Introduction

Since Schumpeter, scholars highlight the existence of unique qualities typical to entrepreneurial action and agree about the preponderance of certain qualities, strengths, and values, between entrepreneurs as a function of creating something new. These rare qualities are differentiating entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs and are relevant because entrepreneurship is key for every generation of an entrepreneurial family. The concept of transgenerational entrepreneurship is a quantum step in the theory, and it implies a number of hypothesis to be verified; they start from which are the traits of the entrepreneur as a person to which are the antecedents of becoming entrepreneur. The relationship between the founder and the founded must also be analyzed and how this evolves after the founding period. The existence of this link is important for the transgenerational entrepreneurship because to see if something can be transferred among generations, this “something” must exist and be deeply understood. This “something” is a set of entrepreneurial heuristics. Heuristics are precious especially when timescale for decision is shorting, and in general, when we have a scarcity of resources, these are exactly the context in which the founder and more generally the entrepreneur take decisions and informed his way of imprinting the company. They distinguish the firm in the industry vis-a-vis the competitors and are the key bricks to build the Entrepreneurial Essence, which is made of rare qualities, entrepreneurial processes, and assets. Evolution comes into equation, because it triggers changes and made adaptation necessary. To adapt leadership is a key component to the evolution of the Entrepreneurial Essence it constitutes the drive toward the adapted vision. This is the link between the Entrepreneurial Processes created in the founding phase and imprinted in the company and the evolution of the Entrepreneurial Essence in a competitive environment of continuous change.