Founders should view their companies and themselves as collections of assets, not just passive ownership. By treating your skills and contributions as assets with measurable returns, you focus on high-value work instead of grinding without strategy, reducing resentment and building real ROI.
Think in assets. I've often recommended the books of Daniel Priestley, and one of his books, 24 Assets, talks about thinking about a company in terms of assets. And I think there's also a worthy way of thinking about yourself as an asset. There are people who think the company is going to— whatever they've built as a project or company or what have you continues to work because they are still leaning into it, because they are just doing it. And often they look at their ideal being not part of it at all. Like, how can I be passive money to which I'm completely separate? But I think an asset frame framing really helps in this regard because you are an asset to the company, asset to whatever it is you built, probably a highly valuable asset because you can sell it, because you can run a certain kind of intellectual firepower, maybe because you can recruit, whatever it is. You will find that you are applying yourself to where you'll create the greatest returns instead of resenting the time spent on the company. You'll be embracing return on assets.
