Here’s how it works:
(I think I’ve addressed all your points here, let me know if I missed anything)
Every product is structured as a partnership (similar to the way a law firm can be a partnership). Everyone who earns App Coins in that product is a partner – which entitles them to a portion of all profits in accordance with their ownership percentage, along with access to business information and direct involvement in decision-making. Those profits are paid out as royalties, not dividends. There are other differences from securities, for example, you can't transfer ownership of Assembly products on a secondary market.
This solution is the best balance we’ve found so far.
Products built on Assembly live on Assembly (so that we can protect the interests of anyone in the community who helped build them). So, revenue is collected by Assembly, the bills are paid, and profits are distributed to all partners (all of this is fully transparent). So, Assembly takes care of financial reporting and products don't need to worry about things like LLCs and DBAs.
Dilution occurs anytime that work is awarded, and a rogue Core Team might be able to game the system to their advantage, but we have reasonable protections in place to prevent this happening to an extreme.
I’d love to chat about this more if I haven’t covered all your questions. You clearly have a good grasp of what we’re trying to do, and you asked all the right questions. I’m at austin@assembly.com if you want to chat.
[edit: added the sentence about secondary markets]