I'm not a lawyer, but I imagine: It really does probably start with the kindness of the initial benefactor - or as an in-house job until such time as the "prof

I'm not a lawyer, but I imagine: It really does probably start with the kindness of the initial benefactor - or as an in-house job until such time as the "profits" exceeded the founder's "wages" and then they could hire more people and have a reserve of X years of current employees' wages to handle the ups and downs. It would likely need to start from someone that either has a primary job, or is independently wealthy, though, and then that person would need to remain at the company because AFAIK (I'm not a lawyer), you cannot pay a "board" at a non-profit.