据我们的分析，我们认为，意大利公司法受到特拉华州的竞争压力，而不是来自欧洲对公司章程的竞争，路径依赖和合同自由的剩余限制给意大利公司法造成负担，并阻碍了经济增长。我们提出了一些政策建议，其中包括针对私营公司的Satzungsstrenge原则。