Why I Built KettenKlar
A few months ago, I was talking to the owner of a small manufacturing company in Bulgaria. Around 12 employees. They make precision parts for automotive companies — the kind of work that requires incredible skill and attention to detail.
He told me something that stuck with me.
"I got this email from our biggest German client. It was in English, but it might as well have been in "legal code". They want our 'Human Rights Policy Statement' and a 'Supplier Code of Conduct.' By Friday. Or they pause the contract."
This is a guy who wakes up at 5am to make sure his workers have everything they need. He pays fair wages. He runs a clean operation. But he had no idea what a "grievance mechanism" was or how to write a "policy statement" that would satisfy a German compliance officer.
The problem nobody talks about
Since 2024, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) requires companies with 1,000+ employees to monitor their entire supply chain for human rights and environmental risks. That part makes total sense — large corporations should be accountable.
But here's what actually happens in practice: those big companies send terrifying questionnaires to their suppliers. Small workshops in Turkey, logistics firms in Romania, textile operations in Bangladesh. Companies with 20, 50, maybe 100 employees. No legal team. No compliance department. Just people doing honest work who suddenly need to produce documents they've never heard of.
The suppliers I talked to weren't bad actors. They weren't trying to dodge accountability. They were confused, stressed, and afraid of losing contracts that represent half their revenue.
The gap I couldn't stop thinking about
I started looking for tools that could help these suppliers. What I found was... enterprise software. Platforms built for the big German companies to manage thousands of suppliers. SAP solutions. IntegrityNext. Aravo. Tools that cost hundreds or thousands of euros per month.
Nothing for the small supplier who just needs to respond to the email.
Think about that for a second. The entire LkSG ecosystem is built for one side of the table — the large company sending the questionnaire. Nobody is helping the person on the other end who actually needs to answer it.
What KettenKlar does
So I built what I wished existed for that manufacturer in Bulgaria.
You answer simple questions about your company — in plain English, not legal jargon. Things like "Do you verify the ages of your workers?" instead of "Describe your adherence to ILO Convention 138 regarding Minimum Age."
Then our AI takes your answers and transforms them into formal business language. Both in English (so you can understand it) and German (so your client can file it).
The result? A professional dual-language self-declaration document. The kind of thing that would normally take a consultant a week and cost thousands of euros. Ready in 10 minutes. For a fraction of the price.
Why this matters to me
I come from a background where I've seen small businesses get crushed by bureaucracy they didn't create and can't navigate. Regulations designed for large corporations inevitably trickle down to their suppliers — and those suppliers are often the most vulnerable link in the chain.
KettenKlar isn't about gaming the system or producing meaningless paperwork. It's about giving small suppliers the tools to accurately represent what they're already doing — in the language and format their clients need.
Because that manufacturer in Bulgaria? He already treats his workers well. He just couldn't prove it in a way that satisfied a German due diligence form.
That's what we fix.
If you're a supplier who has received an LkSG questionnaire and doesn't know where to start, try KettenKlar now — simple questions, professional output, 10 minutes.