Elite Team > Company (opens in new tab)

The views here feel too extreme. Many many people are willing to trade in what is called "enslavement" to be a part of a winning team that has stability. The concept of an elite team works in small groups, solving specific problems. But when you want to scale, like Google for example, you need people who do less glamorous work, whatever it is. Does that make them slaves, or the company evil because they're enslaving these people? I don't think so. For the most part, the terms on the table in the US are relatively transparent and people are aware of the bargain they make when they accept employment. And that's fine by my book.

Talking to agency founders, it seems the primary way to make the leap from 1 person freelancer to 3 person agency is to go through a phase of being a 2 person partnership. That first follower can't be an employee. If you're happy staying very small and working on discrete projects, I can imagine this proposal working.

An elite team like in Ocean's 11 works when it's a high return, fixed duration freelance gig with breaks in between. For ongoing or constant work, you need to know your elite team is actually available, which means they need to commit to working with you and you need to commit to paying them.