My opinion is that the GDPR over the long term, will hamper the ability of EU companies to do business on the world stage, even more than currently. But that's a completely different topic for another time.
I would argue the opposite. Most of the laws laid out in the GDPR were already laws in EU countries such as Germany and the Netherlands. Creating a single EU law should reduce the effort needed to launch a company that is compliant in multiple countries within the EU.
Also, you wont need a DPO if you don't process large quantities of PII. (https://gdpr-info.eu/art-37-gdpr/)
And you don't need to hire an expensive company to 'prepare' for gdpr. A conversation with a lawyer should suffice where you lay out how you (plan to) use or process PII.