Can I take an passive role in a business - I want to found a startup but don't want to do the interviewing. My passion is idea generation...Do I have to start a company myself or are there other alternatives to realizing these ideas.
Will you permit me to be really frank with you? One of the things I get paid by clients for is Ideation consulting. But ideation is a specific process, not randomly brainstorming ideas.
Here's the frank part, you're looking for a very lazy way out... which means you're already lost.
Yes, you can take a passive role in a business by investing cash in them OR by providing such extraordinary value one time that they give you equity for that value exchange.
You also said you want to found a startup but not do interviewing. What does that even mean? You don't want to interview employees?