Every business—whether it’s a startup or a 100-year-old family enterprise — starts out on one of three paths:
1 | Passion – You love something so much you think the world should pay you for it.
2 | Profession – You take what you know and turn it into an offering.
3 | Pain – You solve a problem you’ve experienced, betting others will pay for the fix.
If you have one, and you’re willing to learn from the challenges it throws at you, you’re set. If you have two, even better. If you have all three, you’re golden. But each of these paths comes with a built-in challenge.
The passion-driven founder is deeply invested but risks being too emotional to see when an idea isn’t working. The profession-driven founder has experience but may struggle to stand out in a crowded market. The pain-driven founder understands the problem firsthand but needs to ensure enough people actually have the same problem—and are willing to pay to solve it. Mastering just one can get you far. Combining two gives you an edge. But knowing how to navigate all three? That’s where real opportunities come to life.
Building something new within a family business is different from starting from scratch. Founders answer only to the market; successors answer to the market, the legacy, and the last generation’s expectations. Innovation is necessary, but the challenge is navigating it within a structure built for stability, not reinvention.
I’ve built businesses from each of these three paths — and I’ve learned why none of them are enough on their own.
Passion: My First Business at 18
My first entrepreneurial attempt was a lifestyle blog. Pure passion. I loved writing, working with brands, and creating something of my own. It even worked — I invoiced my first customers at 18.
But passion alone wasn’t enough.
1| It wasn’t intellectually fulfilling. I needed something that challenged me beyond content creation.
2 | I didn’t understand business. I worked with cool brands, but I had no idea how to scale, price, or differentiate. Passion drove me, but I wasn’t building a real business.
So, I went looking for something bigger.
Profession & Pain: The Reality Check
My next venture came from pain — the frustration of watching corporate innovation fail. I was working at SIX, running innovation projects for SMEs, and nothing really changed. Workshops, strategy decks, endless discussions — but no real execution. So I built a business around it.
But I still didn’t understand differentiation or financial modeling — two things that separate a service from a scalable business.
The real test came when I took a management role at a boutique innovation consultancy. That’s when I saw how crowded the space was. Just being good at the work wasn’t enough. There were hundreds of others offering the same thing, and without a clear position, I was just another consultant.
Where I Am Now:
It took years, but I’ve finally found the right balance:
That’s the intersection where businesses thrive — not in chasing what excites you, not in repeating what you know, and not just in fixing what frustrates you. You need all three.
How This Plays Out for Successors
If you’re stepping into a family business and want to build something new, the same rules apply. You need to balance what excites you, what you’re good at, and what actually moves the needle for the business.
Here’s what happens when one is missing:
Passion: The Bold Move That Needs a Reality Check
You see an opportunity to bring something fresh to the business — maybe a new product line, a digital transformation, or a pivot into a different market.
The challenge: Passion makes it easy to overcommit before proving the business case. Enthusiasm doesn’t pay the bills.
How to solve it: Run the numbers like an outsider. Would you invest in this idea if you weren’t emotionally attached to it? If not, refine or scrap it before it drains time and capital.
Profession: The Obvious Play That Might Not Be Enough
You’ve built skills outside the family business — maybe in finance, tech, or operations — and now you’re bringing that expertise back. It makes sense; you know how to do this, and you know the company needs it.
The challenge: If it’s something you can do, chances are others can too. The market is full of people with the same background selling similar solutions. The risk isn’t failure — it’s being forgettable.
How to solve it: Specialization beats general competence. Instead of just applying what you know, figure out how to make it uniquely valuable within the family business context.
Pain: The Urgent Fix That Might Not Be a Business
You’ve seen inefficiencies firsthand — whether it’s a reliance on outdated processes, a shrinking customer base, or a missed market opportunity. You don’t just want to patch problems; you want to transform them into competitive advantages.
The challenge: Not every inefficiency is an opportunity. Some are just operational headaches, not scalable revenue streams.
How to solve it: Before investing in a fix, ask if anyone outside the company would pay for it. If not, it’s an internal improvement, not a business.
What do you bring to the table? Passion, profession, or pain? Better yet, ask your family. What did previous generations build from? What struggles shaped the business? Their answers might hold the key to how you build something new.
If you want to build something that lasts, you need all three. Here’s how to make sure you have them:
Most successors get stuck optimizing what already exists instead of building something new. The key is knowing when to stop tweaking and start launching.
If you missed my past newsletter on finding the core of a great business, it’s worth revisiting. Because at the end of the day, the best businesses—especially in family enterprises—aren’t just built on what you want to do. They’re built at the intersection of what you love, what the market values, and what actually pays.
Curious how other family businesses have tackled this? Let’s talk. Reply to this newsletter or drop a message on LinkedIn!