I worked at Bell's when brewing was done 1bbl at a time... which was actually the 2nd brewing system... Larry Bell started the place with 15 gallon kettles and was fermenting in 40 gallon food grade trash cans.
Rogue was started by Jack Joyce, a lawyer and marketing guy for Nike. Was initially a small pub in Newport, but really started to take off when Jack had the foresight to hire John Maier and give him pretty much free rein.
I have had the extreme pleasure of brewing with both of those guys and the learning was invaluable.
Conversely, I worked at another company (which I will not name because of their nature) that was started by a homebrewer with vision, but he allowed the corporation to be run by people who had no concept of the brewery business. Example; The company was based in another state, but had several pubs. They wanted all the pubs to serve the same beer, with maybe one tap to the local brewer. I was directed to brew a particular beer which I knew was not going to work, but I did it, 20bbls as prescribed. The beer did it's standard 2 month rotation... five... FIVE! barrels sold, and that is with it being on $1 pint for half the time! This beer was totally wrong for the market. (surprisingly, this was not a big beer, it was a pils). The D.O. of the company came for a visit and asked if I had it on as a regular offering yet. No. Why not? It doesn't sell, I can't even give it away. I was let go because of this... Logic? Beers that sell vs corporate "sameness"... Well, the place was gone in 4 months and the corporation retreated to their home turf, so?...
The real key to success is less that it was STARTED by a brewer with vision, but that the people with the $$ give the folks in the know the freedom to do what needs doing.
