Current research suggests that entrepreneurship in the family business context is mainly induced by top-down firm-level activity. We propose that entrepreneurial activity is also initiated autonomously as a bottom-up process by individual members or a group of individual members of an entrepreneurial family (EF). Building on 63 interviews with EF members involved in 39 venturing cases, we reveal a set of unique motives driving the venturing activity and show how these motives are intertwined with six heterogeneous family venture types. We also emphasize how positioning (i.e., inside or outside of family firms’ boundaries), family support, emotional attachment, and transgenerational intention vary among the different venture types.

当前的研究表明，家族企业背景下的企业家精神主要是由自上而下的公司层面的活动引起的。我们建议企业家活动也可以作为一个自下而上的过程，由企业家家庭（EF）的单个成员或一组单个成员自动启动。在对涉及39个风险投资案例的EF成员进行63次采访的基础上，我们揭示了推动风险投资活动的一系列独特动机，并展示了这些动机如何与六种异类家族企业相交织。我们还强调了不同企业类型之间的定位（即家族企业边界之内或之外），家庭支持，情感依恋和世代相传的意向是如何变化的。