[pif]

IMHO, people will feel that they "own" the product when they'll really _own_ the product! I mean, when they'll have some freedom in how to do their work, when they'll be sincerely requested their opinion before taking decisions and when they'll participate in the financial benefits and risks. If you pay a fixed salary to someone to do the work you dictate him, you'll have a subordinate, not an associate. Just to be clear, I don't consider wrong or reductive at all to offer a fixed salary; it's just that a co-founder and an employee are in a different situation: a co-founder shares your goal (success for the company), while the employee has his own goal (more money and better conditions for him) which only partially are based on the overall success of your business.