You’ve got me thinking about the distinction between an owner and a coordinator. The person who decides there’s a market for widgets and decides to build a widget factory doesn’t necessarily need to be a widget builder by trade, nor a factory builder by trade. Assuming they don’t just sell the factory to the widget builders, what role should they take to make them a continued and valuable part of the business? Market analysis of what types of widgets are the most profitable? Negotiation with the makers of bolts that slot into the widgets? It’s true that in retail, I had an employer who did none of those things, passively squatting on the reputation his father had established, and something had clearly gone wrong there.

(Honestly, I’m not against rental properties, because you are never going to convince me that my mother is evil for renting. I recognize that I’m not going to be able to argue this, though.)