Profit sharing/equity sharing is an excellent way to motivate employees and attract talent, especially if the employment nature is as risky and unstable as an early stage startup.
My friend works as a social worker, completely different field, and her employer created a profit sharing plan. They all love it. This is not limited to tech.
I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned it, HN is always quick to remind me that a tangential point, if casually mentioned as a way to give more context to a conversation, is going to be the focus of any further reply, rather than addressing the core. Truly my bad here, you did what you are supposed to do.
Good luck hiring engineers at a tech startup with no equity, that’s all I’ll say.