You could give equity to those who contribute.
Once challenge with equity is that equity is the thing that is left over after you've distributed income and benefits. I've seen so many startups (some up-close) where those in charge are not working for equity, they are extracting all the value in the form of benefits and salary/bonus. The equity then ends up just a carrot for those at the bottom being leveraged to keep the cycle going.
Other misaligned incentives I've seen is company management paying low salaries but having a host of family/friends placed into figurehead wishy-washy roles in the company (again, extracting value misaligned with employees.)
I've also seen doctors practices where the doctor owns the facility and extracts above-market rents from the practice, leaving less for workers.
Once a company is in hyper-growth it is easier to find well-aligned incentives. However, before that, you really dont know unless you can see the salary/benefits of everyone (which obviously doesnt typically happen.)