Investors want ownership, so to be completely employee owned means completely employee funded. So unless you have 5-10 employees willing to work for free until

Investors want ownership, so to be completely employee owned means completely employee funded. So unless you have 5-10 employees willing to work for free until profitability PLUS paying infrastructure costs in the meantime, you are constrained to activities that can be profitable from day one. This is why you can see employee owned consulting and services companies but not major development projects.