Company: Kleinstimkerei Palz
Founder: Helmut Palz
Date of establishment: December 6, 2023
Industry and company: Food production

What drives you? What is your motto?
A love of nature, enthusiasm for the work of bees, and a passion for creating our own high-quality products.

What is your start-up about and what makes it special?
We are a genuine Wiesbaden-based honey manufacturer. We want to make you happy with our honey and bee products. We – that's currently around 150,000 bees and me, Helmut Palz. Try our bee products and honey specialties now. We promise that you will be impressed by our friendly, fast service, quality, and passion.

What are your first successes?
A very close partnership developed with a large Wiesbaden-based company, which provided me with a very special, protected area for my apiary. The management and employees were also my first paying customers. A special experience. We also designed a special label for "their" company honey together. This is now given as a gift to guests, among other things. 

What is your professional background?
Beekeeping is my long-cherished "side job." I am actually a project manager at a large insurance company, where I oversee international projects. But that didn't fulfill me, and I missed being in touch with nature. Beekeeping was and is the perfect complement, especially after a hectic day at work—you live in tune with the bees and at the same time drive a wonderful project forward (with planning, risk mitigation, budget control, etc.). It's very, very energizing and exciting.

What prompted you to start your own business?
There were actually three reasons: the fun of building something of my own and offering a product that (hopefully) many people would find interesting. The contact with other people and the curiosity to see what other product ideas and inspiration would come out of it. Beekeeping is not exactly cheap. I wanted to sell something officially – under my own brand. 

Who advised you, who are your helpers and mentors? The Department of Economic Affairs
and Employment paved the way for me through the jungle of starting a business. Mr. Jan Erik Petersen in particular helped me in several phone calls with clearly structured checklists, further information, and useful links (such as to the start-up platform with information on small business regulations).

The registrations with the tax office and the trade registration office were then completed very quickly and took place online, followed by individual phone calls. 

What simplified the process was that I didn't need any investments or loans, and the hardware and premises were already in place.

How did you experience your first days as a founder?
The experiment of starting a business taught me a lot: how quickly and easily everything can go – when you are passionate about something. How important and rewarding it is to stick with something. What energy and options suddenly open up when you decide to start something of your own. What people you meet and how doors suddenly open.
Doors that you didn't even know existed at the beginning of the journey.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge is the bees. Approximately 150,000 bees with a mind of their own – exposed to the vagaries of nature. You can imagine what that's like.

How do you draw attention to your company? What is your best marketing idea
? My products should be the best advertisement. They should speak for themselves and convince you as a customer with their sophistication and quality – and spread through recommendations.

I am also very fortunate that I will already have a larger basic workload thanks to the partnership with the large Wiesbaden-based company. If necessary, however, I will set up my own website or expand my Instagram profile. 

How did you finance your start-up? I financed
my small honey factory with my own funds. An excellent investment.

What dream would you still like to realize?
There are a few things that inspire and drive me: to produce truly excellent honey and build a creative honey factory, to become a rescue diver with the DLRG (German Life Saving Association). To paint, paint, paint. In this particular global situation, to make an active contribution to our democracy.

Please complete the following sentence: If I had more time, I would... stay
the course and work creatively and diligently for you (and my bees) with a lot of heart and passion.

What is your special tip: What would you recommend to founders?
Believe in yourself. Believe in your business idea.  If you're not 100 percent behind it yourself, no one else will be passionate about it. Keep at it—keep at it—keep at it. Tell the people you trust about your dream. This may open up completely new paths and options. Everything else will fall into place.