Succession & Mittelstand
Succession without your own children — what then?
Many owners have a picture in mind: the business stays in the family. When that does not work out, it often feels like failure. It is not.
21 July 2026 · 5 min read
No successor in the family is the normal case
That children go their own way, choose other professions or simply do not want to be entrepreneurs is the rule today, not the exception. Saying that about a business you built is hard — but it does not change the situation.
The first step is to admit it honestly, rather than losing years hoping for a yes that will not come.
The paths outside the family
There are more options than many think: handing over to long-serving employees, to an external successor, to a partner who continues the business rather than taking it apart. Each path has its own questions — but each is better than closure.
What matters is not the form, but that the substance — name, team, customers — is preserved.
Speaking early protects a life's work
Those who only start looking when there is no other choice negotiate under pressure and with little choice. Those who begin early can find the right person and hand over in calm.
A first conversation commits you to nothing — it only sorts your thoughts and shows which paths are realistic.
Having no successor in the family is not a failure. Letting the business close because you looked too late would be.