I didn't find the book I was thinking of, but I think I've identified one of the main characters I was thinking of, Richard Arkwright. You can see that his biography broadly tracks what I'm describing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Arkwright
And I think I found the line which you could call the 'origin story' of the Industrial Revolution - the invention of the Spinning Frame (a water powered automation machine, if you will).
> Arkwright and John Smalley of Preston set up a small horse-driven factory at Nottingham. To obtain capital for expansion, Arkwright formed a partnership with Jedediah Strutt and Samuel Need, wealthy nonconformist hosiery manufacturers. In 1771, the partners built the world's first water-powered mill at Cromford, which covered both carding and spinning operations and employed 200 people.
This goes to u/qikInNdOutReply's point (cross-thread) about citizens with venture capital.
Knowing nothing about this, my hunch is there were many prerequisites.
Another interesting aspect (to me) is how some innovations (efforts) manage to avoid being snuff in their cribs. Everett's whole Diffusion of Innovation about the sociology of it all.
On a similar note, the Romans built quite a few canals, but "Canal Mania" in the UK involving a lot of capitalist ventures building extended transit networks across the UK is an arguable starting point for the Industrial Revolution
That goes back to 3BC where the ancient greeks invented it, so I don't think that's a good candidate for the beginning of the industrial revolution. I get the association though, because it is a mechanical system harnessing non-animal power to do useful work.
https://www.greekboston.com/culture/ancient-history/water-mi...