How can I start a business online with 50 people from around the world?

Question

I live in Canada. 
I started an independent video game company by communicating with people online and sharing files. 
It's getting pretty big, most people live in the US, but there are people helping from many countries around the world. 
I'm getting "staff" information now, but I need to know what possibilities I have for creating an official company. 
We're creating intellectual property and would like non-disclosure agreements for sensitive information. 
However, it's hard to find out what is necessary to do in order to remain the founder and include everyone else in the company. 
I along with maybe one other is willing to take responsibility, but we want non-liability on the others involved.

Richard Sternberg · Answer

Sounds like a seriously cool business plan, but there is simply no way to prepare this in an enforceable, competent way pro se. You need an entity. In the U.S. would be just fine, but your investing population may require a foreign entity, and, if you anticipate international revenue of might want to use the entity to support immigration aspirations, you might want the entity to form elsewhere in the world. There may be all sorts of liability when it turns out one of your 50 participants is a "script kiddie," so liability protection matters. And, you need a way to handle investment funds. If you form the entity in my home state of Maryland, there is a very recent case that concludes that it isn't a security if the 50 are participants in the entity. But, all of that is a close call. Can you take up a collection for seed money from the 50 participants. US$100 apiece would buy quite a bit of initial set-up.

Q: How can I start a business online with 50 people from around the world?