zlacker

If the company is making something of actual value, it will be hard to replicate. Just as you can't recreate that McDonald's taste just because you worked there, most businesses have some sort of intrinsic IP that you can't steal. There will always be some risk that a team could leave and fail to recreate the thing elsewhere. In my line of business this happens all the time (quant trading). People think they know why their strat works and when they transplant it, it mysteriously doesn't work.

The solution to this is to compensate people so that they don't take the chance and leave. "I'm already making X here, why would I want to risk that?". This naturally distributes wealth a bit more evenly between the workers and the owners.

You also need to think about your scenario. If the employees are able to make the same thing at half the price to the customer, that is a HUGE gain for the customer. If another breakout crew does the same, that's half the gain again. The customer wins, but it can't go on forever, at some point it's not worth the breakout risk.