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I run a bootstrapped cheminformatics company that’s been gaining traction, and I currently own it …

I run a bootstrapped cheminformatics company that’s been gaining traction, and I currently own it outright. I’m genuinely interested in a model like you’re describing—something that aligns everyone’s incentives and keeps them at the top of their game, not just waiting to vest or check out once they do. In my experience, equity alone can become more of a distraction than a motivator. It sometimes encourages people to mark time rather than consistently push the envelope. I’m wondering if a profit-sharing model, possibly combined with some consulting-group best practices, might be more effective at sustaining high performance over the long haul. If you know of a proven employee-owned approach that doesn’t dilute accountability—and actually ensures teams stay fully engaged—I’d love to explore it. My goal is to bring in the best talent, focus everyone on building the best product, and reward them in a way that keeps us all hungry for continued success.

Original discussion1% Equity for Founding Engineers Is BS237 source comments · at import
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RI

Why does no one run a completely employee owned tech company? What is the disincentive for modeling your company as employee-owned and operated? It seems that would be the best path to an efficient company and a focused company that’s not angled to be taken over by outside aggressive for profit interest and dismantling. I’m guessing that no investor will back a company that they can’t sell for Y times the investment. EDIT: Thank you for the thoughtful replies everyone. I totally spaced the idea that I was asking this question on HN, a VC owned forum. I am glad that it was not interpreted as flame war baiting.

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RI

I don’t have a model specifically but companies like “Bob’s Red Mill” and “King Arthur” are employee owned and rather succesful. Though those are not tech companies I can’t imagine the base model being drastically different when adapted.

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SM

Here's a potential starting point: https://tech-coops.xyz/ Fairly often you see service-focused small companies (i.e. agencies) being run as coops, e.g. my friend's NZ .NET shop http://iontech.nz/

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