What Europe’s oldest companies can teach its newest startups

Europe reveres stories of entrepreneurial founders who dare to disrupt established industries and forge new markets. This perspective is justified; Europe requires more audacious founders ready to construct the enterprises of the future. As someone immersed in the investment and startup ecosystem, I have long regarded entrepreneurship as synonymous with establishing a company.

However, during interviews with Maximilian J. Riedel, President & CEO of the Austrian glassware maker RIEDEL and a member of the eleventh generation of his family, I began to question whether that definition is excessively restrictive. Repeatedly in my discussions with founders, investors, executives, and multi-generational family business leaders across Europe, one observation has emerged: enduring companies are not those that choose between tradition and innovation.

They are those that consistently balance both. Across generations, these companies preserve their core identity while continuously reinventing how they create value in a shifting world. Scholars refer to this phenomenon as "transgenerational entrepreneurship": the ability to generate entrepreneurial value across multiple generations.

While well-documented within family business research, the concept has been largely ignored within the startup ecosystem. It is a notion that merits inclusion in today's startup discourse. Entrepreneurship beyond the founder Few companies exemplify this principle better than RIEDEL. Founded in 1756, the Austrian glassmaker has repeatedly reinvented itself over 270 years.

After losing its Bohemian factories, property, and assets after World War II, the family rebuilt the enterprise in Austria. Subsequent generations did not merely preserve what had been created. Claus J. Riedel revolutionized wine glass design through functional, wine-friendly stemware. Georg J. Riedel subsequently expanded the business internationally and developed grape-varietal-specific glassware for mass production.

Currently, Maximilian J. Riedel continues to evolve both the company and the brand for a new generation of consumers. Examining RIEDEL's history, it becomes challenging to argue that entrepreneurship belongs solely to the founder. Each generation inherited the same company but none inherited the same world. Altering markets, novel technologies, and shifting consumer expectations demanded innovative thinking at each juncture.

What endured was not the original entrepreneurial act but the repeated willingness to reinvent the company while staying true to its purpose. That may be one of the most valuable lessons for contemporary founders. We frequently define entrepreneurship as the act of commencing a company. Yet, perhaps it is more accurately characterized as the capacity to perpetually reinvent how a company generates value as the world evolves.

Founding a company may be the initial entrepreneurial act. Today's founders are constructing businesses in an era of unprecedented technological transformation. Few can confidently anticipate how their markets will appear even five years hence. History suggests that the companies most likely to endure are not necessarily those that accurately predict every shift.

Instead, they are those that develop the capability to adapt when change occurs. In this sense, startups and companies like RIEDEL confront the same fundamental challenge. Neither can rely on yesterday's success. Both must maintain entrepreneurship long after their original business model has been validated. What startups can learn from Europe's enduring companies Europe dedicates significant time discussing how to foster more startups, scale-ups, and globally competitive enterprises.

These discussions are crucial. However, we may be overlooking another competitive advantage. Across Europe, entrepreneurial families and long-established companies have navigated disruption, adapted to technological change, and reinvented successful businesses across generations. Alongside capital, networks, and industrial expertise, they possess an equally valuable asset: accumulated entrepreneurial experience.

This is not an argument for looking back. It is a plea to learn from organizations that have already demonstrated an exceptional capacity to adapt. Europe's startup ecosystem boasts speed, cutting-edge technologies, and novel perspectives. Long-established entrepreneurial companies bring decades, sometimes centuries, of experience in reinvention.

These strengths are complementary, not competing. For founders, the lesson is not to emulate century-old companies. It is to recognize that the capabilities required to build a company and the capabilities needed to continually reinvent one are intimately intertwined. Perhaps we should broaden our understanding of entrepreneurship.

Not by celebrating founders any less, but by acknowledging that building a lasting company requires entrepreneurship long after the company has been founded. Europe undoubtedly needs more founders. Yet, it also requires companies capable of reinventing themselves generation after generation. Perhaps Europe's greatest competitive advantage will not stem solely from its ability to create new companies.

It may also reside in its capacity to cultivate companies that remain entrepreneurial as the world continues to evolve.