In my virtual studio everyone is their own sole proprietorship contributing to the project off and on and getting compensated fairly for their contributions.
This is one of the biggest roadblocks I see devs of all shapes run into: how did you bootstrap to the point of paying decent wages? I ask because I won’t accept free work, I won’t accept AI garbage, and I value talent and think it should be paid. But that middle part is hard, and losing 2-5 grand on failed projects hoping that they can pull their weight is literally vexing me.