Personal anecdote. I run a small business with a business partner (co-owner) and we have no employees. We need an employee. I’m personally a huge fan of employee-owned companies.
But from a hiring perspective, it is mind bogglingly risky for us to hire someone and just automatically stake them. Like, what if it’s the wrong person? How do we claw back control? Do we risk dilution sending the company in another direction?
It’s just so much easier just to pay someone and not have to deal with the complexity. And therein lies the rub.
The legal and administrative overhead to do all of that would incur significant additional costs. We shall see.