Company: Kleinstimkerei Palz

Founder: Helmut Palz

Date of foundation: December 6, 2023

Industry and company Food production

What drives you? What is your motto?

The love of nature, the enthusiasm for the performance of bees - and the passion to create our own quality products.

What is your company about and what is special about it?

We are a genuine Wiesbaden honey manufacturer. We want to make you happy with our honeys 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 you that we will convince you of our fast family service, quality and passion.

What are your first successes?

We formed a very close partnership 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 very special experience.

We also designed a special label together for "their" company honey. This is now given as a gift to guests, among other things.

What is your professional background?

Beekeeping is my long-cherished "avocation". I'm actually a project manager in a large insurance company, where I oversee international projects. But that wasn't enough for me and I missed the connection to nature.

Beekeeping was and is the perfect complement, especially after a hectic working day - you live to the rhythm of the bees and at the same time drive a beautiful project forward (with planning, risk mitigation, budget control, etc.).

Very, very energizing and exciting.

What prompted you to set up your own company?

There were actually three reasons:

The fun of building something of my own and offering a product that would (hopefully) be of interest to many people.

The contact with other people and the curiosity to see what other product ideas and inspiration would arise as a result.

Beekeeping is not cheap. I wanted to sell something officially - under my own brand.

Who advised you, who are your helpers and mentors?

The path through the jungle of business start-ups was paved by the Department of Economic Affairs and Employment. Mr. Jan Erik Petersen in particular helped me in several phone calls, with clearly structured checklists and further information and useful links (for example to the start-up platform, with information on small business regulations).

The registrations with the tax office and business registration office were then completed very quickly and were done online followed by individual phone calls.

What made the process easier was that I didn't need any investments or loans and the hardware and premises were already available.

How did you experience the first few days as a founder?

The experiment of founding a company taught me a lot:

How quickly and easily everything can happen - if 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 get something of your own off the ground.

The people you meet and the doors that suddenly open.
Doors that you didn't even know existed at the start of your journey.

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

The biggest challenge was the bees. Around 150,000 bees with a mind of their own - subject to the fluctuations of nature. You can imagine what's going on.

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

The best advertising should be my products. They should speak for themselves and impress you as a customer with their sophistication and quality - and spread through recommendations.

I am also very lucky that I will already have a larger basic workload thanks to the partnership with the large Wiesbaden-based company. However, I may set up my own website or expand my Instagram profile (see below).

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 build a really excellent honey and a creative honey manufactory, to become a diver with the DLRG, to paint, paint, paint. To make an active contribution to our democracy in this special world situation.

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

... I would stay on 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 are not 100% behind it yourself, no one else will be on fire for it. Keep at it - keep at it - keep at it.

Tell the people you trust about your dream. Completely new paths and options may then open up. Everything else will come naturally.