The Family Enterprise
Starting at €7,750,00
Every family business has two histories. The one recorded in documents. And the one that only the family knows.
A family enterprise is built in plain sight and in private at the same time. The decisions that shaped it — who entered the business and who stepped back, what was risked and what was protected, when to expand and when to hold — most of these were made at kitchen tables, not in boardrooms. They were shaped by relationships, by obligations, and by the weight of not wanting to be the generation that let it fail.
The work is neither a corporate history nor a simple family memoir, but a meticulous record of how the two became inseparable. The atelier synthesizes personal memory with the physical archive — photographs, correspondence, deeds, and early ledgers — to build a permanent legacy document.
Choose Your Scope
Foundation
For the enterprise with a clear origin and a story that can be told within a single arc — one founding generation, an early period of growth, and perhaps a first transition. Composed, precise, and built to last.
Continuity
For the enterprise that has moved through more than one generation and carries the distinct marks of that movement — changed leadership, structural shifts, and moments where the original vision was tested and either held or transformed.
Legacy
For the enterprise whose history is long enough to have accumulated real complexity — multiple generations, divergent perspectives, periods of rupture and recovery, and an archival record worth integrating in depth.
Tailored
Define your own pagination and interview parameters with your editor. Pricing is adjusted from our starting rates according to the scope agreed.
On Confidential Information
We understand that a family enterprise carries commercially sensitive material — margins, supplier relationships, proprietary methods — that has no place in a keepsake volume even where it touches directly on the story. Before any manuscript is finalized, you review exactly what is included, and anything genuinely confidential is excluded or spoken of only in general terms, at your direction.
Created For
- A founder approaching succession who wants the vision they built to be understood, not just legally inherited.
- A second or third generation that senses the full, unvarnished history of the enterprise has never been fully assembled.
- A family marking a threshold — a centenary, a sale, a closure, or a structural reinvention.
- Any enterprise that has outlasted its original circumstances and seeks to understand the exact mechanics of how, and why, it survived.
What Is Delivered
- Private listening sessions conducted with founders, legacy builders, and inner witnesses.
- Independent background research and rigorous narrative synthesis.
- A fully original, long-form manuscript that transforms operational history into a definitive literary record.
- Careful placement of archival photography, historical documentation, and bespoke illustrations.
- A masterfully bound, heirloom-grade printed volume, accompanied by a complete digital edition.
Commission Details
We begin with a private consultation to discuss your vision and confirm scope. Payment is split into three installments: an initial deposit to begin gathering your story, a mid-point payment before writing begins, and the final balance upon delivery.
As each volume is an entirely bespoke commission, all agreements are treated as final. Our collaborative process — including listening sessions and review cycles — ensures complete alignment before fine production begins. Any rare printing or logistical issue is resolved personally and promptly.
Your heirloom volume is packaged and dispatched via secure, fully insured transit. We serve an international clientele, and all shipping considerations are included in your initial project quotation.