Company: Parkbest UG i.G.
Founders: Neil Deloch, Jonas Langbehn
Date of establishment: February 6, 2023 (sole proprietorship), December 1, 2024 UG
Industry and company: App / Technology / Mobility solutions

What drives you? What is your motto?

Fast & efficient parking space search – For cities with less traffic and more life.

What is your start-up about and what makes it special?

With Parkbest, we aim to reduce traffic searching for parking spaces in city centers and give drivers back their valuable time. Our concept combines anonymous user-generated data, existing sensor technology, surveys, and much more to offer a comprehensive solution for parking space management.

What are your initial successes?

Our initial successes include over 4,000 downloads of our app, interest from users in over 120 cities across Germany, and the integration of more than 200 parking garages, with more in the pipeline. In addition, we will be testing the digital parking disc in Limburg from December as part of a six-month pilot project to draw conclusions about its use.

What is your professional background?

Jonas and I both completed our vocational baccalaureate at the Obermayr Business School in Wiesbaden. Jonas then studied business psychology at Fresenius University of Applied Sciences and successfully completed his degree, while I studied real estate management but dropped out to focus on founding Parkbest. Our different academic backgrounds and experiences complement each other perfectly in our start-up.

What prompted you to start your own business?

The decisive trigger for founding Parkbest was our frustration with the frequent search for parking spaces in our cities. We realized that this everyday stress not only costs time, but also contributes to traffic congestion and unnecessary CO2 emissions. 

Our passion for innovative solutions and our desire to improve mobility in urban areas motivated us to develop an app that helps drivers find parking spaces efficiently while reducing the burden on urban traffic infrastructure.

Who advised you, who are your helpers and mentors?

In the first year, the incubator and accelerator program at Fresenius University's Pioneer Lab provided us with enormous input and valuable knowledge. But YBG's startup program also expanded our expertise. Our families also play an important role by advising us and encouraging us to follow our path as founders.

How did you experience your first days as founders?

In the first days as founders, we felt a mixture of excitement and uncertainty. It was an interesting feeling to finally put our ideas into practice and start a business. We spent long hours developing our app and planning the first steps for its market launch. The support of our families and mentors gave us additional courage. At the same time, we were aware that we had many challenges to overcome, but our enthusiasm for our project motivated us to tackle every hurdle.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge was the technical implementation of our app and the sales discussions with over 100 municipalities. In the beginning, the process of getting in touch with the cities was often tedious and challenging. We had to learn how to present our solution effectively and respond to the specific needs of the municipalities. Over time and through continuous optimization of our approach, we have become increasingly articulate and confident. Now we have not only established close relationships with many cities, but also gathered valuable feedback that helps us further refine and adapt our solution.

How do you draw attention to your company? What is your best marketing idea?

We draw attention to Parkbest by using a mix of online and offline marketing strategies. Online, we rely on social media to generate app users and optimize our website weekly to attract the attention of cities and municipalities. 

Offline, we will place several hundred advertising posters in our first partner city, Limburg, to increase the visibility of our app and directly address the local population. This combination of targeted online presence and effective offline advertising helps us reach both private users and public administrations and generate interest in our solution.

How did you finance your start-up?

We bootstrapped the financing of our start-up entirely. This means that we financed our initial investments from our own funds and savings, without resorting to external investors or loans. This approach not only gave us full control over our company, but also the incentive to work economically from the outset and use our resources efficiently.

What dream would you still like to realize?

We dream of scaling Parkbest throughout Germany and beyond to become an app that is indispensable in people's everyday lives. Our goal is to enable drivers in every city to find parking spaces stress-free, while at the same time supporting cities in the digital management of their parking space.

Please complete the following sentence: If we had more time, we would...

work even more intensively on partnerships with other cities in order to expand and scale more quickly.

What is your special tip: What would you recommend to founders?

Our special tip is to build a strong network from the very beginning and actively exchange ideas with other founders and experts. Take every opportunity to learn and gather feedback. Be open to criticism and willing to adapt your business model. It's also important to be patient and persistent, because the road to a successful start-up is often long and fraught with challenges.