I hear what you're saying but didn't interpret things the way you did. Here's my guess as to your thinking. Please correct so I can see where I'm misinterpreting.
IMO, you think that everything that Billy did was clear and above board. That the engineers should have _understood_ that Billy was the one in charge by what he said and what he did. That he owned the idea and that they were there to implement his vision as they best interpreted it in order to get things off the ground. His "payment" for this would be: the win, the .4%, and the good times. The .4% especially made that explicit.
Also, it was clear that there was not necessarily any connection between Billy and the rest of the team after the event unless Billy thought they jelled and decided to keep things rolling. Otherwise they would part ways with everyone having had fun and the coders having gotten a reasonable "taste" if things did take off. Because of Billy mentioning the LLC and his partner.
IMO, you think that everything that Billy did was clear and above board. That the engineers should have _understood_ that Billy was the one in charge by what he said and what he did. That he owned the idea and that they were there to implement his vision as they best interpreted it in order to get things off the ground. His "payment" for this would be: the win, the .4%, and the good times. The .4% especially made that explicit.
Also, it was clear that there was not necessarily any connection between Billy and the rest of the team after the event unless Billy thought they jelled and decided to keep things rolling. Otherwise they would part ways with everyone having had fun and the coders having gotten a reasonable "taste" if things did take off. Because of Billy mentioning the LLC and his partner.