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Understanding the Legacy–Entrepreneurship Matrix
Family businesses are shaped by continuity and change. They inherit a history, identity,
relationships, values, ownership, and accumulated experience from previous generations. At the
same time, each generation faces new markets, technologies, expectations, and opportunities. The
challenge is not simply to preserve what already exists, nor to constantly replace it with
something new. It is to understand how the family connects what it carries from the past with
what it needs to create for the future.
This is why the relationship between legacy and transgenerational entrepreneurship matters.
Legacy reflects what the family seeks to maintain, develop, and pass down
across generations. Transgenerational entrepreneurship reflects the family's
capacity to sustain entrepreneurial activity over time, including the relationships,
capabilities, and involvement of future generations that support renewal.
The Legacy–Entrepreneurship Matrix brings these two perspectives together. Rather than treating
legacy and entrepreneurship separately, it shows how they combine within your family business.
Your position in the matrix reflects the relative emphasis your family currently places on each
dimension. From this combination, four broad profiles emerge.
Click on the titles to learn more about each of the four profiles:
Keepers
Keepers place strong emphasis on continuity and on what the family wants to carry
forward. The family may have a clear sense of identity, ownership, history, or
responsibility across generations, whereas entrepreneurial renewal receives
comparatively less emphasis.
The central question for Keepers is how the family can use its inheritance as a
foundation for future entrepreneurial activity without becoming overly dependent on
established ways of doing things.
Pioneers
Pioneers place strong emphasis on entrepreneurial activity, adaptation, and the pursuit
of new opportunities, whereas legacy receives comparatively less emphasis. The family
may be highly future-oriented and willing to experiment, renew, or create new ventures.
The central question for Pioneers is how this entrepreneurial energy can remain connected
to a shared sense of family continuity and to those elements of the family's history and
identity worth carrying forward.
Builders
Builders combine a strong orientation towards legacy with a strong orientation towards
entrepreneurship across generations. The family seeks to preserve and develop what it
values while also encouraging renewal, adaptation, and the creation of new value.
For Builders, the challenge is not to choose between past and future. It is to keep both
connected. As the family and business evolve, maintaining this balance requires
continual discussion about what should remain, what should change, and what the next
generation should be able to create.
Drifters
Drifters place less emphasis on both legacy and transgenerational entrepreneurship. This
may occur when the family has not yet developed a clear view of what it wants to
preserve or how future generations should participate in the family business's
entrepreneurial development.
The central question for Drifters is more fundamental: what does the family want to carry
forward, and what role should entrepreneurship play in its future?
Why does this matter?
Family businesses differ in how they relate to what has been built in the past and in how they
approach future entrepreneurial development. These orientations can take different forms
depending on the family, the business, and the stage of generational development. Understanding
how legacy and transgenerational entrepreneurship intersect can help families make their current
orientation more visible and discuss whether it reflects their priorities and aspirations for
the future.
The four profiles are not intended to rank families or identify a single ideal position. A
family's position may reflect its generation, ownership structure, leadership, governance,
strategic priorities, or current stage of development. It can also change over time.
The matrix's value lies in making the relationship between past and future more visible. It
offers a simple way to reflect on whether the family is preserving what is meaningful while also
building the capacity to renew, adapt, and create value for future generations.
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