Also, developers can have an impeccable track record, you could have checked all references they gave you and you can like them a lot personally (in my case, my employees are my best friends), but still how can you be sure you can trust them?
How can you be sure they are not looking for a quick way to be financially "successful" and maybe consider using your IP as a short path to achieve what they want?
That is exactly what I don't want to happen. I don't want them to feel like they are slaves, or code monkeys that can't be trusted, however I do still have a concern because before I started my company I worked for many. Every single developer(in house and freelancers) always had access to the trunk.
If I wanted to, I could have done the same thing I'm afraid of, but of course I never did. I was always thankful for the opportunity the company had given me and the fact the founders trusted me, however there is all kinds of people in this world.
How can you be sure they are not looking for a quick way to be financially "successful" and maybe consider using your IP as a short path to achieve what they want?